Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-azd-2_12-cv-00639/USCOURTS-azd-2_12-cv-00639-1/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Civil Rights Act

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

RON RAMIREZ, )

)

Plaintiff, ) 2:12-cv-00639- JWS

)

vs. ) ORDER AND OPINION

)

CITY OF PHOENIX, ) [Re: Motion at Docket 23]

)

Defendant. )

)

I. MOTION PRESENTED

At docket 23, plaintiff Ron Ramirez (“plaintiff” or “Ramirez”) requested leave to

amend his complaint. Defendant City of Phoenix (“defendant” or “the City”) opposes the

motion at docket 24. Plaintiff’s reply is at docket 25. Oral argument was heard on

February 5, 2013. 

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II. BACKGROUND

 Ramirez was employed by the City and served as president of the Administrative

Supervisory Professional and Technical Employees Association (“ASPTEA”), a labor

organization for City employees, and chairman of the Coalition of Phoenix City Unions

(“COPCU”), an organization representing all of the City’s unions. On March 23, 2011,

Ramirez was asked to speak to members of the Laborers’ International Union of North

America (“LIUNA”) who were gathering at the state capitol. Ramirez alleges that he

attended the gathering during his lunch break.

At the gathering, Ramirez identified himself as chairman of COPCU and stated, 

“We know that we have one rogue Councilman right now and we’ve got to get rid of him

. . . [y]ou have to vote; you have to also recall.”1

 The City became aware of plaintiff’s

remarks when a video was posted on YouTube.

City Administrative Regulation 2.16 requires that City “[e]mployees not engage in

activities that are inconsistent, incompatible, in conflict with, or harmful to their duties as

City employees.” Among the prohibited actions are “use [of] any official City authority or

influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the results of an election,”

“engag[ing] in political activities involving City . . . municipal elections, including recall

elections for Mayor and City Council,” and “use [of] an official City title or designate

employment with the City in political . . . endorsements, or speeches.”2

1

Doc. 1 at 3.

2

A.R. 2.16.

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Plaintiff was issued a written reprimand for violating A.R. 2.16. Plaintiff filed suit

in federal court, asserting one claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 based on an alleged

violation of his First Amendment rights. 

The City filed a motion to dismiss. It argued that plaintiff’s § 1983 claim should

be dismissed because his statements were not made in his capacity as a private citizen. 

The court denied the motion to dismiss the § 1983 claim based on the allegations in the

complaint. The City also argued plaintiff’s Title VII claim should be dismissed. The

plaintiff conceded that it did not intend to bring a Title VII claim, and the court concluded

that, based on plaintiff’s admission and the complaint itself, plaintiff did not bring such a

claim. The City also argued that plaintiff is not entitled to declaratory or injunctive relief

or punitive relief, but plaintiff then admitted that he was not seeking such relief. The

court acknowledged this admission in its order at docket 17. Plaintiff filed a motion for

summary judgment, and the court denied it at docket 17, concluding that it could not

determine whether plaintiff spoke as a private citizen or public employee given that the

scope of plaintiff’s responsibilities as a public employee and the details surrounding his

invitation to speak at the gathering were unclear based on the record before it. 

Plaintiff then filed the motion to amend. Plaintiff’s proposed amendments include

removing the reference to Title VII, and removing his request for punitive damages,

injunctive relief, and declaratory judgment. 

His proposed amendments also include removing references to his role as an

official of ASPTEA in various places in the complaint. In the original complaint, Ramirez

alleged that he “was at all relevant times, an employee of the City of Phoenix and was

an official participating in, representing, speaking on behalf of, and engaging in

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associational freedoms with the [ASPTEA].”3 He wants to remove the language that

states he was “an official participating in, representing, and speaking on behalf of, and

engaging in associational freedoms with ASPTEA.” In paragraph 16 of the original

complaint he states that, as an official of ASPTEA and chairman of COPCU, it is his

duty to promote the interests of the City’s union members,4

 and in paragraph 21 of the

original complaint he states that his participation in ASPTEA and COPCU provided the

“sole, substantial and/or motivating factor for engaging in the protected speech at

issue.”5

 He wants to remove the reference to ASPTEA in those two paragraphs.

