Title: Gomez v. BOARD OF ED. OF DULCE IND. SCH. DIST. NO 21
Citation: 516 P.2d 679, 85 N.M. 708
Docket Number: 9763
State: new-mexico
Issuer: new-mexico Supreme Court
Date: November 30, 1973

516 P.2d 679 (1973) 85 N.M. 708 Gene GOMEZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the DULCE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 21 et al., and Joe Baca, Sr., George Ballard, Emmett Lynch, Grace Pettus, Edwin Sandoval, its members; Garfield J. Gutierrez, its Superintendent; and William Lemon, Director of the School Transportation Division of the State Department of Education, State of New Mexico, Defendants-Appellees. No. 9763. Supreme Court of New Mexico. November 30, 1973. *680 Bigbee, Byrd, Carpenter &amp; Crout, Jay C. Carlisle, II, Paul D. Gerber, Santa Fe, for plaintiff-appellant. Thomas O. Olson, Albuquerque, for Lynch and Sandoval. Charles S. Solomon, Santa Fe, for Bd. of Education, Superintendent Gutierrez, and Baca, Ballard and Pettus. David L. Norvell, Atty. Gen., C. Emery Cuddy, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Santa Fe, for Lemon, Director of School Trans. Div. MONTOYA, Justice. This is an appeal by plaintiff (appellant) from a judgment of dismissal rendered in favor of defendants in an action brought by plaintiff seeking damages from defendants as a result of their decision to cancel or, in the alternative, not renew the plaintiff's bus service contract with the Dulce Independent School District. For convenience, the parties will be referred to as they appeared below. The facts alleged in plaintiff's complaint, deemed admitted by the motion to dismiss, are as follows: Plaintiff entered into a four-year contract with defendant Board of Education, Dulce Independent School District No. 1, to furnish bus transportation for school children for the period 1965 to June 1970. This contract was renewed in August 1970, for a period of one year ending June 1971. Plaintiff performed his duties under the contract in a competent and satisfactory manner and alleges he had a reasonable expectancy that the contract would be renewed for the 1971-1972 school *681 year, and then for an additional period of four years, and that such oral representations had been made to him by the defendant board and the defendant superintendent. The board of education, the individual members thereof, its superintendent, and the state director of school transportation William Lemon, are all named defendants. Plaintiff alleges oral representations were made by defendants that, if his services were satisfactory, a similar bid could be submitted at the expiration of the latter four-year period and that it would be accepted. In October 1970, plaintiff and other individuals filed an election contest in Cause No. 11220, Rio Arriba County District Court. While said legal proceedings were pending, the named defendants, at a special meeting held on June 28, 1971, determined to cancel plaintiff's contract or, in the alternative, not to renew his contract for the year 1971-1972. By letter, plaintiff was advised his bus contract was not renewed and that the board's decision was based on plaintiff's legal action against the defendant board which, in the latter's belief, constituted cause for such action. The letter was signed in behalf of the board by its superintendent, also a named defendant, with a carbon copy of said letter to be forwarded to defendant Lemon, the state transportation director. It was further alleged by plaintiff, on information and belief, that defendant Lemon approved, condoned and otherwise supported the board's action. Plaintiff claims such action not to renew the contract was unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious, and that such action constituted a deprivation of plaintiff's right to freedom of speech and association and substantive due process under the United States and State Constitutions. Plaintiff further alleges that his cause of action arises under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1871), and under the Federal and State Constitutions. Plaintiff then alleges that, by reason of the foregoing, he suffered certain damages. Thereafter, defendants board, board members and its superintendent, filed motions to dismiss on grounds that the complaint failed to state a cause of action upon which relief could be granted because the suit could not be maintained against a public body, or its officers acting in an official capacity. Defendant Lemon filed a similar motion, alleging said lawsuit could not be brought against a state official for actions performed in an official capacity, and that plaintiff failed to allege the performance by defendant Lemon of any action abridging the civil rights of plaintiff. Upon hearing oral argument on the motions to dismiss, the trial court dismissed the action with prejudice and this appeal followed. Plaintiff contends (1) that the trial court erred in dismissing his complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; and (2) that error was committed