Opinion ID: 400927
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Family Rights

Text: 14 Freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life is one of the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494, 499, 97 S.Ct. 1932, 1935, 52 L.Ed.2d 531 (1977) (quoting Cleveland Board of Education v. Lafleur, 414 U.S. 632, 639-40, 94 S.Ct. 791, 796, 39 L.Ed.2d 52 (1974)). Halet contends that the adults-only policy infringed this due process right and discriminated against families with children in violation of the equal protection clause.
15 To maintain an action under the fourteenth amendment or § 1983, Halet must show state involvement. The under-color-of-state-law requirement of § 1983 is equivalent to the state action requirement of the fourteenth amendment. Arnold v. IBM Corp., 637 F.2d 1350, 1355 n.2 (9th Cir. 1981). 16 Halet's complaint alleged that the County leased the land to Wend. In Halet's opposition to the motion to dismiss he offered to amend his complaint to allege additional facts regarding state action. He again offered to amend his complaint at the hearing on the motion to dismiss. Nevertheless, the complaint was dismissed without leave to amend. 4 17 A denial of leave to amend is within the discretion of the district court and will be reversed if the district court abused its discretion. Waits v. Weller, 653 F.2d 1288, 1290 (9th Cir. 1981). The facts regarding state action provided by Halet in his opposition to the motion to dismiss in the district court and in his brief in this court, if true, establish state action. The district court abused its discretion in dismissing without leave to amend, 5 see Scott v. Eversole Mortuary, 522 F.2d 1110, 1116 (9th Cir. 1975), and a dismissal for lack of state action in light of these facts is erroneous. 18 In his opposition and in his brief, Halet alleges that: (1) the County owns the land leased to Wend for the apartment complex; (2) the County acquired and prepared the land using federal and state funds and used federal services in dredging the harbor in the redevelopment area; (3) the purchase of land was part of a large redevelopment program; (4) the County leased the land to Wend for the benefit of the public in providing housing; (5) the lease prohibits race or religious discrimination; (6) the County oversees the development of the area and the design of the buildings and had final approval of all plans; (7) the County controls the use and purpose of the apartment and the rent charged; (8) Wend pays a percentage of the rentals to the County; and (9) Wend must abide by all the conditions of the lease. 19 These allegations, if proved, would place the County in a position of interdependence such that it is a joint participant with Wend. See Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 365 U.S. 715, 81 S.Ct. 856, 6 L.Ed.2d 45 (1961) (city leased space in garage to restaurant, costs of acquisition and construction defrayed by city, benefit to city of proceeds in exchange for tax benefit to restaurant, city could have required non-discrimination); Geneva Towers Tenants Organization v. Federal Mortgage Investors, 504 F.2d 483 (9th Cir. 1974); Male v. Crossroads Ass'n., 469 F.2d 616 (2d Cir. 1972); Smith v. Holiday Inns of America, 336 F.2d 630 (6th Cir. 1964). Thus, there are sufficient allegations of state action to require reversal of the district court's dismissal of the County as a defendant and to permit Halet's claims under the fourteenth amendment.
20 The district court also explained its dismissal of the County saying that children are not an insular minority, see United States v. Carolene Products Co., 304 U.S. 144, 152-53 n.4, 58 S.Ct. 778, 783-84 n.4, 82 L.Ed. 1234 (1938), and that the policy therefore withstood the lesser degree of scrutiny required in equal protection claims when no suspect class is involved. Strict scrutiny is required, however, when the classification impermissibly interferes with the exercise of a fundamental right or operates to the peculiar disadvantage of a suspect class. Tsosie v. Califano, 630 F.2d 1328, 1337 (9th Cir. 1980) (quoting Massachussetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U.S. 307, 312, 96 S.Ct. 2562, 49 L.Ed.2d 520 (1976)), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 940, 101 S.Ct. 2022, 68 L.Ed.2d 328 (1981). A fundamental right may also require strict scrutiny under the due process clause. See Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494, 498-99, 97 S.Ct. 1932, 1935, 52 L.Ed.2d 531 (1976) (plurality opinion); Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 155, 93 S.Ct. 705, 728, 35 L.Ed.2d 137 (1973). 21 Family life, in particular the right of family members to live together, is part of the fundamental right of privacy. Moore, 431 U.S. at 498-99, 97 S.Ct. 1932, 1935, 52 L.Ed.2d 531 (plurality opinion) cited with approval in Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 375 at 385, 98 S.Ct. 673 at 680, 54 L.Ed.2d 618. The plurality opinion in Moore stated that when the government intrudes on choices concerning family living arrangements, this court must examine carefully the importance of the governmental interests advanced and the extent to which they are served by the challenged regulation. Moore, 431 U.S. at 499, 97 S.Ct. at 1935. The ordinance in Moore prohibited a household from including certain extended family members. The policy in this case prohibits a household from including immediate family members-that is children. A fundamental right is even more clearly involved here because the rental policy infringes the choice of parents to live with their children rather than the choice of more distant relations. Moore, 431 U.S. at 500, 97 S.Ct. at 1936 (plurality opinion), 431 U.S. at 536, 97 S.Ct. at 1954 (Stewart dissenting); Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 31 L.Ed.2d 551 (1972). A fundamental right to be free from state intrusion in decisions concerning family relationships in the nuclear family has been clearly recognized. Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 166, 64 S.Ct. 438, 442, 88 L.Ed. 145 (1944), cited in Zablocki, 434 U.S. at 384-86, 98 S.Ct. at 679-81; Stanley, 405 U.S. at 651, 92 S.Ct. at 1212. 22 Not every state action that infringes upon a fundamental right triggers strict scrutiny. See Tsosie, 630 F.2d at 1337; Socialist Workers Party v. March Fong Eu, 591 F.2d 1252, 1260 (9th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 946, 99 S.Ct. 2167, 60 L.Ed.2d 1049 (1979). Because the state action in this case infringes upon a fundamental right, we must reverse the district court's dismissal of Halet's due process and equal protection claims to enable it to consider whether, under the recently-decided Hawaii Boating Ass'n v. Water Transportation Facilities Division, 651 F.2d 661 (9th Cir. 1981), a genuinely significant deprivation of a fundamental right has occurred. Id. at 664-65. If such a deprivation has occurred, then the court must determine whether the adults-only policy can survive strict scrutiny.