The City responds that an amendment removing the Title VII claim and the

request for certain damages is moot given the court’s order at docket 17. It also argues

that the proposed retractions of plaintiff’s admissions regarding the role Ramirez’s

status as an official of ASPTEA played in making the statements at issue are made in

bad faith or with a dilatory motive because the retractions are inconsistent with the facts

alleged in the original complaint. It also argues that the proposed amendment unduly

prejudices it because the language plaintiff seeks to retract has formed the basis of the

defenses in its answer. 

3

Doc. 1 at 2, ¶5.

4

Doc. 1 at 4.

5

Doc. 1 at 5.

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III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Under Rule 15(a), if outside the allotted time in which to file an amendment as a

matter of course, “a party may amend its pleading only with the opposing party’s written

consent or the court’s leave.”6

 “The court should freely give leave when justice so

requires.”7

 Rule 15 provides for a very liberal amendment policy.8 The decision to

permit or deny a motion for leave to amend rests within the sound discretion of the trial

court.9 In deciding whether to grant leave to amend under Rule 15(a), courts generally

consider the following factors: undue delay, bad faith by the moving party, prejudice to

the opposing party, futility of amendment, and whether the party has previously

amended his pleadings.10 “Generally, this determination should be performed with all

inferences in favor of granting the motion.”11 The party opposing amendment bears the

burden of demonstrating a permissible reason for denying the motion to amend.12

6

Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2).

7

Id.

8

Owens v. Kaiser Found. Health Plan, Inc., 244 F.3d 708, 712 (9th Cir. 2001).

9

See DCD Programs, Ltd. v. Leighton, 833 F.2d 183, 185-86 (9th Cir. 1987) (citing

United States v. Webb, 655 F.2d 977, 979 (9th Cir.1981)).

10See Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962); Bonin v. Calderon, 59 F.3d 815, 845

(9th Cir. 1995).

11Griggs v. Pace Am. Group, Inc., 170 F.3d 877, 880 (9th Cir. 1999) (citing DCD

Programs, 833 F.2d at 186).

12DCD Programs, 833 F.2d at 187; see Richardson v. United States, 841 F.2d 993, 999

(9th Cir. 1988) (stating that leave to amend should be freely given unless the opposing party

makes “an affirmative showing of either prejudice or bad faith”).

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IV. DISCUSSION

As noted above the court will consider the following factors in deciding whether

an amendment is appropriate: undue delay, bad faith by the moving party, prejudice to

the opposing party, futility of amendment, and whether the party has previously

amended his pleadings.13 As to the factor addressing abuse of the amendment

procedure, this is plaintiff’s first request to amend his complaint, and therefore, the City

does not raise this factor as a reason for denying the motion. 

The City does, however, assert that plaintiff was not diligent in bringing the

motion because it should have been filed after the City filed its motion to dismiss and

before plaintiff filed his response and his own motion. The court disagrees. In plaintiff’s

response to the City’s motion to dismiss, Plaintiff considered the wording of the

complaint and argued that it did not contain an admission that he was speaking on

behalf of the City when he made the comments at issue.14 Plaintiff is not suddenly

switching positions by requesting an amendment after the initial early motion practice. 

Furthermore, the motion to dismiss was filed before the City filed its answer, and so the

13See Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962); Bonin v. Calderon, 59 F.3d 815, 845

(9th Cir. 1995).

14Doc. 8 at 3 (“Central to the Defendant’s Motion is the assertion that at all times during

the speech, which is under scrutiny in this action, the Plaintiff was acting in his official capacity

for the City of Phoenix. Apparently, the Defendant believes that the Plaintiff’s Complaint states

such a fact. The Complaint does not, and if the Defendant believes otherwise, it is mistaken. . . . 

It is pointed out by the Defendant that Plaintiff’s Complaint states that the Plaintiff’s speech was

engaged in as a result of his participating in ASPTEA and COPCU, as though that is some kind

of confession that Plaintiff was acting in his official duties and responsibilities on behalf of the

City at the time that he uttered the expression which is under scrutiny here. That is not so; in

fact, the Plaintiff could not have stated more clearly in the complaint that he was on his own

time, speaking as a citizen and the COPCU president.”).

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parties were still in the pleading stage of litigation when the plaintiff realized that he

wanted to make changes in the complaint to clarify his position. Plaintiff filed the motion

to amend early in the litigation, well in advance of the deadline for filing motions to

amend set in the scheduling order. Thus, there has not been undue delay in requesting

an amendment. 

