Court Opinion

ID: 9779126
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:37:06.178264+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:21.753931
License: Public Domain

BARDGETT, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent.
I realize the principal opinion attempts to construe and decide only narrow questions directly presented in this particular case, but I find it difficult to readily discern the actual perimeters of the opinion. It may be that some of the issues spoken of in this dissent have not been ruled by the principal opinion and will be the subject of subsequent litigation. I do not intend to inferentially broaden the principal opinion by this dissent nor to indicate that issues not decided have been decided but, as noted supra, I have difficulty in discerning the precise perimeters of the principal opinion.
The first question presented arises from the circuit court’s judgment holding that the provisions of section 130.035, subd. 1(5) and (6), constitute an unlawful arbitrary classification in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, United States Constitution.
Section 130.035, subd. 1(5) and (6), specifies what income and gifts must be disclosed by the candidate. The provisions relating to income reporting are the particular items in this case and the resolution of the issue requires that the court decide what is meant by “source of income” in view of the constitutional attacks upon this statute.
Section 130.035, subd. 1(5) and (6), provides:
“(5) A specific listing of the source, by name and address, of any gifts or income in excess of one hundred dollars received by the candidate or the candidate’s spouse or minor children during the preceding twelve months or the time of the last report, whichever is later; and
“(6) A specific listing of the source, by name and address, of any gifts, salaries, fees, or other income which for the twelvemonth period preceding the filing date individually or in the aggregate exceeds five hundred dollars which has been paid on behalf of or for services rendered by the candidate to any sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation in which the candidate or the candidate’s spouse holds an interest of ten percent or more.” (Emphasis added.)
The circuit court held that section 130.-035, subd. 1(5) and (6), creates two arbitrary classes of persons, to wit: (1) sole practitioners or businessmen and (2) persons doing business as partnerships, corporations, or other forms of business associations, and that the reporting of income requirements of the law violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution “by subjecting them [candidates] to classifications that impose unequal burden of disclosure upon them without advancing any rational or justifiable state interest in such classification . . ..”
Actually the law creates at least one more classification in that a person who practices a profession or does business in a firm or corporation but holds less than a ten percent interest in the business is not required to disclose the name of any client or customer even though the candidate performs all the services for the client, patient, or customer and his firm receives an extremely large sum in compensation and even though the candidate’s share is in the thousands of dollars. This candidate only gives his firm name as the source of his income.
This instant case does not involve a candidate who does business in a firm or by a corporation in which the candidate holds less than a ten percent interest and therefore the principal opinion does not consider this third classification in ruling the case. I point it out merely to show that there are a number of classifications which receive different income-reporting treatment even though the true classification is that of “candidates for political office”. It is within that classification (candidates for political office) that, in my opinion, the law *883treats certain candidates differently than others with respect to the same matter — income reporting.
“The parties to this litigation stipulated (Tr. at 18) that a large law firm is a partnership or professional corporation having twenty or more partners or shareholders and that most partners in such large law firms would not have an interest of 10 percent or more in the firm. It was further stipulated that, among the clients of most large law firms are corporations, agencies or other entitles whose legal and business affairs are of public interest to the citizens of Missouri, including public utilities regulated by the State, manufacturers whose business activities are subject to governmental regulation, banks in which governmental funds are deposited, and construction companies which do business with governmental units. (Tr. at 18) Under the classifications established by this Act where such clients are represented by large law firms having a partner who is a candidate, no disclosure of the business as a source of income to the candidate is required, notwithstanding a substantial personal interest in the affairs of such a client.” (Respondents’ brief p. 8.)
It appears the law rewards the laundering of money income and discriminates against single proprietorships and small firms or businesses with no discernable purpose which would be reasonably related to the purpose of the legislation nor justify the discrimination inherent in the subclassi-fication.
While I am not satisfied the principal opinion covers all aspects of the attorney-client privilege with reference to the identity (name and address) of the client, I believe some discussion is needed. The principal opinion relies upon VIII Wigmore, sec. 2312; Mauch v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 113 F.2d 555 (3d Cir. 1940); United States v. Long, 328 F.Supp. 233, 236 (8th Cir. 1971); In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 517 F.2d 666 (5th Cir. 1975); Baird v. Koerner, 279 F.2d 623 (9th Cir. 1960); to conclude that the identity of a client is not within the scope of the privilege and that whether the identity of a client is privileged must be assessed on a case-by-case basis and depends upon the particular facts of each case.
In Ex parte Schneider, 294 S.W. 736 (Mo.App.1927), it was held that an attorney was not required to divulge the address of his client as that was included within the confidential privilege which privilege had its roots in the common law and is based upon broad ground of public policy. Since the litigation did not involve the particular client the attorney was not required to divulge the address of that client.
