F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES CO URT O F APPEALS January 10, 2007 FO R TH E TENTH CIRCUIT Elisabeth A. Shumaker Clerk of Court
AARON RAISER, also known as T.G.,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v. No. 06-4066 (D.C. No. 2:04-CV-896-TC) TH E CHURC H OF JESU S CH RIST (D. Utah) OF LA TTER-DAY SAINTS; B RIG H A M Y O U N G U NIV ER SITY,
Defendants-Appellees.
OR D ER AND JUDGM ENT *
Before KELLY, L UC ER O, and HA RTZ, Circuit Judges.
Aaron Raiser sued Brigham Y oung University (BYU) and the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Church) after BYU stated in other litigation
that he had a “known . . . psychiatric history.” R., Vol. 1, Doc. 9 (Ex. A at ii).
* After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously to grant the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent w ith Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. The district court granted BYU and the Church summary judgment. W e exercise
jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.
B ACKGROUND
According to his father, M r. Raiser has been diagnosed as suffering from
bipolar schizophrenia. H is parents committed him to the Central Ohio Psychiatric
Hospital for treatment in February 1991. But after several months he escaped and
traveled to Provo, Utah.
In August 1991 the BYU police department received the following
information regarding M r. Raiser:
W alked away from Psychiatric Hospital in Columbus, OH. BYU grad and [returning missionary]; may find his way to [Salt Lake City] or Provo. Not dangerous, but peculiar behavior. Call parents Ed or Loraine, or sister Ginny [phone number omitted] if seen. Call collect; leave message.
Supp. R., Vol. 2, Doc. 152, Ex. A (Police Record at 4). M r. Raiser’s father
testified that he or another family member probably supplied this information.
In January 1992 M r. Raiser met with BYU General Counsel and Church
Stake President, Eugene Bramhall, 1 “in order to obtain approval to attend BYU as
a graduate student,” id., Doc. 153, Ex. C (Aaron Raiser Aff. at 1). Three months
1 In the Church, a stake president presides over a group of wards. Scott v. Hammock, 870 P.2d 947, 949 n.1 (Utah 1994). Stake presidents “receive no formal educational training as clergymen, are not compensated by the Church, and perform their ecclesiastical duties in addition to their vocations.” Id.
-2- later Bramhall sent BYU’s admissions committee a conditional endorsement for
M r. Raiser’s admission:
Aaron meets all of the usual admission standards. However, by personal observation, confirmed by his bishop [D an Towsey] & family, it is apparent that he has an emotional or psychological deficit. I am also told, but have not personally verified that he has been hospitalized for schizophrenia & that he has something called a “sensory deficit” as well. I believe that he presently takes no medication for his condition. I believe that Aaron can benefit from intensive counseling, & that the possibility of his receiving important counseling is highest if he is admitted to the university.
Id., Vol. 2, Doc. 153, Ex. A. M r. Raiser “was given approval to attend BYU.”
Id., Ex. C (Aaron Raiser Aff. at 1).
In July 1996, however, M r. Raiser was “banned from campus,” id. at 2, and
was therefore unable to “attend church and church related activities on Sundays,”
id. at 3, because his student ward met on campus. He appealed to the chairman of
BYU’s access committee, Dave Thomas, who also worked in BYU’s Office of
General Counsel. After purportedly discussing the matter with Bramhall, as
urged by M r. Raiser, Thomas gave M r. Raiser permission to attend church on
campus.
In 2002 M r. Raiser sued BYU pro se in federal district court, alleging that
he had been abused and mistreated by campus police. See Raiser v. Brigham
Young Univ., No. 2:02-cv-975 (D. Utah) (Am. Compl. at 3) (Raiser I). In a
motion to dismiss the complaint, the assistant general counsel for BYU, Erik
Davis, wrote the following passage, which spawned the present litigation:
-3- M r. Raiser has an extensive history of encounters with the Police . . . . M ost of the . . . encounters w ith M r. Raiser have been in response to calls from concerned students or faculty members who have felt threatened or uneasy because of M r. Raiser’s presence on campus at unusual times and places and/or his bizarre or suspicious behavior and appearance. . . . These incidents and the circumstances surrounding them have justifiably caused BYU Police officers to treat M r. Raiser with a certain amount of caution, but their actions towards M r. Raiser have in all ways been reasonable and justified in light of M r. Raiser’s suspicious and bizarre behavior and his known . . . psychiatric history.
