Police Ass'n of New Orleans v. City of New Orleans

635 So. 2d 380, 93 La.App. 4 Cir. 1279, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 748, 1994 WL 102792
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 29, 1994
DocketNos. 93-CA-1279, 93-CA-2057
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 635 So. 2d 380 (Police Ass'n of New Orleans v. City of New Orleans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Police Ass'n of New Orleans v. City of New Orleans, 635 So. 2d 380, 93 La.App. 4 Cir. 1279, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 748, 1994 WL 102792 (La. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

LOBRANO, Judge.

This is an appeal by the Police Association of New Orleans (PANO), the New Orleans Fire Fighters Association and the class of City employees they represent, from a district court judgment whieh upheld the constitutionality of Ordinance 15298, as amended by Ordinance 15420 of the City of New Orleans.1 The ordinances are often referred to as the “Domicile Ordinances”.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY:

On August 27,1973, the New Orleans City Council passed Municipal Ordinance 5240. That ordinance preferred residents of Orleans Parish in initial employment opportunities with the City and required all City employees to “reside ” in Orleans Parish. City employees who were already residing in other parishes could only move to another location within their parish of residence or into Orleans Parish. Some exceptions were permitted on an individual basis. Because the City was unable to meet its staffing needs exclusively from residents within Orleans Parish, many city employees hired after the adoption of Ordinance 5240 received exemptions.

On June -3, 1983, this Court in Werner v. Department of Police, 435 So.2d 475 (La.App. 4th Cir.1983), writ den. 441 So.2d 751 (La. 1983), affirmed a decision of the New Orleans Civil Service Commission reinstating Kathleen Werner, á member of the New Orleans Police Department, after she was .dismissed for violating the residency requirements of Municipal Ordinance 5240. When Werner joined the police department she gave her residence as her parents’ address in Orleans Parish. In 1981; Werner purchased a residence in Jefferson Parish. At trial, Werner testified that she resided in both Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. This Court distinguished the terms residence and domicile, held that they were not synonymous and declared that pursuant to the language of Ordinance 5240, a city employee could maintain two residences even though they may have only one domicile. Since the department was unable to prove that Werner did not reside in Orleans Parish, she was not in violation of the ordinance.

On December 6, 1990, the City council adopted Municipal Ordinance 14268 which added a new provision to Chapter 2 of the New Orleans City Code. This ordinance required all officers and employees of the City to be domiciled within the Parish of Orleans by January 1, 1994 or suffer criminal sanctions. Ordinance 14268 became effective December 10, 1990.

On February 27, 1991, in response to the passage of Ordinance 14268, PANO filed a class action suit on behalf of its members and all other officers and employees of the City of New Orleans. In the suit, PANO asked that Ordinance 14268 (popularly referred to [382]*382as the “domicile ordinance”) be declared unlawful and unconstitutional on its face and as applied in violation of certain provisions of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974.

On February 28, 1991, the trial court granted a temporary restraining order enjoining the enforcement of Ordinance 14268.

On March 7, 1991, the trial court certified the instant lawsuit as a class action suit and consolidated it with the lawsuit brought by the Fire Fighters Association, Local 632 on behalf of the fireman of the City of New Orleans.2

On March 8, 1991, the trial court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement and implementation of Ordinance 14268 on the grounds that the Ordinance violated Article 10, Section 10(A)(1) of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 by impinging upon the express powers of the City Civil Service Commission.

The City appealed the trial court’s judgment to the Louisiana Supreme Court. On December 2, 1991, the Supreme Court reversed, holding that the power to adopt rules imposing domicile or residence requirements on municipal employees as a condition of employment was not exclusively vested in the City Civil Service commission and therefore did not violate Article 10, Section 10(A)(1) of the Louisiana Constitution. New Orleans Fire-Fighters Association Local 632, AFL-CIO v. The City of New Orleans, 590 So.2d 1172 (La.1991).3

On June 18, 1992, the New Orleans City Council enacted Municipal Ordinance 15298 which amended Ordinance 14268 and which redefined “domicile”. Section 2-705 of Ordinance 15298, entitled “GRANDFATHER CLAUSE”, exempted all officers or employees who on December 10, 1990 maintained their actual domicile outside of Orleans Parish, but denied them promotional opportunities unless they moved their domicile to Orleans Parish.4

On July 16, 1992, the New Orleans City Council enacted Municipal Ordinance 15420 which amended Section 2-705 of Ordinance 15298 exempting all officers and employees who on or before August 27,1973 maintained a domicile outside of Orleans Parish or who obtained written permission to do so from the Chief Administrative Officer after August 27, 1973, from the prohibition against promotional opportunities.5 Thus, the only class [383]*383of employees exempted from the domicile requirement, but yet denied promotional opportunities, were those hired on or prior to December 10, 1990, but subsequent to August 27, 1973, and who did not have written permission to maintain their domicile outside the city. The amendment did not exempt those city employees who legally maintained dual residences pursuant to this Court’s decision in Werner. If their out of parish residence became their domicile as defined by the ordinance, they were denied promotional opportunities.

On July 16, 1992, in response to the amendment of Section 2-706 of Municipal Ordinance 15298, PANO filed a Supplemental and Amended Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Request for a Temporary Restraining Order against the implementation and enforcement of Ordinance 15298. The temporary restraining order was immediately granted by the Court.

On November 3, 1992, the trial court granted a preliminary injunction against implementation and enforcement of the ordinance.

On April 23, 1993, following a hearing on PANO’s request for a permanent injunction, the trial court upheld the constitutionality of Municipal Ordinance 15298 and dismissed PANO’s suit.

It is from this judgment that PANO now appeals. Although PANO lists eleven assignments of error, the thrust of their argument is that the domicile requirement of Municipal Ordinance 15,298 violates various Louisiana constitutional, statutory and codal provisions. For the following reasons we hold it is unconstitutional on its face and as applied to the plaintiffs.

Article 10, Section 7 and 10: I.

PANO asserts that pursuant to Article 10, Sections 7 and 10 of the Louisiana Constitution, the City Civil Service Commission has the express and exclusive power to adopt rules for the regulation of promotion of city employees and that Ordinance 15298 unconstitutionally infringes on that exclusive power. We agree.

Article 10, Section 10(A)(1) provides:

“Section 10. (A) Rules. (1) Powers. Each commission is vested with broad and general rule making and subpoena powers for the administration and regulation of the classified service, including the power to adopt rules for regulating employment, promotion,

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Related

Police Ass'n of New Orleans v. New Orleans
649 So. 2d 951 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1995)

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635 So. 2d 380, 93 La.App. 4 Cir. 1279, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 748, 1994 WL 102792, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/police-assn-of-new-orleans-v-city-of-new-orleans-lactapp-1994.