There is no precedent whatever for a ruling that upholds the wholesale divulgence of clients, patients, and customers. In City of Carmel-by-the-Sea v. Young, 2 Cal.3d 259, 466 P.2d 225, 85 Cal.Rptr. 1 (1970), the California Supreme Court had before it a 1959 financial disclosure law relating to public offices and employees. That court held the law violative of the United States Constitution, Fourth Amendment, as an invasion of the officeholders’ right to privacy. I realize the principal opinion does not rule the case on a right to privacy basis but Carmel-by-the-Sea, supra, and its successor, County of Nevada v. MacMillen, 11 Cal.3d 662, 522 P.2d 1345 (1974), are highly instructive on the validity of the type of law involved in this case.
In County of Nevada v. MacMillen, supra, the California Supreme Court upheld the validity of the disclosure act but only on the basis that “Source of Income” did not mean the names of clients, customers and patients. The court there said at 1352-1353:
“ ‘Source of income ’ — As we pointed out above, section 3700, subdivision (b), requires specified officials to disclose each ‘source of income, loans or gifts, aggregating two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or more in value, received in the preceding 12 months, including the name, address, and general description of the business activity of each source . ..’ Plaintiffs have forcefully contended that this provision would constitute a gross invasion of privacy if interpreted as re*884quiring businessmen to reveal their confidential customer lists, lawyers to name their clients, or physicians and psychiatrists to disclose their patients. We believe, however, that this problem has been rendered moot in practical effect by the clarifying amendment to section 3610, subdivision (e), enacted in 1974. That amendment defined the term ‘source of income’ as ‘the business entity or activity of the official which earned or produced the income.’ (Italics added.) Thus, as we read it, the act, as amended, would not require disclosure of the names of the official’s customers, clients, or patients. Instead, the official must only disclose the specified information regarding his own business entity or activity, which produced the income. For example, a landlord would disclose the address and receipts from his apartment building, not the names of his tenants and the rents paid by each.
“[8] Although the amendment does not take effect until January 1, 1975, the Legislature has expressly found and declared ‘that the amendments effected by this act are declaratory of the legislative intent in enacting’ the 1973 act. (Stats. 1974, ch. 48, § 6, p. 161.) Although we are not bound by the Legislature’s statement regarding the 1973 legislation, that statement properly may be considered in construing the provision in question. (See West Pico Furniture Co. v. Pacific Finance Loans, 2 Cal.3d 594, 609-610, 86 Cal.Rptr. 793, 469 P.2d 665; Stockton Sav. & Loan Bank v. Massanet, 18 Cal.2d 200, 204, 114 P.2d 592; Flewelling v. Board of Trustees, 178 Cal.App.2d 168, 172, 2 Cal.Rptr. 891.) We conclude that the 1973 act should be interpreted as requiring only the limited disclosure- contemplated by the 1974 amendment.”
None of the authorities cited in the principal opinion concern a situation where the lawyer is called upon to make a wholesale disclosure of all clients or, if not all clients, those who have paid a fee of over a specific sum of money. None of the cases or authorities support a proposition that the amount of a fee can be utilized as the criterion for disclosure of the name and address of the client or patient. All of the authorities and cases concern a particular pending case in which there are contesting parties. None of them concern a situation where no litigation is pending which involves an interrelationship between the attorney and his client. All of the cases where disclosure was required are seen as exceptions to the general policy which exceptions are premised upon particular factual situations involving a specific lawyer, a specific controversy and either a specific client or a specific group of clients who come within a specific category which is directly related to pending litigation.
In the instant case the principal opinion allows or gives different definitions to the “source of income”. The elections commission has done the same thing so as to relieve a grocer from the obligation of revealing the names of customers who purchase goods in excess of $100.1 The grocer need only give the name and address of his business as the “source of income” but an insurance salesman who receives a commission on the sale of a policy of over $500 need not disclose the name of the customer if the insurance salesman works directly for the insurance company and does not own more than a ten percent interest in the company.2 What insurance salesman owns more than ten percent of an insurance company? But, if another insurance salesman operates through an agency and sells the same policy, he must disclose the name of the customer as the source if that salesman owns a ten percent interest in the agency! Identical salesmen, identical policies, identical premiums, but one must reveal names and addresses of customers and the others need not do so. This is not equal protection.
In my opinion the law under attack clearly violates the Fourth Amendment rights of *885privacy as well as being violative of the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution as to the candidate.
It appears from the principal opinion that this law is being viewed purely from the perspective of the candidate. But what about the rights to privacy of the clients, customers and patients, as well as their rights to the confidential relationship between attorney-client and doctor-patient.
The impact of this law as the principal opinion interprets it can be best seen if it is viewed from the client-patient-customer perspective. None of them gave permission to have their names and addresses publicized and there is absolutely no reason to believe that the client, patient or customer cared one whit about politics, campaigns, or the political ambitions of his lawyer, doctor or merchant.
