Schoen v. Sulton

297 F. Supp. 538, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9101
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMarch 14, 1969
DocketCiv. A. No. 19922
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 297 F. Supp. 538 (Schoen v. Sulton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schoen v. Sulton, 297 F. Supp. 538, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9101 (D. Md. 1969).

Opinion

NORTHROP, District Judge.

This controversy began when the plaintiffs, who are neighbors of the defendants, filed suit to enjoin a nuisance in the Circuit Court of Prince George’s County.1 Defendants petitioned to remove the case to this court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1443(1). After removal to this court the defendants answered and counter-claimed against the original plaintiff and other neighbors. The gist of this entanglement is that Schoen and other neighbors who originally joined in his complaint allege that Sulton and his wife, an interracial couple, have caused incessant turmoil in their neighborhood including arguing, bickering, and assaulting various neighbors culminating in false accusations to the local police, the FBI, and other agencies of the government. Defendants allege in' their counterclaim and by way of defense that it is the plaintiffs and other neighbors, motivated by racial prejudice to their marriage, who have threatened and harassed [539]*539them with firecrackers, racial epithets, and other harassing action including false accusations to the Department of Defense (where Sulton works) and the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (Mrs. Sulton, French by birth, is a naturalized citizen). Schoen and the other original plaintiffs now seek to challenge the propriety of removal of this case to the federal court.

Removal was pursuant to the civil rights’ removal provisions of § 1443(1) of Title 28 which read:

Any of the following civil actions or criminal prosecutions, commenced in a State court may be removed by the defendant to the district court of the United States for the district and division embracing the place wherein it is pending:
(1) Against any person who is denied or cannot enforce in the courts of such State a right under any law providing for the equal civil rights of citizens of the United States, or of all persons within the jurisdiction thereof * * *.

It is the position of Schoen that this case can properly be removed only if two qualifications are present: (1) the cause of action instituted in the state court is one which infringes upon civil rights specifically granted or protected by a federal law, and (2) these rights will be denied or cannot be enforced in the state courts. Defendant Sulton and his wife would have us hold that the bringing of this suit in the state court is in itself a denial of the civil rights of the defendants. Sulton contends that this suit has been brought or motivated by racial prejudice to harass Sulton and his wife and, thus, the suit itself is in violation of the defendants’ federal civil rights to own and enjoy property and home as guaranteed by 42 U.S.C. § 1982 and 42 U.S.C. § 3617 (§ 817 of the Fair Housing Act of 1968).2 Defendant also argues that this court must hold an evidentiary hearing (which, as a practical matter, would involve hearing the entire substantive case) to decide if the Schoen suit is motivated by racial prejudice. According to the defendants, if this court so finds racial motivation, it must halt or insure the cessation of further state court proceedings against the Sultons. Counsel for Sulton concedes that under the procedure he has outlined, if the court determines the suit is not racially motivated, then the case must be returned to the state court. In support of his theory, defendant primarily relies upon two cases, Georgia v. Rachel, 384 U.S. 780, 86 S.Ct. 1783, 16 L.Ed. 2d 295 (1966) and City of Greenwood v. Peacock, 384 U.S. 808, 86 S.Ct. 1800, 16 L.Ed.2d 944 (1966).

Upon consideration of defendants’ theory and his authorities, the court emphatically agrees with the plaintiff that the case must be remanded to the state courts. While all citizens have a right to be free from vexatious litigation and, assuming without deciding that plaintiffs have a right under federal civil rights’ legislation to be free from legal and other harassments in owning and enjoying their home, the mere fact that one party believes that a suit has been brought to vex him is not cause to remove that case to federal court. To remove a case to federal court one must have more than an infringement of a federally-protected civil right; there must be showing that the state courts will not fairly enforce that right, Baines v. City of Danville, 357 F.2d 756 (4th Cir. 1966); Maryland v. Brown, 295 F. Supp. 63 (D.Md.1968). See also House v. Dorsey, 408 F.2d 1008, decided by the [540]*540United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on November 22, 1968.3

Here there has been no showing and no allegation that the courts of Prince George’s County, Maryland, or any other county4 are racially prejudiced as to the defendants so as to deny their legitimate federal civil rights or any other rights which they seek to enforce. If after hearing the evidence in this case, the state court determines that the Schoen suit has been brought to vex and harass defendants and is motivated by racial prejudice, it has full judicial power to remedy that wrong. Indeed, whatever decision the state court may reach in this matter as a local court it is in far better position to judge the injunctive needs, if any, of these people and to enforce any remedy it might choose to grant.

Rachel and Peacock, contrary to the defendants’ argument, support the position this court has taken. In Rachel the defendants alleged that they were in-dieted in a Georgia state proceeding for criminal trespass resulting from their peaceful efforts to obtain service at privately owned Alabama restaurants open to the general public, but not to members of the Negro race, and that these arrests occurred solely in the context of racial discrimination. The Court agreed that if the allegations were true, removal was warranted because

“The removal petition alleges, in effect, that the defendants refused to leave facilities of public accommodation, when ordered to do so solely for racial reasons, and that they are charged under a Georgia trespass statute that makes it a criminal offense to refuse to obey such an order. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, however, as Hamm v. City of Rock Hill, 379 U.S. 306, 85 S.Ct. 384, 13 L.Ed.2d 300 (1964), made clear, protects those who refuse to obey such an order not only from conviction in state courts, but from prosecution in those courts. * * * Hence, if as alleged in the present removal petition, the defendants were asked to leave solely for racial reasons, then the mere pendency of the prosecutions enables the federal court to make the clear prediction that the defendants will be ‘denied or cannot enforce in the courts of [the] State’ the right to be free of any ‘attempt to punish’ them for protected activity.

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Related

Williams v. Tri-County Community Center
323 F. Supp. 286 (S.D. Mississippi, 1971)
Schoen v. Sulton
411 F.2d 793 (Fourth Circuit, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
297 F. Supp. 538, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schoen-v-sulton-mdd-1969.