Opinion ID: 3000033
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Preemption of the Does’ Section 1983 Claims

Text: John Doe and his mother sued the Champaign School District, Brady Smith and the individually named school officials, claiming violations of Titles VI and IX, as well as the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, as enforced by 42 U.S.C. § 1983. As to their claims brought under Titles VI and IX, the Does contend that John Doe suffered unlawful race and sexbased discrimination that interfered with his federally funded education because Smith specifically targeted African American boys for sexual grooming and abuse. Title IX provides in pertinent part that, “no person . . . shall, on 13 Brady Smith, the dean who allegedly molested Doe, has not responded to this appeal. No. 04-3421 9 the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a).14 When a claim for damages is based on the behavior of a teacher or of some other employee of the Title IX recipient, the plaintiff must prove that “an official of the [defendant educational institution] who at a minimum has authority to institute corrective measures . . . has actual notice of, and is deliberately indifferent to, the teacher’s misconduct.” Delgado v. Stegall, 367 F.3d 668, 671 (7th Cir. 2004) (quoting Gebser v. Lago Vista Indep. School Dist., 524 U.S. 274, 277 (1998)). Title IX was modeled after Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (under which the Does assert discrimination claims as well). The statutes are parallel except that Title VI prohibits race discrimination, not sex discrimination, and applies to all programs receiving federal funds, not only education programs. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq.; Gebser, 524 U.S. at 286. Because the two statutes largely operate in the same manner, both conditioning an offer of federal funding on a promise by the recipient not to discriminate, our discussion of the Does’ Title IX claim applies to their Title VI claims as well. See Cannon v. University of Chicago, 441 U.S. 677, 684-85 (1979). The Does also assert constitutional claims against the school district and school officials pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. To state a claim under section 1983, a plaintiff must 14 Although Title IX expressly contemplates the termination of federal funding as a form of relief for impermissible discrimination, the Supreme Court has held that Title IX also creates an implied private right of action for monetary damages. See, e.g., Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools, 503 U.S. 60 (1992); Cannon v. University of Chicago, 441 U.S. 677, 709 (1979). 10 No. 04-3421 allege two elements: (1) the alleged conduct was committed by a person acting under color of state law; and (2) the activity deprived a person of rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States. Case v. Milewski, 327 F.3d 564, 566 (7th Cir. 2003); Gomez v. Toledo, 446 U.S. 635, 638 (1980) (citing 42 U.S.C. § 1983). Here, the Does contend that the school district generally turned a blind eye to Smith’s abuse of African American boys and, as such, the school district denied John Doe equal protection and substantive due process as the Fourteenth Amendment requires.15 The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the Does’ section 1983 claims, reasoning that those claims were barred by Titles VI and IX. We review the district court’s legal conclusions de novo, see Wyninger v. New Venture Gear, Inc., 361 F.3d 965, 974 (7th Cir. 2004), and affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of the school district and individually named school officials, but reverse summary judgment as to Brady Smith. The question presented is this: does Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 foreclose a section 1983 suit against (1) a federally funded school for an allegedly unlawful practice or policy, (2) school officials tasked with implementing the educational program or policy, or (3) school personnel who, under color of law, allegedly violated another’s federally protected rights? In Middlesex County Sewerage Authority v. National Sea Clammers Ass’n, 453 U.S. 1, 20 (1981), the Supreme Court announced what has become known as the “sea clammers” doctrine: “When the remedial devices provided in a particular Act are 15 In Wudtke v. Davel, 128 F.3d 1057, 1063 (7th Cir. 1997), we held that a violation of a person’s right to bodily integrity, such as in cases of sexual assault that occurs under color of law, offends the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of substantive due process. No. 04-3421 11 sufficiently comprehensive, they may suffice to demonstrate congressional intent to preclude the remedy of suits under § 1983.” The heart of the parties’ dispute here is whether the sea clammers doctrine precludes the Does’ section 1983 claims against the defendants. In Delgado, we explored the contours of the sea clammers doctrine in the context of sexual harassment in a federally funded school. In that case, a college student, alleging her professor sexually harassed her, sued her university under Title IX and the (harassing) university professor under section 1983. In reversing summary judgment to the professor, we held that, in enacting Title IX, Congress did not intend to extinguish the right to sue under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 in all cases. We note that the district court here granted summary judgment on the Does’ section 1983 claims before our decision in Delgado, which clarified this circuit’s precedent regarding Title IX preemption of section 1983 suits. Three principles buttressed our decision in Delgado and are applicable here. First, with respect to claims against a recipient of federal funds, we stated that “Title IX . . . furnishes all the relief that is necessary to rectify the discriminatory policies or practices of the school itself.” Delgado, 367 F.3d at 674. To be sure, the question of whether Title IX preempted a section 1983 suit against a federally funded education program was not before us in Delgado because, in that case, the college student did not assert a section 1983 claim against her university. Thus, we bring