Now v. Operation Rescue

747 F. Supp. 760, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9939, 1990 WL 108852
District Court, District of Columbia·Decided July 31, 1990·No. Civ. A. No. 89-2968-LFO·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

OBERDORFER, District Judge.

An Order filed January 20, 1990 denied defendants’ motion to dismiss, granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, and entered a permanent injunction enjoining defendants from, inter alia, “trespassing on, blockading, impeding or obstructing access to or egress from any facility at which abortions, family planning, or gynecological services are performed in the District of Columbia.” See Permanent Injunction at 2-3. The injunction was based on reasons to be amplified in a forthcoming Memorandum. This is that Memorandum.

I.

Plaintiffs include four health care facilities that provide abortion services, an organization that operates two such facilities, and five organizations that seek to establish and preserve a woman’s right to choose an abortion. Defendants are four organizations and six individuals who are opposed to abortion and its legalization. On October 27, 1989, plaintiffs filed a complaint and an application for injunctive relief, seeking to enjoin planned blockades of plaintiff clinics. A hearing on plaintiffs’ application was held on November 7 and 8, 1989, and a preliminary injunction was issued on November 8, 1989. See NOW v. Operation Rescue, 726 F.Supp. 300 (D.D.C.1989). The preliminary injunction was based upon findings that plaintiffs were likely to succeed in proving that defendants had blockaded medical facilities in the past and were likely to do so in the future, and that such blockades violate local prohibi[762] tions against trespassing, public nuisance, and tortious interference with business relations. See id. at 304.

The preliminary injunction was limited to certain named clinics in the District of Columbia. Accordingly, on November 8, 1989, plaintiffs filed complaints in federal court in Maryland and Virginia seeking similar injunctive relief in those jurisdictions. See Plaintiffs’ Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment at Exhibits A, B, C. The Maryland court entered a preliminary injunction on November 8, after receiving affidavits identical to those introduced at the hearing before this Court. See id. at Exhibit D. In Virginia, a Temporary Restraining Order was entered on November 9, and later extended on November 16. See NOW v. Operation Rescue, 726 F.Supp. 1483, 1486 n. 1 (E.D.Va.1989) (“Virginia Findings"). With the parties’ consent, the hearing on plaintiffs’ application for a preliminary injunction in Virginia was consolidated with the trial on the merits, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(a)(2). See id. at 1486. Plaintiffs presented nine witnesses during a two-day trial on November 16 and 20, including clinic directors from Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Defendants presented no witnesses. See id. Following the trial on the merits, the Virginia court entered a Permanent Injunction on November 22, and filed written Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law on December 6, 1989. See id. at 1483, 1486 n. 1.

In this action, defendants have moved to dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint for lack of standing and failure to state a claim. Plaintiffs in turn have moved for summary judgment, arguing that the Virginia court’s determination is res judicata and that no material facts remain in dispute. In opposing plaintiffs’ summary judgment motion, defendants have argued that the Virginia court’s ruling is not entitled to preclusive effect and that defendants’ actions are protected by their constitutional right of association and the common law doctrine of justification.

II.

Defendants’ motion to dismiss raises two jurisdictional issues: (A) whether plaintiffs have standing to assert their claims and (B) whether jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ local law claims is appropriate.

A.

Defendants first argue that plaintiff clinics lack standing to assert the rights of their patients. This argument applies only to the federal claims, as plaintiff clinics’ local law claims are based on their own rights. To establish standing to assert the rights of third parties, plaintiff clinics must overcome both constitutional and prudential barriers. First, the clinics must allege a sufficiently concrete "injury in fact” to create a case or controversy under Article III. See Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 112, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 2873, 49 L.Ed.2d 826 (1976). Second, the clinics must show that they are “the proper proponents of the particular legal rights on which they base their suit.” Id. Based on the facts alleged in the complaint, plaintiff clinics can overcome both of these barriers. The complaint clearly alleges an injury in fact, based on the blockades of plaintiff clinics by defendants. See Complaint at ¶1¶ 34-35. Moreover, the clinics are the proper proponents of their patients’ abortion rights for two reasons: first, “the constitutionally protected abortion decision is one in which the physician is intimately involved”; and second, patients face practical obstacles to effective advocacy, such as a desire to protect their own privacy and the inherent mootness of any individual claim. See Singleton, 428 U.S. at 117-18, 96 S.Ct. at 2875-76; see also Planned Parenthood Ass’n of Cincinnati v. City of Cincinnati, 822 F.2d 1390, 1396 (6th Cir.1987) (holding that clinics providing abortion services have standing to assert the rights of their patients, as those rights are “ ‘inextricably bound up' with the activity the ... clinic desires to pursue”) (quoting Singleton, 428 U.S. at 114, 96 S.Ct. at 2874)). The Virginia court reached a similar holding. See Virginia Findings, 726 F.Supp. at 1491.

[763] Defendants’ argument that the organizational plaintiffs lack standing is similarly misplaced. The complaint alleges, and defendants have not disputed, that each of the organizational plaintiffs has as members “women who will need to use abortion and family planning clinics in the Washington Metropolitan area.” Complaint at H 5-8. The organizational plaintiffs therefore have standing to assert the rights of those members. See New York State Club Ass'n v. City of New York, 487 U.S. 1, 6, 108 S.Ct. 2225, 2230, 101 L.Ed.2d 1 (1988) (holding that an association has standing to sue on behalf of its members when those members would have standing to sue on their own behalf); New York State NOW v. Terry, 886 F.2d 1339, 1348-49 (2d Cir.1989) (holding that various abortion rights organizations had standing as representatives of their members to challenge blockades of abortion clinics). The Virginia court likewise found that the organizational plaintiffs had standing. See Virginia Findings, 726 F.Supp. at 1491-92.

B.

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