Opinion ID: 1414591
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Associational Activities

Text: The majority has accepted plaintiffs' argument that compelled disclosure of meetings concerned with noise pollution from Lindbergh Field would violate their right of freedom of association, resulting in a chilling effect on individuals causing them to avoid such group participation. The premise is speculative and unconvincing. All public displays of opinion or affiliation expose the participant to some degree of possible identification with a particular cause or concern. One who attends a meeting accepts the prospect that he will be seen, if only by others in attendance, with the possibility, indeed probability, that those in attendance will discuss with others the subject matter of the meeting and the identity of those who were present. I respectfully suggest that it would be an absurd extension of the concept of freedom of association to insist that such a hypothetical participant could require every other person present at the meeting to remain silent regarding either the nature of the meeting or the identification of those present lest someone's constitutional right of association be thereby infringed. A rule of reason must apply. The protection of association has never been equated with an absolute guarantee of anonymity. Because it seems to me clear that plaintiffs or others present at the meetings in question could, in their own discretion, voluntarily have revealed the topics of the meetings and the names of the participants without offending any common sense notion of the bounds of privacy, the question before us then becomes whether state action in the form of a discovery order reaching the same information is an impermissible First Amendment violation. I think not. As a practical matter, an individual is no more likely to be dissuaded from associational activities because his participation is revealed through compliance with a discovery order than through the voluntary disclosure by a coparticipant. At this point, and with due deference, I suggest that the majority seriously errs in its very heavy reliance upon N.A.A.C.P. v. Alabama (1958) 357 U.S. 449 [2 L.Ed.2d 1488, 78 S.Ct. 1163]. NAACP lends no support whatever for the extreme position taken by the majority herein. It is clearly distinguishable. In NAACP the Supreme Court held, Inviolability of privacy in group association may in many circumstances be indispensible to preservation of freedom of association, particularly where a group espouses dissident beliefs. (P. 462 [2 L.Ed.2d pp. 1499-1500], italics added.) The high court stressed that Petitioner has made an uncontroverted showing that on past occasions revelation of the identity of its rank-and-file members has exposed these members to ... loss of employment, threat of physical coercion, and other manifestations of public hostility. Under these circumstances, we think it apparent that compelled disclosure of petitioner's Alabama membership is likely to affect adversely the ability of petitioner and its members to pursue their collective effort to foster beliefs which they admittedly have the right to advocate.... ( Ibid., italics added.) Lacking any precedent, by sheer force of will the majority has deliberately expanded NAACP to a general abstract principle that the disclosure of any information about associational activities constitutes an impermissible violation of the right to associate. Nothing in NAACP either mandates or authorizes such an extreme reading. NAACP closely tied the denial of disclosure to the particular and unique situation which clearly and unmistakably indicated that harassment would follow disclosure. In stark contrast, in the matter before us defendant public agency is not accused of having harassed anyone. Absolutely no showing, controverted or otherwise, has been made that in the past any economic reprisal or physical coercion or loss of employment has been directed individually or collectively against any members of the citizens' groups to which plaintiffs belong. The underlying political considerations which motivated the actions of the State of Alabama are totally lacking in the matter before us. It is an altogether different case. Unlike NAACP, the case presented to us involves no entity, private or public, blindly and illegally engaging in an historic racial vendetta, but rather a public body which must defend itself and its taxpayers against a multi-million dollar lawsuit for claimed injuries brought by hundreds of individuals. The district is not seeking in any manner to use its power as a state agency to regulate or censor plaintiffs' associational activities. It is a distortion to attempt to transform this case into some form of attempted thought control or censorship, for the record does not support any such inference, direct or remote. Defendant's interrogatories were directed exclusively to discovery of membership in  organizations opposed to the way in which the Port District operates its airport. Defendant is neither concerned with, nor does it seek to ascertain, plaintiffs' political, social, economic, or religious beliefs or the lack thereof. It has no interest whatever in plaintiffs' membership in particular organizations, except only insofar as such affiliation may establish that plaintiffs are barred from recovery in this civil suit because they neglected to file their action within the statutory period, or, possessing early and adequate notice of the condition complained of, failed to mitigate their damages, or conducted themselves in a manner that was contributorily negligent. It seems readily apparent that the information sought was relevant. The date or dates on which individual plaintiff's causes of action for personal injuries and property damage arose, bore directly on the commencement of the applicable statutes of limitations. The nature of the subjects discussed at associational meetings pertaining to claims against the airport all relate very directly to the issues of the statute of limitations and the defense of mitigation of plaintiffs' damages. If, for example, the district is able to establish through attending witnesses that a particular plaintiff, at meetings 10 years before the action was filed, stated in strong terms that his residence was rendered almost uninhabitable because of airport noise, can it be contended that such expressions would not be relevant and probative on the issue of when his limitations period commenced? Similarly, if the district is able to prove that at a meeting another plaintiff had expressed his great distress at fumes generated by the airport, but nonetheless had elected to purchase a new home somewhat closer to Lindbergh Field, can it seriously be urged that such testimony would not be relevant and probative on the issue of mitigation of damages? These areas of inquiry in my opinion are altogether proper. What defendant is plainly attempting to do is to discover the identity of witnesses who may support its position that the claims of certain plaintiffs are barred by limitation of actions or that other plaintiffs have failed to mitigate their damages or have themselves been negligent. In failing to perceive this, in mandating the exclusion of all inquiry into any of the plaintiffs' associational activities vis-a-vis the airport, the majority, with all due respect, has indulged in a graphic example of judicial overkill. The district has not only the right, but the affirmative duty to its taxpayers in defending this litigation to assert vigorously every defense available to it. If the disclosure of information might have some conceivably deterrent effect on plaintiffs' right of freedom of association, such effect is minimal and, under the facts presented to us, such an effect is outweighed substantially by defendant's interest in preparing and presenting its defense. It was plaintiffs who brought the suit, alleged the injuries, opened the issues, imposed upon defendant the need for defenses, and thereby surely invited reasonable inquiry directed at the temporal and mitigating elements in the case. Fundamental fairness to opposing litigants requires that in the preparation and presentation of its available defenses the defendant not be required to face an off-limits sign where neither constitutional nor policy reasons require it. Nothing whatever in N.A.A.C.P. v. Alabama, supra , compels such a result. Although we had previously denied a hearing in Bakman v. Superior Court (1976) 63 Cal. App.3d 306 [133 Cal. Rptr. 703], which had upheld the propriety of a discovery order almost identical to that at issue in the present case, the majority now disapproves it. In Bakman, the court observed, It is patent that by bringing the lawsuit, petitioners voluntarily subjected themselves to the judicial process, and discovery procedures are an inherent part of that process. In fact, to hold that petitioners can resort to the judicial process in the form of bringing a suit for damages seeking redress against real party for alleged wrongs it committed against them, and at the same time  without a showing of detriment of any kind  absolutely shield themselves from the city's legitimate utilization would distort the salutary basis upon which the First Amendment right of freedom of association is grounded. (Pp. 314-315, italics in original.) Such a conclusion is sound. There is no logical basis on which to distinguish Bakman, which was correctly decided, and our denial of hearing therein was proper.