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Allen v. McCurry (full text) :: 449 U.S. 90 (1980) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
› Allen v. McCurry
Allen v. McCurry 449 U.S. 90 (1980)
U.S. Supreme CourtAllen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90 (1980)Allen v. McCurryNo. 79-935Argued October 8, 1980Decided December 9, 1980449 U.S. 90CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
STEWART, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and WHITE, POWELL, REHNQUIST, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. BLACKMUN, Page 449 U. S. 91 J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BRENNAN and MARSHALL, JJ., joined, post p. 449 U. S. 105.
At a hearing before his criminal trial in a Missouri court, the respondent, Willie McCurry, invoked the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to suppress evidence that had been seized by the police. The trial court denied the suppression motion in part, and McCurry was subsequently convicted after a jury trial. The conviction was later affirmed on appeal. State v. McCurry, 587 S.W.2d 337 (Mo.App. 1979). Because he did not assert that the state courts had denied him a "full and fair opportunity" to litigate his seizure claim, McCurry was barred by this Court's decision in Stone v. Powell, 428 U. S. 465, from seeking a writ of habeas corpus in a federal district court. Nevertheless, he sought federal court redress for the alleged constitutional violation by bringing a damages suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the officers who had entered his home and seized the evidence in question. We granted certiorari to consider whether the unavailability of federal habeas corpus prevented the police officers from raising the state courts' partial rejection of McCurry's constitutional claim as a collateral estoppel defense to the § 1983 suit against them for damages. 444 U.S. 1070. Page 449 U. S. 92
McCurry subsequently filed the present § 1983 action for $ 1 million in damages against petitioners Allen and Jacobsmeyer, other unnamed individual police officers, and the city of St. Louis and its police department. The complaint alleged a conspiracy to violate McCurry's Fourth Amendment rights, an unconstitutional seizure of his house, and an assault on him by unknown police officers after he had been arrested and handcuffed. The petitioners moved for summary judgment. The District Court apparently understood Page 449 U. S. 93 the gist of the complaint to be the allegedly unconstitutional seizure, and granted summary judgment, holding that collateral estoppel prevented McCurry from relitigating the search and seizure question already decided against him in the state courts. 466 F.Supp. 514 (ED Mo.1978). [Footnote 2]
The Court of Appeals reversed the judgment and remanded the case for trial. 606 F.2d 795 (CA8 1979). [Footnote 3] The appellate court said it was not holding that collateral estoppel was generally inapplicable in a § 1983 suit raising issues determined against the federal plaintiff in a state criminal trial. Id. at 798. But noting that Stone v. Powell, supra, barred McCurry from federal habeas corpus relief, and invoking "the special role of the federal courts in protecting civil rights," 606 F.2d at 799, the court concluded that the § 1983 suit was McCurry's only route to a federal forum for his Page 449 U. S. 94 constitutional claim and directed the trial court to allow him to proceed to trial unencumbered by collateral estoppel. [Footnote 4]
In recent years, this Court has reaffirmed the benefits of collateral estoppel in particular, finding the policies underlying it to apply in contexts not formerly recognized at common law. Thus, the Court has eliminated the requirement of mutuality in applying collateral estoppel to bar relitigation Page 449 U. S. 95 of issues decided earlier in federal court suits, Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation, 402 U. S. 313, and has allowed a litigant who was not a party to a federal case to use collateral estoppel "offensively" in a new federal suit against the party who lost on the decided issue in the first case, Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, 43 U. S. 322. [Footnote 6] But one general limitation the Court has repeatedly recognized is that the concept of collateral estoppel cannot apply when the party against whom the earlier decision is asserted did not have a "full and fair opportunity" to litigate that issue in the earlier case. Montana v. United States, supra, at 440 U. S. 153; Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation, supra, at 402 U. S. 328-329. [Footnote 7]
The federal courts generally have also consistently accorded preclusive effect to issues decided by state courts. E.g., Montana v. United States, supra; Angel v. Bullington, 330 U. S. 183. Thus, res judicata and collateral estoppel not only reduce unnecessary litigation and foster reliance on adjudication, Page 449 U. S. 96 but also promote the comity between state and federal courts that has been recognized as a bulwark of the federal system. See Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37, 401 U. S. 43-45.
