Opinion ID: 420749
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: availability of damages

Text: 21 We first address whether the district court correctly held that Title IX precludes any claim for damages. We then turn to whether the district court erred in holding that Illinois and SIU, as well as the individually named representatives of those two medical schools, were immune from any claim for damages under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 because of the Eleventh Amendment.
22 In Lieberman v. University of Chicago, 660 F.2d 1185 (7th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 937, 102 S.Ct. 1993, 72 L.Ed.2d 456 (1982), this court was presented with the question whether damages are an available remedy under Title IX. Noting the availability of other remedies, including attorneys' fees, see 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988, injunctive relief under Title IX, and federal administrative action, see 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1682, and this court's perception that a damage remedy was not entirely consistent with the legislative purpose of Title IX, the Lieberman court held that damages were not an available remedy. 660 F.2d at 1188. Because of that holding, the court expressly declined to consider the appellees' argument that Lieberman had failed to mitigate her damages. Id. at 1188 n. 10. 23 Cannon seeks to distinguish her case from Lieberman on the basis that the failure to mitigate damages, present in Lieberman, is absent here. That argument is unpersuasive as a basis for distinction in light of the Lieberman court's having expressly declined the opportunity to rely on the asserted failure to mitigate. Cannon's other argument in support of her assertion that damages are available under Title IX is premised on a Second Circuit case in which the issue was the availability of damages under Title VI. See Guardians Association of the New York City Police Department, Inc. v. Civil Service Commission, 633 F.2d 232 (2d Cir.1981), cert. granted, 454 U.S. 1140, 102 S.Ct. 997, 71 L.Ed.2d 291 (1982). In light of the clear holding of Lieberman, a case that we decline to reconsider, Cannon's reliance on the analogy to Title VI is misplaced. 24 The district judge was correct in holding that Lieberman precludes any claim for damages based on Title IX.
25 The district court held that Cannon's damage claims against SIU and Illinois, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, were barred by the Eleventh Amendment. The Eleventh Amendment acts as a jurisdictional bar to suit against a state in federal court, absent the state's consent to the suit. 5 Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 678, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1363, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974). 26 Cannon urges that the district court erred because: (1) her claims are against individual representatives of the two schools as well as the schools themselves; (2) no judgment against the schools or their representatives would result in a claim against the state treasury; and (3) even though Illinois and SIU are subject to control by the State, they are not the State itself for purposes of the Eleventh Amendment. 27 SIU and Illinois are recognized as state agencies under Illinois law. Elliott v. University of Illinois, 365 Ill. 338, 6 N.E.2d 647 (1936); Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 127, Sec. 132.3 a (1977). The powers and duties of the Boards of Trustees are governed by chapter 144 of the Illinois Revised Statutes. The court below, as well as the district court in Love v. University of Illinois, 76 C 954 (N.D.Ill. Feb. 7, 1978), relied upon these factors in concluding that the state universities are immune to any claim for damages by reason of the Eleventh Amendment. Their result is consistent with that reached by the Tenth Circuit in Brennan v. University of Kansas, 451 F.2d 1287, 1290 (10th Cir.1971) (relying on Kansas law). 28 The Eleventh Amendment is applicable even though Cannon has attempted to name individual representatives of the universities, as well as the institutions themselves, as defendants. Cannon's complaint refers only to John Doe and Mary Roe. Even if discovery resulted in Cannon's identifying the individuals and if amending the complaint was held to be consistent with Rule 15(c)(2), Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c)(2), 6 the Eleventh Amendment still bars the claims for damages. 29 In Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974), the Court held that the Eleventh Amendment bars a suit by private parties seeking to impose a liability which must be paid from public funds in the state treasury. Id. at 663, 94 S.Ct. at 1356. Relying on Ford Motor Co. v. Department of Treasury, 323 U.S. 459, 65 S.Ct. 347, 89 L.Ed. 389 (1945), the Edelman Court reasoned that if the damage award is to be paid by the State, the State is the real party in interest even though individual officials might be named as nominal defendants. 415 U.S. at 663, 94 S.Ct. at 1355. In this case, because the state universities are the alter ego of the State, any damage award chargeable to university assets is an award against the State itself. No authority supports Cannon's argument that this analysis is altered by the possibility that a damage award would be met through insurance proceeds or from federal funds. If Cannon's suit would result in a damage award payable by the universities, it is barred by the Eleventh Amendment. 30 Cannon's allegations pertain to the enforcement, by university authorities, of university policies that allegedly condoned discrimination on the basis of age with a resulting disparate impact on women. Recovery is sought from the institutions, not the individuals. As the Supreme Court observed in Edelman, it is a virtual certainty [that any damage award will] be paid from state funds, and not from the pockets of the individual state officials who were the defendants in the action. 415 U.S. at 668, 94 S.Ct. at 1358. The district judge correctly held, therefore, that Cannon could not recover damages from Illinois or SIU pursuant to her Section 1983 claim. 31