Harmon v. Swaggert

Per Curiam. Appellant, Donald Harmon, filed this action in federal district court, naming appellee, Jackie Swaggert Secretary of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet in Kentucky, as defendant, and seeking both injunctive and monetary relief. The crux of appellants complaint was the Secretarys effort to enforce various state statutes regulating strip mining in Kentucky, which allegedly violated Harmons constitutional rights (appellant specifically claimed that state action contravened the fifth and fourteenth amendments as well as the supremacy clause). He sued under various provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1870, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, and 1988. After referral by the district judge, the magistrate recommended that the action be dismissed based on the principles of comity and federalism, since there had already been proceedings instituted, which were pending before a state administrative agency. In the alternative, the magistrate recommended that appellants motion for a preliminary injunction be denied, because there was no adequate showing that appellant was entitled to this extraordinary relief. The district court adopted these recommendations and dismissed the action, following which this appeal ensured.