Case Title: Paquette v. Regal Art Press

Citation: 163 Vt 610, 656 A.2d 209

Docket Number: 

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1994-12-30T00:00:00Z

Document:
PAQUETTE_V_REGAL_ART_PRESS.94-151; 163 Vt 610; 656 A.2d 209

[Filed 30-Dec-1994]

                           ENTRY ORDER

                 SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 94-151

                       NOVEMBER TERM, 1994


Linda Paquette               }         APPEALED FROM:
                             }
                             }
     v.                      }         Franklin Superior Court
                             }
Regal Art Press, Inc.        }
                             }         DOCKET NO. S173-91Fc


        In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter:

  Plaintiff appeals from an adverse judgment on the pleadings dismissing her
anti- discrimination claim.  We reverse and remand for further proceedings. 

  In 1990, plaintiff asked defendant, a printer, to print membership cards
for Vermont Catholics for Free Choice.  Defendant, through its owners,
refused to print the membership cards.  Plaintiff filed a complaint in
superior court seeking a declaratory judgment that defendant's refusal to do
business with plaintiff on the grounds of her creed violated 9 V.S.A. 
4502(a) (prohibiting discrimination in places of public accommodation).  She
also sought a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining defendant from
such refusal.  Defendant answered, disavowing any discriminatory conduct. 
Defendant also raised numerous affirmative defenses, including defendant's
rights to the free exercise of religion, freedom of association and free
speech under the First Amendment of United States Constitution. 

  Following discovery, defendant moved for summary judgment.  The court
denied the motion, concluding that defendant's motive remained a genuine
issue of material fact.  Defendant subsequently moved for judgment on the
pleadings, pursuant to V.R.C.P. 12(c).  The court denied the motion, then,
sua sponte, the court reopened defendant's Rule 12(c) motion and requested
further briefing by both parties.  Concluding that enforcing 9 V.S.A.  4502
would burden defendant's First Amendment right to free exercise of its
religion by forcing it to assist in disseminating a message contrary to its
religious beliefs, the court reversed its earlier order, and granted
defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings.  Plaintiff appeals. 

  A motion for judgment on the pleadings may be granted only when the moving
party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the basis of the
pleadings.  Thayer v. Herdt, 155 Vt. 448, 456, 586 A.2d 1122, 1126 (1990).
"`For the purposes of the motion, all well pleaded factual allegations in the
nonmovant's pleadings and all reasonable inferences that can be drawn
therefrom are assumed to be true and all contravening assertions in the
movant's pleadings are taken to be false.'" Id. (quoting Bressler v. Keller,
139 Vt. 401, 403,