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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 457 › Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., Inc.
Due process requirements must be satisfied in prejudgment attachment procedures if state officers collaborate with private creditors in securing the property at issue.
Lugar owed a debt to Edmondson Oil Co., which sought a prejudgment attachment of his property when it filed an action to collect the debt in Virginia state court. It complied with state law in stating its belief that Lugar might dispose of his property to defeat his creditors. A clerk of the court responded to this ex parte petition by issuing a writ of attachment, which was executed by the county sheriff. However, the court later conducted a hearing on whether the attachment was appropriate, and it was dismissed 34 days after the levy because Edmondson failed to establish the statutory grounds for attachment.
In a claim under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, Lugar argued that he had been deprived of due process when Edmondson acted jointly within the state in removing his property by attaching it to the lawsuit. The lower courts ruled that no state action had occurred.
An analysis of state action is based on a two-part test. The loss of property must have resulted from the state's exercise of a right or privilege, a rule of conduct that the state imposes, or the actions of a person for whom the state is responsible. If that element is satisfied, courts should consider whether the party responsible for the deprivation of property was a state actor, which can be a state official, someone who cooperates or receives assistance from a state official, or someone whose conduct can be attributed to the state.
The prejudgment attachment proceeding satisfies the first step of the test, and the defendant may be considered a state actor under the second step because it participated in activities with the sheriff, who is a state official. State action generally will be found when a party enlists the help of state officials in taking advantage of the state's procedures.
These steps were classified as state action because they involved state organs like the sheriff and the state law, which was the product of the legislature and allowed private creditors to enlist the services of the state in collecting private debts.
This case concerns the relationship between the requirement of "state action" to establish a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the requirement of action "under color of state law" to establish a right to recover under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which provides a remedy for deprivation of constitutional rights when that deprivation takes place "under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage" of a State. Respondents filed suit in Virginia state court on a debt owed by petitioner, and sought prejudgment attachment of certain of petitioner's property. Pursuant to Virginia law, respondents alleged, in an ex parte petition, a belief that petitioner was disposing of or might dispose of his property in order to defeat his creditors; acting upon that petition, a Clerk of the state court issued a writ of attachment, which was executed by the County Sheriff; a hearing on the propriety of the attachment was later conducted; and 34 days after the levy, the trial judge dismissed the attachment for respondents' failure to establish the alleged statutory grounds for attachment. Petitioner then brought this action in Federal District Court under § 1983, alleging that in attaching his property respondents had acted jointly with the State to deprive him of his property without due process of law. The District Court held that the alleged actions of the respondents did not constitute state action as required by the Fourteenth Amendment, and that the complaint therefore did not state a valid claim under § 1983. The Court of Appeals affirmed, but on the basis that the complaint failed to allege conduct under color of state law for purposes of § 1983 because there was neither usurpation or corruption of official power by a private litigant nor a surrender of judicial power to the private litigant in such a way that the independence of the enforcing officer was compromised to a significant degree.
1. Constitutional requirements of due process apply to garnishment and prejudgment attachment procedures whenever state officers act jointly with a private creditor in securing the property in dispute. Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp., 395 U. S. 337. And if the challenged conduct of the creditor constitutes state action as delimited by this Court's prior decisions, then that conduct is also action under color of state law, and will support a suit under § 1983. Pp. 457 U. S. 926-935.
2. Conduct allegedly causing the deprivation of a constitutional right protected against infringement by a State must be fairly attributable to the State. In determining the question of "fair attribution," (a) the deprivation must be caused by the exercise of some right or privilege created by the State or by a rule of conduct imposed by it or by a person for whom it is responsible, and (b) the party charged with the deprivation must be a person who may fairly be said to be a state actor, either because he is a state official, because he has acted together with or has obtained significant aid from state officials or because his conduct is otherwise chargeable to the State. Pp. 457 U. S. 936-939.
3. Insofar as petitioner alleged only misuse or abuse by respondents of Virginia law, he did not state a cause of action under § 1983, but challenged only private action. Such challenged conduct could not be ascribed to any governmental decision, nor did respondents have the authority of state officials to put the weight of the State behind their private decision. However, insofar as petitioner's complaint challenged the state statute as being procedurally defective under the Due Process Clause, he did present a valid cause of action under § 1983. The statutory scheme obviously is the product of state action, and a private party's joint participation with state officials in the seizure of disputed property is sufficient to characterize that party as a "state actor" for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. Respondents were, therefore, acting under color of state law in participating in the deprivation of petitioner's property. Pp. 457 U. S. 939-942.
639 F.2d 1058, affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
WHITE, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BRENNAN, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. BURGER, C.J., filed a dissenting opinion,post, p. 457 U. S. 943. POWELL, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which REHNQUIST and O'CONNOR, JJ., joined, post, p. 457 U. S. 944.
United States; nor shall any State 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."
Because the Amendment is directed at the States, it can be violated only by conduct that may be fairly characterized as "state action."
Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provides a remedy for deprivations of rights secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States when that deprivation takes place "under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory. . . ." [Footnote 1] This case concerns the relationship between the § 1983 requirement of action under color of state law and the Fourteenth Amendment requirement of state action.
Petitioner subsequently brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Edmondson and its president. His complaint alleged that, in attaching his property, respondents had acted jointly with the State to deprive him of his property without due process of law. The lower courts construed the complaint as alleging a due process violation both from a misuse of the Virginia procedure and from the statutory procedure itself. [Footnote 4] He sought compensatory and punitive damages for specified financial loss allegedly caused by the improvident attachment.
