Source: https://openjurist.org/536/f2d/453/diaz-gonzalez-v-colon-gonzalez
Timestamp: 2017-08-21 12:44:54
Document Index: 389426193

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 648', '§ 648', '§ 648', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983']

536 F2d 453 Diaz Gonzalez v. Colon Gonzalez | OpenJurist
536 F. 2d 453 - Diaz Gonzalez v. Colon Gonzalez
536 F2d 453 Diaz Gonzalez v. Colon Gonzalez
536 F.2d 453
Elisa DIAZ GONZALEZ et al., Defendants-Appellants,
Alfredo COLON GONZALEZ, Plaintiff-Appellee.
No. 75-1270.
This is a difficult and complex case, which calls for the interpretation of certain Puerto Rican statutes and possibly for an "equitable" extension of their literal meaning. Although the factual background against which the legal questions must be resolved is exceedingly complicated,1 an abridged summary will suffice here in the light of our ultimate disposition. Basically the district court was faced with an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in which the plaintiff alleged a deprivation of civil rights by the defendants' wrongful termination of his employment in the Commonwealth's Department of Social Services.2 Plaintiff sought both equitable relief and damages and succeeded in obtaining both as well as $6,000 in attorneys' fees. Gonzalez v. Gonzalez, 385 F.Supp. 1226 (D.P.R.1974).3
"(P)laintiff was summarily and without prior notice or hearing, transferred from a competitive position to a non-competitive one. This action was immediately followed by termination in his employment without any reason therefor," 385 F.Supp. at 1238 (footnotes omitted).5
"The evidence before this Court establishes that both defendants had direct participation in altering plaintiff's status as a career government employee . . . (and that both) acted pursuant to the provisions of the Personnel Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Title 3, Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated, Section 641 et seq." 385 F.Supp. at 1235.6
It is obvious that the meaning of § 648(d),10 is central to a resolution of this dispute, and it is equally obvious that the parties differ as to its meaning. If defendants are right in their contention that under § 648(d) plaintiff was at all relevant times in the non-competitive service, then no wrongful act occurred when "(p)laintiff was not afforded an opportunity to be heard on the abrupt change of status in his civil service career from competitive to non-competitive service, nor on his termination of employment after twenty-nine years of service," 385 F.Supp. at 1233.11 If, on the other hand, defendants' understanding of § 648(d) was inaccurate, the issue of their liability under § 1983 would have to be directly confronted.12
Abstention is "an equitable doctrine premised on the 'avoidance of needless friction with state policies.' " Druker v. Sullivan, 458 F.2d 1272, 1274 (1st Cir. 1972), quoting Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496, 500, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971 (1941). See also Catrone v. Massachusetts State Racing Commission, 535 F.2d 669 (1st Cir. 1976). Precisely because it is an equitable principle requiring careful balancing of competing considerations, see Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co., supra at 500, 61 S.Ct. 643, at 645, the doctrine of abstention cannot readily be reduced to a simple formula. "There have been as many and as variegated applications of this supple principle as the situations that have brought it into play." Id. Nevertheless, some of the considerations which must be weighed can be itemized:
"Reflected among the concerns which have traditionally counseled a federal court to stay its hand are the desirability of avoiding unseemly conflict between two sovereigns, the unnecessary impairment of state functions, and the premature determination of constitutional questions." Martin v. Creasy, 360 U.S. 219, 224, 79 S.Ct. 1034, 1037, 3 L.Ed.2d 1186 (1959).
See also Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483, 44 U.S.L.W. 4372 (1976); Carey v. Bert Randolph Sugar and Wrestling Revue, Inc., --- U.S. ----, 96 S.Ct. 1208, 47 L.Ed.2d 587, 44 U.S.L.W. 4416 (U.S. March 24, 1976). The considerations set forth in Martin v. Creasy all seemed to counsel abstention in the factual and legal context of this case.15 Since resolution by the Commonwealth courts of the statutory ambiguity outlined above might well moot the constitutional issue (viz. the alleged denial of procedural due process), this is a proper case for abstention.16 See Catrone v. Massachusetts State Racing Commission, supra. "Among the cases that call most insistently for abstention are those in which the federal constitutional challenge turns on a state statute, the meaning of which is unclear under state law." Harris County Commissioners Court v. Moore, 420 U.S. 77, 84, 95 S.Ct. 870, 875, 43 L.Ed.2d 32 (1975). See Reed v. Board of Election Commissioners, 459 F.2d 121, 124 (1st Cir. 1972); Palmigiano v. Affleck, 327 F.Supp. 1280, 1283-84 (D.R.I.1971) (three-judge court). Cf. Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 604, 92 S.Ct. 2513, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972) (Burger, C. J., concurring).