Defendant asserts that allowing the amendment would result in unfair and undue

prejudice. It argues that the admissions plaintiff made formed the basis for its defenses

and responses and that plaintiff’s retraction of certain facts unfairly affects those

defenses. It argues that it has spent time and money filing a motion to dismiss based

on the allegations as they were asserted in the original complaint. This court concludes

that defendant is not unduly prejudiced by the proposed amendment. It is still early in

the litigation; plaintiff filed the motion to amend within the deadline set for such motions;

and discovery is not set to be completed until July of 2013. Defendant will have the

opportunity to respond to the amended complaint and will have time to alter any

defense thereto, and thus, the court cannot conclude that defendant will suffer any

substantial prejudice or negative effect.15

Defendant’s primary argument is that the amendment is sought in bad faith or

with a dilatory motive because the proposed amendment is inconsistent with the original

15See Morongo Band of Mission Indians v. Rose, 893 F.2d 1074, 1079 (9th Cir. 1990)

(finding substantial prejudice due to a proposed amendment where the claims sought to be

added “would have greatly altered the nature of the litigation and would have required

defendants to have undertaken, at a late hour, an entirely new course of defense”). 

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complaint, citing to Reddy v. Litton Industries, Inc.

16 In Reddy, the court stated that

despite Rule 15's liberal amendment policy, an amended complaint may only allege

“‘other facts consistent with the challenged pleading.’”17 In Reddy, the plaintiff alleged

he was wrongfully discharged because he refused to cover up his employer’s

conspiracy. In addition to state claims, the plaintiff brought federal claims against his

employer under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The

court concluded that the plaintiff did not have standing to bring the RICO claims against

the employer because the harm he suffered was not caused by the predicate acts of

racketeering but by the discharge, which itself is not a predicate racketeering act. The

role of the discharged employee was peripheral, not central to, the existence of the

conspiracy.18 The court went on to hold that it would not be possible for the plaintiff to

amend his complaint to allege a completely new injury apart from the termination that

would confer standing to sue based on RICO without contracting the allegations of his

original complaint.19

The court concludes that this case is distinguishable from Reddy. Plaintiff does

not seek to add an entirely new injury that is inconsistent with his original complaint or to

otherwise add new facts that contradict his theory of the case. Rather, plaintiff seeks to

remove some allegations and clarify internal inconsistencies in the original complaint. 

16912 F.2d 291, 297 (9th Cir. 1990). 

17Id. (quoting Schreiber Distrib. Co. v. Serv-Well Furniture Co.,Inc., 806 F.2d 1393, 1401

(9th Cir. 1986)). 

18Id. at 294-95.

19Id. at 296-97.

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He alleges in the original complaint that his position as president of ASPTEA and

his position as chairman of COPCU prompted the invitation to give the speech. He

wants to remove the reference to ASPTEA in this allegation, which still leaves the

reference to COPCU. Such a change narrows the allegation, but it is not inconsistent;

thus, the assertion that he was invited to speak because of his position as chairman of

COPCU is not a new one. He also states in the original complaint that his duty in both

positions was to promote the interests of the City’s union members. He now wants to

allege that promoting the interests of the union members was his duty as chairman of

COPCU. Again, that does not present a new inconsistent fact; it only narrows the

assertion. 

In the section describing the parties, plaintiff states that he “was at all relevant

times, an employee of the City of Phoenix and was an official participating in,

representing, speaking on behalf of, and engaging in associational freedoms with the

[ASPTEA].”20 Plaintiff seeks to remove the portion that refers to speaking on behalf of

ASPTEA. While defendant reads that sentence as a clear admission that the speech

was given in his role as president of ASPTEA, the general allegations section in the

complaint contradicts such an admission. In that section, he states that he gave the

speech as a private citizen during his lunch break and alleged that he introduced

himself as the chairman of the COPCU before the speech. Thus, the pleading is

internally inconsistent. The proposed amendment attempts to clear up these

inconsistencies to avoid further disputes that may arise regarding the extent and scope

20Doc. 1 at 2, ¶5.

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of his admissions. This is not a case where the plaintiff attempts to put forth an entirely

new injury that is completely different from the injury in the original complaint to

overcome a jurisdictional issue, as was the case in Reddy. Nor does plaintiff seek to

allege a set of facts that presents an entirely new theory of the case to keep it alive. 

Even if the proposed amendment is inconsistent, the rationale for disallowing an

amendment that presents inconsistent facts is to prevent prejudice to the defendant and

prevent further delay that would be necessitated by the need for new discovery.21 As

noted above, the case is still in the early stages and any inconsistency presented is not

likely to lead to substantial additional discovery. 