Relying on Flagg Brothers, Inc. v. Brook, 436 U. S. 149 (1978), the District Court held that the alleged actions of the respondents did not constitute state action, as required by the Fourteenth Amendment, and that the complaint therefore did not state a claim upon which relief could be granted under § 1983. Petitioner appealed; the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, sitting en banc, affirmed, with three dissenters. [Footnote 5] 639 F.2d 1058 (1981).
"[W]hether the mere institution by a private litigant of presumptively valid state judicial proceedings, without any prior or subsequent collusion or concerted action by that litigant with the state officials who then proceed with adjudicative, administrative, or executive enforcement of the proceedings, constitutes action under color of state law within contemplation of § 1983."
639 F.2d at 1061-1062 (footnote omitted).
The court distinguished between the acts directly chargeable to respondents and the larger context within which those acts occurred, including the direct levy by state officials on petitioner's property. While the latter no doubt amounted to state action, the former was not so clearly action under color of state law. The court held that a private party acts under color of state law within the meaning of § 1983 only when there is a usurpation or corruption of official power by the private litigant or a surrender of judicial power to the private litigant in such a way that the independence of the enforcing officer has been compromised to a significant degree. Because the court thought none of these elements was present here, the complaint failed to allege conduct under color of state law.
Because this construction of the "under color of state law" requirement appears to be inconsistent with prior decisions of this Court, we granted certiorari. 452 U.S. 937 (1981).
It determined that it could ignore all of them because the issue in this case was not whether there was state action, but rather whether respondents acted under color of state law.
As we see it, however, the two concepts cannot be so easily disentangled. Whether they are identical or not, the state action and the "under color of state law" requirements are obviously related. [Footnote 8] Indeed, until recently, this Court did not distinguish between the two requirements at all.
"In cases under § 1983, 'under color' of law has consistently been treated as the same thing as the 'state action' required under the Fourteenth Amendment. [Footnote 9]"
cases, black voters in Texas challenged their exclusion from party primaries as a violation of the Fifteenth Amendment, and sought relief under 8 U.S.C. § 43 (1946 ed.). [Footnote 11] In each case, the Court understood the problem before it to be whether the discriminatory policy of a private political association could be characterized as "state action within the meaning of the Fifteenth Amendment." Smith, supra, at 321 U. S. 664. [Footnote 12] Having found state action under the Constitution, there was no further inquiry into whether the action of the political associations also met the statutory requirement of action "under color of state law."
"[m]isuse of power, possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law, is action taken 'under color of state law,' was founded on the rule announced in Ex parte Virginia, 100 U. S. 339, 100 U. S. 346-347 (1880), that the actions of a state officer who exceeds the limits of his authority constitute state action for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. [Footnote 13] "
"[Plaintiffs] are first bound to show that they have been deprived of a right 'secured by the Constitution and the laws' of the United States. They must secondly show that Flagg Brothers deprived them of this right acting 'under color of any statute' of the State of New York. It is clear that these two elements denote two separate areas of inquiry. Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 398 U. S. 144, 398 U. S. 150 (1970)."
436 U.S. at 436 U. S. 155-156. Plaintiffs' case foundered on the first requirement. Because a due process violation was alleged, and because the Due Process Clause protects individuals only from governmental, and not from private, action, plaintiffs had to demonstrate that the sale of their goods was accomplished by state action. The Court concluded that the sale, although authorized by state law, did not amount to state action under the Fourteenth Amendment, and therefore set aside the Court of Appeals' contrary judgment.
There was no reason in Flagg Brothers to address the question whether there was action under color of state law. The Court expressly eschewed deciding whether that requirement was satisfied by private action authorized by state law. Id. at 436 U. S. 156. Although the state action and "under color of state law" requirements are "separate areas of inquiry," Flagg Brothers did not hold nor suggest that state action, if present, might not satisfy the § 1983 requirement of conduct under color of state law. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeals relied on Flagg Brothers to conclude in this case that state action under the Fourteenth Amendment is not necessarily action under color of state law for purposes of § 1983. We do not agree.
The two-part approach to a § 1983 cause of action, referred to in Flagg Brothers, was derived from Adickes v.
The decision of the Court of Appeals is difficult to reconcile with the Court's garnishment and prejudgment attachment cases and with the congressional purpose in enacting § 1983.
of the State act jointly with a creditor in securing the property in dispute. Sniadach and North Georgia Finishing, Inc. v. Di-Chem, Inc., 419 U. S. 601 (1975), involved state-created garnishment procedures; Mitchell v. W. T. Grant Co., 416 U. S. 600 (1974), involved execution of a vendor's lien to secure disputed property. In each of these cases, state agents aided the creditor in securing the disputed property; but in each case, the federal issue arose in litigation between creditor and debtor in the state courts, and no state official was named as a party. Nevertheless, in each case, the Court entertained and adjudicated the defendant debtor's claim that the procedure under which the private creditor secured the disputed property violated federal constitutional standards of due process. Necessary to that conclusion is the holding that private use of the challenged state procedures with the help of state officials constitutes state action for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment.
If a defendant debtor in state court debt collection proceedings can successfully challenge, on federal due process grounds, the plaintiff creditor's resort to the procedures authorized by a state statute, it is difficult to understand why that same behavior by the state court plaintiff should not provide a cause of action under § 1983. If the creditor plaintiff violates the debtor-defendant's due process rights by seizing his property in accordance with statutory procedures, there is little or no reason to deny to the latter a cause of action under the federal statute, § 1983, designed to provide judicial redress for just such constitutional violations.
the enforcement . . . of the Constitution on behalf of every individual citizen of the Republic . . . to the extent of the rights guarantied to him by the Constitution.
