Oliverson v. West Valley City

875 F. Supp. 1465, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 776, 1995 WL 25113
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedJanuary 10, 1995
Docket88-C-0863-S
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 875 F. Supp. 1465 (Oliverson v. West Valley City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oliverson v. West Valley City, 875 F. Supp. 1465, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 776, 1995 WL 25113 (D. Utah 1995).

Opinion

ORDER

SAM, District Judge.

This ease is now before the court for consideration of the magistrate judge’s Report and Recommendation regarding the constitutionality of the Utah adultery statute, Utah Code Ann. 76-7-103. The magistrate judge recommends that summary judgment be entered in favor of defendants on this, the only issue remaining in the case. Plaintiff has filed a general objection only to the Report and Recommendation. Plaintiffs objection does not comply with the requirement that all objections to a magistrate judge’s recommendations be specific in nature. Fed. R.Civ.P. 72(b). “The rationale for requiring proper objections is to shift some of the court’s workload from the district court judges to the magistrate judges. A litigant who objects only in vague or general terms to the magistrate’s recommendation forces the district court judge to review the entire case fully, frustrating the purposes of the Federal Magistrate’s Act.” Keeler v. Pea, 782 F.Supp. 42, 44 (D.S.C.1992). By citing only to the briefs submitted to the magistrate judge, plaintiff has failed to consider the specifics of the magistrate judge’s reasoning, and has therefore failed to make any meaningful objection to this court.

The court, having now reviewed the entire record before it, finds the magistrate judge’s Report and Recommendation to be a thorough and comprehensive review of the applicable law as it relates to the issue before the court. The court finds the Report and Recommendation to be well reasoned and correct in every respect. It is apparent that even the most recent case law on this issue belies the notion that the Constitution precludes reasonable state regulation of sexual behav *1468 ior. See, e.g., United States v. Gates, 40 M. J. 354 (CMA 1994) (upholding military regulation prohibiting consensual heterosexual sodomy). Accordingly, the court adopts the magistrate judge’s Report and Recommendation as its own. Summary judgment is hereby GRANTED with regard to all defendants, and plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is DENIED.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

BOYCE, United States District Judge.

The plaintiff, Gary Oliverson, a police offieer employed by West Valley City, Utah filed the instant suit under 28 U.S.C. § 1343 and § 1344 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against West Valley City and various officials of the City as well as against the Attorney General of the State of Utah and the Director of Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.). Plaintiff challenged the constitutionality of the Utah fornication (Utah Code Ann. § 76-7-104), sodomy (Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-403) and adultery (Utah Code Ann. § 76-7-103) statutes. Defendants alleged plaintiff had violated the Utah statutes and that defendant Campbell, former Chief of Police of West Valley City, imposed sanctions against him for such conduct. An appeal by plaintiff, of the sanctions, was taken to the City Civil Service Commission and the sanctions generally upheld. Further sanctions were imposed on plaintiff by P.O.S.T. Plaintiff challenges the sanctions based on a claim of uneonstitutionality of the Utah statutes. Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief from future enforcement of the mentioned statutes and removal of the disciplinary sanctions and references in P.O.S.T. certification records. Motions for summary judgment and partial summary judgment were made by the parties. Extensive briefing was submitted.

The magistrate judge made a report and recommendation (File Entry # 74) as to the fornication and sodomy issues. The report concluded plaintiff had no standing on the fornication issue and that the fornication issue was not ripe for determination. The plaintiff was married at the time of his alleged misconduct and no fornication was shown to have been committed. As to the sodomy issue, it was concluded that the Utah sodomy statute could be applied to plaintiff for his extramarital sodomy and misconduct with other women but that as to other hypothetical circumstances the plaintiff “had no standing” to make a constitutional challenge as to the possible hypothetical applications of the Utah sodomy statute. The constitutionality of the Utah adultery statute was reserved for further consideration. The district court upheld the report and recommendation of the magistrate judge as to the fornication and sodomy issues.

The plaintiff has now made a motion for partial summary judgment as to the Utah adultery statute (Utah Code Ann. § 76-7-103) • (File Entry # 87). The plaintiff contends the statute offends his right to privacy, and violates substantive due process of law under the United States Constitution. The plaintiff also makes a “free' expression” argument and a claim of overbreadth of the adultery statute in relationship to that contention. Equal protection has also been argued as a basis for relief. A memorandum in support of the motion was submitted (File Entry # 88). Plaintiff also submitted exhibits in support of the motion (File Entry # 92). The Utah State defendants (P.O.S.T. and the Attorney General) filed a responsive memorandum to the plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment (File Entry # 93). The West Valley City defendants filed a response in opposition to plaintiffs motion for summary judgment. The West Valley City defendants also made a cross motion for summary judgment (File Entry # 97). Plaintiff filed a response to the State of Utah defendants’ response (File Entry # 98). In these responses, plaintiff made the argument that he could be guilty of fornication if, as a married man, he had intercourse with an unmarried female by aiding and abetting the woman’s fornication. The magistrate judge made a report and recommendation rejecting the claim and again concluding the plaintiffs constitutional challenge to the Utah fornication statute was not ripe for determination. The district court rejected plaintiffs claim.

Since the magistrate judge’s prior reports and recommendations on the plaintiffs challenge to the Utah fornication and sodomy statutes have been accepted (File Entry *1469 # 108), the issue of the constitutionality of the Utah adultery statute remains as the only issue for this court to resolve.

The case was referred to the magistrate judge under 28 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)(B). This report and recommendation is submitted on motions for summary judgment of plaintiff and the West Valley City defendants on the constitutionality of the Utah adultery statute, Utah Code Ann. § 76-7-103.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
875 F. Supp. 1465, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 776, 1995 WL 25113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oliverson-v-west-valley-city-utd-1995.