Court Opinion

ID: 9689706
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:43:40.319229+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:51.546365
License: Public Domain

ON REHEARING
SANDERS, Justice.
Because of the importance of this case to the administration of equitable remedies in Louisiana courts, we granted a rehearing to reconsider our holding that the district court could not enjoin the enforcement of a municipal Sunday Closing Ordinance imposing penalties for violation.
The facts may be restated briefly: On December 19, 1966, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the Town of Winnsboro adopted an ordinance prohibiting the sale of food on Sunday by retail groceries having more than 1600 square feet of sales space. The ordinance authorized small owner-operated groceries employing no more than one person to remain open. The ordinance imposed a penalty of a fine and/or imprisonment for each violation.1
Plaintiff, Ed West, d/b/a Globe Foods, operated a grocery store containing more than 1600 square feet of sales space in Winnsboro. No charge had been filed against him for violating the ordinance. Alleging irreparable injury and unconstitutionality of the ordinance, he brought this suit to enjoin its enforcement. The district court granted the injunction. On appeal, we reversed on the ground the plaintiff had an adequate remedy at law: raising the unconstitutionality of the ordinance as a defense to a prosecution in municipal court.
Injunction is an equitable remedy. Since 1825, the procedural codes of this state have specifically provided for it. See C.P. (1825) Art. 296; C.P. (1870) Art. 296; and LSA-C.C.P. (1960) Art. 3601.
*617Although equitable remedies in the past have sometimes been denied in terms of lack of jurisdiction, the jurisdictional rationale is technically inaccurate. Louisiana district courts have jurisdiction of all civil matters. La.Const. Art. VII, § 35. They are courts of general trial jurisdiction and administer both law and equity. LSA-C.C. Art. 21. Strictly speaking, therefore, a district court always has jurisdiction in a civil action to grant an equitable remedy. The court possesses the “legal power and authority” to hear the action and grant the relief to which the parties are entitled. See LSA-C.C.P. Art. 1. When an equitable remedy is sought from a district court in a civil action, the true question is not one of jurisdiction, but whether or not the equitable remedy is warranted under the circumstances.
The ultimate question for appellate review in the present case is whether or not the district court properly granted the injunction.
Authorizing issuance of an injunction, LSA-C.C.P. Article 3601 provides:
“An injunction shall issue in cases where irreparable injury, loss, or damage may otherwise result to the applicant, or in other cases specifically provided by law.”
Except when otherwise specially authorized by law, the Article requires a threat of irreparable injury. The requirement codifies the prior jurisprudence. See LSA-C.C.P. Art. 3601 (Official Revision Comments) ; Pennington v. Drews, 209 La. 1, 24 So.2d 156 (1945); and Southern Cotton Oil Co. v. Leathers, 50 La.Ann. 134, 23 So. 201 (1897).
As correctly noted on original hearing, however, the jurisprudence has established two additional conditions for granting an injunction to restrain the enforcement of penal ordinances: the clear invasion of a property right and the manifest unconstitutionality or illegality of the ordinance. Sears, Roebuck and Company v. City of New Orleans, 238 La. 936, 117 So.2d 64 (1960).
It is upon these conditions that the propriety of the issuance of the injunction in the present case should be tested, namely: (1) the clear invasion of a property right; (2) threatened irreparable injury; and (3) the manifest unconstitutionality of the ordinance.
We have no difficulty in concluding that the present ordinance clearly invades a property right. In the equitable protection of property rights, the courts have broadly defined the term property right. It embraces any civil right of a pecuniary nature. Thus, the right to pursue employment or to conduct a business is a property right which equity will protect. The protection extends to any substantial interference produced by unconstitutional legislation. Sears, Roebuck and Company *619v. City of New Orleans, supra; Banjavich v. Louisiana Licens. Bd. For Marine Divers, 237 La. 467, 111 So.2d 505 (1959); Dumestre v. Police Jury, Parish of Jefferson, 195 La. 492, 197 So. 209 (1940); Patout Bros. v. Mayor, Etc. of City of New Iberia, 138 La. 697, 70 So. 616 (1916) ; McClintock on Equity § 151, p. 402 (2d ed. 1948) ; de Funiak, Handbook of Modern Equity § 41, pp. 75-77, (2d ed. 1956); 30 C.J.S. Equity § 58 pp. 897-899; 27 Am.Jur. 2d, Equity, § 66, pp. 589-590; 28 Am.Jur., Injunctions, § 70, p. 566.
