Opinion ID: 1913579
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Does LSA-R.S. 4:211(5) violate Plaintiff's right of equal protection?

Text: In its reasons for judgment, the trial court determined that the restrictive language contained in LSA-R.S. 4:211(5) was violative of equal protection in derogation of Article I, Section 3 ... Article I, § 3 entitled Right to Individual Dignity provides: No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. No laws shall discriminate against a person because of race or religious ideas, beliefs, or affiliations. No law shall arbitrarily, capriciously, or unreasonably discriminate against a person because of birth, age, sex, culture, physical condition, or political ideas or affiliations. Slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited, except in the latter case as punishment for crime. The State argues that LSA-R.S. 4:211 does not create a class within a class. According to the State, the 1986-87 limitation was valid when passed because evidence in this case clearly shows that offtrack wagering suitably furthered the State's interest in promoting and saving the racing industry which was experiencing a period of declining revenues. In order to be constitutionally valid, all that is required is that offtrack wagering statutes be rationally related to a legitimate state interest or suitably further any appropriate state interest. As intervenor, the Fair Grounds Corporation argues that the relief granted by the trial court in striking a definition crucial to a limited authorization of offtrack wagering laws resulted in a judicial re-writing of the law. Courts are not a super-legislature authorized to expand gambling which has been limited by the Legislature. Both the separation of powers doctrine and the constitutional mandate to the legislature to regulate gambling, forbid as a matter of law, the relief granted by the trial court. While Louisiana courts have the power under Article V § 1 of the constitution to determine the constitutionality of legislation, this power is not unrestrained. It is subject to the separation of powers doctrine which forbids courts from exercising legislative functions. Courts lack authority to regulate gambling. By striking the limitation provision, the trial court altered the legislative intent and created a broader law that will neither limit the number of offtrack wagering establishments, nor regulate the forms of gambling at racetracks. The statutory classification cannot be severed without doing violence to the entire statute. Limitations on gambling serve a legitimate goal and regulation of gambling is a legitimate state interest. Conceding that limiting gambling protects a strong state interest, plaintiffs argue that the stricken phrase, during the 1986-87 racing season and licensed prior to the effective date ... does not limit gambling in a manner which is constitutionally permitted. According to plaintiff, the only purpose of the restrictive phrase is to confer special privileges to the tracks existing in 1986-87, and to deny equal rights to any association which the Racing Commission issues a license to replace a closed track. Our decision in Sibley v. Bd. of Sup'rs of Louisiana State U., 477 So.2d 1094 (La.1985) provided an analysis regarding the multilevel system required to determine whether an individual's right to equal protection as guaranteed by Article I, Section 3 of the 1974 state constitution has been violated. This portion of the constitution commands courts to reject enforcement of a legislative classification of individuals under the following circumstances: (1) When the law classifies individuals by race or religious beliefs, it shall be repudiated completely; (2) When the statute classifies persons on the basis of birth, age, sex, culture, physical condition, or political ideas or affiliations, its enforcement shall be refused unless the state or other advocate of the classification has a reasonable basis; (3) When the law classifies individuals on any other basis, it shall be rejected whenever a member of a disadvantaged class shows that it does not suitably further any appropriate state interest. Sibley, 477 So.2d at 1107, 1108. See also Med Express Ambulance Service, Inc. v. Evangeline Parish Police Jury, 96-0543 (La.11/25/96), 684 So.2d 359. Individuals challenging a legislative classification based on grounds other than discrimination because of birth, race, age, sex, social origin, physical condition, or political or religious ideas must show that the law was unreasonable, or that it did not further any appropriate state interest. Sibley, 477 So.2d at 1108. Recently, we followed this same legal principle when we decided Manuel v. State, 95-2189 (La.7/2/96), 677 So.2d 116, which involved a minimum drinking age. Classifications on any basis other than those expressed in Art. I, § 3, are reviewed under the minimum standard and must be rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose. The facts of this case show that the Legislature in enacting the offtrack wagering statutes, decided to allow only those pari-mutuel facilities in existence during the 1986-87 racing season the right to operate offtrack wagering parlors. Therefore, we are faced with at least two distinct classes, primary licensees existing during and prior to the 1986-87 racing season, and license holders such as Livingston Downs which acquired their license to become a pari-mutuel facility subsequent to the 1986-87 season. Case law shows that the equal protection clause does not forbid classification. However, where such legislation is enacted, the classification must be reasonable and not arbitrary, and must rest upon some basis of difference with a fair and substantial relation to the object of the legislation. All persons similarly situated must be treated identically. Stated differently, It simply keeps governmental decisisonmakers from treating differently persons who are in all relevant respects alike. Nordlinger v. Hahn, 505 U.S. 1, 112 S.Ct. 2326, 120 L.Ed.2d 1 (1992), citing F.S. Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 40 S.Ct. 560, 64 L.Ed. 989 (1920). In Nordlinger, a taxpayer who had purchased a Los Angeles home challenged California's property tax system that embodied an acquisition value system of taxation whereby property was reassessed up to the current appraised value of new construction or when ownership changed. [5] The home was purchased in November 1988 for $170,000 from the previous owners who had bought the home for $121,500 two years prior to her purchase. The county's tax assessor sent notice informing petitioner that her home had be reassessed to $171,100 based on the change of ownership, causing a 36% tax increase. Petitioner later discovered that she was paying in some instances, five times more in taxes than some of the surrounding properties with comparable values. Some individuals who were paying lower taxes had owned these comparable homes since 1975. Petitioner showed as an example of the disparity, that her total property taxes for a 10 year period would approach $19,000 whereas a neighbor's home of comparable size which was purchased in 1975 would only pay $4,100 during that same time period. The Supreme Court applied the minimum standard of scrutiny to determine if there was a rational basis for the disparity, and upheld the constitutionality of the tax amendment. The court opined that California has a legitimate interest in local neighborhood preservation, stability and continuity. Assessing the higher tax on new owners at the time of purchasing their property resulted in a decrease in the turnover of ownership. A case which bears close resemblance to the instant facts is City of New Orleans et al, v. Dukes, 427 U.S. 297, 96 S.Ct. 2513, 49 L.Ed.2d 511 (1976). Nancy Dukes operated a pushcart containing food in the French Quarter of the city for only two years when a city ordinance was passed designated to curtail the number of pushcart vendors operating in the French Quarter. Her action attacking the validity of the ordinance was filed in federal court. In 1972, the ordinance was amended to provide an exception for vendors who had operated the same business in the French Quarter for eight years, prior to January 1, 1972. Dukes' action was then amended to challenge the application of the ordinance's grandfather clause as a denial of equal protection. The district court granted the city's motion for summary judgment. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit reversed. The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the appellate court and determined that the grandfather clause did not deny the plaintiff equal protection. The court held that the amended ordinance, including the grandfather clause, is purely an economic regulation aimed to preserve the custom, appearance and uniqueness of the French Quarter's tourist-oriented charm which adds to the economy of the City of New Orleans. Rather than abolishing all pushcart vendors, the city had rationally chose to eliminate the vendors who had recently obtained their permits to operate pushcarts in the French Quarter. In order to withstand the test of constitutionality, the offtrack wagering statutes must meet the minimum standard and be rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose. To hold otherwise, Livingston Downs has the stringent burden of demonstrating that the law does not suitably further any appropriate state interest. The evidence in this case shows that the main thrust behind the establishment of offtrack wagering was a way to increase the economy of the racing industry. Clearly, the legislature's intent for enacting offtrack wagering was to overcome the racing industry's financial woes. The attendance at racetracks was declining, along with the revenues generated therewith. With the additional revenues from the offtrack racing parlors, the state's economy prospered because other businesses expanded and additional jobs were created. In Dukes, the court determined that the city's ordinance by which it reduced the number of pushcart vendors in the French Quarter was rationally related to a legitimate government purpose. We find that LSA-R.S. 4:211(5) also passes constitutional muster. The evidence reveals that the statute is rationally related to the state's economic interest, and even plaintiff agrees that by limiting gambling, the state's interest is protected. Therefore, Livingston Downs' argument in favor of equal classification with the other primary licensees is meritless. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's ruling which held that the statute violates plaintiff's right to equal protection.