R., Vol. 1, Doc. 9, Ex. A (M em. in Support of M ot. to Dismiss at i-ii) (emphasis
added).
In September 2004 M r. Raiser, again acting pro se, filed this suit against
BYU and the Church in federal district court in Utah, claiming that they had
maliciously and falsely asserted that he had a “known . . . psychiatric history.”
R., Vol. 1, Doc. 1 (Compl. at 2); id., Doc. 65 (Am. Compl. at 3). M r. Raiser
alleged (1) that Bishop Towsey had told Bramhall that “Plaintiff had been
institutionalized in another state and declared incompetent.” R., Vol. 1, Doc. 1
(Compl. at 2) (internal quotation marks omitted); id., Doc. 65 (Am. Compl. at 2)
(internal quotation marks omitted); (2) that “[t]his information, that Plaintiff had
a psychiatric history was in turn communicated to others of the general counsel
staff,” and then published in support of the motion to dismiss. R., Vol. 1, Doc. 1
(Compl. at 2); id., Doc. 65 (Am. Compl. at 3); (3) that “information that Plaintiff
had been institutionalized could have come from the [BYU] police department,”
R., Vol. 1, Doc. 1 (Compl. at 3); id., Doc. 65 (Am. Compl. at 3); and (4) that
-4- Bramhall “communicated the information that Plaintiff was institutionalized to
the police,” R., Vol. 1, Doc. 1 (Compl. at 4); id., Doc. 65 (Am. Compl. at 4). M r.
Raiser pleaded claims for breach of privacy, defamation, “False Light,”
“Violation of Separation of Church State,” and “Violation of American’s w ith
[D ]isabilities Act.” R., Vol. 1, Doc. 1 (Compl. at 5-8).
In December 2004 the Church moved for summary judgment. Later that
month M r. Raiser moved to amend his complaint to add a claim for breach of
confidence. In April 2005 the district court denied the Church’s summary-
judgment motion without prejudice, extended the deadline for discovery to July
19, 2005, and authorized M r. Raiser to depose Davis, Bramhall, and Tow sey. The
district court also ordered that the motion to amend be held in abeyance pending
the resolution of discovery and summary-judgment issues.
In June 2005 M r. R aiser filed another motion to amend the complaint. H e
stated that “[t]he new proposed Complaint . . . is essentially the same as the first
except that it removes two causes of action [defamation and false light] and
simplifies the fact allegations.” R., Vol. 1, Doc. 65 (M ot. at 1). The district court
granted the motion, noting that “[t]he amended complaint is essentially a
streamlined replica of the old complaint.” Supp. R., Vol. 3, Doc. 210 (Order at
10).
On July 26, 2005, after the discovery deadline had passed without M r.
Raiser’s having conducted any depositions, the Church renewed its summary-
-5- judgment motion. BYU also moved for summary judgment. In February 2006 the
district court granted the motions, ruling that (1) M r. Raiser’s privacy claim
against the Church failed because there was no evidence that the Church disclosed
any private information to the public; (2) M r. Raiser’s privacy claim against BYU
was barred by the judicial-proceeding privilege; (3) M r. Raiser lacked standing to
sue B YU under the First A mendment; and (4) M r. Raiser had withdrawn his AD A
claim. The district court also denied M r. Raiser’s December 2004 motion to
amend, which had been held in abeyance. M r. Raiser appealed.
D ISCUSSION
I. Summary Judgment
W e review de novo the district court’s grant of summary judgment. Stover
v. M artinez, 382 F.3d 1064, 1070 (10th Cir. 2004). Summary judgment is
appropriate if “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and
admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no
genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a
judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). In conducting our analysis,
we view all the facts in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary
judgment and draw all reasonable inferences from the record in that party’s favor.
Stover, 382 F.3d at 1070. But while the burden of showing the absence of a
genuine issue of material fact rests with the party seeking summary judgment, the
opposing party “must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical
-6- doubt as to the material facts.” Champagne M etals v. Ken-M ac M etals, Inc.,
458 F.3d 1073, 1084 (10th Cir. 2006) (internal quotation marks omitted). The
opposing party must “make[ ] a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an
element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden
of proof at trial.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
A. Breach of Privacy
M r. Raiser’s privacy claim appears to be premised on the public disclosure
of an embarrassing private fact. See Shattuck-Owen v. Snowbird Corp., 16 P.3d
555, 558 (Utah 2000) (addressing an invasion-of-privacy claim against an
employer who allowed numerous people to view a surveillance video of the
employee-plaintiff’s sexual assault). Regarding the Church’s liability on this
claim, there is no dispute that the disclosure about M r. Raiser’s “known . . .