This Court has never directly decided whether the rules of res judicata and collateral estoppel are generally applicable to § 1983 actions. But in Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U. S. 475, 411 U. S. 497, the Court noted with implicit approval the view of other federal courts that res judicata principles fully apply to civil rights suits brought under that statute. See also Huffman v. Pursue, Ltd., 420 U. S. 592, 420 U. S. 606, n. 18; Wolff v. Page 449 U. S. 97 McDonnell, 418 U. S. 539, 418 U. S. 554, n. 12. [Footnote 9] And the virtually unanimous view of the Courts of Appeals since Preiser has been that § 1983 presents no categorical bar to the application of res judicata and collateral estoppel concepts. [Footnote 10] These federal appellate court decisions have spoken with little explanation or citation in assuming the compatibility of § 1983 and rules of preclusion, but the statute and its legislative history clearly support the courts' decisions.
Because the requirement of mutuality of estoppel was still alive in the federal courts until well into this century, see Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation, supra at 402 U. S. 322-323, the drafters of the 1871 Civil Rights Act, of which § 1983 is a part, may have had less reason to concern themselves with rules of preclusion than a modern Congress would. Nevertheless, in 1871 res judicata and collateral estoppel could certainly have applied in federal suits following state court litigation between the same parties or their privies, and nothing in the language of § 1983 remotely expresses any congressional intent to contravene the common law rules of preclusion or to repeal the express statutory Page 449 U. S. 98 requirements of the predecessor of 28 U.S.C. § 1738, see n 8, supra. Section 1983 creates a new federal cause of action. [Footnote 11] It says nothing about the preclusive effect of state court judgments. [Footnote 12]
Moreover, the legislative history of § 1983 does not in any clear way suggest that Congress intended to repeal or restrict the traditional doctrines of preclusion. The main goal of the Act was to override the corrupting influence of the Ku Klux Klan and its sympathizers on the governments and law enforcement agencies of the Southern States, see Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167, 365 U. S. 174, and of course the debates show that one strong motive behind its enactment was grave congressional concern that the state courts had been deficient in Page 449 U. S. 99 protecting federal rights, Mitchum v. Foster, 407 U. S. 225, 407 U. S. 241-242; Monroe v. Pape, supra at 365 U. S. 180. [Footnote 13] But in the context of the legislative history as a whole, this congressional concern lends only the most equivocal support to any argument that, in cases where the state courts have recognized the constitutional claims asserted and provided fair procedures for determining them, Congress intended to override § 1738 or the common law rules of collateral estoppel and res judicata. Since repeals by implication are disfavored, Radzanower v. Touche Ross & Co., 426 U. S. 148, 426 U. S. 154, much clearer support than this would be required to hold that § 1738 and the traditional rules of preclusion are not applicable to § 1983 suits.
As the Court has understood the history of the legislation, Congress realized that, in enacting § 1983, it was altering the balance of judicial power between the state and federal courts. See Mitchum v. Foster, supra, at 407 U. S. 241. But in doing so, Congress was adding to the jurisdiction of the federal courts, not subtracting from that of the state courts. See Monroe v. Pape, supra at 365 U. S. 183 ("The federal remedy is supplementary to the state remedy." . . .). [Footnote 14] The debates contain several references to the concurrent jurisdiction of the state courts over federal questions, [Footnote 15] and numerous suggestions Page 449 U. S. 100 that the state courts would retain their established jurisdiction so that they could, when the then current political passions abated, demonstrate a new sensitivity to federal rights. [Footnote 16]
To the extent that it did intend to change the balance of power over federal questions between the state and federal courts, the 42d Congress was acting in a way thoroughly consistent with the doctrines of preclusion. In reviewing the legislative history of § 1983 in Monroe v. Pape, supra, the Court inferred that Congress had intended a federal remedy in three circumstances: where state substantive law was facially unconstitutional, where state procedural law was Page 449 U. S. 101 inadequate to allow full litigation of a constitutional claim, and where state procedural law, though adequate in theory, was inadequate in practice. 365 U.S. at 365 U. S. 173-174. In short, the federal courts could step in where the state courts were unable or unwilling to protect federal rights. Id. at 365 U. S. 176. This understanding of § 1983 might well support an exception to res judicata and collateral estoppel where state law did not provide fair procedures for the litigation of constitutional claims, or where a state court failed to even acknowledge the existence of the constitutional principle on which a litigant based his claim. Such an exception, however, would be essentially the same as the important general limit on rules of preclusion that already exists: collateral estoppel does not apply where the party against whom an earlier court decision is asserted did not have a full and fair opportunity to litigate the claim or issue decided by the first court. See supra at 449 U. S. 95. But the Court's view of § 1983 in Monroe lends no strength to any argument that Congress intended to allow relitigation of federal issues decided after a full and fair hearing in a state court simply because the state court's decision may have been erroneous. [Footnote 17] Page 449 U. S. 102
The Court of Appeals in this case acknowledged that every Court of Appeals that has squarely decided the question has held that collateral estoppel applies when § 1983 plaintiffs attempt to relitigate in federal court issues decided against them in state criminal proceedings. [Footnote 18] But the court noted that the only two federal appellate decisions invoking collateral estoppel to bar relitigation of Fourth Amendment claims decided adversely to the § 1983 plaintiffs in state court came before this Court's decision in Stone v. Powell, 428 U. S. 465. [Footnote 19] It also noted that some of the decisions holding Page 449 U. S. 103 collateral estoppel applicable to § 1983 actions were based at least in part on the estopped party's access to another federal forum through habeas corpus. [Footnote 20] The Court of Appeals thus concluded that, since Stone v. Powell had removed McCurry's right to a hearing of his Fourth Amendment claim in federal habeas corpus, collateral estoppel should not deprive him of a federal judicial hearing of that claim in a § 1983 suit.