In Banjavich v. Louisiana Licens. Bd. For Marine Divers, supra, we said:
“That the pursuit of a legal occupation is a property right cannot be gainsaid. This court, buttressed by authorities of the Supreme Court of the United States, has recognized that the right to engage in a lawful calling is of such a basic nature that the curtailment of the right by oppressive or arbitrary legislation effectuates a deprivation of the complainant’s property without due process and denies him equal protection of the law.”
In oral argument, the Town advanced for the first time the contention that plaintiff has no right to operate his business on Sunday because such operation is already prohibited by the state Sunday Closing Law, LSA-R.S. 51:191 et seq. It is true the law provides that “all stores, shops, saloons, and all places of public business” shall close on Sunday. But LSA-R.S. 51 192 exempts “private markets” from its operation. In State v. Penniman, 224 La. 95, 68 So.2d 770 (1953) we held private-markets to be sufficiently broad to exempt from the closing law a supermarket selling-groceries. Hence, the Town’s contention is unfounded.
For injunctive purposes, we conclude theWinnsboro ordinance invades plaintiff’s, property rights.
Of greatest concern to the Court-on original hearing was the requirement of' irreparable injury: that plaintiff be without an adequate remedy at law. We held' an adequate legal remedy existed, because-plaintiff could raise the unconstitutionality of the ordinance in any prosecution brought against him in municipal court. We nor believe we erred in so holding. By adequate remedy at law is meant one which' is as speedy, efficient, and complete as the-remedy in equity. See Banjavich v. Louisiana Licens. Bd. For Marine Divers, supra; de Funiak, Handbook of Modern Equity § 5, pp. 9-10 (2d ed. 1956) ; McClintock on Equity § 43, p. 103 (2d ed. 1948); 27 Am.Jur.2d, Equity, § 94, pp. 616— 617; and 28 Am.Jur., Injunctions, § 39, pp. 534-535.
The test is correctly stated in 28 Am. Jur., Injunctions, § 39, p. 534, as follows:-
“It is not enough that there is a remedy at law. The remedy, to preclude in*621junction, must be certain and reasonably prompt, and as practicable and efficient to the ends of justice and its administration, both in respect of the final relief and the mode of obtaining it, as an injunction would be.”
The ordinance assailed in the present case authorizes a maximum sentence of thirty days imprisonment together with a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars for each offense. An appeal from the maximum sentence lies to the district court. Art. VII, § 36, La. Const.; State v. Lanthier, 241 La. 790, 131 So.2d 790 (1961). If the district court affirms the conviction, the defendant may then apply to this Court for supervisory writs. See Art. VII, § 10, La.Const. To interpose his defense, the plaintiff must wait until a prosecution is filed.
It is true, as noted in our original opinion, a defendant in such a prosecution may raise the constitutionality of the ordinance before trial by motion to quash the affidavit. C.Cr.P.Art. 532. But a defendant has no separate appeal from an adverse ruling on the motion. See C.Cr.P.Art. 912. Hence, to secure appellate review of the constitutionality of the ordinance, he must stand trial and accept the stigma of conviction. Under these procedures defendant’s good name and reputation are in serious jeopardy. Moreover, during the proceeding in the lower courts, the defendant must close his business as required by the ordinance with irretrievable loss or subject himself to multiple prosecutions.
When unconstitutional ordinances or laws interfere with the pursuit of a lawful occupation, this Court has declined to rate the defense of a prosecution as an adequate remedy and has granted injunctive relief. See Sears, Roebuck and Company v. City of New Orleans and Banjavich v. Louisiana Licens. Bd. For Marine Divers, supra. We are of the view that the defense of a prosecution in the present case is an inadequate remedy.
