Opinion ID: 357298
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The adequacy of section 1983.

Text: 38 A primary concern of the majority in Bivens was that unless the Court allowed a cause of action directly under the Constitution, the plaintiff would be left to his state remedies which might be inconsistent (with) or even hostile to the interests protected by the Fourth Amendment. 403 U.S. at 394, 91 S.Ct. 1999. There was no federal statute pursuant to which Bivens could sue. Molina faces no such predicament, for section 1983, a remedy incorporating by reference the protections of the Constitution itself, is available to him. Indeed, he recovered against the defendant police officers in this case under that very statute. Thus, Molina who had a statutory cause of action directly under the Constitution, was manifestly in a different position than was Webster Bivens. See Crosley v. Davis, 426 F.Supp. 389, 395 (E.D.Pa.1977); Livingood v. Townsend, 422 F.Supp. 24, 27 (D.Minn.1976); Pitrone v. Mercadante, 420 F.Supp. 1384, 1389 (E.D.Pa.1976). 39 Those advocating the extension of Bivens to municipalities make much of the argument that a remedy against individual officers alone may be inadequate since juries might hesitate to impose liability upon officers who, apparently, were acting in good faith, and since such defendants are often judgment proof anyway. They also assert that remedies directly against municipalities may more effectively deter future wrongdoing than do lawsuits against the lower level employees who actually perpetrate the wrong. 40 We are not persuaded. We find it significant that Bivens simply does not assist as a logical springboard for the extension suggested. There, the recovery was against the individual federal officers involved, and not against their deep-pocketed employer, the United States. Thus, the true analogue to Bivens liability for wrongs committed by agents of a municipality is precisely that provided by section 1983. Further, neither Molina nor the amicus in this case has demonstrated to us that section 1983 plaintiffs are not being justly compensated for violations of their constitutional rights under color of state authority. Clipper v. Takoma Park, No. 73-295-B, slip op. at 24 (D.Md. March 25, 1975). Indeed, as stated earlier, California public employees are entitled to indemnification for compensatory damages judgments against them in federal civil rights actions, Williams v. Horvath, supra, 16 Cal.3d 834, 129 Cal.Rptr. 453, 548 P.2d 1125, and Molina has thus not been faced with the prospect of insolvent judgment debtors. Our response to the concern about additional deterrent effect and to the fear that jury sympathies will unfairly favor defendants in section 1983 actions against individual officers is that these factors are speculative at best. We decline to premise major judicial policymaking on such grounds. 41