ORIGINAL: BTBowhunter
Read the lawsuit Lost Horn. It's right there.
I know my old eyes are getting bad so maybe you can point them out, here is the lawsuit.
IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
The Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania
By and through Their Members,
Individually and Collectively, and Individual
Plaintiffs (John F. Gilmore through and including
Florence Reeder totaling 13,216 plaintiffs As evidenced by Exhibit " A " hereto )
Petitioners
V.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC),
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources (DCNR)) Edward Rendell, Governor Of Pennsylvania (in his official capacity only), the Commissioners of the Pennsylvania Game
Commission (all in their official capacity only) and
Michael DiBerardinis (in his official capacity only)
NOTICE TO DEFEND
YOU HAVE BEEN SUED IN COURT. If you wish to defend the claims set forth in the following pages, you must take action within twenty (20) days after this Complaint is served, by entering a written appearance personally or by attorney and filing in writing with the court your defenses or objections to the claims set forth against you. You are warned that if you fail to do so the case may proceed without you and a judgment may be entered against you by the court without further notice for any money claimed in the petition or for any other claim or relief requested by the plaintiff. You may lose money or property or other rights important to you. .
YOU SHOULD TAKE THIS PAPER TO YOUR LAWYER AT ONCE. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A LAWYER OR CANNOT AFFORD ONE, GO TO OR TELEPHONE THE OFFTCE SET FORTH BELOW TO FIND OUT WHERE YOU
CAN GET LEGAL HELP.
DAUPHIN COUNTY LAWYER REFERRAL SERVICE
213 North Front Street
Harrisburg, PA. 17101
IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
The Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania
By and through Their Members,
Individually and Collectively, and Individual
Plaintiffs (John F. Gilmore through and including
Florence Reeder totaling 13,216 plaintiffs As evidenced by Exhibit " A " hereto )
Petitioners
V.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC),
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources (DCNR)) Edward Rendell, Governor Of Pennsylvania (in his official capacity only), the Commissioners of the Pennsylvania Game
Commission (all in their official capacity only) and
Michael DiBerardinis (in his official capacity only)
Respondents
COMPLAINT/REQUEST FOR WRIT OF
MANDAMUlS
Comes Now the Petitioners "The Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania" and the individual Petitioners, by and through their attorney Don Bailey Esq., and brings this petition seeking the consideration by this Honorable Court of certain alleged actions and policies by the Respondents above named, which are alleged to be unlawful and further pray for relief in the form of a request for writ of mandamus.
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Introductory Statement
This is a complaint brought by a group of Pennsylvania Sportsmen whose membership numbers exceed 40,000 persons. The men and women of this organization and tens of thousands of their members, and others, collectively and in their individual capacities (including many individual Pennsylvania citizens who are not members), assert standing to petition this court on behalf of their constitutionally and statutorily recognized rights as outdoorsmen and hunters, pursuant to Pennsylvania law, asserting that they have been expressly entrusted by the Commonwealth with the responsibility to protect and preserve Pennsylvania's deer herd. The gravaman of this complaint is that the Respondents have not only failed in their duties and responsibilities to preserve and protect the deer herd as a ward of, and for the citizens of Pennsylvania and particularly the sportsmen and women of Pennsylvania, but that the respondents above named have intentionally acted to destroy and diminish Pennsylvania's deer herd, in contravention of law, below a reasonable or rational level. Further, petitioners allege that the above named Respondents, have in their official capacities, intentionally embarked upon the promulgation of policies designed to deplete and diminish the deer herd in support and pursuit of other political and policy
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interests which are in conflict with, and in derogation of, the intent and purpose of established Pennsylvania law to the contrary. The petitioners seek the intervention of this Honorable Court to require the Respondents through a writ of mandamus, consistent with the Constitution and laws of Pennsylvania, as they relate to Pennsylvania's deer herd and the basis upon which the Respondents have promulgated their policies and based, and base, their actions and policies to reveal the basis of their decisions affecting the well-being of the herd. Petitioners do not seek a temporary restraining order or ask for preliminary injunctive relief, but rather ask this court, based upon the following issues of law and allegations of fact; to grant petitioners appropriate discovery rights and opportunities to access public information to be followed by an evidentiary hearing(s) should petitioners meet the legal and factual burdens required by this court entitling them. to potential equitable relief.
Jurisdiction and Venue
1. Jurisdiction is vested in this court by virtue of Pa.R.C.P. No.’s 2101-2125 and 1501,1502, 1093, 1094, 1531 and 1577. This court is also asked to consider, as an alternative, declaratory relief as per Pa.R.C.P. 1602,
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2. Since Petitioners do not seek preliminary injunctive relief' no bond is required or necessary.
3. Original jurisdiction lies with this court to hear complaints against the Commonwealth or Commonwealth parties (see explanatory comment- 1991) to Rule 2102, see also Rule 2103.
