United States v. Rainbow Family

695 F. Supp. 314, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11297, 1988 WL 90938
District Court, E.D. Texas·Decided June 23, 1988·No. Civ. A. L-88-68-CA·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JUSTICE, Chief Judge.

This memorandum opinion addresses the demand of the plaintiff, the United States of America, for permanent injunctive relief against the defendants. As explained below, the demand will be granted in part; and a permanent injunction will be entered enjoining the defendants, in the class certified herein, from meeting, gathering, or assembling upon any National Forest System lands in the State of Texas, if they fail to comply with certain conditions necessary to protect the public health and safety.

I. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On May 6, 1988, the government filed its original complaint, demanding a permanent injunction, as well as a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction. The complaint named a number of defendants, including the Rainbow Family (also termed the Rainbow Nation, the Rainbow Family of Living Light, and the Gathering of the Tribes), the Rainbow Family Vision Council, the Rainbow Family Tribal Council, and the Rainbow Family Scout Council. These defendants comprise one form or another of a loosely-knit but identifiable association of persons who, for want of a better name, shall be referred to herein as the Rainbow Family. Among the activities of the Rainbow Family are various meetings, “councils,” or gatherings, often held in the United States National Forests, for the purposes of “celebrating life,” worship, expressing ideas and values, and associating with like-minded persons. The largest of these is the Rainbow Family Summer Gathering, which is held annually and has attracted as many as 20,000 people in the past. The Summer Gatherings typically begin in late May or June of each year, building to a climax over the July 4th holiday weekend. The 1988 Rainbow Family Summer Gathering has been set to take place in a National Forest in the State of Texas, and is the subject of this litigation.

*318 Several individual defendants are also named in the complaint, all of whom are purportedly associated with one or more of the Rainbow Family defendants listed above. Additionally, in a first amended complaint filed May 13, 1988, the government has moved for certification of a defendant class, which would include Rainbow Family members and all others who might seek to attend the 1988 Summer Gathering.

The original complaint alleged that the defendants intend to conduct the 1988 Summer Gathering without obtaining a “special use permit” in advance, as required by U.S. Forest Service regulations. The complaint further alleged that, preceding the Summer Gathering, smaller gatherings or “seed camps” would be instituted by Rainbow Family members, and would grow into the larger Summer Gathering. The plaintiff contends that such gatherings pose threats of irreparable harm to public health and safety, and to Forest Service lands and property, and that they will entail numerous instances of offensive or criminal conduct, such as public nudity, public disturbances, or use of illicit drugs.

The original complaint asserted four causes of action, based upon, respectively: violation of the Forest Service special use permit regulations, found at 36 C.F.R. Part 251 (1987); violation of the Texas Mass Gatherings Act, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Anno., art. 9002 (Vernon’s 1987), which requires permits from a county judge, for gatherings of more than 5,000 persons outside of an incorporated municipality; and the prospective creation of an alleged public nuisance under federal and state law. By way of relief, the government originally demanded that the defendants be restrained and enjoined from attending, participating, or preparing in any way for any gathering of twenty-five or more persons in the National Forests of the State of Texas, unless and until they had applied for and obtained a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service. 1

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636, the Honorable J. Michael Bradford, United States Magistrate, was designated to conduct hearings and to prepare recommendations for the disposition of both the application for a temporary restraining order and the demand for a preliminary injunction. A hearing on the application for temporary restraining order was conducted in Lufkin, Texas, on May 10, 1988, at which various individual defendants appeared, and the government presented evidence in support of its allegations. In a report delivered the same date, the magistrate recommended that the application for temporary restraining order be granted, primarily in view of alleged public health dangers and the difficulties authorities might have in controlling a gathering on National Forest lands, once substantial numbers of participants had arrived. The magistrate’s report and recommendations were adopted by the court, and a temporary restraining order was issued on May 12, 1988, enjoining the defendants from attending, conducting, or participating in any way in any meeting of twenty-five or more persons in any National Forest in the State of Texas, without first obtaining a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service. See Temporary Restraining Order, May 12, 1988, at 5-6.

Magistrate Bradford then conducted two days of further evidentiary hearings on the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, while the temporary restraining order was still in effect. The magistrate had been instructed, in the order adopting his recommendation, to take evidence and make recommendations concerning various objections raised by the defendants to the jurisdiction of the court and to the legality of the special use permit regulations. In a report dated May 27, 1988, the magistrate found that the Rainbow Family could be sued as an unincorporated association under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(b), and that the prerequisites to certification of a defendant class, under Federal Rule of *319 Civil Procedure 23(a), were present. The magistrate further found that the Forest Service’s special use permit regulations were lawfully adopted, would be applicable to the defendants, and would not (with the exception of one provision of the regulations) impermissibly burden the defendants’ constitutional rights under the First Amendment. He, therefore, recommended that the preliminary injunction be issued. See Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate, submitted May 27, 1988, at 12-13, 18-22.

In an order entered June 1, 1988, 695 F.Supp. 294, this court adopted the magistrate’s recommendations in part, and rejected them in part, and denied the government’s motion for a preliminary injunction. The magistrate’s recommendations that the Rainbow Family could be sued as an unincorporated association, and that the prerequisites to certification of a defendant class had been satisfied, were adopted over the defendants’ objections.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United States v. Rainbow Family, 695 F. Supp. 314, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11297, 1988 WL 90938 (E.D. Tex. 1988).

695 F. Supp. 314 (United States v. Rainbow Family) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Soto v. Commonwealth
139 S.W.3d 827 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2004)
Lionhart v. Foster
100 F. Supp. 2d 383 (E.D. Louisiana, 1999)
United States v. Johnson
988 F. Supp. 920 (W.D. North Carolina, 1997)
Leer v. Washington Education Ass'n
172 F.R.D. 439 (W.D. Washington, 1997)
Calmes v. United States
926 F. Supp. 582 (N.D. Texas, 1996)
State v. Quick
806 P.2d 907 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1991)
Planned Parenthood Asss'n v. Project Jericho
556 N.E.2d 157 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1990)
Frederick County Fruit Growers Ass'n v. McLaughlin
703 F. Supp. 1021 (District of Columbia, 1989)