DON E. BURRELL, Judge.
In response to a petition for declaratory judgment filed by Neil Turner ("Turner") and Bobby "Shannon" Jones ("Jones") (collectively, "Plaintiffs"), the trial court entered a judgment declaring certain wildlife regulations unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.
Because the trial court misapplied the law in declaring the challenged regulations unconstitutionally void for vagueness based on purely hypothetical factual scenarios instead of Plaintiffs' actual conduct, and because Plaintiffs failed to allege that their free speech and association rights were violated as required to properly assert a claim that the regulations are unconstitutionally over-broad, we reverse the judgment of the trial court.
The challenged regulations are a part of the Missouri Wildlife Code promulgated by the Department ("the Code") and identified as 3 C.S.R. 10-7.410(1)(A) (which prohibits hunting from or with a motor-driven conveyance); 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(C) (which prohibits deer hunting with a motor-driven land conveyance); and 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(D) (which prohibits deer hunting with the aid of dogs, a practice sometimes
Plaintiffs' original petition, filed February 22, 2010, alleged that each of the above-cited regulations violated the due process provisions of both the United States and Missouri constitutions. Relying on Title 28, United States Code, section 1446(a),
Plaintiffs' amended petition (hereafter "the petition" or "Plaintiffs' petition") alleged that the Department "threatened application" of the regulations against both Jones and Turner, that Turner had actually been charged criminally in federal court for violating the regulations, and that they each reside in Ripley County, Missouri. Plaintiffs' petition made no other factual averments relevant to their claims.
Section 252.040 limits wildlife hunting to the extent permitted by "rules and regulations." Under section 252.020, "rules and regulations" mean those made by the Conservation Commission.
(1) Wildlife may be hunted and taken only in accordance with the following:
Title 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431 is entitled "Deer Hunting Seasons: General Provisions." Subsections (6)(C) and (D) of that regulation provide:
Plaintiffs' petition specifically alleged that the words contained in 3 C.S.R. 10-7.410(1) and 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(C)—prohibiting hunting and deer hunting, respectively, with or from motor-driven land conveyances—"are so unclear that people of `ordinary intelligence' must guess at their meanings"; "by their literal terms, [they] criminalize the activity of the hunter using a motor-driven vehicle in any manner, shape or form during deer season" (such as a "white tail deer hunter conveying himself from his home to his hunting location with his truck"); they "are subject to
Plaintiffs also alleged that 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(D)—prohibiting hunting deer with dogs—is unclear because "[i]t is impossible for a person of `common intelligence' to determine what constitutes hunting deer `with the aid of dogs' or when or how dogs are `in use'"; when read literally, it "makes the mere presence of a hunter who is `pursing' [sic] a deer in an undefined geographic area unlawful if dogs (also in an undefined general geographical location) may be `in use' or have been `in use'"; and it is drafted in the plural such that it is permissible to hunt with only one dog, but the regulation "does not convey a sufficient warning" as to whether this means one dog per hunter or one dog per hunting party.
At the bench trial held on the petition in August 2010, the Department objected to the calling of any witnesses on the basis that the matter before the trial court was purely a question of law. The trial court overruled that objection and allowed Plaintiffs to present testimonial evidence.
The only evidence presented by Turner about the substance of his charge was Exhibit 1, "a copy of the Federal indictment[.]" Exhibit 1 was not deposited with this court,
Testimony specifically related to Jones came from conservation agent Darren Killian. He testified that he interviewed Jones in Doniphan, Missouri in connection with Operation Pull Wool. Killian believed that Jones had been "hunting with multiple dogs." Killian did not know if the dogs used by Jones were the dogs owned by him or dogs owned by other individuals. When asked about Jones's possession of dogs "in his aid during the 2008 Missouri Firearm Season", Killian replied that Jones was also being investigated for "[t]rying to locate and load dogs for other people." Killian confirmed that he was investigating the prohibition against deer hunting with dogs set forth in 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(D).
