Robbins v. Superior Court

LUCAS, J.

I respectfully dissent. In my view, the trial court’s denial of a preliminary injunction was amply supported by the evidence.

I. Procedural Setting and Standard of Review

This case does not reach us on appeal after a trial on the merits. Rather, this is an extraordinary writ proceeding aimed at reviewing denial of a motion for preliminary injunction. A trial judge, in ruling on such a motion, considers the balance of harm and plaintiff’s chance of success on the merits. The ultimate question is whether, on the whole, “ ‘the defendant should or . . . should not be restrained from exercising the right claimed by him. ’ ” (Continental Baking Co. v. Katz (1968) 68 Cal.2d 512, 528 [ 67 Cal.Rptr. 761 , 439 P.2d 889 ].) “Injunction has long been regarded as an extraordinary remedy which should be granted with caution. . . . Though the plaintiff makes a strong showing of the conditions which might ultimately support a final judgment . . ., that showing may be controverted by the defendant, and at this early stage the case may be regarded as a ‘doubtful’ one. ... A *219 strong showing of the grounds for equitable relief and therefore of the ultimate right to a permanent injunction is not the equivalent of a showing of a pressing need for immediate temporary relief. Hence the discretion in deciding against provisional injunctive relief is seldom disturbed. ” (2 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (2d ed. 1970) Provisional Remedies, pp. 1516-1517, and cases cited.)

Our limited task is to decide whether the trial judge abused his discretion. (Babb v. Superior Court (1971) 3 Cal.3d 841, 851 [ 92 Cal.Rptr. 179 , 479 P.2d 379 ].) We must uphold his decision if there is sufficient evidence to justify it, viewing the evidence most favorably to the prevailing party and disregarding other facts that might support a different conclusion. (Nestle v. City of Santa Monica (1972) 6 Cal.3d 920, 925 [ 101 Cal.Rptr. 568 , 496 P.2d 580 ].) More specifically, our inquiry is whether the trial judge could have concluded that the relative balance of harm together with plaintiffs’ chances of success on the merits warranted the denial of the preliminary injunction pending a full trial on the merits. I find ample evidence in the record to support the trial judge’s decision.

After concluding that the balance of harm favors plaintiffs 1 (ante, p. 207) and that their likelihood of success on the merits is “strong” (id., p. 218), the majority concludes that “the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to grant the preliminary injunction” (ibid.). I would hold that the trial judge did not err in finding that the balance of harm considered with plaintiffs’ chances of success on the merits did not warrant the granting of the preliminary injunction.

II. Balancing of Harm

The majority cites the “psychological impact” on the shelter residents from giving up control over their daily regimen and from the alternative of foregoing benefits as proof that plaintiffs “will suffer great and immediate harm” if the shelter is not enjoined. (Ante, p. 207.) The defendants challenged vigorously the evidence of psychological damage and presented competent evidence that the shelter has no deleterious psychological effect on the residents. Viewing the record most favorably to defendants, we should find that the trial judge reasonably concluded that any harm to the residents was minimal and, at least pending a trial, the balance of harm was not *220 sufficiently in favor of plaintiffs to warrant issuing the preliminary injunction.

III. Chance of Success on the Merits

The trial judge held that plaintiffs could not prevail on their claims regarding the county’s lack of authority or the residents’ privacy rights but that plaintiffs might prevail on the issue of the humane administration of the shelter.

A. The County’s Authority Under the Welfare and Institutions Code. The county observes that Welfare and Institutions Code section 17002 (all further statutory references are to this code unless otherwise cited) specifically allows the county to establish, among other things, “almshouses. ” The county argues further that section 17001, by giving the county discretion to set eligibility standards and the kind and amount of relief, permits the county to condition the receipt of benefits upon residency in the shelter. The majority, without citing any authority, strongly implies that the power to establish almshouses does not include the power to condition benefits upon residing in such places. (Ante, p. 211.) The majority then holds that sections 17001 and 17002 cannot validate the shelter because the administration of the shelter violates section 10000, 2 and the discretion vested under section 17001 may not be exercised in a fashion that violates another statute. (Ante, p. 212.) Based on these holdings, the majority states that plaintiffs “have presented a persuasive argument that their statutory challenge will succeed at trial” and that “ [defendants have offered only a weak defense of the County’s policy.” (Ante, p. 212, fn. omitted.)