by the trial court in holding that this particular action cannot be brought against a public body, or against its officers acting in their official capacity, or against a state official for actions performed in his official capacity. In discussing the issues involved, it would be appropriate to quote the statute under which the cause of action is based, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 at 201 (1871), which reads as follows: The trial court having granted a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, the applicable rule to be followed is to accept as true all facts well pleaded and question only whether the plaintiff might prevail under any state of facts provable under the claim. Jones v. International Union of Operating Engineers, 72 N.M. 322, 383 P.2d *682 571 (1963). In examining the above statute under which this action is brought, it is apparent that the statutory prerequisites for liability under § 1983, supra, are that the defendants must have acted under color of law, regulation, custom or usage of the State of New Mexico, and that the plaintiff must have been deprived of federal constitutional rights, privileges and immunities. We believe that the first statutory requirement or prerequisite to stating a claim has been met in this case, since the defendants are state officials, local officials and employees, who acted under the authority of statutes, regulations, custom or usage of the State of New Mexico, and the complaint so alleges in those very terms. The next question in testing the sufficiency of the complaint is whether the second prerequisite under § 1983, supra, has been met. In other words, has there been a deprivation of a federal constitutional right? This poses a more difficult problem. Though this is a question of first impression, which has not heretofore been considered by this court, we are fortunate in having many decisions by our federal courts which have faced the same issue confronting us. The complaint concedes that no actual contract is involved, rather it is based on the premise that there was a "reasonable expectancy" that the bus contract in question would remain in effect or be renewed, except for the suit filed by the plaintiff against the school board. In considering a similar issue, the statements made by the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, in Pred v. Board of Public Instruction of Dade County, Fla., 415 F.2d 851 (5th Cir.1969), are particularly applicable. In that case, plaintiffs-teachers filed a complaint charging public school authorities with purposely declining to renew their teaching contracts and grant tenure, because of the plaintiffs' exercise of First Amendment rights of speech and association. The federal district court dismissed the complaint and, on appeal, the circuit court reversed, holding that the allegations that plaintiffs-teachers were denied fourth year contracts which would insure tenure, because of participation by each in teachers' association to protect interests of teachers, stated a cause of action denying them their First Amendment rights. The Fifth Circuit Court, in deciding the case, said (415 F.2d at 856): A most recent expression on this subject of the Supreme Court of the United States in Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 92 S. Ct. 2694, 33 L. Ed. 2d 570 (1972), affirmed the principle that nonrenewal of a teacher's contract would violate the Fourteenth Amendment if it was in fact based on his protected free speech. The court went on to hold that lack of a contractual or tenure right to reemployment, taken alone, did not defeat respondent's claim that the nonrenewal of his contract violated his free speech right under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The explicit language of our highest court is particularly relevant and determinative of the issue before us. The Supreme Court of the United States, speaking through Mr. Justice Stewart, said (408 U.S. at 596, 92 S. Ct. at 2697, 33 L.Ed.2d at 577): The plaintiff in this case alleges in his complaint that his contract was cancelled, or not renewed, because of the legal action he had instituted with others against the school board. In fact, the letter (attached to the complaint) written at the direction of the board expressly states that plaintiff's legal actions against the board constituted cause for nonrenewal of the bus contract. We feel that plaintiff's participation in a lawsuit against the board is a constitutionally protected right which falls under the rights covered by § 1983, supra. In this connection, the language used by the Supreme Court of the United States in Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S. Ct. 1731, 20 L. Ed. 2d 811 (1968), is applicable to this proposition. The United States Supreme Court, speaking through Mr. Justice Marshall, said (391 U.S. at 568, 88 S. Ct. at 1734, 20 L.Ed.2d at 817): In that case, though a lawsuit against the board of education was not involved, the teacher in question had been dismissed