In all, Plaintiffs called five witnesses. Each witness was employed in some capacity with the Department and was asked questions about various hypothetical scenarios involving hunters, dogs, and motor vehicles.
Although the hypothetical questions to each witness were similar, they were not identical, and the answers sometimes differed. For example, the testimony about the "use" of dogs varied somewhat. Turner's counsel asked Killian, "If during the Firearm Deer Season if [sic] you have a dog just with you out in the woods maybe staying right by you is that using a dog to aid you to hunt, to pursue, or kill deer?" Killian replied, "Certainly not." Killian also testified that circumstances and the hunter's statements could determine whether the dog was being used to hunt. When Turner's counsel asked conservation agent Chris Ely whether "having a dog laying at your feet while you are deer hunting would be a violation[,]" Ely responded, "While you are deer hunting if you had—if you possessed a dog, yes."
Plaintiffs also questioned the witnesses about their interpretations of the meaning of the word "dogs" as used in the regulations. The witnesses generally testified that "dogs" could also include a single dog, but one witness who did not personally participate in Operation Pull Wool, district supervisor Allen Daniels, testified, "If I read the regulation as dogs in the plural as it is written here yes, I would say yes, dogs would mean yes, more than one." About the use of motor-driven land conveyances in hunting deer, conservation agent Jason Langston conceded that "people
Neither Plaintiff testified. The Department called no witnesses and cross-examined no witnesses. On August 5, 2010, the trial court entered its judgment in favor of Plaintiffs, ruling that 3 C.S.R. 10-7.410(1)(A), 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(C), and 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(D) violated Article I, Section 10 of the Missouri Constitution, stating:
The judgment further declared the regulations "invalid and without effect" and directed the Department to cease enforcing them.
"Properly promulgated agency rules and regulations have the same force and effect as statutes." EBG Health Care III, Inc. v. Missouri Health Facilities Review Comm., 12 S.W.3d 354, 362 (Mo.App. W.D.2000). "The party challenging the validity of the statute has the burden of proving the statute unconstitutional." State v. Richard, 298 S.W.3d 529, 531 (Mo. banc 2009). In reviewing a declaratory judgment, we determine whether the trial court erroneously declared or applied the law. Psychiatric Healthcare Corp. of Missouri v. Department of Soc. Servs., 100 S.W.3d 891, 899 (Mo.App. W.D.2003). "Review of legal determinations is de novo, and issues involving the interpretation of statutory language are questions of law." Id. We apply the same de novo review to regulations as to statutes. See Motor Control Specialities, Inc. v. Labor & Indus. Relations Comm'n, 323 S.W.3d 843, 849 (Mo.App.W.D.2010); Psychiatric Healthcare, 100 S.W.3d at 903. As a result, we give no deference to the trial court's legal conclusions. Motor Control Specialities, 323 S.W.3d at 849.
Plaintiffs' petition sought a declaratory judgment pursuant to section 536.050. Section 536.050.1 provides, inter alia:
While section 536.050 provides a method of obtaining a declaratory judgment as to the validity of agency rules and 536.053 potentially creates a large class of persons who may bring such a claim, see Missouri Bankers Ass'n v. Director of the Missouri Div. of Credit Unions, 126 S.W.3d 360, 365 (Mo. banc 2003) ("[T]he
Missouri Soybean Ass'n v. Missouri Clean Water Comm'n, 102 S.W.3d 10, 25 (Mo. banc 2003) (finding that section 536.050 did not apply because the contested matter was not a rule, and general principles of declaratory judgments also supported dismissal of the action). Thus, it appears that 536.050 and 536.053 expand both "a legally protect[ed] interest" to include those who may be aggrieved and "a controversy ripe for judicial determination" to include one that has not otherwise been presented to the agency. But nothing in these statutes removes the general requirement that a real controversy—as distinguished from a hypothetical one— actually exists for the person challenging the regulation. Additionally, the particular relief sought by Plaintiffs—a declaration that the regulations are void for vagueness—must also be considered in the context of a real factual context.