The county’s authority to establish almshouses and to condition general assistance benefits upon living in such places is not dependent upon whether a particular almshouse is administered in conformity with other statutes. The distinction is between the general and the particular. Even if the administration of this almshouse may violate the “humane” requirement of section 10000, the county still retains its general authority to establish almshouses under section 17002 and its discretion under section 17001 over eligibility and benefits. The trial judge was, in my view, correct when he found that plaintiffs could not prevail on their claims that the Bannon Street shelter exceeds the county’s authority.

B. The Shelter Residents ’ Privacy Rights. The majority finds that the Ban-non Street shelter program violates the residents’ right to privacy under the *221 California Constitution. My colleagues hold that none of the legitimate interests furthered by the shelter is sufficient under the strict scrutiny test of Committee to Defend Reproductive Rights v. Myers (1981) 29 Cal.3d 252, 265-266 [ 172 Cal.Rptr. 866 , 625 P.2d 779 , 20 A.L.R.4th 1118 ]. In my view, this record fully supports the trial court’s preliminary findings. Unfortunately, the majority’s opinion and its strong dicta in support of plaintiffs seem tantamount to a final decision on this important constitutional question.

The county first justifies the Bannon Street shelter on the ground that it improves the quality of aid given to the residents. The majority, rejecting that justification, simply declares that this policy does not outweigh impairing the residents’ right to privacy. (Ante, p. 215.) The evidence discloses that the shelter is kept clean and offers nutritious food and decent clothing to the residents. The shelter also provides free bus passes to enable the residents to seek jobs or simply to travel and to visit anyone they choose. An “incoming only” telephone (in addition to a pay telephone) serves as a message center for employment and other telephone calls for residents; often general assistance recipients do not have easy access to telephones. The residents also have access to an employment service worker for consultation at the shelter regarding job openings. The evidence shows that these benefits are often unobtainable or available only with great difficulty for general assistance recipients who do not live in the shelter. In short, the county’s facilities are far superior to those in which many needy people must live. The majority holds, in effect, that no matter how effectively the shelter implements the policy of providing specific benefits, the privacy rights of the shelter residents outweigh that policy. I cannot agree.

The evidence, summarized above, fully supports the county’s position that no less intrusive alternatives are available. The trial court, in its preliminary assessment of the evidence, could well have agreed. Nonetheless, the majority speculates that making residency at the shelter voluntary, increasing the amount of cash grants, “sponsoring]” the construction of low-income housing, “or other possible alternatives” would be less intrusive of privacy while furthering the county’s interest in providing specific aid to general assistance recipients. (Ante, p. 215.) The trial judge could have found that each of those “alternatives” would defeat the legitimate purpose of providing better, more specific aid to general assistance recipients. To make residency in the shelter voluntary would defeat the purpose of ensuring that all recipients receive those benefits. If plaintiffs are to be believed, the shelter would be empty if residency were voluntary, thus completely defeating the county’s interest in maintaining the shelter. Increasing the amount of the cash grants would not ensure that the recipients would provide themselves with appropriate aid. The county’s interest in supplying *222 specific benefits would again be thwarted. Finally, additional low-income housing “sponsored]” by the county presumably would involve the issuance of municipal bonds. Even if such assistance were feasible (and there is no evidence in the record as to the county’s current bonded indebtedness or its ability as a practical matter to market such bonds) many of the specific benefits currently being offered by the Bannon Street shelter would not be available. The only sure benefit would be shelter. Food, clothing, utilities, telephones, transportation, and counseling would not necessarily be provided.

A second interest promoted by the Bannon Street shelter is one that is required by section 10000: encouraging “self-respect, self-reliance, and the desire to be a good citizen, useful to society.” The county notes the benefits cited above 3 and argues that such qualities promote self-reliance among the residents. As proof of the shelter’s success, the county points to the fact that shelter residents receive benefits for an average of less than one month. By contrast, general assistance recipients who do not reside in the shelter receive benefits for over nine months on the average. The majority is quick to conclude that, rather than becoming self-reliant, the shelter residents who leave “could just as easily become destitute, involved in criminal enterprises, or dependent upon private charity. The brevity of the average sojurn at the Bannon Street facility may be less a reflection of self-reliance than a result of the inmates’ natural aversion to the restraints on their freedom.” (Ante, p. 215.) On that speculative basis the majority concludes that the Bannon Street shelter does not promote self-reliance.

The majority’s error is twofold. First, it makes an ultimate judgment on incomplete facts. Discovery has yet to be completed; live testimony has yet to be considered by the trial judge. Second, the majority relies on only those facts opposing the county’s position. The evidence cited by the county, however, supports its position and likewise supports the trial court’s judgment.