The actual basis of the Court of Appeals' holding appears to be a generally framed principle that every person asserting a federal right is entitled to one unencumbered opportunity to litigate that right in a federal district court, regardless of the legal posture in which the federal claim arises. But the authority for this principle is difficult to discern. It cannot lie in the Constitution, which makes no such guarantee, but leaves the scope of the jurisdiction of the federal district courts to the wisdom of Congress. [Footnote 21] And no such authority is to be found in § 1983 itself. For reasons already discussed at length, nothing in the language or legislative history of Page 449 U. S. 104 § 1983 proves any congressional intent to deny binding effect to a state court judgment or decision when the state court, acting within its proper jurisdiction, has given the parties a full and fair opportunity to litigate federal claims, and thereby has shown itself willing and able to protect federal rights. And nothing in the legislative history of § 1983 reveals any purpose to afford less deference to judgments in state criminal proceedings than to those in state civil proceedings. [Footnote 22] There is, in short, no reason to believe that Congress intended to provide a person claiming a federal right an unrestricted opportunity to relitigate an issue already decided in state court simply because the issue arose in a state proceeding in which he would rather not have been engaged at all. [Footnote 23]
Through § 1983, the 42d Congress intended to afford an opportunity for legal and equitable relief in a federal court for certain types of injuries. It is difficult to believe that the drafters of that Act considered it a substitute for a federal writ of habeas corpus, the purpose of which is not to redress civil injury, but to release the applicant from unlawful physical confinement, Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. at 411 U. S. 484; Fay v. Noia, 372 U. S. 391, 372 U. S. 399, n. 5, [Footnote 24] particularly in light of the Page 449 U. S. 105 extremely narrow scope of federal habeas relief for state prisoners in 1871.
The Court today holds that notions of collateral estoppel apply with full force to this suit brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In my view, the Court, in so ruling, ignores the clear import of the legislative history of that statute and disregards the important federal policies that underlie its Page 449 U. S. 106 enforcement. It also shows itself insensitive both to the significant differences between the § 1983 remedy and the exclusionary rule and to the pressures upon a criminal defendant that make a free choice of forum illusory. I do not doubt that principles of preclusion are to be given such effect as is appropriate in a § 1983 action. In many cases, the denial of res judicata or collateral estoppel effect would serve no purpose and would harm relations between federal and state tribunals. Nonetheless, the Court's analysis in this particular case is unacceptable to me. It works injustice on this § 1983 plaintiff, and it makes more difficult the consistent protection of constitutional rights, a consideration that was at the core of the enacters' intent. Accordingly, I dissent.
Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U. S. 622, 445 U. S. 638 (1980). [Footnote 2/2] This very proper inquiry must be made in order to ensure that § 1983 will continue to serve the important goals intended for it by the 42d Congress. In the present case, however, the Court minimizes the significance of the legislative history and discounts its own prior explicit interpretations of the statute. Its discussion is limited to articulating what it terms the single fundamental principle of res judicata and collateral estoppel. Page 449 U. S. 107
Respondent's position merits a quite different analysis. Although the legislators of the 42d Congress did not expressly state whether the then existing common law doctrine of preclusion would survive enactment of § 1983, they plainly anticipated more than the creation of a federal statutory remedy to be administered indifferently by either a state or a federal court. [Footnote 2/3] The legislative intent, as expressed by supporters [Footnote 2/4] and understood by opponents, [Footnote 2/5] was to restructure relations Page 449 U. S. 108 between the state and federal courts. [Footnote 2/6] Congress deliberately opened the federal courts to individual citizens in response to the States' failure to provide justice in their own courts. Contrary to the view presently expressed by the Court, the 42d Congress was not concerned solely with procedural regularity. Even where there was procedural regularity, which the Court today so stresses, Congress believed that substantive justice was unobtainable. [Footnote 2/7] The availability of the federal Page 449 U. S. 109 forum was not meant to turn on whether, in an individual case, the state procedures were adequate. Assessing the state of affairs as a whole, Congress specifically made a determination that federal oversight of constitutional determinations through the federal courts was necessary to ensure the effective enforcement of constitutional rights.
