Wallace v. Town of Palm Beach

624 F. Supp. 864, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23855
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedDecember 16, 1985
Docket83-8268-CIV
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 624 F. Supp. 864 (Wallace v. Town of Palm Beach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wallace v. Town of Palm Beach, 624 F. Supp. 864, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23855 (S.D. Fla. 1985).

Opinion

ORDER

ROETTGER, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs’ suit attacks as unconstitutional a Palm Beach ordinance, which requires an identification card to be issued to certain groups of employees, viz, domestic servants, taxi drivers, retail clerks, hotel, res„taurant, and bar employees, etc.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Plaintiffs, IGNATIUS WALLACE (“Wallace”) and ROCHELLE VANA (“Vana”), brought an action in this Court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to declare invalid and enjoin enforcement of Article V, Sections 17-92 and 17-94, Town of Palm Beach Code, 1 a registration ordinance enacted by Defendant, TOWN OF PALM BEACH (“Palm Beach”). In addition, Plaintiffs seek damages, attorneys fees and costs. Plaintiffs urge that the ordinance impermissibly infringes on rights secured to them under the United States Constitution: 1) the commerce clause (Article 1, § 8), 2) the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, 3) the Fourth Amendment guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure, 4) the right of privacy, 5) the right to travel, and 6) the privileges and immunities of United States citizenship.

Plaintiff, IGNATIUS WALLACE, is an adult black male citizen of the United States and a resident of West Palm Beach, Florida. 2 Plaintiff, ROCHELLE VANA, is an adult white female citizen of the United States and a resident of West Palm Beach, Florida.

Defendant, TOWN OF PALM BEACH, is a Florida municipal corporation located within the Southern District of Florida. Defendant, JOSEPH TERLIZZESE (“Terlizzese”), is Chief of Police of the Town of Palm Beach. Defendants, CHARLES WARWICK (“Warwick”), ROBERT GRACE (“Grace”) and PAUL ILYINSKY (“Ilyinsky”), were members of the Town Council when this action was filed, but were dismissed by Plaintiffs.

*866 At all material times, and in all their actions involved in this case, Defendants were acting under color of law and under color of their authority as public officials and public employees.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On February 25, 1983, Wallace applied for employment with the Breakers, a hotel located in the Town of Palm Beach. On March 2, 1983, Wallace was offered a job delivering ice at the minimum wage and advised that he was required to register with the Chief of Police.

2. Wallace went to register with the Chief of Police but was “anguished” about the fingerprint and photograph requirements and objected to the information regarding race on the identification card. Wallace was previously fingerprinted in the armed services, for purposes of employment with the Palm Beach School Board, and on a misdemeanor charge. Wallace claimed he did not have the $4.00 fee for the identification card so he refused to register and subsequently declined the employment.

3. Wallace next found part-time employment two (2) months later, but he did not secure full-time employment until six (6) months prior to trial. He now works as a television technician for a video supply company in Atlanta and earns more than the minimum wage. Wallace asserts he still desires employment in Palm Beach. The Court concluded at trial that Wallace’s testimony almost totally lacked credibility, except for some personal data.

4. Vana and her husband moved from Indiana to West Palm Beach to seek employment in Palm Beach, as well as for other personal reasons. 3 On the day after she arrived in Florida, Vana was hired as a waitress by the Sailfish Club of Florida, Inc. in Palm Beach at an annual salary of $12,000.00 to $14,000.00. After working at the Club for six (6) months, Vana first learned of the registration requirement when her husband was advised by his Palm Beach employer to comply with the ordinance. The Sailfish Club constitutes a “place handling liquor, beer or wine” within the meaning of Section 17-92, Town of Palm Beach Code.

5. On April 18, 1983, Vana and her husband went to register with the Chief of Police. Vana filled out the registration form but became so upset she began to cry and refused to be fingerprinted or sign the form, exclaiming, “This is America, not Russia!” 4 Vana explained her acute reaction to the fingerprint procedure as a result of her husband’s experience in Czechoslovakia; hówever, her husband made no objection and completed the registration procedure. Despite her stated revulsion to the fingerprint requirement, Vana willingly had submitted to being fingerprinted previously for purposes of employment both as a probation and parole officer and with the School Board. Vana testified that she did not object so much to the information requested but as to who had it (the police) and where she had to go to provide the information (the police station).

6. Testifying she feared arrest for not registering, Vana quit her job at the Sailfish Club on May 8, 1983, after securing employment as a waitress at Burdines in West Palm Beach. Vana told the Sailfish Club she left because the hours were better at Burdines. Vana is now employed full-time as a high school teacher and part-time as a waitress in Burdines earning more money than she made at the Sailfish Club. Vana asserts she still desires employment in a Palm Beach restaurant. The court found serious credibility contradictions in her testimony, as set forth in Findings 5 and 6.

7. Palm Beach is unique in its extremely high concentration of wealth and afflu-

*867 ence, not only among its homes, 5 but also in its businesses. This international resort area experiences a predictable population variation from 10,000 in the summer to 44,000 in the winter. Seasonal residents often travel with their domestic servants from out-of-state to winter in Palm Beach. A drive along the ocean, window-shopping on Worth Avenue, or a. stroll through the lobby of the Breakers Hotel attests to wealth that is probably higher per capita than anywhere else in this country. 6 Palm Beach is also unique in the many dignitaries who visit and reside in the town. 7 The Breakers Hotel, world-renowned, as well as one of the nation’s few five-star hotels, typically accommodates 900 to 950 guests in its 570 rooms, and serves as the site of major charity balls which attract affluent attendees. (The court can’t help but notice that the one charity ball in America attended by the Prince of Wales and Princess Diana was held at the Breakers despite its not being the tourist “season”.) The hotel is the largest employer in the town, operating with a base management staff of 800 to 850 and a total staff of as many as 1,200 employees. The Breakers has an agreement with Dartmouth College, which sends 25 to thirty (30) students every winter to work during the season.

8.

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