The majority also concludes that the county has failed to show that there are no less intrusive alternatives that promote self-reliance. As examples, the majority suggests “job training, counseling, and cash benefits.” (Ante, p. 216.) Residents may consult an employment service worker, mentioned above, who provides information on available job openings and counsels residents on job searches. Of course, the shelter residents are free to take advantage of the welfare department’s services offered to other welfare recipients. These services include job orientation, job referrals, and cash to *223 purchase work tools, uniforms, and special shoes if necessary. In addition to job counselling, residents can receive counselling for alcoholism and can attend nondenominational religious services. Although residents do not receive outright cash grants, they have the benefit of retaining all earnings up to the maximum eligibility requirements. Regardless of whether some benefits could be provided as effectively without the residency requirement, the county has justified that requirement by noting that other benefits, such as shelter, could not otherwise be so provided. No less intrusive alternative is possible. In sum, the evidence at this stage sufficiently supports the county’s contention that the Bannon Street shelter program serves the legitimate interest of promoting self-reliance among its residents and that the process by which the shelter does so is constitutionally permissible.

A third legitimate and significant interest supporting the Bannon Street shelter is fiscal. The majority’s only oblique suggestion of less intrusive methods of saving money comes from the quotation from Mooney v. Pickett (1971) 4 Cal.3d 669 [ 94 Cal.Rptr. 279 , 483 P.2d 1231 ], pointing out the county’s discretion to establish standards for eligibility and amount of aid. Presumably, the majority is proposing that the county either raise the eligibility requirements, cut the amount of the cash grants, or both. The record is devoid of evidence that would support the conclusion that raising eligibility requirements would comport with the county’s charge to provide relief to “all . . . poor, indigent persons ...” under section 17000. (Italics added.) Simply cutting the amount of benefits likewise finds no support in the record as a permissible option. Indeed, the majority suggests increasing the cash grants as an alternative for furthering the other interests discussed above. The evidence supports the county’s contention, with which the trial court could have agreed, that the shelter is efficiently run and that, accordingly, no less intrusive alternative would produce such fiscal savings while providing the in-kind benefits the county deems desirable.

The majority misapprehends the county’s fiscal argument. 4 The majority states that the fiscal savings from the Bannon Street shelter flow from the *224 county’s denial of “benefits to an estimated 300-400 applicants a month who refuse to accept ‘in-kind’ aid.” (Ante, p. 217, fn. omitted.) As was noted during the oral argument of this case, the monthly cost of the shelter per resident is greater than the cash benefits provided to other general assistance recipients. The savings to the county stem from the fact that the average Bannon Street shelter resident receives assistance for less than a month while other general assistance recipients receive assistance for over nine months, on the average. Thus, the county not only spends more on each resident, and assures that that money is spent to provide practical assistance, but saves significant amounts of money in the aggregate. 5

C. The Humane Administration of the Bannon Street Shelter. The trial judge concluded that plaintiffs ultimately might prevail on their claim that the shelter is not being administered “humanely.” Nonetheless, the trial judge ruled that plaintiffs’ chances of success on that claim, coupled with their failure on their other claims and the balance of harm between the parties, warranted the denial of the preliminary injunction.

The majority asserts that the program requires residents to give up their living quarters, to surrender “control over their daily lives,” and to choose between living in the shelter or foregoing benefits. (Ante, p. 209.) On that basis, the majority concludes that the shelter is not being administered humanely.

As the majority points out, however, residency in the shelter is not required of those who own their own homes, live with a dependent child, or have a physical or mental incapacity. Those qualities would make the residency requirement more burdensome. If the factual record were complete, we would have the benefit of the trial judge’s considered opinion of all the evidence bearing on this fact question. As it is, we must speculate. The shelter residents retain almost total control over their daily lives. The residents are required to be in the shelter only from 9 p.m. until morning and exceptions to this rule are permitted. Except for this requirement, the record does not disclose any affirmative duties imposed on them. The residents are free to come and go, eat at the shelter or not, visit with anyone they like, speak with anyone they like, and, in general, exercise complete control over their lives. Finally, the choice between participating in the program offered or foregoing benefits is always present, but does not reflect any “inhuman *225 ity.” The same choice exists for other general assistance recipients: take what is offered or go without. What the majority objects to are the alternatives, not the choice itself.

This record fully supports the conclusion that the shelter is humanely administered. As the majority notes, the county has asserted that the shelter is clean, the food nutritious, and the rules reasonable. (Ante, p. 209.) In fact, the defendants filed 23 declarations and other exhibits that extensively discuss the operation and condition of the Bannon Street shelter. This evidence came from shelter residents and employees as well as independent experts on the subjects of welfare, nutrition, economics, and medicine. The synthesis of that evidence is that the Bannon Street shelter is a well-run institution providing clean, healthy facilities for eating, sleeping, and bathing.

