Pattie A. Clay Infirmary Ass'n v. First Presbyterian Church of Richmond

605 S.W.2d 52, 1980 Ky. App. LEXIS 368
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedSeptember 5, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 605 S.W.2d 52 (Pattie A. Clay Infirmary Ass'n v. First Presbyterian Church of Richmond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pattie A. Clay Infirmary Ass'n v. First Presbyterian Church of Richmond, 605 S.W.2d 52, 1980 Ky. App. LEXIS 368 (Ky. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

WHITE, Judge.

This appeal arises from the Corrected Judgment of the Madison Circuit Court by which it was ordered that the male nominee, and any male successor thereto, of the First Presbyterian Church of Richmond be seated as director of the Pattie A. Clay Infirmary Association.

The appellant Association was founded in 1892 for the purpose of establishing and operating a health-care facility in Richmond. Real estate for this purpose was conveyed by Brutus J. Clay with the stipulation that the Board carry representation from each of the white Protestant churches of Richmond. The bylaws of the Infirmary further defined the Board’s composition by requiring that:

The Board of Directors shall consist of twelve women, members of the Association; one of whom shall be elected on the recommendation of each of the seven white churches in Richmond, Ky., and the Association shall select the five remaining ones. (Emphasis added.)

The Board’s authority includes the appointment of an active Board of Trustees for the Infirmary, which Board recognizes no gender limitation.

In 1972 the First Presbyterian Church of Richmond challenged the restriction on its right of appointment by electing a male as its representative. Following the Association’s refusal to seat the Church’s choice, appellees sought a Declaratory Judgment to resolve whether the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution and Section Two of the Kentucky Constitution, relating to equal protection and equal rights, were violated by the Association’s prohibition.

The circuit court, finding that the Infirmary “is operated for the benefit of the general public in Madison County and has a public purpose,” held in favor of the Church and its male nominee. On appeal, however, the case was reversed and remanded

... with directions that further proof be taken on the issue of whether the actions of the hospital in refusing to seat Smith on its Board of Directors are under color of state law. If such state action is found, the membership restriction according to sex should be declared void. Conversely, if the actions of the Association are found private in nature, no constitutional violation can be found and the action should be dismissed.

Appellee Church thereby initiated a lengthy process of discovery by which significant interactions with local, state, and federal governments were sought to be established. Several factors were revealed:

A temporary Lessor-Lessee relationship exists with the City by which the hospital is to lease an industrial building to be erected with funds derived from the issuance of revenue bonds. Payments against the bonds, sufficient to cover principal, interest, and maintenance, are to be met through rental fees from the hospital rather than from general City funds. The City is to hold title to the hospital facility until the bonds have been fully retired. The agreement was reached between the City and the hospital based on a recognition of the City’s [54]*54duty to promote the general welfare and public health of its constituency. Clay Infirmary is the only hospital within the City’s limits although a second facility exists within Madison County.

In 1967 the land on which the Infirmary is located was purchased from the Commonwealth under a twenty-year agreement. The terms of the sale include a provision reconveying the entire facility, land and improvements, to the state, at a fair price, should the project ever be abandoned. Also, the hospital is permitted to meet a portion of its rent obligations through providing medical services to the students of Eastern Kentucky University.

As a nonprofit corporation, the hospital is exempt from the taxing aspect of federal and state governments; nevertheless, based upon the nature of its work, it is subject to contact with the state through extensive regulatory controls relating primarily to licensing.

Finally, it was established that federal Medicaid and Medicare funds provide approximately thirty-eight (38%) per cent of the hospital’s revenues. In addition sources of construction funds include grants under the federally sponsored Hill-Burton program and Appalachian Regional Commission.

Subsequent to discovery appellees moved for a Summary Judgment, in response to which either side filed memoranda. In denying the Summary Judgment, the circuit court found that the “Association's a private entity without sufficient connection between it and the state for its actions to be considered state action.” However, in contradiction with this denial and finding and thus in contravention of the instruction on remand, an Order was entered requiring that the Church’s male nominee be seated.

Noting the inconsistency between the findings of fact, conclusions of law, and the Order, appellants moved to alter that Judgment. The court subsequently entered a brief Corrected Judgment by which the previous Judgment was acknowledged as incorrect, the Church’s motion for a Summary Judgment was sustained, and the Infirmary was again required to seat as Director the male nominee and any male successor chosen by the First Presbyterian Church of Richmond.

On appeal appellants assert that having found in its initial judgment that the hospital was a private entity, the circuit court erred in mandating through the Corrected Judgment the seating of the male director without findings to the contrary. Further, appellants urge that an examination of the discovery evidence in view of applicable case law does not establish factors sufficient to require recognition of the state action necessary to compel the alteration of the Board’s traditional structure.

Implicit in appellants’ first argument is the theory that having issued specific findings of fact in the initial judgment, the court is controlled by them until they are preempted by the entry of new and contrary ones. We disagree based on well-established considerations.

A Corrected Judgment stands alone. Unless it clearly is evident otherwise, its effect is not merely to complement the previous judgment but rather to serve alone as the entire disposition of the case. CR 52 grants to the court the unlimited power to alter its judgment. When that authority is exercised, the slate is wiped clean, thereby removing any force the earlier judgment may have carried. The court becomes free to enter a separate and independent judgment governed, as was the first, by the Rules of Civil Procedure.

Herein, although the court chose to attach findings of fact and conclusions of law to the first judgment, there was no procedural requirement for such. The court’s action was in response to appellees’ motion under CR 56 for a Summary Judgment, for which a simple yea or nay is sufficient explanation. Given the confusion surrounding the inconsistency of the first judgment, the better course would have been to have included also in the second some informative commentary; however, we are unable to state as a matter of law that it was error not to have done so.

[55]*55Having considered the procedural aspects, this Court is next required to review whether substantively the entry of a Summary Judgment in favor of appellees was correct.

Private conduct bears no relationship to equal protection standards. In order for a constitutional shield to be offered, therefore, it is necessary to determine whether state action has been sufficiently established, i. e.

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605 S.W.2d 52, 1980 Ky. App. LEXIS 368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pattie-a-clay-infirmary-assn-v-first-presbyterian-church-of-richmond-kyctapp-1980.