The Town, during oral argument, also suggested the plaintiff had an adequate remedy by a “declaratory judgment action” for testing the constitutionality of the ordinance. See LSA-C.C.P. Art. 1871 et seq. A declaratory judgment proceeding, however, is not really an alternative action. The declaratory judgment statute merely creates a procedural device whereby courts may declare rights without at the same time granting the executory or coercive relief normally embodied in a conventional judgment. Giroir v. Dumesnil, 248 La. 1037, 184 So.2d 1 (1966); Stoddard v. City of New Orleans, 246 La. 417, 165 So.2d 9 (1964). The action is identical whether the petitioner seeks a declaratory judgment only or the greater relief of a conventional judgment. See LSA-C.C.P. Art. 1871 (Official Revision Comments) and Giroir v. Dumesnil, supra. Hence, the sole differ*623ence between the present suit and that contended for by the Town is in the relief sought in the prayer of the petition.
We have found no decision in which the availability of a declaratory judgment has barred an equitable remedy. In the present case, we regard a declaratory judgment proceeding as inadequate because it would include no mandate to protect plaintiff during the pendency of the suit and no coercive relief in the final judgment. See Washington County v. State Tax Commission, 103 Utah 73, 133 P.2d 564 (1943). Hence, the Town’s contention must be rejected.
Remaining for decision is the constitutionality of the ordinance.
The courts have generally upheld Sunday closing ordinances. See State v. Wiener, 245 La. 889, 161 So.2d 755 (1964); State v. Deutch, 245 La. 819, 161 So.2d 730 (1964); State v. Trahan, 214 La. 100, 36 So.2d 652 (1948) ; State ex rel. Walker v. Judge of Section “A.”, 39 La.Ann. 132, 1 So. 437 (1887) ; and McGowan v. State of Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 81 S.Ct. 1101, 6 L.Ed.2d 393 (1961).
The legislative body has a wide latitude in classifying commodities and businesses in Sunday closing ordinances. But such an ordinance cannot invidiously discriminate between those in the same business who properly belong in the same class. City of Shreveport v. Schultz, 154 La. 899, 98 So. 411 (1923); State v. Barba, 132 La. 768, 61 So. 784, 45 L.R.A., N.S., 546 (1913); City of Shreveport v. Levy, 26 La.Ann. 671, 21 Am.Rep. 553 (1874); Terry Carpenter, Inc., v. Wood, 177 Neb. 515, 129 N.W.2d 475 (1964); Rhyne, Municipal Law § 26-13, pp. 542-543-(1957); 5 McQuillin, Municipal Corporations § 18.18, pp. 441-443 (3d ed. 1949); 16 Am.Jur.2d, Constitutional Law, § 503, pp. 881-882.
The record reflects the present ordinance requires all grocery stores except three to close on Sundays. The three exempted grocery stores have been in operation for at least fifteen years. The thrust of the ordinance, therefore, is to favor these stores and to hinder plaintiff’s store.
We discern no reasonable basis for such a fragmentation of grocery stores in the Town. The ordinance contains no declaration of purpose. The Town suggests, however, it closed the larger grocery stores to reduce the traffic hazard and the demand for municipal services on Sunday. But we find no substance in this suggestion. The only change accomplished by the ordinance is in the destination of some automobiles. The exempted grocery stores, as well as other large businesses, are unaffected by the ordinance. The ordinance unreasonably discriminates between those engaged in the same business. It is manifestly unconstitutional. 14th Amendment, U.S.Const.; Art. I, Sect. 2, La. Const. *625Under the circumstances, the district court properly granted the injunction. See Sears, Roebuck and Company v. City of New Orleans, supra; Banjavich v. Louisiana Licens. Bd. For Marine Divers, supra; Dumestre v. Police Jury, Parish of Jefferson, supra; and Patout Bros. v. Mayor & Board of Trustees City of New Iberia, supra.
For the reasons assigned, the judgment ■of the district court is affirmed.
SUMMERS, J., concurs in part and dissents in part.

. The violation of such an ordinance is not, usually and properly, regarded as a crime, and a trial arising from a violation is not regarded as a criminal prosecution. City of New Orleans v. Adjmi, 249 La. 346, 186 So.2d 616 (1966) and tlie authorities therein cited.