The majority does not contend that defendants’ evidence is not credible. Rather, it cites plaintiffs’ evidence and concludes that the shelter is inhumanely administered. No case law or statutory authority permits or supports that conclusion. Indeed, the opposite is compelled. We must view the evidence in the light most favorable to defendants. If we, on review, examine the record in light of the substantial evidence supporting the judgment, the ineluctable conclusion is that plaintiffs were not likely to prevail on this claim.

IV. Consequences of the Majority’s Holdings

The majority’s analysis, going beyond simply examining the entire record for facts that support the trial judge’s decision, is open to criticism on several grounds. First, of course, it is not the approach prescribed by law for our review. (Nestle v. City of Santa Monica, supra, 6 Cal.3d at p. 925 .) Second, by its premature conclusions the majority effectively precludes a fair trial on the merits. The majority strongly suggests that, despite any facts that could be adduced by defendants at trial, the Bannon Street shelter exceeds the defendants’ statutory authority (ante, p. 212), the program is constitutionally infirm (id., p. 218) and the shelter is inhumane (id., p. 209). In light of today’s decision a trial would seem pointless.

More importantly, by effectively foreclosing a fair trial, the majority’s decision will deprive this court of a full factual record and the trial judge’s thorough and thoughtful findings of fact and conclusions of law. The issues in this case are many and their resolution, particularly the constitutional issue, is largely dependent upon an evaluation of all the facts surrounding the Bannon Street shelter. By ruling now, the majority opinion is of necessity speculative and premature.

*226 In addition, the other 57 counties of this state can glean little concrete guidance from this case because of the lack of a full record and the majority’s premature substantive conclusions. Each of those counties must provide general assistance benefits under the same statutes considered here. All that can reasonably be said is that counties attempting any general assistance system other than issuing monthly checks do so at their peril. Such a result is regrettable both because the counties should be free to fashion benefit programs that best serve their needs and because this result was so easily avoidable.

Finally, even if the majority, following the established approach, were to find that the preliminary injunction should issue, they should have stopped with a finding that the trial judge abused his discretion rather than making what, as a practical matter, are final resolutions of important issues. Much of the majority’s opinion is unnecessary and unwarranted to resolve the question of whether the preliminary injunction should issue.

The county’s experiment with providing general assistance benefits, which saves the county an enormous amount of money, should be permitted to continue, at least until a complete factual record is created during trial. Overwhelming evidence supports the trial judge’s decision to deny the preliminary injunction. I find no abuse of discretion.

I would deny the peremptory writ.

The majority incorrectly states that “Plaintiffs have met the first prong of the test for the issuance of a preliminary injunction. ” (Ante, p. 207.) As Katz makes clear, the two issues are not tests or requirements but considerations to be used in reaching the ultimate decision whether the injunction should issue. (Continental Baking Co. v. Katz, supra, 68 Cal.2d at p. 528 .)

The majority finds the Bannon Street shelter program violates section 10000 (ante, pp. 207-210), a conclusion with which I disagree (infra, pp. 223-225).

The record also reflects that shelter residents, unlike other general assistance recipients, may keep any money they earn up to the general assistance eligibility limit.

In footnote 21 {ante, p. 217) the majority uses the county’s statement that “facts to support fiscal arguments have not been developed” to argue that the trial judge unreasonably accepted the county’s fiscal argument. That quotation is taken out of context. The county made that statement in the course of arguing that all county welfare recipients would suffer from the closure of the Bannon Street shelter because the county would be unable to raise sufficient revenues to provide cash grants to all eligible people. This inability would be caused by Proposition 13’s limitation on the county’s ability to generate tax revenues while section 17000’s requirement to provide aid to all indigent people continued. The county indicated that authoritative monetary and demographic statistics had not been fully prepared to support that argument. The county did not intimate that facts have not been developed to support its argument that it saves money by operating the shelter. Although a complete record must await trial, the record and statements of counsel at oral argument fully support the assertion that the Bannon Street shelter program saves the county money in the aggregate. The trial judge had ample evidence from which to rule on this issue in the context of a motion for a preliminary injunction.

The majority notes that the county’s interest in the prevention of fraud does not justify the Bannon Street shelter program because the program is not reasonably related to the prevention of fraud—that is, the program itself does not prevent fraud—and that less intrusive alternatives are available. Because the county has identified at least one legitimate interest advanced by the shelter (indeed, the county has identified three such interests), the success of the fraud prevention argument is immaterial.