"In 1883, this Court in the Civil Rights Cases, 109 U. S. 3, affirmed the essential dichotomy set forth in [the Fourteenth] Amendment between deprivation by the State, subject to scrutiny under its provisions, and private conduct, 'however discriminatory or wrongful,' against which the Fourteenth Amendment offers no shield."
their own power as directed against state governments and private interests. Whether this is good or bad policy, it is a fundamental fact of our political order.
Our cases have accordingly insisted that the conduct allegedly causing the deprivation of a federal right be fairly attributable to the State. These cases reflect a two-part approach to this question of "fair attribution." First, the deprivation must be caused by the exercise of some right or privilege created by the State or by a rule of conduct imposed by the State or by a person for whom the State is responsible. In Sniadach, Fuentes, W. T. Grant, and North Georgia, for example, a state statute provided the right to garnish or to obtain prejudgment attachment, as well as the procedure by which the rights could be exercised. Second, the party charged with the deprivation must be a person who may fairly be said to be a state actor. This may be because he is a state official, because he has acted together with or has obtained significant aid from state officials, or because his conduct is otherwise chargeable to the State. Without a limit such as this, private parties could face constitutional litigation whenever they seek to rely on some state rule governing their interactions with the community surrounding them.
Although related, these two principles are not the same. They collapse into each other when the claim of a constitutional deprivation is directed against a party whose official character is such as to lend the weight of the State to his decisions. See Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167, 365 U. S. 172 (1961). The two principles diverge when the constitutional claim is directed against a party without such apparent authority, i.e., against a private party. The difference between the two inquiries is well illustrated by comparing Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis, 407 U. S. 163 (1972), with Flagg Brothers, supra.
"We therefore hold that, with the exception hereafter noted, the operation of the regulatory scheme enforced by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board does not sufficiently implicate the State in the discriminatory guest policies of Moose Lodge to . . . make the latter 'state action' within the ambit of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment."
suit: action by a private party pursuant to this statute, without something more, was not sufficient to justify a characterization of that party as a "state actor." The Court suggested that that "something more" which would convert the private party into a state actor might vary with the circumstances of the case. This was simply a recognition that the Court has articulated a number of different factors or tests in different contexts: e.g., the "public function" test, see Terry v. Adams, 345 U. S. 461 (1953); Marsh v. Alabama, 326 U. S. 501 (1946); the "state compulsion" test, see Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. at 398 U. S. 170; the "nexus" test, see Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., 419 U. S. 345 (1974); Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 365 U. S. 715 (1961); and, in the case of prejudgment attachments, a "joint action test," Flagg Brothers, 436 U.S. at 436 U. S. 157. [Footnote 21] Whether these different tests are actually different in operation or simply different ways of characterizing the necessarily fact-bound inquiry that confronts the Court in such a situation need not be resolved here. See Burton, supra, at 365 U. S. 722 ("Only by sifting facts and weighing circumstances can the nonobvious involvement of the State in private conduct be attributed its true significance").
Turning to this case, the first question is whether the claimed deprivation has resulted from the exercise of a right or privilege having its source in state authority. The second question is whether, under the facts of this case, respondents, who are private parties, may be appropriately characterized as "state actors."
"There has been considerable confusion throughout the litigation on the question whether Lugar's ultimate claim of unconstitutional deprivation was directed at the Virginia statute itself or only at its erroneous application to him."
639 F.2d at 1060, n. 1. Both courts held that resolution of this ambiguity was not necessary to their disposition of the case: both resolved it, in any case, in favor of the view that petitioner was attacking the constitutionality of the statute, as well as its misapplication. In our view, resolution of this issue is essential to the proper disposition of the case.
Petitioner presented three counts in his complaint. Count three was a pendent claim based on state tort law; counts one and two claimed violations of the Due Process Clause. Count two alleged that the deprivation of property resulted from respondents' "malicious, wanton, willful, opressive [sic], [and] unlawful acts." By "unlawful," petitioner apparently meant "unlawful under state law." To say this, however, is to say that the conduct of which petitioner complained could not be ascribed to any governmental decision; rather, respondents were acting contrary to the relevant policy articulated by the State. Nor did they have the authority of state officials to put the weight of the State behind their private decision, i.e., this case does not fall within the abuse of authority doctrine recognized in Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167 (1961). That respondents invoked the statute without the grounds to do so could in no way be attributed to a state rule or a state decision. Count two, therefore, does not state a cause of action under § 1983, but challenges only private action.
While private misuse of a state statute does not describe conduct that can be attributed to the State, the procedural scheme created by the statute obviously is the product of state action. This is subject to constitutional restraints, and properly may be addressed in a § 1983 action, if the second element of the state action requirement is met as well.
""Private persons, jointly engaged with state officials in the prohibited action, are acting under color' of law for purposes of the statute. To act `under color' of law does not require that the accused be an officer of the State. It is enough that he is a willful participant in joint activity with the State or its agents,""
quoting United States v. Price, 383 U.S. at 383 U. S. 794.
The Court of Appeals erred in holding that in this context "joint participation" required something more than invoking the aid of state officials to take advantage of state-created attachment procedures. That holding is contrary to the conclusions we have reached as to the applicability of due process standards to such procedures. Whatever may be true in other contexts, this is sufficient when the State has created a system whereby state officials will attach property on the ex parte application of one party to a private dispute.
The judgment is reversed in part and affirmed in part, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
At the time of the attachment in question, this section was codified as Va.Code § 519 (1973).