psychiatric history” w as not made by the Church, but by Erik Davis, a BYU
attorney. M r. Raiser speculates about a number of other possible disclosures by
people affiliated with the Church, but all the alleged disclosures w ere private
conversations, with the possible exception of the disclosures of information to the
police. M r. Raiser’s father, however, testified that the likely source of the
information received by the police was M r. Raiser’s family, and there is no
contrary evidence. A viable privacy claim requires a disclosure “to the public at
large, or to so many persons that the matter must be regarded as substantially
certain to become one of public knowledge.” Id. at 558 (internal quotation marks
-7- omitted). As a matter of law these alleged disclosures were too limited to be
considered public.
A s for B YU , its disclosure in a court pleading that M r. Raiser has a “know n
. . . psychiatric history” was protected by Utah’s judicial-proceeding privilege.
To qualify for the privilege, the challenged statements “must be (1) made during
or in the course of a judicial proceeding; (2) have some reference to the subject
matter of the proceeding; and (3) be made by someone acting in the capacity of
judge, juror, witness, litigant, or counsel.” DeBry v. Godbe, 992 P.2d 979, 983
(U tah 1999) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Russell v. Thom son
Newspapers, Inc., 842 P.2d 896, 906 n.37 (Utah 1992) (extending the privilege to
invasion-of-privacy claims). The statement concerning M r. Raiser’s mental
health was relevant to M r. Raiser’s claim in Raiser I that the police had abused
and mistreated him.
M r. Raiser appears to seek an exception to the judicial-proceeding privilege
when the district court has neither sealed nor conducted an in camera review of a
document before allowing “a disclosure of highly sensitive information obtained
through an unlawful act.” Aplt. Br. at 43. But he cites no authority for the
proposition, nor are we aware of any. See Rios v. Ziglar, 398 F.3d 1201, 1206 n.3
(10th Cir. 2005) (“To make a sufficient argument on appeal, a party must advance
a reasoned argument . . . and it must support its argument with legal authority.”
(internal citation omitted)).
-8- To the extent that M r. Raiser is claiming that BYU made other disclosures,
none were public, so there would be no liability. See Shattuck-Owen, 16 P.3d at
558. W e conclude that the district court did not err in granting summary
judgment on M r. Raiser’s privacy claims.
B. Establishment Clause
The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause provides that “C ongress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” U.S. Const., amend. I.
This proscription applies to the States via the Fourteenth Amendment. See
Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U .S. 296, 303-04 (1940). An Establishment Clause
violation occurs if (1) the challenged government action lacks a secular purpose;
(2) the action’s principal or primary effect advances or inhibits religion; or (3) the
action fosters an excessive governmental entanglement with religion. Utah
Gospel M ission v. Salt Lake City Corp., 425 F.3d 1249, 1259 (10th Cir. 2005).
M r. Raiser’s claim is of the excessive-entanglement variety. He alleged that the
“[state] statute . . . which allows [BYU] to maintain a state empow ered police
force . . . fosters an excessive governmental entanglement with religion,” and that
“[t]he state/church entanglement has injured Plaintiff . . . [by] allow[ing] private
information concerning Plaintiff to be exchanged between [BYU] and its police.”
R., Vol. 1, Doc. 1 (Compl. at 8, ¶¶ 67, 71); id., Doc. 65 (Am. Compl. at 5, ¶¶ 45,
49).
-9- To have standing to assert an Establishment Clause violation, M r. Raiser
“must allege personal injury fairly traceable to [BYU’s] allegedly unlawful
conduct and likely to be redressed by the requested relief.” O’Connor v.
Washburn Univ., 416 F.3d 1216, 1222 (10th Cir. 2005) (emphasis omitted), cert.
denied, 126 S. Ct. 1469 (2006). Conducting de novo review, see Raiser v. United
States, 325 F.3d 1182, 1183 (10th Cir. 2002), we agree with the district court that
M r. Raiser lacks standing. Nothing in the record suggests that M r. Raiser’s injury
from the alleged exchange of private information between BY U and its police
force occurred because of any entanglement betw een government and religion.
As far as this case is concerned, the relationship between BY U and its police
force was indistinguishable from that between a secular private university and its
police force. There was simply no religious component to the police force’s
conduct. M r. Raiser’s argument amounts to saying that liability arises under the
Establishment Clause for any conduct by the police force of a university
controlled by a religious denomination.