for writing and publishing a letter in a newspaper critical of the board's allocation of school funds and the board's handling of bond issue proposals. We feel that the same reasoning and principles apply in the instant case. The Supreme Court of the United States went on to say that, even if *685 some of the statements published in the letter were false, they concerned issues of public concern and it was neither shown nor could it be presumed to interfere with the teacher's performance of his duties, or the operation of the school and, therefore, were subject to the same First Amendment protection as if made by any other member of the public, absent proof that they were knowingly or recklessly made. Defendants contend that Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 92 S. Ct. 2701, 33 L. Ed. 2d 548 (1972), is controlling and requires affirmance of the trial court's judgment of dismissal. It is interesting to note that Roth, supra, was decided on the same day as Perry v. Sindermann, supra, and the majority opinion in both cases was written by Mr. Justice Stewart. Roth, supra, was concerned only with the entitlement of a dismissed teacher, who had been employed under a one-year contract and not rehired for the subsequent year. Mr. Justice Stewart stated the scope of the issue involved when he stated (408 U.S. at 569, 92 S. Ct. at 2705, 33 L.Ed.2d at 556): It is apparent that Roth, supra, dealt only with the issue of procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment, while Perry, supra, dealt with that same issue and the additional issue of whether the (408 U.S. at 596, 92 S. Ct. at 2697, 33 L.Ed.2d at 577) The distinction between the two cases, as Mr. Justice Stewart points out in Perry, supra, is based upon the claim made in the latter case, that though his interest in continued employment (408 U.S. at 599, 92 S. Ct. at 2699, 33 L.Ed.2d at 579), Perry alleged, in his complaint, that the college had a de facto tenure program and that he had tenure under that program. Mr. Justice Stewart explains the holding in Roth, supra, as follows (408 U.S. at 599, 92 S. Ct. at 2698, 33 L.Ed.2d at 578): The next point raised by plaintiff is that the trial court erred in holding that this particular action cannot be maintained because it was brought against a public body and its officers acting in an official capacity, or against a state official for actions performed in his official capacity. This raises the question whether the doctrine of sovereign immunity, as applied by this court in the past, is controlling. In City of Albuquerque v. Garcia, 84 N.M. 776, 508 P.2d 585 (1973), we made some statements which, although not decisive of that case, serve to indicate the inclination of this court to re-examine our case law regarding the concept of court-created immunity. We said (84 N.M. at 778, 508 P.2d at 587): As in that case, we have involved here a statutory provision that persuades us not to reconsider the immunity question in its totality. Because there are hardly any state decisions interpreting § 1983, supra, and there is a great body of federal decisional law on this proposition, we look to that source for precedent in resolving the issue before us. In examining the many federal cases regarding absolute immunity for tort liability, three approaches seem to have evolved and they are concisely stated in Roberts v. Williams, 456 F.2d 819, 830-831 (5th Cir.1971), in the following language: McLaughlin v. Tilendis, 398 F.2d 287, 290 (7th Cir.1968), involved the applicability of statutorily created immunity under Illinois law. There the United States Court of Appeals, in reversing the United States District Court which had granted a motion to dismiss when non-tenure teachers complained they were dismissed because of union membership, stated: We agree that to grant absolute immunity in the instant case would make the provisions of § 1983, supra, meaningless. We have found no better expression for the reasoning that immunity in a qualified form is applicable than is set forth in Jobson v. Henne, 355 F.2d 129, 133 (2nd Cir.1966), as follows: In view of the foregoing, we hold that in considering the existence of liability on the part of the defendants herein, the application of the doctrine of qualified immunity is appropriate, if there is a showing of good faith on their part for the action complained of by the plaintiff. See McLaughlin v. Tilendis, supra. We further feel that the determination of good faith in the instant case involves the development and evaluation of facts and, accordingly, the granting of the motion to dismiss was in error. Therefore, the judgment of the trial court, holding that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, is reversed without any intention on our part to express what the final disposition should be when the real facts, not what the complaint alleges, are developed, if they can be, and for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. It is so ordered. McMANUS, C.J., and STEPHENSON, J., concur.