The principal action then proceeded to the entry of judgment on the debt in favor of Edmondson, and some of petitioner's property was sold in execution of the judgment.
"[D]espite plaintiff's protests to the contrary . . . the complaint can only be read as challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's attachment statute."
App. to Pet. for Cert. 38. The Court of Appeals agreed. 639 F.2d 1058, 1060, n. 1 (CA4 1981).
The case was originally argued before a three-judge panel. The Court of Appeals, however, acting sua sponte, set the matter for a rehearing en banc.
This total absence of overt official involvement plainly distinguishes this case from earlier decisions imposing procedural restrictions on creditors' remedies.
436 U.S. at 436 U. S. 157. JUSTICE POWELL at no point mentions this aspect of the Flagg Brothers decision. The method of inquiry we adopt is that suggested by Adickes v. S. H. Kress Co., 398 U. S. 144 (1970), and seemingly approved in Flagg Brothers. Joint action with a state official to accomplish a prejudgment deprivation of a constitutionally protected property interest will support a § 1983 claim against a private party.
The Court of Appeals held Fuentes v. Shevin not to be relevant because the defendants in that case included the State Attorney General, as well as the private creditor. In the court's view, the presence of a state official made the "private party defendant . . . merely a nominal party to the action for injunctive relief." 639 F.2d at 1068, n. 22. Judge Butzner, in dissent, found Fuentes to be directly controlling.
The Court of Appeals itself recognized this when it stated that, in two of three basic patterns of § 1983 litigation -- that in which the defendant is a public official and that in which he is a private party -- there is no distinction between state action and action under color of state law. Only when there is joint action by private parties and state officials, the court stated, could a distinction arise between these two requirements.
We also stated that, if an indictment "allege[s] conduct on the part of the private' defendants which constitutes `state action,' [it alleges] action `under color' of law within [18 U.S.C.] § 242." 383 U.S. at 383 U. S. 794, n.7. In Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167, 365 U. S. 185 (1961), the Court held that "under color of law" has the same meaning in 18 U.S.C. § 242 as it does in § 1983.
Besides these two Supreme Court cases, the Court cited a number of lower court cases in support of the proposition that the constitutional concept of state action satisfies the statutory requirement of action under color of state law. Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, 323 F.2d 959 (CA4 1963); Smith v. Holiday Inns, 336 F.2d 630 (CA6 1964); Hampton v. City of Jacksonville, 304 F.2d 320 (CA5 1962); Bowman v. Birmingham Transit Co., 280 F.2d 531 (CA5 1960); Kerr v. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 149 F.2d 212 (CA4 1945). Each of these cases involved litigation between private parties in which the plaintiffs alleged unconstitutional discrimination. In each case, the only inquiry was whether the private party defendant met the state action requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment. Once that requirement was met, the courts granted the relief sought.
Title 8 U.S.C. § 43 (1946 ed.) was reclassified as 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in 1952.
There was no opinion for the Court in Terry v. Adams. All three opinions in support of the reversal of the lower court decision pose the question as to whether the action of the private political association in question, the Jaybird Democratic Association, constituted state action for purposes of the Fifteenth Amendment. None suggests that a Fifteenth Amendment violation by the private association might not support a cause of action because of a failure to prove action under color of state law.
United States v. Classic did not involve § 1983 directly; rather, it interpreted 18 U.S.C. § 242 (then 18 U.S.C. § 52 (1940 ed.)), which is the criminal counterpart of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See n 9, supra, on the relationship between 18 U.S.C. § 242 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
"Whatever else may also be necessary to show that a person has acted 'under color of [a] statute' for purposes of § 1983, . . . we think it essential that he act. with the knowledge of and pursuant to that statute."
This statement obviously was meant neither to establish the definition of action under color of state law, nor to establish a distinction between this statutory requirement and the constitutional standard of state action. The statement was made in response to an argument that the discrimination by the private party was pursuant to the state trespass statute, and that this would satisfy the requirements of § 1983. The Court rejected this because there had been no factual showing that the defendants had acted with knowledge of, or pursuant to, this statute. It was in this context, that this statement was made.
"when a private party acts alone, more must be shown . . . to establish that he acts 'under color of' a state statute or other authority than is needed to show that his action constitutes state action."
Id. at 398 U. S. 210 (footnote omitted). Even in his view, however, when a private party acts in conjunction with a state official, whatever satisfies the state action requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment satisfies the "under color of state law" requirement of the statute. JUSTICE BRENNAN's position rested, at least in part, on a much less strict standard of what would constitute "state action" in the area of racial discrimination than that adopted by the majority. In any case, the position he articulated there has never been adopted by the Court.
"(1) 'to deprive [petitioner] of her right to enjoy equal treatment and service in a place of public accommodation;' and (2) to cause her arrest 'on the false charge of vagrancy.'"
"a private party acts under color of law when he conspires with state officials to secure the application of a state law so plainly unconstitutional as to enjoy no presumption of validity."
Post at 457 U. S. 954-955. This is to confuse the conspiracy and the substantive counts at issue in Adickes. Unless one argues that the state vagrancy law was unconstitutional -- an argument no one made in Adickes -- the joint action count of Adickes did not involve a state law, whether "plainly unconstitutional" or not.