"[A] basic principle of due process [is] that an enactment is void for vagueness if its prohibitions are not clearly defined." Cocktail Fortune, Inc. v. Supervisor of Liquor Control, 994 S.W.2d 955, 957 (Mo. banc 1999). The void for vagueness doctrine addresses two potential problems.
State v. Young, 695 S.W.2d 882, 884 (Mo. banc 1985).
"Generally, one is required to claim a statute is unconstitutional as to that person's own conduct." State v. Ellis, 853 S.W.2d 440, 446 (Mo.App. E.D.1993). Subsequent to its 2003 decision in Missouri Bankers, our high court has continued to direct that "[i]n reviewing vagueness challenges, the language is evaluated by applying it to the facts at hand." Feldhaus v. State, 311 S.W.3d 802, 806 (Mo. banc 2010). For instance, in Conseco Fin.
In addition, "neither absolute certainty nor impossible standards of specificity are required in determining whether terms are impermissibly vague." Id. at 957. If a permissible application of the law may be made, courts should make that application. Id.; State v. Self, 155 S.W.3d 756, 761 (Mo. banc 2005) ("No evidence was offered that [defendant] was unsure whether it would violate the [school attendance] statute to cause her daughter to miss 40 days of school, nor that other districts treated 40 absences in a different manner;" and thus there was "no evidence that the statute is unconstitutionally vague when applied to her situation").
Notwithstanding the broad standing conferred by section 536.053, we believe this substantive principle also continues to apply to challenges to regulations such that "the hypothetical approach is not the appropriate standard for reviewing whether a regulation is void for vagueness." Cocktail Fortune, 994 S.W.2d at 958. We further find that a facial challenge to the particular wildlife regulations at issue in this case is not appropriate. A plurality of the United States Supreme Court recognized a facial attack on a loitering ordinance in City of Chicago v. Morales, 527 U.S. 41, 55, 119 S.Ct. 1849, 144 L.Ed.2d 67 (1999), stating:
But, that does not mean that any penal statute or regulation is automatically subject to a facial challenge for vagueness. Our high court recently rejected a facial challenge to a child enticement statute in State v. Faruqi, 344 S.W.3d 193, 201 (Mo. banc 2011) ("Unlike in Morales, vagueness cannot be said to permeate the statute in question"). Likewise, Morales is distinguishable from this case because, absent an exception as permitted by section 562.026 and not shown here, "it is well-settled that, where a specific mental state is not prescribed in a statute, `a culpable mental state is nonetheless required and is established if a person acts purposely or knowingly . . .'" Self, 155 S.W.3d at 761-62 (quoting section 562.021.3; State v. Bratina, 73 S.W.3d 625, 628 (Mo. banc 2002)).
Plaintiffs cite Young as presenting "many of the same deficiencies as the regulations at issue in this case." There, section 578.050 RSMo 1978—which prohibited "being present at a cockfight"—was declared void for vagueness. 695 S.W.2d at 883. Its language prohibited being at a place used for cockfights. As a result, a person could be found in violation of the statute without actually being a spectator at a cockfight or even being aware that a cockfight was taking or had taken place. Id. at 885. Young was arrested at a scene suspected of hosting a previous cockfight and charged with being present at a cockfight, but "the extent of his participation in any cockfights and the character of his presence at the scene were not shown." Id. at 883. Because the statute "fail[ed] to provide a person of ordinary intelligence with adequate notice of the proscribed conduct," it was declared void. Id. at 886. The Court distinguished similar statutes that had been upheld in other jurisdictions on the basis that those statutes required some intent by the attendee. Id. at 884-85. We later opined that "[i]mplicitly, Young would not have found the cockfighting statute void had there been an intent element." State v. Condict, 65 S.W.3d 6, 17 (Mo.App. S.D.2001).
