McLemore v. Gumucio

District Court, M.D. Tennessee·Decided May 3, 2022·No. 3:19-cv-00530·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE NASHVILLE DIVISION

WILL MCLEMORE, et al., ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) No. 3:19-cv-00530 v. ) ) JUDGE RICHARDSON ROXANA GUMUCIO, et al., ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION On March 23, 2022, the Court granted Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. No. 117). In granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment, the Court found that summary judgment was appropriate in the form of some kind of permanent injunctive relief related to 2019 Tenn. Pub. Acts, Ch. 471 (“PC 471”) (the legislative enactment challenged by Plaintiffs in this lawsuit). However, the Court indicated that it was unclear (and Plaintiffs had not made clear their view) regarding what the precise scope of that relief should be. Thus, the Court ordered Plaintiffs to “advise the Court of the scope of relief that they seek and the legal basis for receiving it in light of the Court’s holding herein” and allowed Defendants an opportunity to respond. (Id. at 1-2). “Once a constitutional violation is found, a federal court is required to tailor the scope of the remedy to fit the nature and extent of the constitutional violation.” Dayton Bd. of Ed. v. Brinkman, 433 U.S. 406, 420 (1977) (internal quotations and citations omitted); see also Califano v. Yamasaki, 442 U.S. 682, 702 (1979) (noting “the scope of injunctive relief is dictated by the extent of the violation established”). An injunction should be “no more burdensome than necessary to provide complete relief.” Madsen v. Women’s Health Ctr., Inc., 512 U.S. 753, 778 (1994); Kallstrom v. City of Columbus, 136 F.3d 1055, 1069 (6th Cir. 1998) (“Injunctive relief involving matters subject to state regulation may be no broader than necessary to remedy the constitutional violation.”); Knop v. Johnson, 977 F.2d 996, 1008 (6th Cir. 1992) (“Injunctive relief against a state agency or official must be no broader than necessary to remedy the constitutional violation.”). In short, the scope of the remedy is determined by the nature of the violation. See Milliken v. Bradley, 433 U.S. 267, 281-82 (1977).

Following the Court’s directive, Plaintiffs filed a “Notice of Relief Sought” (Doc. No. 118, “Notice”), wherein Plaintiffs request an injunction couched as follows: Defendants and their officers, agents, employees, servants, attorneys, and all persons in active concert or participation with them are hereby enjoined and restrained from applying Tennessee’s auctioneering laws, licenses, and regulations to electronic exchanges, or online auction websites, or against Plaintiffs.

(Id. at 1). Plaintiffs argue that “an ‘across the board injunction’ aimed at the regulation of ‘electronic’ communications ‘is proper.’” (Id. at 3 (citing Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, 136 S. Ct. 2292, 2307 (2016))). Plaintiffs specifically point out that they brought a facial challenge to PC 471, and therefore, the scope of their requested relief redresses the violation itself even if it benefits nonparties.” (Id. at 3-4). Plaintiffs further argue that “[t]his injunction would not ‘exceed appropriate limits’ . . . [because] [i]t would not eliminate “a condition that does not violate the Constitution or does not flow from such a violation.” (Id. at 5). In Response, Defendant’ argue that Plaintiffs’ proposed injunction is too broad and that “[t]he injunctive relief sought by Plaintiffs is not tailored to fit the nature and extent of the constitutional violation found by this Court.” (Doc. No. 119 at 1 (citing Dayton Bd. of Ed., 433 U.S. at 420)). Defendants contend that, in its Order (Doc. No. 117) granting summary judgment to Plaintiffs (not to mention the Court’s corresponding Memorandum opinion, Doc. No. 116), “[t]his Court found that the provision of [PC 471], adding the term ‘electronic’ to the statutory definition of ‘auction’ results in extraterritorial application of the State’s auctioneering statutes and regulations in violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause.” (Doc. No. 119 at 1). This contention is accurate; the gist of the Court’s ruling was PC 471 was unconstitutional in one particular respect; namely, it is unconstitutional to the extent that, under Section 4(2), it expands the definition of “auction” for purposes of Tennessee’s auctioneering statutes (specifically, Title 62, Chapter 19 of the Tennessee Code, titled “Auctioneers”) to include any sales transaction “conducted by . . .

electronic exchange,” thereby causing those statutes to have an extraterritorial effect.1 As both parties seem to recognize, in the Court’s view the constitutional problem with PC 471 is the effect of Section 4(2) on Tennessee’s other auctioneering statutes (and associated regulations and licensing requirements). And the question is how to frame an injunction that cures this problem and does so neither too broadly nor too narrowly. Of course, Defendants do not concede that the Court’s finding of a constitutional violation was correct or that any corresponding injunction is appropriate. But they contend that, assuming arguendo that the Court’s grant of summary judgment was appropriate, the corresponding injunction “should [ ] be tailored to the relevant definition of auction[.]” (Id.). Again, consistent

with the comments in the paragraph immediately above, this contention is correct. As for the couching of an injunction that is appropriately tailored, Defendants recommend an injunction limited to prohibiting Defendants, their agents and employees, and anyone acting on their behalf from applying the State’s auctioneering statutes, regulations, and licensing requirements to

“sales transaction[s] conducted by . . . electronic exchange between an auctioneer and members of the audience, consisting of a series of invitations by the auctioneer for offers to members of the audience to purchase goods or real estate, culminating in the acceptance by

1 In ruling in Plaintiffs’ favor on the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment, the Court held that “the language from the four corners of PC 471—considering its natural and ordinary meaning—unambiguously indicates an intent for PC 471 to have extraterritorial effect.” (Doc. No. 116 at 23). To be more precise, the extraterritorial effect of the relevant portion of PC 471 is the result of its effect on all of Tennessee’s auctioneering laws; the relevant portion of PC 471—which is a statutory definition that establishes the reach of Tennessee’s auctioneering statutes as a whole— imparts extraterritorial effect to Tennessee’s auctioneering statutes in general. the auctioneer of the highest or most favorable offer made by a member of the participating audience.”

(Id. (quoting PC 471, § 4 (emphasis added)). It is apparent that Defendants’ proposed injunction matches Plaintiffs’ in that each would prohibit application of Tennessee’s auctioneering laws to sales transactions conducted by electronic exchange. But it is also apparent that Defendants’ proposal differs substantively from Plaintiffs’ in two (and only these two) respects. Specifically, Plaintiffs’ proposed injunction, but not Defendants’, would prohibit application of Tennessee’s auctioneering laws to (i) online auctions; and (ii) Plaintiffs. “The scope of injunctive relief is dictated by the extent of the violation established”). Califano, 442 U.S. at 702.

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Related

Milliken v. Bradley
433 U.S. 267 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman
433 U.S. 406 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Califano v. Yamasaki
442 U.S. 682 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc.
512 U.S. 753 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Meyer v. Cuna Mutual Insurance Society
648 F.3d 154 (Third Circuit, 2011)
Officer Melissa Kallstrom v. City of Columbus
136 F.3d 1055 (Sixth Circuit, 1998)
Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt
579 U.S. 582 (Supreme Court, 2016)
Kryder v. Estate of Rogers
321 F. Supp. 3d 803 (M.D. Tennessee, 2018)
Knop v. Johnson
977 F.2d 996 (Sixth Circuit, 1992)