We thus find incomprehensible JUSTICE POWELL's statement that we cite no cases in which a private decision to invoke a presumptively valid state legal process has been held to be state action. Post at 457 U. S. 950. Likewise, his discussion of these cases, post at 457 U. S. 952-953, steadfastly ignores the predicate for the holding in each case that the debtor could challenge the constitutional adequacy of the private creditor's seizure of his property. That predicate was necessarily the principle that a private party's invocation of a seemingly valid prejudgment remedy statute, coupled with the aid of a state official, satisfies the state action requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment and warrants relief against the private party.
"[A]s the bill passed the House of Representatives, it was understood by the members of that body to go no further than to protect persons in the rights which were guarantied to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States,"
Cong.Globe, 42d Cong., 1st Sess., 579 (1871); and remarks of Representative Shellabarger on the relationship between § 1 of the bill and the Fourteenth Amendment, id., App. 68.
Our conclusion in this case is not inconsistent with the statement in Flagg Brothers that "these two elements [state action and action under color of state law] denote two separate areas of inquiry." 436 U.S. at 457 U. S. 155-156. First, although we hold that conduct satisfying the state action requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment satisfies the statutory requirement of action under color of state law, it does not follow from that that all conduct that satisfies the "under color of state law" requirement would satisfy the Fourteenth Amendment requirement of state action. If action under color of state law means nothing more than that the individual act "with the knowledge of and pursuant to that statute," Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. at 398 U. S. 162, n. 23, then clearly, under Flagg Brothers, that would not, in itself, satisfy the state action requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment. Second, although we hold in this case that the "under color of state law" requirement does not add anything not already included within the state action requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment, § 1983 is applicable to other constitutional provisions and statutory provisions that contain no state action requirement. Where such a federal right is at issue, the statutory concept of action under color of state law would be a distinct element of the case not satisfied implicitly by a finding of a violation of the particular federal right.
"Although this Court has sometimes treated the questions as if they were identical, see United States v. Price, 383 U. S. 787, 383 U. S. 794, and n. 7 (1966), we need not consider their relationship in order to decide this case."
Id. at 454 U. S. 322, n. 12. We concluded there that a public defender, although a state employee, in the day-to-day defense of his client, acts under canons of professional ethics in a role adversarial to the State. Accordingly, although state employment is generally sufficient to render the defendant a state actor under our analysis, infra at 457 U. S. 937, it was "peculiarly difficult" to detect any action of the State in the circumstances of that case. 454 U.S. at 454 U. S. 320. In Polk County, we also rejected respondent's claims against governmental agencies because he "failed to allege any policy that arguably violated his rights under the Sixth, Eighth, or Fourteenth Amendments." Id. at 454 U. S. 326. Because respondent failed to challenge any rule of conduct or decision for which the State was responsible, his allegations would not support a claim of state action under the analysis proposed below. Infra at 457 U. S. 937. Thus, our decision today does not suggest a different outcome in Polk County.
There are elements of the other state action inquiry in the opinion as well. This is found primarily in the effort to distinguish the relationship of Moose Lodge and the State from that between the State and the restaurant considered in Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 365 U. S. 715 (1961). See 407 U.S. at 407 U. S. 175.
The "one exception" further illustrates this point. The Court enjoined enforcement of a state rule requiring Moose Lodge to comply with its own constitution and bylaws insofar as they contained racially discriminatory provisions. State enforcement of this rule, either judicially or administratively, would, under the circumstances, amount to a governmental decision to adopt a racially discriminatory policy.
"a private party's mere invocation of state legal procedures constitutes 'joint participation' or 'conspiracy' with state officials satisfying the § 1983 requirement of action under color of law."
Post at 457 U. S. 951. The holding today, as the above analysis makes clear, is limited to the particular context of prejudgment attachment.
"[t]he claim is that the action as taken, even if it were just line by line in accordance with Virginia law -- whether or not they did it right, the claim is that it was in violation of Lugar's constitutional rights."
"We intimate no views concerning the relief that might be appropriate if a violation is shown. The parties have not briefed these remedial issues, and if a violation is proved, they are best explored in the first instance below in light of the new record that will be developed on remand. Nor do we mean to determine at this juncture whether there are any defenses available to defendants in § 1983 actions like the one at hand. Cf. Pierson v. Ray, 386 U. S. 547 (1967)."
Whether we are dealing with suits under § 1983 or suits brought pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment, in my view, the inquiry is the same: is the claimed infringement of a federal right fairly attributable to the State. Rendell-Baker v. Kohn, ante at 457 U. S. 838. Applying this standard, it cannot be said that the actions of the named respondents are fairly attributable to the State. * Respondents did no more than invoke a presumptively valid state prejudgment attachment procedure available to all. Relying on a dubious "but for" analysis, the Court erroneously concludes that the subsequent procedural steps taken by the State in attaching a putative debtor's property in some way transforms respondents' acts into actions of the State. This case is no different from the situation in which a private party commences a lawsuit and secures injunctive relief which, even if temporary, may cause significant injury to the defendant. Invoking a judicial process, of course, implicates the State and its officers, but does not transform essentially private conduct into actions of the State. Dennis v. Sparks, 449 U. S. 24 (1980). Similarly, one who practices a trade or profession, drives an automobile, or builds a house under a state license is not engaging in acts fairly attributable to the state. In both \Dennis\ and the instant case, petitioner's remedy lies in private suits for damages such as malicious prosecution. The Court's opinion expands the reach of the statute beyond anything intended by Congress. It may well be a consequence of too casually falling into a semantical trap because of the figurative use of the term "color of state law."
* The pleadings in this case amply demonstrate that the challenged conduct was directed solely at respondents' acts. The unlawful actions alleged were that respondents made "conclusory allegations," App. 5, respondents lacked a "factual basis" for attachment, id. at 10, and respondents lacked "good cause to believe facts which would support" attachment. Id. at 19. There is no allegation of collusion or conspiracy with state actors.