The trial court made no express findings as to vagueness when considered in the context of Plaintiffs' specific circumstances. And, although it may be that Plaintiffs might benefit in the future from the trial court's holding because the regulations would no longer apply to any of the hypothetical activities they had described and might intend to engage in in the future, the declaratory judgment here appears to resolve no specific, actual and immediate controversy involving Plaintiffs. As entered, the judgment effectively declares the regulations invalid on their face.
In the instant case, nothing indicates that Jones was ever charged with any violation of the challenged regulations. According to Killian, Jones was questioned in relation to the possible violation of 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(D) regarding possible "hunting with multiple dogs" and "[t]rying to locate and load dogs for other people." In his brief, Jones disputes any suggestion that he admitted knowing that he had violated the law or had "somehow confessed to a crime" during his interview with Killian.
This, in itself, does not bar his claim as it is possible for a litigant to seek review of "pre-enforcement conduct" in some situations. Our high court, for example, "has held that pre-enforcement constitutional challenges to laws were ripe when the facts necessary to adjudicate the underlying claims were fully developed and the laws at issue were affecting the plaintiffs in a manner that gave rise to an immediate, concrete dispute." Missouri Health Care Ass'n v. Attorney Gen. of the State of Missouri, 953 S.W.2d 617, 621 (Mo. banc 1997). See also Planned Parenthood of Kansas v. Nixon, 220 S.W.3d 732, 737 (Mo. banc 2007) ("As to its First Amendment and vagueness claims, Planned Parenthood is directly and adversely
The limited, pre-enforcement conduct exception does not apply here because Jones failed to demonstrate that the facts concerning him were fully developed such that the law could be construed in context, see Missouri Health, 953 S.W.2d at 621. Nor does it appear that the Department somehow interrupted or prevented a particular course of conduct by Jones. See Planned Parenthood, 220 S.W.3d at 737.
Instead, Plaintiffs' petition asserts that 3 C.S.R. 10-7.410(1)(A) and 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(C) "criminalize the activity of the hunter using a motor-driven vehicle in any manner, shape or form during deer season" and Plaintiffs offer several innocent-sounding scenarios as illustrations and contend that 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(D) leaves ordinary persons unable to know whether a shot may be fired when a deer is "scared into the innocent hunter's line of sight for a kill" or whether perhaps each hunter could hunt with the assistance of only one dog.
These hypothetical scenarios do not demonstrate that the regulations were impermissibly vague as to the actual situations presented by each Plaintiff, and Plaintiffs cannot challenge the substance of the wildlife regulations at issue through the assertion of hypothetical scenarios. State v. Brown, 140 S.W.3d 51, 55 (Mo. banc 2004) ("it is inappropriate to project the challenge to factual situations not presented here in which the language used, as applied, might indeed be vague and confusing"); State v. Entm't Ventures I, Inc., 44 S.W.3d 383, 387 (Mo. banc 2001) (vagueness challenge against nuisance law rejected because part of the challenged statute relating to the manufacture of liquor did not apply to the defendant whose cabaret was closed and there was no evidence that the law was arbitrarily or discriminatorily enforced against him); see State v. Jones, 892 S.W.2d 737, 739-40 & n. 1 (Mo.App. W.D.1994) (declining to reach the merits of a claim that a statute's uncertainty made it susceptible to arbitrary and discriminatory application because the defendant—who asserted this claimed uncertainty only in the context of a hypothetical situation— had no standing to make it and the trial court is without authority to declare judgment regarding hypothetical scenarios).
We refuse to speculate as to whether any of the hypothetical situations described by Jones are his actual situation and would thereby perhaps present a ripe controversy with the Department that could possibly satisfy the elements necessary for a successful declaratory judgment action. Missouri Soybean Ass'n, 102 S.W.3d at 25. Jones makes no specific claim that his due process rights were violated by a vague application of the challenged regulations when the Department investigated him for (and apparently did not charge him with) hunting deer with multiple dogs.