M r. Raiser argues that nevertheless the district court could not rule that he
lacked standing, because “BY U never challenged injury due to excessive
entanglement.” Aplt. Br. at 46. But even if a defendant fails to raise any
standing defense, the federal courts must still consider the issue of standing sua
sponte to ensure that there is subject-matter jurisdiction. United States v. Colo.
Sup. Ct., 87 F.3d 1161, 1166 (10th Cir. 1996). M r. Raiser also asserts that “BYU
-10- [h]as [a]dmitted [a]n Establishment Clause [v]iolation.” Aplt. Br. at 48. But w e
find no support in the record for that assertion. Of course, we would remand to
the district court to consider a standing argument raised for the first time on
appeal if the plaintiff had been deprived of the opportunity to marshall evidence
that would support standing; but M r. Raiser does not suggest w hat possible
evidence he could add on this matter if given an opportunity.
W e conclude that the district court properly ruled that M r. Raiser lacked
standing to proceed under the Establishment Clause.
II. Discovery
M r. Raiser appears to argue that summary judgment was inappropriate
because he was hampered in his discovery efforts by the district court, BYU, and
the Church. W e review discovery rulings for an abuse of discretion. See
Champagne M etals, 458 F.3d at 1082 n.7.
Among other things, M r. Raiser claims that (1) he was denied the
opportunity to depose Davis by telephone; (2) he was not allowed to reschedule
Davis’s deposition; (3) he was denied any opportunity to depose Thomas; (4) the
district court found that “BYU was not being cooperative, but only required them
to answer 2 of the Interrogatories,” Aplt. Br. at 18, which were not signed by an
attorney of record, id. at 34; (5) the district court would not require BYU to
produce the “Access Committee notes regarding the Bramhall-Thomas
conversations,” id. at 19; and (6) BYU failed to answer various discovery
-11- requests. But even if these claims were valid, the alleged errors did not affect the
outcome of the case. None of the discovery sought would render public any
disclosure by the Church or undermine BYU’s judicial-proceeding privilege.
Accordingly, we reject M r. Raiser’s discovery argument as moot. Cf. Kirkland v.
St. Vrain Valley Sch. Dist. No. Re-1J, 464 F.3d 1182, 1197 (2006) (discovery
dispute moot because the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity in any
event).
III. Pleading Am endment
M r. Raiser argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to add
a breach-of-confidence claim to the complaint. W e review for an abuse of
discretion the denial of a motion to amend the complaint. E.SPIRE Comm., Inc.
v. N.M . Pub. Regulation Comm’n, 392 F.3d 1204, 1211 (10th Cir. 2004). “A
court properly may deny a motion for leave to amend as futile when the proposed
amended complaint would be subject to dismissal for any reason, including that
the amendment would not survive a motion for summary judgment.” Id. (internal
quotation marks omitted).
The district court denied M r. Raiser’s motion as futile. W e agree. Utah’s
judicial-proceeding privilege would apply to this claim. See Russell, 842 P.2d at
906 n.37. And communications within the BYU administration would not have
breached any promise of confidentiality.
-12- IV. Use of a Pseudonym
Finally, M r. Raiser challenges the district court’s denial of his motion for
sanctions against the Church for revealing his identity while his motion to use a
pseudonym was still under consideration. The district court ultimately denied M r.
Raiser’s motion to use a pseudonym, and another panel of this court affirmed,
observing that Raiser I also included an unsuccessful interlocutory appeal on the
pseudonym issue, and that afterward M r. Raiser’s identity remained in the public
domain in connection with the litigation. See Raiser v. Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-D ay Saints, 182 F. App’x 810, 811 (10th Cir. 2006). The district court did
not abuse its discretion in denying the motion for sanctions. See Australian Gold,
Inc. v. Hatfield, 436 F.3d 1228, 1243 (10th Cir. 2006) (“[W]e review a district
court’s decision whether or not to impose sanctions . . . for an abuse of
discretion.”).
The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED. 2
Entered for the Court
Harris L Hartz Circuit Judge
2 M r. Raiser’s motions to strike and for the same panel to hear this appeal and appeal No. 06-4116 are denied. M r. Raiser’s motions for an extension of time, for “Actual Justices [to] Decide the Above M otions,” and for a panel member to draft the disposition are denied as moot.
-13-