JUSTICE POWELL, with whom JUSTICE REHNQUIST and JUSTICE O'CONNOR join, dissenting.
Today's decision is a disquieting example of how expansive judicial decisionmaking can ensnare a person who had every reason to believe he was acting in strict accordance with law. The case began nearly five years ago as the outgrowth of a simple suit on a debt in a Virginia state court. Respondent -- a small wholesale oil dealer in Southside, Va. -- brought suit against petitioner Lugar, a truckstop owner who had failed to pay a debt. [Footnote 2/1] The suit was to collect this indebtedness. Fearful that petitioner might dissipate his assets before the debt was collected, respondent also filed a petition in state court seeking sequestration of certain of Lugar's assets. He did so under a Virginia statute, traceable at least to 1819, that permits creditors to seek prejudgment attachment of property in the possession of debtors. [Footnote 2/2] No court had questioned the validity of the statute, and it remains presumptively valid. The Clerk of the state court duly issued a writ of attachment, and the County Sheriff then executed it. There is no allegation that respondent conspired with the state officials to deny petitioner the fair protection of state or federal law.
Respondent ultimately prevailed in his lawsuit. The petitioner Lugar was ordered by a court to pay his debt. A state court did find, however, that Lugar's assets should not have been attached prior to a judgment on the underlying action.
Following this decision, Lugar instituted legal action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Suing under a federal statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Lugar alleged that the respondent -- by filing a petition in state court -- had acted "under color of law" and had caused the deprivation of constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment -- an Amendment that does not create rights enforceable against private citizens, such as one would have assumed respondent to be, but only against the States. Rendell-Baker v. Kohn, ante at 457 U. S. 837; Flagg Bros., Inc. v. Brooks, 436 U. S. 149, 436 U. S. 156 (1978); Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U. S. 1, 334 U. S. 13 (1948); Civil Rights Cases, 109 U. S. 3, 109 U. S. 11 (1883). [Footnote 2/3] Both the District Court and the Court of Appeals agreed that petitioner had no cause of action under § 1983. They sensibly found that respondent could not be held responsible for any deprivation of constitutional rights, and that the suit did not belong in federal court.
argument to the contrary. Respondent, who was represented by counsel, could have had no notion that his filing of a petition in state court, in the effort to secure payment of a private debt, made him a "state actor" liable in damages for allegedly unconstitutional action by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Nor is the Court's analysis consistent with the mode of inquiry prescribed by our cases. On the contrary, the Court undermines fundamental distinctions between the common sense categories of state and private conduct and between the legal concepts of "state action" and private action "under color of law."
The plain language of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 establishes that a plaintiff must satisfy two jurisdictional requisites to state an actionable claim. First, he must allege the violation of a right "secured by the Constitution and laws" of the United States. Because "most rights secured by the Constitution are protected only against infringement by governments," Flagg Bros., Inc. v. Brooks, 436 U.S. at 436 U. S. 156, this requirement compels an inquiry into the presence of state action. Second, a § 1983 plaintiff must show that the alleged deprivation was caused by a person acting "under color" of law. In Flagg Bros., this Court affirmed that "these two elements denote two separate areas of inquiry." Id. at 436 U. S. 155-156. See Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 398 U. S. 144, 398 U. S. 152 (1970).
of alleged constitutional rights. [Footnote 2/4] Consistently with past decisions of this Court, the Court of Appeals concluded that respondent's private conduct had not occurred under color of law.
"Private persons, jointly engaged with state officials in the prohibited action, are acting 'under color' of law for purposes of the statute. To act 'under color' of law does not require that the accused be an officer of the State. It is enough that he is a willful participant in a joint activity with the State or its agents."
Ante at 457 U. S. 941, quoting Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., supra, at 398 U. S. 152, in turn quoting United State v. Price, 383 U. S. 787, 383 U. S. 794 (1966).
There are at least two fallacies in the Court's conclusion. First, as is apparent from the quotation, our cases have not established that private "joint participants" with state officials themselves necessarily become state actors. Where private citizens interact with state officials in the pursuit of merely private ends, the appropriate inquiry generally is whether the private parties have acted "under color of law." Second, even when the inquiry is whether an action occurred under color of law, our cases make clear that the "joint participation" standard is not satisfied when a private citizen does no more than invoke a presumptively valid judicial process in pursuit only of legitimate private ends.
only action was to invoke a presumptively valid attachment statute. This question, unasked by the Court, reveals the fallacy of its conclusion that respondent may be held accountable for the attachment of property because he was a "state actor." [Footnote 2/6] From the occurrence of state action taken by the Sheriff who sequestered petitioner's property, it does not follow that respondent became a "state actor" simply because the Sheriff was. This Court, until today, has never endorsed this non sequitur.
the initiative comes from it and not from the State, does not make its action in doing so 'state action' for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment."
419 U.S. at 419 U. S. 357 (footnote omitted).
This Court, of course, has held that private parties are amenable to suit under § 1983 when "jointly engaged" with state officials in the violation of constitutional rights. See Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 398 U. S. 144 (1970). [Footnote 2/7] Yet the Court, in advancing its "joint participation" theory, does not cite a single case in which a private decision to invoke a presumptively valid state legal process has been held to constitute state action. Even the quotation on which the Court principally relies for its statement of the applicable "rule," ante at 457 U. S. 941, does not refer to state action. Rather, it states explicitly that "[p]rivate persons, jointly engaged with state officials in the prohibited action, are acting under color' of law for purposes of the statute."
