[First published Dec 10, 2013 – republished Dec 8, 2014 after 261 views]
Equal Protection Error in Wolfe v. George
Under our Constitutional Equal Protection doctrine, all persons, or classes of persons, shall be treated equally “in the same place and in like circumstances” under the law – and “shall be treated alike, under like circumstances and considerations”,
“ . . . the guarantee of the equal protection of the laws means “that no person or class of persons shall be denied the same protection of the laws which is enjoyed by other persons or other classes in the same place and in like circumstances.” Missouri v. Lewis, 101 U.S. 22, 31. We have also said: “The Fourteenth Amendment, in declaring that no State ‘shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,’ undoubtedly intended not only that there should be no arbitrary deprivation of life or liberty, or arbitrary spoliation of property, but that equal protection and security should be given to all under like circumstances in the enjoyment of their personal and civil rights; that all persons . . . should have like access to the courts of the country for the protection of their persons and property, the prevention and redress of wrongs, and the enforcement of contracts; that no impediment should be interposed to the pursuits of any one except as applied to the same pursuits by others under like circumstances; that no greater burdens should be laid upon one than are laid upon others in the same calling and condition, . . .” (Connolly v. Union Sewer Pipe Company, 184 U.S. 540 (1902) – emphasis added).
California’s so-called “Vexatious Litigants” Statute” (“VLS” – California Civil Procedure Code Section 391 et seq) recognizes two classes of litigants – those who hire a lawyer to represent them and those who fail to hire a lawyer to represent them. The VLS does not apply equally to all litigants who come before the court. Pro se litigants are treated very differently from represented litigants by the VLS. The VLS applies much stricter standards and the possibility of serious penalties (including loss of right to file any litigation in pro per in the future) only to that class of litigants who fail to hire a lawyer (a “pro se litigant” or “litigant in propria persona”). In civil proceedings, the right to litigate in propria persona is a protected right under California law (see Baba v. Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, 124 Cal.App.4th 504 (2004)) Continue reading →