to the fore in this case what was arguably dicta in Delgado: under the sea clammers doctrine, there is no parallel right of action under section 1983 against a federally funded education program where Title IX provides a sufficient private right of action for the allegedly unlawful policy or practice. Therefore, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the school district on the Does’ section 1983 claims against it. 12 No. 04-3421 The second principle of Delgado relates to section 1983 claims against school officials whose alleged liability arises only to the extent that they were responsible for implementing an unlawful practice or policy. Regarding the effect of a Title IX claim, there is a crucial line in our case law between suits against the alleged malefactor who is not shielded from section 1983 liability, see, e.g., Delgado, 367 F.3d at 674, and suits against school officials implementing the challenged education practice or policy who are shielded from individual liability, see, e.g., Boulahanis v. Bd. of Regents, 198 F.3d 633, 639 (7th Cir. 1999). In the latter instance, we have held that a section 1983 claim is not cognizable because Title IX provides comprehensive recourse (the loss of federal funds) for the discriminatory practice or policy. “Congress intended to place the burden of compliance with civil rights law on educational institutions themselves, not on the individual officials associated with those institutions.” Waid v. Merrill Area Pub. Schs., 91 F.3d 857, 862 (7th Cir. 1996). The Does contend the district court erroneously held that Title IX preempts their section 1983 claims against defendants-appellees Cain, Fletcher, Hansen, and Shepard. Importantly, the Does’ claims against these school officials are essentially identical to their claims against the school district: specifically with respect to African American boys, the school district (through the school officials) failed to follow its sexual harassment policy, resulting in a widespread practice of deliberate indifference toward the plight of Smith’s victims. Because the Does’ claims against the school officials relates solely to their implementation of district policy, we conclude that Title IX provides sufficient statutory recourse for the discrimination. Therefore, we affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of school officials Cain, Fletcher, Hansen, and Shepard in their individual capacities. No. 04-3421 13 The third relevant principle of Delgado is simple enough: Title IX does not immunize from section 1983 liability a defendant who uses his position in a federally funded education program to sexually harass and abuse students. See Delgado, 367 F.3d at 674. Title IX has two important anti-discrimination objectives: “to avoid the use of federal resources to support discriminatory practices” and “to provide individual citizens effective protection against those practices.” Cannon, 441 U.S. at 704. “But it is quite otherwise in a case such as this, in which the malefactor is a teacher whose malefaction is not a policy or a practice for which the school could be held liable under Title IX.” Delgado, 367 F.3d at 674. Title IX does not shield the malefactor from personal liability for his fed- eral constitutional tort. “The legislators who enacted Title IX would be startled to discover that by doing so they had killed all federal remedies for sex discrimination by teachers of which the school lacked actual knowledge.” Id. at 674-75. Ruling on the plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial, the district court modified its summary-judgment opinion and held that, under our decision in Delgado, the Does could maintain their section 1983 claims against Smith. The court concluded that summary judgment for Smith was nonetheless proper because Smith’s abuse was not state action, which is required to proceed under section 1983. Although not every action by a state employee occurs under color of state law, we conclude the district court erred in this case. “Action is taken under color of state law when it is made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law.” Hughes v. Meyer, 880 F.2d 967, 971 (7th Cir. 1989) (quoting United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 326 (1941)) (internal quotation marks omitted). Smith was arguably clothed with the authority of the state when, at the October 1996 delinquency hearing, the juvenile court released Doe to Smith’s custody with the 14 No. 04-3421 express agreement that the dean would take the boy to register for school. Indeed, the state’s attorney told the court that releasing Doe to Smith’s custody was a good idea because Smith “had been the minor’s dean last year.”16 Of course, Doe alleges that he was never taken to register for school that day, but was instead taken to Smith’s home for further abuse. Assuming Doe’s version of the facts is true (as we must do at the summary-judgment stage), Smith’s opportunity to molest him that day was made possible because Smith used his authority as the dean to persuade the juvenile court judge to release Doe to his custody. More generally, the Does contend that, while supervising students on the playground, Smith would often single Doe out and instruct him to report to Smith’s office, where allegedly he would isolate and sexually groom Doe. Viewing the facts in the light favorable to the Does, a jury could reasonably conclude that Smith was acting under color of state law when he withheld Doe from class allegedly to sexually groom him for subsequent abuse. See West By & Through Norris v. Waymire, 114 F.3d 646, 647 (7th Cir. 1997) (assuming without discussion that a police officer acted under color of state law when he molested a thirteen year-old girl while escorting her home after curfew). Because Title IX does not preempt the Does’ section 1983 claims against Smith and because there is a triable issue of fact as to whether Smith was acting under color of law when he allegedly abused Doe, judgment as a matter of law was improper. Therefore, we reverse the grant of summary judgment in Smith’s favor. The Does’ section 1983 claims against him must be reinstated. 16 Def. Trial Ex. 61, Hr’g Tr. 13 (Oct. 4, 1996). No. 04-3421 15