"Careful adherence to the 'state action' requirement preserves an area of individual freedom by limiting the reach of federal law and federal judicial power. It also avoids imposing on the State, its agencies or officials, responsibility for conduct for which they cannot fairly be blamed."
Ante at 457 U. S. 936.
State -- the fallacy of the analysis adopted today by the Court. In this case, involving the private action of the respondent in petitioning the state courts of Virginia, the appropriate inquiry as to respondent's liability is not whether he was a state actor, but whether he acted under color of law. It is to this question that I therefore turn.
Contrary to the position of the Court, our cases do not establish that a private party's mere invocation of state legal procedures constitutes "joint participation" or "conspiracy" with state officials satisfying the § 1983 requirement of action under color of law. In Dennis v. Sparks, 449 U. S. 24 (1980), we held that private parties acted under color of law when corruptly conspiring with a state judge in a joint scheme to defraud. In so holding, however, we explicitly stated that "merely resorting to the courts and being on the winning side of a lawsuit does not make a party a coconspirator or a joint actor with the judge." Id. at 449 U. S. 28. This conclusion is reinforced by our more recent decision in Polk County v. Dodson, 454 U. S. 312 (1981). As we held to be true with respect to the defense of a criminal defendant, invocation of state legal process is "essentially a private function . . . for which state office and authority are not needed." Id. at 454 U. S. 319. These recent decisions make clear that independent, private decisions made in the context of litigation cannot be said to occur under color of law. [Footnote 2/8] The Court nevertheless advances two principal grounds for its holding to the contrary.
The Court argues that petitioner's action under § 1983 is supported by cases in which this Court has applied due process standards to state garnishment and prejudgment attachment procedures. The Court relies specifically on Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp., 395 U. S. 337 (1969); Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U. S. 67 (1972); Mitchell v. W. T. Grant Co., 416 U. S. 600 (1974); and North Georgia Finishing, Inc. v. DiChem, Inc., 419 U. S. 601 (1975). According to the Court, these cases establish that a private party acts "under color" of law when seeking the attachment of property under an unconstitutional state statute. [Footnote 2/9] In fact, a careful reading demonstrates that they provide no authority for this proposition.
§ 1983 action against a private creditor, as well as the State Attorney General. [Footnote 2/11] Again, however, the only question before this Court was the validity of a state statute. No claim was made that the creditor was a joint actor with the State, or had acted under color of law. No damages were sought from the creditor. Again, there was no occasion for this Court to consider the status under § 1983 of the private party, and there is not a word in the opinion that discusses this. As with Sniadach, Mitchell, and Di-Chem, Fuentes thus fails to establish that a private party's mere invocation of state attachment or garnishment procedures represents action under color of law -- even in a case in which those procedures are subsequently held to be unconstitutional.
In addition to relying on cases involving the constitutionality of state attachment and garnishment statutes, the Court advances a "joint participation" theory based on Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 398 U. S. 144 (1970). In Adickes, the plaintiff sued a private restaurant under § 1983, alleging a conspiracy between the restaurant and local police to deprive her of the right to equal treatment in a place of public accommodation. Id. at 398 U. S. 152, 398 U. S. 153. Reversing the decision below, this Court upheld the cause of action. It found that the private defendant, in "conspiring" with local police to obtain official enforcement of a state custom of racial segregation, engaged in a "joint activity with the State or its agents,'"
and therefore acted under color of law within the meaning of § 1983. Id. at 398 U. S. 152 (quoting United States v. Price, 383 U.S. at 383 U. S. 794).
"[w]hatever else may also be necessary to show that a person has acted 'under color of [a] statute' for purposes of § 1983, . . . we think it essential that he act with the knowledge of, and pursuant to, that statute."
398 U.S. at 398 U. S. 162, n. 23 (emphasis added). As indicated by this choice of language, the Court clearly seems to have contemplated some limiting principle. A citizen summoning the police to enforce the law ordinarily would not be considered to have engaged in a "conspiracy." Nor, presumably, would such a citizen be characterized as acting under color of law, and thereby risking amenability to suit for constitutional violations that subsequently might occur. Surely there is nothing in Adickes to indicate that the Court would have found action under color of law in cases of this kind.
"[f]ew principles of law are more firmly stitched into our constitutional fabric than the proposition that a State must not discriminate against a person because of his race or the race of his companions, or in any way act to compel or encourage segregation."
compelled by the law or custom of the State in which he lived. In this context, Adickes simply is inapposite.
The state action, filed in the name of the Edmondson Oil Co., alleged that Lugar owed $41,983 for products and merchandise previously delivered. App. 22. In the present suit, Lugar has named as defendants both the Edmondson Oil Co. and its president, Ronald Barbour. As the respondent Barbour is the sole stockholder of Edmondson Oil Co., id. at 2, and appears to have directed all its actions in this litigation, see id. at 26, I refer throughout to Barbour as if he were the sole respondent.
See Va.Code § 8.01-533 et seq. (1977). At the time of the attachment in this case, the applicable provisions were Va.Code § 8-519 et seq. (1973). The Virginia attachment provisions have remained essentially in their present form despite numerous recodifications since 1819. See Va.Code § 8-519 et seq. (1950); Va.Code § 6378 et seq. (1919); Va.Code § 2959 et seq. (1887); Va.Code, ch. 151 (1849); Va.Code, ch. 123 (1819).
