Source: https://www.kassounilaw.com/constitutional-law/constitutional-law-government-and-land-use-matters/lynch-v-household-finance/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 22:35:49+00:00

Document:
Lynch v. Household Finance Corp.
Appellee Household Finance Corp. sued appellant Lynch in state court alleging nonpayment of a promissory note, and, prior to serving her with process, garnished her savings account under Connecticut law authorizing summary pre-judicial garnishment. Appellant challenged the validity of the state statutes under the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, and sought declaratory and injunctive relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and its jurisdictional counterpart, 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3). The District Court dismissed the complaint on the grounds (1) that it lacked jurisdiction under § 1343(3), as that section applies only if “personal” rights, as opposed to “property” rights, are impaired, and (2) that relief was barred by 28 U.S.C. § 2283, proscribing injunctions against state court proceedings. Held: 1. There is no distinction between personal liberties and proprietary rights with respect to jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3). Pp. 405 U. S. 542-552. (a) Neither the language nor the legislative history of that section distinguishes between personal and property rights. Pp. 405 U. S. 543-546. (b) There is no conflict between that section and 28 U.S.C. § 1331, and the legislative history of § 1331 does not provide any basis for narrowing the scope of § 1343(3) jurisdiction. Pp. 405 U. S. 546-550. (c) It would be virtually impossible to apply a “personal liberties” limitation on § 1343(3), as there is no real dichotomy between personal liberties and property rights. It has long been recognized that rights in property are basic civil rights. Pp. 405 U. S. 550-552. 2. Prejudgment garnishment under the Connecticut statutes is levied and maintained without the participation of the state courts, and thus an injunction against such action is not barred by the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 2283. Pp. 405 U. S. 552-556. 318 F.Supp. 1111, reversed and remanded.
the garnishment statute. [Footnote 2] Mrs. Lynch alleged that she had no prior notice of the garnishment and no opportunity to be heard. She claimed that the state statutes were invalid under the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, and sought declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 [Footnote 3] and its jurisdictional counterpart, 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3). [Footnote 4] A district court of three judges was convened to hear the claim under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2281 and 2284.
The District Court did not reach the merits of the case. It dismissed the complaint without an evidentiary hearing on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction under § 1343(3), and that relief was bared by the statute prohibiting injunctions against state court proceedings, 28 U.S.C. § 2283. 318 F.Supp. 1111. We noted probable jurisdiction, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1253, [Footnote 5] to consider the jurisdictional issues presented. 401 U.S. 935.
We hold, for the reasons that follow, that neither § 1343(3) nor § 2283 warranted dismissal of the appellant’s complaint. Accordingly, we remand the case to the District Court for consideration of the remaining issues in this litigation.
In dismissing the appellant’s complaint, the District Court held that § 1343(3) applies only if “personal” rights, as opposed to “property” rights, are allegedly impaired. The court relied on the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Eisen v. Eastman, 421 F.2d 560, 563, which rested, in turn, on Mr. Justice Stone’s well known opinion a generation ago in Hague v. CIO, 307 U. S. 496, 307 U. S. 531. See also, e.g., Weddle v. Director, 436 F.2d 342; Bussie v. Long, 383 F.2d 766; Howard v. Higgins, 379 F.2d 227. This Court has never adopted the distinction between personal liberties and proprietary rights as a guide to the contours of § 1343(3) jurisdiction. [Footnote 6] Today we expressly reject that distinction.
to basic civil rights. Sullivan v. Little Hunting Park, 396 U. S. 229, 396 U. S. 237. Acquisition, enjoyment, and alienation of property were among those rights. Jones v. Mayer Co., 392 U. S. 409, 392 U. S. 432. [Footnote 8] The Fourteenth Amendment vindicated for all persons the rights established by the Act of 1866. Monroe, supra, at 365 U. S. 171; Hague, supra, at 307 U. S. 509-510. “It cannot be doubted that among the civil rights intended to be protected from discriminatory state action by the Fourteenth Amendment are the rights to acquire, enjoy, own and dispose of property. Equality in the enjoyment of property rights was regarded by the framers of that Amendment as an essential pre-condition to the realization of other basic civil rights and liberties which the Amendment was intended to guarantee.” Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U. S. 1, 334 U. S. 10. See also Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U. S. 60, 245 U. S. 74-79; H. Flack, The Adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment 75-78, 81, 997 (1908); J. tenBroek, The Anti-slavery Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment (1951).
The broad concept of civil rights embodied in the 1866 Act and in the Fourteenth Amendment is unmistakably evident in the legislative history of § 1 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 17 Stat. 13, the direct lineal ancestor of §§ 1983 and 1343(3). Not only was § 1 of the 1871 Act derived from § 2 of the 1866 Act, [Footnote 9] but the 1871 Act was passed for the express purpose of “enforc[ing] the Provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment.” 17 Stat. 13. And the rights that Congress sought to protect in the Act of 1871 were described by the chairman of the House Select Committee that drafted the legislation as “the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right to acquire and possess property of every kind, and to pursue and obtain happiness and safety.” Cong.Globe, 42d Cong., 1st Sess., App. 69, (1871) (Rep. Shellabarger, quoting from Corfield v. Coryell, 6 F.Cas. 546, 551-552 (No. 3230) (CCED Pa.)).
before us presents a good example of the conceptual difficulties created by the test. [Footnote 21] Such difficulties indicate that the dichotomy between personal liberties and property rights is a false one. Property does not have rights. People have rights. The right to enjoy property without unlawful deprivation, no less than the right to speak or the right to travel, is, in truth, a “personal” right, whether the “property” in question be a welfare check, a home, or a savings account. In fact, a fundamental interdependence exists between the personal right to liberty and the personal right in property. Neither could have meaning without the other. That rights in property are basic civil rights has long been recognized. J. Locke, Of Civil Government 82-85 (1924); J. Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, in F. Coker, Democracy, Liberty, and Property 121-132 (1942); 1 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *138-140. Congress recognized these rights in 1871 when it enacted the predecessor of §§ 1983 and 1343(3). We do no more than reaffirm the judgment of Congress today.
of law — with its far-flung and undefined range — would invite a flanking movement against the system of State courts by resort to the federal forum, with review if need be to this Court, to determine the issue.” 342 U.S. at 342 U. S. 123. Such resort, if permitted, “would provide ready opportunities, which conscientious counsel might be bound to employ, to subvert the orderly, effective prosecution of local crime in local courts.” Id. at 342 U. S. 123-124. Appellee Barrett invokes Younger and companion cases as a ground for affirming the judgment of the District Court. Of course, those cases involved federal injunctions against state criminal proceedings, but the relevant consideration, in my view, are equally applicable where state civil litigation is in progress, as is here the case. [Footnote 2/2] I would affirm the judgment of the court below. [Footnote 2/1] Some confusion persists whether a federal court may, consistently with § 2283, enjoin the operation of a state court judgment procured by fraud. See C. Wright, Law of Federal Courts 179-181 (2d ed.1970). That question is not presented here. [Footnote 2/2] I thus would affirm whether or not 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is an exception to the bar of § 2283. That question is at issue in Mitchum v. Foster, No. 70-27, now sub judice.
This Supreme Court Ruling has been posted by the Constitutional Property Rights Lawyers at Kassouni Law for reference only. Please see official court documents when citing this decision -Lynch v. Household Finance Corporation.

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