Opinion ID: 1885183
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Characteristics of the Equity Funding Case

Text: The course of events in the Equity Funding Case place it squarely in the public-interest-lawsuit category, not the traditional-lawsuit category. The traditional rules of procedure are not designed for the public-interest lawsuit because by its very nature that type of lawsuit involves a legislative and an executive determination rather than a judicial determination. The common-law rule as to the finality of judgments does not work with respect to public-interest litigation because that rule is designed for judicial proceedings, not determinations by the legislative branch or the executive branch. I now analyze the Equity Funding Case as public-interest litigation. (1) The parties involved. A trait of public-interest litigation is that it directly affects a vast number of persons, many or most of whom are not represented as parties in the litigation. The Equity Funding Case involves every school-age child in the State of Alabama and every taxpayer. In the Liability Order of March 31, 1993, and the order of December 3, 1993, the trial court presumed to order the Legislature to raise and appropriate moneys to fund the circuit court judge's vision for Alabama's education system. Legislators are bound by oath to uphold the constitution and the laws of Alabama and the United States. Can the Legislature properly be a party to such an action and how can the Legislature be bound by a court order in a proceeding in which it is not a party? How does a Legislature defend itself in court, even if it is properly a party? How does it even appear in court? The Equity Funding Case affects multiple parties and people not even represented in the proceedings and is, therefore, more akin to the public-interest lawsuit than a traditional lawsuit. To enact a judge's public policy vision for the schools represents an attempt to have the judiciary act in a legislative capacity. The plaintiffs' counsel have argued that the orders in this case are simply equitable remedies long recognized and enforced by the courts. However, there are practical difficulties with that position. Courts use their contempt powers to enforce injunctions. Are we to believe that the circuit judge of Montgomery County has the power to hold the Legislature in contempt and that it has the power to confine those legislators who do not vote to appropriate funds sufficient to finance the judge's vision for public-school education? If those confined legislators prove recalcitrant and continue to refuse to comply with those orders, will the judge commandeer the Department of Revenue, and, in its stead, commission officers who would be willing to impose a tax on the people of Alabama in order to fund this newly revised education system? (2) Prospective in nature. The course of this litigation was not designed to determine if harm had been done to any particular party or parties with a view to fashioning a remedy that would restore that party or those parties to the status quo ante. It involved the kind of fact-finding process characteristic of the legislative process. It was designed to identify a social problem in the Alabama education system. The legislative and executive branches apparently did not respond to the plaintiffs' satisfaction to perceived problems in Alabama's education system; therefore, they sought a remedy in court by way of a judicial decision. They found fault with the current education system, and instead of seeking new legislation or a constitutional amendment, they appeared before the trial court, as if it were the Legislature, with what they thought was a serious social problem, to lobby for better funding to enact their vision of a proper education system. The trial judge's fact-finding did not fix fault on anyone in particular. The trial judge engaged in fact-finding that sought to discover a response to the general complaint that something ought to be done to better manage Alabama's flawed education system. (3) The remedy involved. The injunction sought and awarded in this case was clearly structural, not restorative, in nature. The orders were not remedies designed to restore parties who have been wronged in some particular way. Those orders were designed to restructure the largest single portion of Alabama's civil government, its public life, and its public-school system. Those orders require increased taxation of Alabama citizens by an official most Alabamians had no say in electing. They impose duties on executive branch officers, and they even dictate what subjects students must study, what they must read, and what values the public-school teachers must inculcate in these students. [39] (5) The ongoing nature of the case. This case entails ongoing oversight and management of the entire Alabama system of public education. As this Court stated in Pinto: [T]he court intended to oversee and direct the processes of education `reform' for an indefinite period. 662 So.2d at 899. This case has already spanned 12 years, and there is presently no end in sight. See the appendix to Chief Justice Hooper's dissent in Ex parte James, supra.