As for Turner, the most that has been alleged is that he was charged with violating at least two of the challenged regulations—3 C.S.R. 10-7.410(1)(A) and 3 C.S.R. 7.431(6)(D) in the context of a federal conspiracy. Giving Turner the benefit of as much alleged factual information as may be gleaned from the record and the briefs, the conspiracy was to violate the
While no evidence was presented that Turner was charged with a violation of 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(C), even if we treated Turner as also being investigated for a possible violation of it, Turner still did not state how application of the wildlife regulations to his charged or suspected conduct was a vague or arbitrary application. Turner did not submit to the trial court that any of the innocent-sounding scenarios suggested by Plaintiffs were in fact his scenario in the federal case, and the trial court did not find that the wildlife regulations were vague or arbitrary as applied to the facts of Turner's investigation or prosecution.
Additionally, Turner's ability to challenge at least 3 C.S.R. 10-7.410(1)(A) and 3 C.S.R. 10-7.431(6)(D) in his federal case gave him a sufficient alternate remedy so as to bar his attempt to challenge by declaratory judgment the validity of regulations used as the bases for criminal charges actually filed against him. Cf. Schaefer v. Koster, No. 342 S.W.3d 299, 299-01 (Mo. banc 2011) (holding a declaratory judgment action was properly dismissed where the plaintiff had the option of raising the unconstitutionality of the challenged DWI statute as a defense to the criminal charges brought against him on the basis of that statute); Preferred Physicians Mut. Mgmt. Grp., Inc. v. Preferred Physicians Mut. Risk Retention Grp., 916 S.W.2d 821, 824 (Mo.App. W.D.1995) (holding a declaratory judgment should not have been entered because the plaintiff had an alternative remedy of asserting the issue as a defense to defendant's action). This is especially true because "Missouri's due process provision parallels its federal counterpart, and in the past [the Supreme Court of Missouri] has treated the state and federal due process clauses as equivalent." Jamison v. State of Missouri, Dept. of Soc. Servs., Div. of Family Servs., 218 S.W.3d 399, 405 n. 7 (Mo. banc 2007).
Because Plaintiffs failed to prove that the way the regulations were applied against them violated their due process rights, that portion of the Department's point is granted.
The trial court also found the challenged regulations to be unconstitutional because it believed them to be "overly broad." As the Department recognizes, overbreadth is a doctrine connected with
695 S.W.2d at 884.
But the overbreadth doctrine is still limited to the context of the First Amendment. Richard, 298 S.W.3d at 531. Plaintiffs' petition alleged that, inter alia, the regulations are "unconstitutional" and "overly broad" but cited no specific constitutional offense except "due process of law in violation of Article I, [Section] 10 of the Missouri Constitution"—it made no reference to Missouri Constitution Art. I, sections 8 & 9, provisions guaranteeing freedom of speech and association. And while its related docket entry indicated that the trial court considered the right of hunting to be "important," and the judgment found the regulations "overly broad," it made no reference or finding concerning Plaintiffs' free speech or association rights. Even Plaintiffs' original petition—which then included a Fourteenth Amendment due process allegation—did not include any challenge based on the First Amendment or Mo. Const. Art. I, sec. 8 or 9.
We will not address a constitutional issue not properly presented for decision in a declaratory judgment action. See Readey v. St. Louis Cnty. Water Co., 352 S.W.2d 622, 628 (Mo. banc 1961) (where our high court declined to consider a First Amendment issue involving religion when the issue was not raised in a pleading or at trial). Cf. Self, 155 S.W.3d at 761 ("it is not this Court's prerogative to offer advisory opinions on hypothetical issues that
The trial court's judgment declaring the challenged regulations unconstitutional and ordering that they no longer be enforced is reversed.
BARNEY, P.J., and LYNCH, J., concur.
Mo. Const., art. 1, sec. 8 provides
Section 9 provides "[t]hat the people have the right peaceably to assemble for their common good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of government for redress of grievances by petition or remonstrance." Mo. Const., art. 1, sec. 9.