Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/742/142/213828/
Timestamp: 2020-02-16 22:24:28
Document Index: 353546349

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1341', '§ 1341', '§ 1983', '§ 1341', '§ 1988', '§ 1341']

Ophus A. Hutcherson, Jr., W.h. Houseman, A.w. Lynch, Brucehiggins, O.k. Tench, Kenneth D. Campbell, Allen Perdue,james Bouseman, Jackson Jewell, J. Carl Poindexter, Who Sueon Behalf of Themselves and All Others Similarly Situated, Appellants,anda. Dale Brown, Richard O. Angle, Harold E. Palmer, Paulsmith, Joseph Fordham, Roger Flowers, Dickrobertson, Plaintiffs, v. Board of Supervisors of Franklin County, Virginia; Town Ofrocky Mount, Virginia, Appellees, 742 F.2d 142 (4th Cir. 1984) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Fourth Circuit › 1984 › Ophus A. Hutcherson, Jr., W.h. Houseman, A.w. Lynch, Brucehiggins, O.k. Tench, Kenneth D. Campbell,...
Ophus A. Hutcherson, Jr., W.h. Houseman, A.w. Lynch, Brucehiggins, O.k. Tench, Kenneth D. Campbell, Allen Perdue,james Bouseman, Jackson Jewell, J. Carl Poindexter, Who Sueon Behalf of Themselves and All Others Similarly Situated, Appellants,anda. Dale Brown, Richard O. Angle, Harold E. Palmer, Paulsmith, Joseph Fordham, Roger Flowers, Dickrobertson, Plaintiffs, v. Board of Supervisors of Franklin County, Virginia; Town Ofrocky Mount, Virginia, Appellees, 742 F.2d 142 (4th Cir. 1984)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit - 742 F.2d 142 (4th Cir. 1984) Argued Dec. 7, 1983. Decided Aug. 23, 1984. Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Oct. 1, 1984
The Town and the County moved to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that such action was barred by the Tax Anti-Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1341, and that in any event a cause of action was not stated. The district court dismissed the case without opinion.
The Tax Anti-Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1341, provides that " [t]he district courts shall not enjoin, suspend or restrain the assessment, levy or collection of any tax under State law where a plain, speedy and efficient remedy may be had in the courts of such State."
The Supreme Court has consistently construed Sec. 1341 to drastically limit federal court intervention into state tax matters. Rosewell v. LaSalle National Bank, 450 U.S. 503, 522, 101 S. Ct. 1221, 1233, 67 L. Ed. 2d 464 (1981). We have given that statute a similar construction. Strescon Ind. v. Cohen, 664 F.2d 929 (4th Cir. 1981). The statute in terms forbids injunctions and the Court has specifically held that Sec. 1341 bars federal suits seeking declaratory relief so long as a plain, speedy and efficient state remedy exists. California v. Grace Brethren Church, 457 U.S. 393, 408, 102 S. Ct. 2498, 2507, 73 L. Ed. 2d 93 (1982). The principles of comity bar federal courts from considering suits for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging a state tax, providing adequate state remedies exist. Fair Assessment in Real Estate Assoc. v. McNary, 454 U.S. 100, 102 S. Ct. 177, 70 L. Ed. 2d 271 (1981).
Clearly, plaintiffs are barred from seeking federal court review if Virginia provides them a plain, speedy and efficient state court remedy. The state remedy must meet certain minimal procedural criteria. Rosewell, supra, 450 U.S. at 512, 101 S. Ct. at 1228. It is a plain, speedy and efficient remedy if it "provides the taxpayer with a 'full hearing and judicial determination' at which ... the taxpayer may raise any and all constitutional objections to the tax." Id., 450 U.S., at 514, 515 n. 19, 101 S. Ct. at 1229, 1230 n. 19, quoting LaSalle National Bank v. County of Cook, 57 Ill. 2d 318, 324, 312 N.E.2d 252, 255-6 (1974). In Rosewell the Court approved a state court remedy that required a taxpayer to pay the tax under protest and then seek a refund, although if the taxpayer ultimately prevailed the tax was refunded but no interest was paid.
We are thus of opinion that Virginia offers plaintiffs in her courts the opportunity for a plain, speedy and efficient remedy within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1341.
Plaintiffs next challenge the award of attorneys' fees to the Town and the County as prevailing parties under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Such fees are allowable in the court's discretion when a suit is unreasonable, frivolous, or meritless within the meaning of Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U.S. 412, 98 S. Ct. 694, 54 L. Ed. 2d 648 (1978).
When plaintiffs initiated this action, the law was settled both by statute and decision that a federal court could not entertain such a suit for injunctive relief unless no plain, speedy and efficient state court remedy existed. McNary precluded a suit for damages. Any doubt that an action for discretionary declaratory relief could be maintained after Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Huffman, 319 U.S. 293, 63 S. Ct. 1070, 87 L. Ed. 1407 (1943), was dispelled one month after the complaint was filed in this case by the Supreme Court in Grace Brethren Church which decided that declaratory relief was simply not available because of 28 U.S.C. § 1341. Following that decision, however, the plaintiffs amended their complaint to ask for more, rather than less, declaratory relief. And so the case was when it came on for hearing.
In light of the settled principles of law existing before the filing of this action and handed down during the action, all before the hearing in the district court, we conclude that plaintiffs' suit is meritless within the meaning of Christiansburg Garment Co., in that it is unreasonable or groundless and that the plaintiffs continued to litigate after it clearly became so. Christiansburg Garment Co., 434 U.S., at 422, 98 S. Ct. at 700.
The district court, having found that plaintiffs' action was frivolous as a matter of fact and law, was ever so careful in its assessment of attorneys' fees. It required affidavits showing literal item by item compliance with the twelve criteria established in this circuit in Barber v. Kimbrell's Inc., 577 F.2d 216, 226, note 28 (4th Cir. 1978).
The Seventh Circuit has affirmed the award of attorneys' fees in a similar case. Werch v. City of Berlin, 673 F.2d 192 (7th Cir. 1982)