Langlotz v. Noelle

39 P.3d 271, 179 Or. App. 317, 2002 Ore. App. LEXIS 131, 2002 WL 115542
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJanuary 30, 2002
Docket0009-09000; A112471
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 39 P.3d 271 (Langlotz v. Noelle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Langlotz v. Noelle, 39 P.3d 271, 179 Or. App. 317, 2002 Ore. App. LEXIS 131, 2002 WL 115542 (Or. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

SCHUMAN, J.

Plaintiff attempted to apply for a concealed handgun license by submitting an application to defendant, the Multnomah County Sheriff. Defendant’s deputy refused to accept the application because plaintiff refused to provide some of the information it required. Plaintiff then brought this action seeking a variety of injunctions, declaratory judgments, and damages of $105,000 plus $1,000 per day until he received his license (in order to cover the “approximate cost of an armed security guard”). The trial court denied most of plaintiffs equitable claims and on plaintiffs own motion dismissed his damages claim. Plaintiff appeals from the denial of his claims for declaratory relief. Because the underlying claims and relief sought here are equitable in nature, we review any disputed facts de novo, State Farm Fire v. Sevier, 272 Or 278, 299, 537 P2d 88 (1975); we review legal issues for errors of law, Ken Leahy Construction, Inc. v. Cascade General, Inc., 329 Or 566, 571, 994 P2d 112 (1999); and we affirm.

Although some facts are disputed, the following are not: On June 27, 2000, plaintiff attempted to obtain a concealed handgun license (CHL) at defendant’s office during an appointment scheduled for that purpose. As required by ORS 166.291, he was prepared to submit an application, to allow himself to be fingerprinted and photographed, and to pay the necessary fees. However, in the spaces on the application provided for maiden name and aliases (if any), age, race, sex, work address, “business name,” work phone number, non-family character references, their addresses, their phone numbers, and a list of states where he had previously lived, plaintiff put an asterisk and, at the bottom of the second page, explained, “* not required under ORS 166.291 (1-3).” A deputy sheriff refused to accept the application because she deemed it incomplete.

On July 19, 2000, plaintiff sent a certified letter to defendant explaining the various ways in which he considered the county’s application form to be “an unwarranted and ultra vires intrusion into the privacy of an applicant.” Along with the letter, plaintiff resubmitted his original application, [320]*320unchanged, and announced that, if he had not received a license or other satisfactory response by August 3, 2000, he would “consider [his] application to have been rejected” and “be forced to seek judicial review[.]” On August 30, defendant once again refused to accept plaintiffs application, and plaintiff brought this action seeking (among other things not relevant to this appeal) a declaratory judgment that, in demanding certain information on the application for a CHL, defendant exceeded his statutory authority.

The trial court concluded that defendant did not have statutory authority to require applicants to disclose business names, work addresses, and work phone numbers but that, incident to his duty to conduct an investigation of applicants, ORS 166.291(3)(b), he did have authority to require all of the other contested information. Therefore, the trial court concluded, plaintiff had not submitted a properly completed application and defendant’s refusal to accept it was lawful. The trial court

“ordered and adjudged that the [equitable] relief sought by the Plaintiff * * * is denied except that the Sheriff shall change its form to indicate that ‘work address’, ‘business name’ and ‘work phone number’ are optional.”

On appeal, plaintiffs sole assignment of error is to the trial court’s denial of his claims seeking a declaratory judgment that defendant lacked authority to require applicant to provide maiden name and aliases (if any), age, race, sex, non-family character references, his addresses and phone numbers, and a list of states where he had previously lived.

An overview of ORS 166.291, which describes the procedures and criteria for obtaining a CHL from a county sheriff, will provide context for our discussion of the particular subsections at issue in this appeal.

To apply for a CHL from a county sheriff, an applicant must pay specified fees, ORS 166.291(5)(a); submit to being photographed and fingerprinted by the sheriff, ORS 166.291(3)(b); and turn in an application disclosing the applicant’s name, address, date and place of birth, hair and eye color, height, weight, and residences for the previous three years, in addition to a statement by the applicant that he or [321]*321she meets the objective criteria in ORS 166.291(1)(a)-(L) (age, residence, criminal history, mental health commitment history, etc.), ORS 166.291(3)(a). The parties dispute whether the applicant can be required to disclose additional information. In any event, the application itself must be “uniform throughout the state in substantially the * * * form” of a model provided in ORS 166.291(4). Once the application process is complete, the sheriff “shall conduct any investigation necessary to corroborate [that the applicant meets] the requirements listed under subsection (1)[.]” ORS 166.291(3)(b). If the sheriff concludes that the applicant has complied with the application process and meets the criteria, the sheriff “shall issue the person a concealed handgun license[.]” ORS 166.291(1). However, even if the applicant meets the requirements and performs all the necessary procedures, the sheriff still has discretion to deny a license to any applicant

“if the sheriff has reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant has been or is reasonably likely to be a danger to self or others, or to the community at large, as a result of the applicant’s mental or psychological state, as demonstrated by past pattern of behavior or participation in incidents involving unlawful violence or threats of unlawful violence.” ORS 166.293(2).

At the core of this case lies a dispute over two subsections of ORS 166.291. The first is subsection (3), which provides:

“Before the sheriff may issue a license:
“(a) The application must state the applicant’s legal name, current address and telephone number, date and place of birth, hair and eye color and height and weight. The application must also list the applicant’s residence address or addresses for the previous three years.

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Related

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292 P.3d 557 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2012)
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103 P.3d 1150 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 P.3d 271, 179 Or. App. 317, 2002 Ore. App. LEXIS 131, 2002 WL 115542, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/langlotz-v-noelle-orctapp-2002.