That the new federal jurisdiction was conceived of as concurrent with state jurisdiction does not alter the significance of Congress' opening the federal courts to these claims. Congress consciously acted in the broadest possible manner. [Footnote 2/8] The legislators perceived that justice was not being done in Page 449 U. S. 110 the States then dominated by the Klan, and it seems senseless to suppose that they would have intended the federal courts to give full preclusive effect to prior state adjudications. That supposition would contradict their obvious aim to right the wrongs perpetuated in those same courts.
"the Court inferred that Congress had intended a federal remedy in three circumstances: where state substantive law was facially unconstitutional, where state procedural law was inadequate to allow Page 449 U. S. 111 full litigation of a constitutional claim, and where state procedural law; though adequate in theory, was inadequate in practice."
Id. at 407 U. S. 242. [Footnote 2/11] Page 449 U. S. 112 At the very least, it is inconsistent now to narrow, if not repudiate, the meaning of Monroe and Mitchum and to alter our prior understanding of the distribution of power between the state and federal courts.
The Court now fashions a new doctrine of preclusion, applicable only to actions brought under § 1983, that is more Page 449 U. S. 113 strict and more confining than the federal rules of preclusion applied in other cases. In Montana v. United States, 440 U. S. 147 (1979), the Court pronounced three major factors to be considered in determining whether collateral estoppel serves as a barrier in the federal court:
In this case, the police officers seek to prevent a criminal defendant from relitigating the constitutionality of their conduct in searching his house, after the state trial court had Page 449 U. S. 114 found that conduct in part violative of the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights and in part justified by the circumstances. I doubt that the police officers, now defendants in this § 1983 action, can be considered to have been in privity with the State in its role as prosecutor. Therefore, only "issue preclusion" [Footnote 2/14] is at stake.
The following factors persuade me to conclude that this respondent should not be precluded from asserting his claim in federal court. First, at the time § 1983 was passed, a nonparty's ability, as a practical matter, to invoke collateral estoppel was nonexistent. One could not preclude an opponent from relitigating an issue in a new cause of action, though that issue had been determined conclusively in a prior proceeding, unless there was "mutuality." [Footnote 2/15] Additionally, the definitions of "cause of action" and "issue" were narrow. [Footnote 2/16] As a result, and obviously, no preclusive effect could arise out of a criminal proceeding that would affect subsequent civil litigation. Thus, the 42d Congress could not have anticipated or approved that a criminal defendant, tried and convicted Page 449 U. S. 115 in state court, would be precluded from raising against police officers a constitutional claim arising out of his arrest.
A state criminal defendant cannot be held to have chosen "voluntarily" to litigate his Fourth Amendment claim in the state court. The risk of conviction puts pressure upon him to raise all possible defenses. [Footnote 2/17] He also faces uncertainty about the wisdom of forgoing litigation on any issue, for there is the possibility that he will be held to have waived his right to appeal on that issue. The "deliberate bypass" of state procedures, which the imposition of collateral estoppel under these circumstances encourages, surely is not a preferred goal. To hold that a criminal defendant who raises a Fourth Amendment claim at his criminal trial "freely and without reservation submits his federal claims for decision by the state Page 449 U. S. 116 courts," see England v. Medical Examiners, 375 U.S. at 375 U. S. 419, is to deny reality. The criminal defendant is an involuntary litigant in the state tribunal, and against him all the forces of the State are arrayed. To force him to a choice between forgoing either a potential defense or a federal forum for hearing his constitutional civil claim is fundamentally unfair. I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
While 42 U.S.C. 1983 is designed to provide a remedy for civil harm, the distinct remedy of habeas c...	Facts	McCurry sought to suppress evidence that had been seized by police from being used at trial, based o...