Relief Requested
4. Petitioners do not seek preliminary injunctive relief.
5. However, Petitioners do allege that sufficient grounds exist to seek permanent injunctive relief and/or mandamus.
6. More specifically, this court's equitable powers are necessary to prevent further decimation of Pennsylvania's deer herd through inappropriate regulations and policies promulgated and enforced by the respondents; which if carried forward in this and in future years, might lead to the irreparable decimation of the Commonwealth's deer herd. Consequently Petitioners aver as follows:
a. Compensation by damages are not adequate to prevent the irreparable and immediate harm to the population and health of the deer herd if respondents are not restrained or otherwise required to conform to the requirements of the law and,
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b. Greater injury than that already believed sustained will result if this court refuses to take action forcing the Respondents provide the data and or information upon which their actions in setting and antlered and antlerless deer license allocations are based and,
c. By granting mandamus relief this court will restore the parties to the status quo anti.
d. Petitioner's right to relief is clear and manifest.
7. Pennsylvania's Constitution contains a Declaration of Rights which, like the Bill of Rights, is a limitation on the power (s) of our state government. These rights are considered inherent in man's nature. Further, these rights are specifically reserved to the people; each inhabitant of the Commonwealth shares in them and enjoys them.
8. The "Declaration of Rights'~ in Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution reads as follows:
“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people."
9. 34-P~C.S:&. & 3-22 imposes the following duty on the Pennsylvania game commission:
a. “Duties…
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"It shall be the duty of the Commission to protect, propagate, manage and preserve the game or wildlife of this Commonwealth and to enforce, by proper actions and proceedings, the laws of this Commonwealth relating thereto” ...
c." Specific powers and duties...
(11) collect, classify and preserve such statistics, data and information as in its judgment will tend to promote the object of this title and take charge of and keep all reports, books, papers and documents which shall, in the discharge of its duties, come into its possession or under its control.
(12) Take any necessary action to accomplish and assure the purposes of this title
(13) Serve the interests of "sportsmen” (emphasis added) by preserving and promoting our special heritage of recreational hunting and fur-taking by providing adequate opportunity to hunt and trap the wildlife resources of this Commonwealth."
10. The aforementioned duties are obligatory and must be performed by the Commission which does not have the discretion to avoid the obligations enumerated above.
11. In carrying out their duties the PGC (and all of the Respondents above) are required as a matter of law to base their decisions on scientific evidence and not arbitrary or capricious speculation and certainly not on an undisclosed political agenda. Lehman, et. al. v Pennsylvania Game Commission, et .al., 34 Pa. D.& C. 662 (pa.Com.PI. 1938), Pacurariu, et. al. v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, et. al. , 744 AZD 389 (Cmwlth.Ct. Ct. 2000).
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12. The commission to the contrary has never conducted a reliable or scientific census of Pennsylvania's deer herd at any time in its history.
13. Rather, based upon information and belief, in seeking to trade political decisions encouraging increased forest growth at the expense of the deer herd, the PGC, in conjunction with the DCNR and the other Respondents in their official capacities, have engaged in a policy not guided by information or scientific knowledge but rather have engaged in a consistent year in year out policy of engineering the rapid decimation of Pennsylvania's deer herd from an estimated 1.5 million to less than half that number .
14. In carrying out its policy objectives the Respondents have intentionally excluded the public, and particularly hunters and sportsmen and similar groups, who are recognized in the Constitution and laws of Pennsylvania as partners and participants in the Protection and preservation of the Pennsylvania deer herd.
15. The Respondents have systematically excluded citizens" hunters, and other sportsmen from a proper role in the formulation and application of public policies which Pennsylvania law specifically recognizes as a lawful interest for them.
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16. The practices of the PGC and the DCNR and the other Respondents have become so secretive and exclusionary that the very citizens and interests that they are by law directed to recognize and advance are totally denied access to information or participation in the formulation of policy, the setting of harvest figures, and access to even rudimentary information which would fulfill the constitutional and statutory mandates cited herein.
Wherefore this court is respectfully requested to grant petitioners the following specific relief:
a. Order Respondents to provide the information and sources of information upon which they rely to set harvest figures for the Pennsylvania deer and decide deer population computations and to make this information available to the plaintiffs and to the public.
b. Set a discovery schedule and permit petitioners to conduct discovery, including access to PGC and DCNR staff for deposition evidence and documents to a reasonable extent sufficient to allow plaintiffs to collect and acquire information. Petitioners do not seek access to an extent or which by nature would be burdensome to the public administrative needs of the Respondent entities or officials.
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c. Allow the parties to engage in a briefing schedule whereby the parties could generate findings of fact and conclusions of law as to what the respective rights and positions of the parties are under the Constitution of Pennsylvania and the provisions of title 34 Pa.C.S.A§l02 et seq of the Pennsylvania Game and Wildlife Code.
d. In the alternative provide the parties hereto with the requisite declaratory relief as to the rights and duties of the respective parties pursuant to him 34Pa.C.S.A.§ l02.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
Don Bailey Esquire
Bailey & Ostrowski 4311 N. 6th Street
Harrisburg, PA 17110
717.221.9500
717.221.9600 Fax