Consider for a moment the outcry over the clear violation of citizens’ constitutional rights if the law sought to obtain the same result by requiring the individual patient, client, or customer to file a statement in the county clerk’s office declaring the citizen had consulted a doctor, lawyer, or had done business with the merchant if any of them became a candidate for any public office. I believe the outcry would be “It’s none of your business — I’m not in politics and made no political contribution — Whát has my consulting a psychiatrist or a lawyer on a personal matter have to do with his running for some office — I didn’t even know he was going to run when I went to him!!!”
This is simply a dragnet procedure that bears no relevant relationship to honest elections. No one has suggested why this broad invasion of private rights is necessary to the conduct of honest elections. Some suggest it is to ferret out hidden political contributions and others say it is to reveal the candidate’s interests as they may bear upon his future vote as a public official. These various ideas as to purpose fall on their face in view of the various definitions of “source of income” which allow substantial incomes to be concealed while requiring insubstantial incomes to be revealed by names and addresses of clients, customers, or patients.
I could possibly vote to uphold this law if “source of income” were judicially defined as California has defined it, to wit, “the business entity or activity of the official which earned or produced the income,” because that would protect the rights of privacy of clients, customers, and patients.
The principal opinion suggests an attorney candidate could obtain relief by an advisory opinion of the commission or a declaratory judgment suit. How does he do that without revealing that which he believes ought not to be revealed — the names and addresses of clients? And how long does the procedure take?
Pilings for offices voted on at an August primary close at the end of April so there are three months between closings of filings and primary election during which time the candidate should be campaigning — not litigating. He probably couldn’t get a final determination by the date reports are due any way. This year that date is June 24. The remedy is, in my opinion, specious.
And what about the patient who consulted a psychiatrist, gynecologist, or psychologist, or the citizen who consulted a lawyer on a private matter where the consultation or representation would not become the subject of a suit in court where the name would obviously become a matter of public record? The policy of the confidential relationship is for the principal benefit of the client and patient — not the doctor or lawyer. But the client or patient, the party really protected by the privilege, has no vehicle for relief. He is just caught in the dragnet without his consent, without his prior knowledge, and without any discernible public purpose being served.
As to “overbreadth”, the principal opinion relies upon Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976). The entity claiming the federal law was overbroad in Buckley was a minority political party, not an individual candidate, and the subject was political campaign contributions — not *886income derived in the usual course of the candidate’s occupation or profession. The overbreadth claim related to the possible chilling of political activity if the names of small political contributors were revealed. The focal point was specifically “political contributions” — an identifiable item which bears directly upon elections. In the case before this court, the items the principal opinion holds are subject to disclosure are not political contributions and no one pretends that they are such. Any “chilling” claim in the instant case would relate to the right or privilege of the doctor, lawyer, or merchant running for office and, in my opinion, would be a substantial claim.
This law is not restricted in its scope to public offices which become full-time positions for the successful candidates but also includes thousands of part-time offices where the officeholder continues to engage in his usual profession or occupation in the community. E. g. school board member, city councilman, legislator, and members of innumerable local governmental boards. It is obvious to me that the instant law at least “chills” and probably “freezes out" whole classes of citizens from seeking any public office and does so without any discernible or demonstrable public benefit being derived from the law’s operation.
But the effect of the instant law is not only that it unlawfully chills the privilege or right of merchants, doctors and lawyers to seek some public office, it requires the wholesale publication of names and addresses of people generally who, as a class (clients, patients, customers), are not politically involved at all and who did not make any political contributions whatever but who merely consulted a professional person or made a purchase from a merchant. The overbreadth claim here is, in my opinion, obvious and patent. In short, the income-reporting provisions under attack here are like using a “guillotine to cure a headache” and even then without any substantial showing that a headache exists.
Time for research in depth as to the constitutionality of the income-reporting requirements of this law has been cut short by a court-self-imposed deadline in order that the decision can be known by June 24, 1976. My research has failed to reveal any law of any state or of the United States that mandates wholesale disclosure of clients, patients and customers. The federal campaign election law does not concern itself with this type of disclosure at all. It relates to political contributions and, in my opinion, gives no support to the principal opinion in this case.
I think the United States and Missouri constitutions protects the citizens from this type of purposeless invasion into their rights of privacy. Therefore, it is my opinion the patients, clients, and customers of doctors, lawyers, and merchants who happen to be candidates for some political office, have a constitutionally protected right to say to government: “It’s none of your business who I went to and consulted in my personal life with my medical and legal problems, nor who I bought an insurance policy or television set from — It’s just plain none of your business!!!”

. Advisory Opinion 1976-1.

. Advisory Opinion 1976-3.