Given that the purpose of Rule 15 is to facilitate a decision on the merits rather

than on the pleadings,22 an amendment to clarify plaintiff’s § 1983 claim is appropriate

at this early stage of the litigation. 

Defendant appears to object to the amendment based on the fairness of allowing

plaintiff to retract judicial admissions through an amendment. “Judicial admissions are

formal admissions in the pleadings which have the effect of withdrawing a fact from

issue and dispensing wholly with the need for proof of the fact.”23 To qualify as a judicial

admission, the admission must be “deliberate, clear, and unequivocal.”24 In this case,

21Enzymotec Ltd. v. NBTY, Inc., 754 F. Supp. 2d 527, 538-39 (E.D.N.Y. 2010). 

22Eldridge v. Block, 832 F.2d 1132, 1135 (9th Cir. 1987). 

23American Title Ins. Co. v. Lacelaw Corp., 861 F.2d 224, 226 (9th Cir. 1988) (citations

omitted). 

24Heritage Bank v. Redcom Laboratories, Inc., 250 F.3d 319, 329 (5th Cir. 2001); see

also Glick v. White Motor Co., 458 F.2d 1287, 1291 (3d Cir. 1972) (noting that judicial

admissions are binding only when they are “unequivocal”).

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as discussed above, the language in the complaint is not unequivocal, and the court

cannot conclude that plaintiff’s statements in the complaint regarding in what capacity

he gave the speech at issue are judicial admissions. Regardless, while factual

assertions in pleadings are considered judicial admissions conclusively binding on the

party who made them, they can be amended.25 “Where ... the party making an

ostensible judicial admission explains the error in a subsequent pleading or by

amendment, the trial court must accord the explanation due weight.”26 In this case, the

plaintiff has maintained the position that the original complaint does not constitute a

clear admission that he was making the speech at issue on behalf of the City. He now

seeks an amendment to correct the error in drafting and remove any question as to

what plaintiff meant in his original complaint. The court accords that explanation due

weight. 

Defendant also argues that the motion to amend should be denied based on

judicial estoppel. “Judicial estoppel is an equitable doctrine that precludes a party from

gaining an advantage by asserting one position, and then later seeking an advantage by

taking a clearly inconsistent position.”27 A court “invokes judicial estoppel not only to

prevent a party from gaining an advantage by taking inconsistent positions, but also

because of ‘general consideration[s] of the orderly administration of justice and regard

25American Title Ins. Co., 861 F.2d at 226 (“Factual assertions in pleadings and pretrial

orders, unless amended, are considered judicial admissions conclusively binding on the party

who made them.”).

26Sicor Ltd. v. Cetus Corp., 51 F.3d 848, 859-60 (9th Cir. 1995). 

27Hamilton v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 270 F.3d 778, 782 (9th Cir. 2001).

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for the dignity of judicial proceedings,’ and to ‘protect against a litigant playing fast and

loose with the courts.’”28 When determining whether to apply the doctrine of judicial

estoppel the court typically looks at whether the later position is clearly inconsistent with

the earlier position.29 The court also typically considers “whether the party has

succeeded in persuading a court to accept that party’s earlier position, so that judicial

acceptance of an inconsistent position in a later proceeding would create the perception

that the court had been misled somewhere.”30 A third consideration is what advantage

the party seeking the inconsistent position would receive or what detriment the opposing

party would suffer if estoppel is not applied.31 

As noted above, the court concludes that the changes plaintiff proposes to his

complaint do not set forth a clearly inconsistent position but rather clarifies the internal

inconsistencies within the complaint. Furthermore, even if the proposed changes are

clearly inconsistent, the court has not accepted plaintiff’s prior position that he was, in

fact, speaking at all times on behalf of the ASPTEA, and, as discussed above,

defendant is not unduly prejudiced by the proposed changes. Thus, the court

concludes that this is not a situation where the doctrine of judicial estoppel should be

applied. 

28Id. (quoting Russell v. Rolfs, 893 F.2d 1033, 1037 (9th Cir. 1990).

29New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742, 750 (2001). 

30Id.

31Id.

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V. CONCLUSION

For the reasons above, the motion at docket 23 is GRANTED. The proposed

amended complaint shall be filed within seven (7) days.

DATED this 7th day of February 2013.

 /s/ 

JOHN W. SEDWICK

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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