"whether the mere institution by a private litigant of presumptively valid state judicial proceedings, without any prior or subsequent collusion or concerted action by that litigant with the state officials who then proceed with adjudicative, administrative, or executive enforcement of the proceedings, constitutes action under color of state law within the contemplation of § 1983."
639 F.2d 1058, 1061-1062 (CA4 1981) (footnote omitted).
State officials acting in their official capacities, even if in abuse of their lawful authority, generally are held to act "under color" of law. E.g., Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. at 365 U. S. 171-172; Ex parte Virginia, 100 U. S. 339, 100 U. S. 346-347 (1880). This is because such officials are "clothed with the authority" of state law, which gives them power to perpetrate the very wrongs that Congress intended § 1983 to prevent. United States v. Classic, 313 U. S. 299, 313 U. S. 326 (1941); Ex parte Virginia, supra, at 100 U. S. 346-347. Cf. Polk County v. Dodson, 454 U. S. 312 (1981) (a public defender, representing an indigent client in a criminal proceeding, performs a function for which the authority of his state office is not needed, and therefore does not act under color of state law when engaged in a defense attorney's traditionally private roles).
"[i]n cases under § 1983, 'under color' of law has consistently been treated as the same thing as the 'state action' required under the Fourteenth Amendment."
In Price, however, the same conduct by the same actors constituted both "state action" and the action "under color" of law. See 383 U.S. at 383 U. S. 794, n. 7 (if an indictment alleges "conduct on the part of the private' defendants which constitutes `state action,' [it also alleges] action `under color of law' . . ."). The situation in this case is quite different. The present case involves "state action" by the Sheriff -- action that also was "under color of law" under Price. But the real question here is whether the conduct of the private respondent constituted either state action or action under color of law. The Price quotation plainly does not resolve this question. And the cases cited in Price, on which the Court also relies, are similarly inapposite.
In Adickes, the term "jointly engaged" appears to have been used specifically to connote engagement in a "conspiracy." See 398 U.S. at 398 U. S. 152-153.
The Court avers that its holding "is limited to the particular context of prejudgment attachment." Ante at 457 U. S. 939, n. 21. However welcome, this limitation lacks a principled basis. It is unclear why a private party engages in state action when filing papers seeking an attachment of property, but not when seeking other relief (e.g., an injunction), or when summoning police to investigate a suspected crime.
At one stage in the litigation, the respondent averred that his lawsuit raised "[n]o question of the constitutional validity of the State statutes." Plaintiff's Memorandum in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss 3. The District Court nevertheless concluded that "the complaint can only be read as challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's attachment statute." App. to Pet. for Cert. 38. The Court of Appeals agreed. 639 F.2d at 1060, and n. 1.
The Court finds support for its contrary view only by reading these cases as implicitly embracing the same fallacy as the Court does today. In Sniadach, Mitchell, and Di-Chem -- as in this case -- there was no question that state action had occurred. There, as here, some official of the State -- an undisputed state actor -- had undertaken either to attach property or garnish wages. For the Court, the occurrence of state action by these state officials ipso facto establishes that the private plaintiffs also must have been viewed as state actors. Given the presence of state action by the state officials, however, there was no need to inquire whether the private parties also were state actors. It is plain from the opinions that the Court did not do so. Nor, in cases arising in state court, was there any need to consider whether the private defendants had acted under color of law within the meaning of § 1983.
Fuentes was consolidated with a case involving similar facts, Epps v. Cortese, 326 F.Supp. 127 (ED Pa.1971).
Arguing that the patent unconstitutionality of racial discrimination was irrelevant to the "conspiracy" count in Adickes, the Court charges that this discussion confuses the conspiracy and the substantive causes of action. Ante at 457 U. S. 932, n. 15. The Court's view is difficult to understand. In Adickes, the private defendant allegedly conspired with the police to "deprive plaintiff of her right to enjoy equal treatment and service in a place of public accommodation," 398 U.S. at 398 U. S. 150, n. 5, and apparently to cause her discriminatory and legally baseless arrest under a vagrancy statute. Because the vagrancy statute was not challenged as invalid on its face, the Court concludes that the "joint action" or "conspiracy" count "did not involve a state law, whether plainly unconstitutional' or not." Ante at 457 U. S. 932, n. 15. This conclusion is simply wrong. In the first place, the alleged "conspiracy" included an agreement to enforce a state law requiring racial segregation in restaurants. This law plainly was unconstitutional. Further, even the vagrancy statute certainly would have been unconstitutional as applied to enforce racial segregation. Presumably it was for these reasons that the Court agreed that the private defendant had "conspir[ed]" with the local police. 398 U.S. at 398 U. S. 152. Adickes is entirely a different case from the one at bar.
At least one scholarly commentator has stated a cautious conclusion that the Virginia attachment provisions would satisfy the standards established by this Court's recent due process decisions. See Brabham, Sniadach Through Di-Chem and Backwards: An Analysis of Virginia's Attachment and Detinue Statutes, 12 U.Rich.L.Rev. 157, 195-199 (1977). The correctness of this conclusion is not, of course, an issue in the present posture of the case, nor is it directly relevant to the case's proper resolution.
The Court suggests that respondent may be entitled to claim good faith immunity from this suit for civil damages. Ante at 457 U. S. 942, n. 23. This is a positive suggestion with which I agree. A holding of immunity will mitigate the ultimate cost of this litigation. It would not, however, convert the Court's holding into a just one. This case already has been in litigation for nearly five years. It will now be remanded for further proceedings. Respondent, solely because he undertook to assert rights authorized by a presumptively valid state statute, will have been subjected to the expense, distractions, and hazards of a protracted litigation.

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