While we realize that our directing abstention in this case will require vacation of both the district court's own judgment and its assessment of attorneys' fees and the judgment which the court entered on the jury verdict, we believe that our system of federalism requires no less, see Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 44, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). As the Supreme Court has very recently stated: "Where . . . the exercise of authority by state officials is attacked, federal courts must be constantly mindful of the 'special delicacy of the adjustment to be preserved between federal equitable power and State administration of its own law.' " Rizzo v. Goode, 423 U.S. 362, 96 S.Ct. 598, 607, 46 L.Ed.2d 561, 44 U.S.L.W. 4095, 4100 (1976), quoting Stefanelli v. Minard, 342 U.S. 117, 120, 72 S.Ct. 118, 96 L.Ed. 138 (1951). Moreover, abstention is particularly appropriate where a Puerto Rican statute is at issue, since, as the Supreme Court has noted: "The relations of the federal courts to Puerto Rico have often raised delicate problems. It is a Spanish-speaking Commonwealth with a set of laws still impregnated with the Spanish tradition." Fornaris v. Ridge Tool Co., 400 U.S. 41, 42, 91 S.Ct. 156, 157, 27 L.Ed.2d 174 (1970).
The district court should retain jurisdiction of this case while plaintiff seeks, if he so chooses, a decision from the Commonwealth courts concerning the statutory questions which underlie his § 1983 action. Zwickler v. Koota, 389 U.S. 241, 244 n.4, 88 S.Ct. 391, 19 L.Ed.2d 444 (1967); Reed v. Board of Election Commissioners, supra at 124; Reid v. Board of Education, 453 F.2d 238, 244 (2d Cir. 1972); Steele v. Haley, 451 F.2d 1105, 1106 (1st Cir. 1971).17
The facts are adequately set forth in the district court's Findings of Fact. 385 F.Supp. at 1230-34
The plaintiff had also challenged defendants' actions on first amendment grounds, alleging that his employment was wrongfully terminated because of his ideological and political beliefs. The district court, however, did not reach this issue, 385 F.Supp. at 1236, and plaintiff has not pursued it before this court
As the district court noted, "(e)mployees in non-competitive positions are not entitled to a hearing upon termination unless they are charged with a wrongdoing absent, of course, an illegal motivation." 385 F.Supp. 1238 n.13.
"Mrs. Guzman's opinion was to the effect that the approval made under the provisions of Section 648(d) of Title 3, Laws of Puerto Rico Annotated, by the former Director of Personnel of the former Secretary of Social Services' petition with respect to plaintiff's position, was illegal for . . . at the time of the approval plaintiff was not in the Competitive Service, but contrarywise, in the Non-Competitive Service." 385 F.Supp. at 1232.
Because of our ultimate decision in this case, we need not consider at this time the extent to which the "good faith" defense to an action for damages under § 1983 might be applicable given the facts of this case. We would recall, however, our recent observation that "(i)n the absence of subjective bad faith, a party is liable for damages under § 1983 only when he has violated the clearly established constitutional rights of a plaintiff." Morris v. Travisono, 528 F.2d 856, 858 n.5 (1976). See Wood v. Strickland, 420 U.S. 308, 95 S.Ct. 992, 43 L.Ed.2d 214 (1975); Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). Although we do not pass on the issue at this time, we would confess that we have some difficulty comprehending how a bona fide disagreement as to the import of a statute can amount to a violation of clearly established rights. See Scheuer v. Rhodes, supra at 247, 94 S.Ct. 1683; Gaffney v. Silk, 488 F.2d 1248, 1251 (1st Cir. 1973)
"It must be borne in mind that plaintiff has always been a career employee in the Competitive Service of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Except for the period from September 16, 1970, to October 27, 1971, he unequivocally maintained a competitive service status. The short period that he did not, technically speaking, have competitive service status as alleged by defendants, was satisfactorily explained. It could very well be that he is entitled to be considered as in the competitive service for said period." 385 F.Supp. at 1237.
"This court is mindful of the importance of the administration of the public civil service system in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the need to maintain the public trust in the civil service. Likewise, we are mindful that the legal framework provided in the Personnel Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico represents the most effective guarantee of selective and efficient public service and helps in the materialization of the public policy that contemplates a system of merit as the motivating factor for civil service. Notwithstanding, we are of the opinion that when we are confronted with a career public employee's expectancy of continued employment as in the case at bar, vis-a-vis the exercise of the duties and powers of the Director of Personnel, as she interprets the applicable laws and regulations, this Court is bound to balance the equities involved. 385 F.Supp. at 1239 (emphasis added).
No other case or principle is referred to as authority for the proposition that abstention would not be appropriate here, and the one case cited was reversed by the Supreme Court more than a month before the submission of this brief. Boehning v. Indiana State Employees Assn., 423 U.S. 6, 96 S.Ct. 168, 46 L.Ed.2d 148 (1975). In Boehning, the Supreme Court held that abstention would be appropriate because of the possibility that the state courts might construe the state statute in a manner that would obviate the necessity of the federal court's passing on the constitutional issue raised under § 1983. The parallel between Boehning and the case at bar is clear.
At the present time we need not rule on whether the district court properly awarded attorneys' fees to the plaintiff. The court's rationale in so doing was apparently the "bad faith" exception to the usual American rule. See Alyeska Pipeline Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 258-59, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975); Hall v. Cole, 412 U.S. 1, 5, 93 S.Ct. 1943, 36 L.Ed.2d 702 (1973). We would comment, however, that our preliminary examination of the record does not reveal whereby defendants have "acted in bad faith, vexatiously, wantonly or for oppressive reasons" so as to justify such an award. F. D. Rich Co. v. Industrial Lumber Co., 417 U.S. 116, 129, 94 S.Ct. 2157, 2165, 40 L.Ed.2d 703 (1974)