Villas at Parkside Partners v. City of Farmers Branch

726 F.3d 524, 2013 WL 3791664
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJuly 23, 2013
Docket10-10751
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 726 F.3d 524 (Villas at Parkside Partners v. City of Farmers Branch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Villas at Parkside Partners v. City of Farmers Branch, 726 F.3d 524, 2013 WL 3791664 (5th Cir. 2013).

Opinions

HIGGINSON, Circuit Judge,

joined by CARL E. STEWART, Chief Judge, and W. EUGENE DAVIS, LESLIE H. SOUTHWICK, and HAYNES, Circuit Judges.

“America’s history has long been a story of immigrants.”1 That story, a complicated history of inclusion and exclusion,2 has unfolded according to law, but also contrary to law. See Ex parte Kumezo Kawato, 317 U.S. 69, 73-74, 63 S.Ct. 115, 87 L.Ed. 58 (1942) (the United States is “a country whose life blood came from an immigrant stream.”). As the Supreme Court has emphasized — and indeed, as a constitutional imperative — a country’s treatment of non-citizens within its borders can gravely affect foreign relations. Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 62-68, 61 S.Ct. 399, 85 L.Ed. 581 (1941); Arizona v. United States, — U.S.-, 132 S.Ct. 2492, 2498-99, 183 L.Ed.2d 351 (2012) (“It is fundamental that foreign countries concerned about the status, safety, and security of their nationals in the United States must be able to confer and communicate on this subject with one national sovereign, not the 50 separate States.”).

The Ordinance at issue in this ease and passed by the active citizens of the City of Farmers Branch (“Farmers Branch”) seeks to regulate non-citizens who reside in the United States contrary to law. Farmers Branch, Tex., Ordinance 2952 (Jan. 22, 2008), permanently enjoined by Villas at Parkside Partners v. City of Farmers Branch, Tex., 701 F.Supp.2d 835, 861 (N.D.Tex.2010). Farmers Branch classifies these non-citizens as persons “not lawfully present in the United States.” Id. at §§ 1(D)(2); 3(D)(2). Responding to an “aroused popular consciousness,” Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 270, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting), and frustration at the perceived lack of federal enforcement of immigration law, Farmers Branch sought to “prevent” such persons from renting housing in the city. The district court concluded, inter alia, that the Ordinance was conflict preempted under federal law. Villas at Parkside Partners, 701 F.Supp.2d at 861. Because we hold that the Ordinance’s criminal offense and penalty provisions and its state judicial review process conflict with federal law, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

1. Farmers Branch, Texas, Ordinance 2952

Ordinance 2952 sets forth licensing provisions and criminal sanctions. The Ordinance requires individuals to obtain a license before occupying a rented apartment or “single-family residence.” Ordinance 2952 at §§ 1(B)(1); 3(B)(1). For persons not declaring themselves citizens or nationals of the United States, Farmers Branch’s building inspector must verify “with the federal government whether the occupant is an alien lawfully present in the United States.” Id. at §§ 1(D)(1); 3(D)(1). Upon such inquiry, if the federal government twice “reports” that the occupant is “not lawfully present in the United States,” then the building inspector must revoke the occupant’s license after notifying both the occupant and the landlord. Id. at §§ l(D)(l)-(4); 3(D)(l)-(4). The Ordinance provides that “[a]ny landlord or occupant who has received a deficiency [527]*527notice or a revocation notice may seek judicial review of the notice by filing suit against the building inspector in a court of competent jurisdiction in Dallas County, Texas.” Id. at §§ 1(E)(1); 3(E)(1).

The Ordinance’s criminal provisions prohibit persons from occupying a rented apartment or single-family residence without first obtaining a valid license, id. at §§ 1(C)(1); 3(C)(1); 5, and making a false statement of fact on a license application, id. at §§ 1(C)(2); 3(C)(2); 5. Landlords, in turn, are prohibited from renting an apartment or single-family residence without obtaining licenses from the occupants, id. at §§ 1(C)(4); 3(C)(4); 5, failing to maintain copies of licenses from all known occupants, id. at §§ 1(C)(5); 3(C)(5); 5, failing to include a lease provision stating that occupancy by a person without a valid license constitutes default, id. at 1(C)(6); 3(C)(6); 5, and allowing an occupant to inhabit an apartment without a valid license, id. at 1(C)(7); 3(C)(7); 5. If a landlord commits the criminal offense of knowingly permitting an occupant to remain in an apartment or single-family residence without a valid license, id. at §§ 1(C)(7); 3(C)(7), then the building inspector shall suspend the landlord’s rental license until the landlord submits a sworn affidavit stating that the occupancy has ended, id. at §§ (D)(5)-(7); (D)(5)-(7). A landlord may appeal the suspension of a rental license to the city council. Id. at §§ 1(D)(8); 3(D)(8). The Ordinance also criminalizes creating, possessing, selling or distributing a counterfeit license. Id. at §§ 1(C)(3), 3(C)(3), 5.

These seven offenses are Class C criminal misdemeanors punishable by a fine of $500 upon conviction, see Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 12.41(3) (West 2009); State v. Chacon, 273 S.W.3d 375, 377 n. 2 (Tex.App.2008); Ordinance 2952 at §§ 1(C); 3(C); 5, with a separate offense deemed committed each day that a violation occurs or continues, id. at § 5. In Texas, local police may make arrests for Class C misdemeanors. See Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 14.01(b), 14.06(a)-(b) (West 2011).

II. Supremacy Clause Litigation and the Supreme Court’s Intervening Decision in Arizona v. United States

Two groups of plaintiffs, 0 comprised of landlords and tenants, sued the City, seeking to enjoin the Ordinance. Villas at Parkside Partners v. City of Farmers Branch, 701 F.Supp.2d 835 (N.D.Tex.2010). The district court found the Ordinance to be preempted under the Supremacy Clause, both as an improper regulation of immigration because it “applies federal immigration classifications for purposes not authorized or contemplated by federal law,” id. at 860; see generally DeCanas v. Bica, 424 U.S. 351, 355, 96 S.Ct. 933, 47 L.Ed.2d 43 (1976), and also as an obstacle to the “comprehensive federal” scheme for “removing aliens or adjudicating their status for that purpose,” which the district court described as “structured, in part, to allow federal discretion and to permit in appropriate circumstances a legal adjustment in an alien’s status,” id. at 860-61. The district court therefore granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs on their Supremacy Clause claim and permanently enjoined enforcement of the Ordinance. Id. at 860-61.

After a panel of our court affirmed the district court judgment, Villas at Parkside Partners v. City of Farmers Branch, 675 F.3d 802 (5th Cir.2012), the Supreme Court issued its decision in Arizona, 132 S.Ct. 2492, which comprehensively set forth the reasons why federal law preempted various provisions of Arizona law relating to non-citizens. That case concerned a Supremacy Clause challenge to various sections of an Arizona law known as S.B. 1070 that was enacted with the stated purpose of “ ‘discouraging] and [528]*528deter[ring] the unlawful entry and presence of aliens’ ” by “establishing] an official state policy of ‘attrition through enforcement.’ ” Arizona, 132 S.Ct. at 2497; cf. Arizona v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
726 F.3d 524, 2013 WL 3791664, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/villas-at-parkside-partners-v-city-of-farmers-branch-ca5-2013.