Opinion ID: 780172
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Qualified Immunity for the Individually-Named ACSU Defendants

Text: 107 Individual public officials are entitled to qualified immunity from claims for monetary damages if the statutory right infringed was not clearly established at the time of the violation or if it was objectively reasonable for officials to believe their acts did not infringe upon those rights. Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987) (The contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.); Vega v. Miller, 273 F.3d 460, 466 (2d Cir.2001) (The qualified immunity defense requires consideration of the clarity of the law establishing the right allegedly violated and whether a reasonable person, acting under the circumstances then confronting a defendant, would have understood that the applicable law was being violated.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 2295, 152 L.Ed.2d 1053 (2002). 108 In determining if a right has been clearly established, we consider (1) whether the right in question was defined with reasonable specificity; (2) whether the decisional law of the Supreme Court and the applicable circuit court supported the existence of the right in question; and (3) whether under preexisting law a reasonable defendant would have understood that his or her acts were unlawful. Jermosen v. Smith, 945 F.2d 547, 550 (2d Cir.1991). 109 There is some evidence that Taylor's right to informational access was clearly established at the requisite level of particularity. The IDEA regulations speak not only to the rights parents generally possess to review their children's records, see Matula, 67 F.3d at 501 n. 13 (noting in dicta that a parent's right to review records under the IDEA is clearly established), but also to the fact that non-custodial parents continue to enjoy such rights. More significantly, Vermont state law on this point is unambiguous: Access to records and information pertaining to a minor child, including but not limited to medical, dental, law enforcement and school records shall not be denied to a parent solely because that parent has not been awarded parental rights and responsibilities. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 15 § 670. 110 We nevertheless believe that a ruling on the availability of a qualified immunity defense would be premature. The qualified immunity issue in this case turns on factual questions that cannot be resolved at this stage of the proceedings. For example, [t]he objective reasonableness of [the defendants'] acts depends in part on what information they had at the time. Brown, 106 F.3d at 1132. It is unclear what information the individual defendants possessed when they allegedly deprived plaintiff of her IDEA rights, or whether other facts may come to light that would render their actions objectively reasonable. Defendants may raise their qualified immunity defense again in a summary judgment motion, after suitable discovery. VII. Recusal of Magistrate Judge 111 Taylor raises for the first time on appeal the issue of the magistrate judge's disqualification. The defendants contend that Taylor has either waived or forfeited this claim because she did not move for recusal below, and that she is therefore precluded from bringing her recusal claim at this late date. We hold that plaintiff did not waive her recusal claim, but find no plain error in the magistrate judge's failure to recuse himself sua sponte. Federal law requires that: 112 (a) Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned. 113 (b) He shall also disqualify himself in the following circumstances: 114 (1) Where he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding; 115 . . . 116 (5) He or his spouse, or a person within the third degree of relationship to either of them, or the spouse of such person: 117 . . . 118 (iii) Is known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding. 119 28 U.S.C. § 455. Taylor argues that this requirement, directed at the judge, is not subject to waiver or estoppel. See Noli v. Comm'r, 860 F.2d 1521, 1527-28 (9th Cir. 1988); United States v. Sibla, 624 F.2d 864, 868 (9th Cir.1980) (applying plain error analysis). Our case law not only provides that a recusal claim under § 455 may be waived, however, but also that it can be forfeited if brought in an untimely fashion. See, e.g., United States v. Bayless, 201 F.3d 116, 127 (2d Cir.2000) (differentiating between forfeiture and waiver of a recusal claim); Polizzi v. United States, 926 F.2d 1311, 1321 (2d Cir.1991) (discussing waiver of recusal claims); Apple v. Jewish Hosp. & Med. Ctr., 829 F.2d 326, 333 (2d Cir. 1987) ([A] party must raise its claim of a district court's disqualification at the earliest possible moment after obtaining knowledge of facts demonstrating the basis for such a claim.); In re Int'l Bus. Machs. Corp., 618 F.2d 923, 932 (2d Cir.1980) (reading timeliness requirement into § 455). If a recusal claim has been waived, as opposed to forfeited, the appellate courts are barred from entertaining it. Bayless, 201 F.3d at 127. 120 Taylor has not waived her recusal claim, because there has been no renunciation — whether expressly through words or implicitly through behavior — of the right to seek recusal. Id. at 127. [U]ntimeliness in making a motion for recusal can sometimes constitute the basis for finding an implied waiver. Id. In the present case, although Taylor should have brought a recusal motion before the magistrate judge in the first instance, we do not believe that this lapse is enough to extinguish irrevocably her right to pursue a recusal claim. In determining whether a § 455 motion is untimely, we look to whether (1) the movant has participated in a substantial manner in trial or pre-trial proceedings; (2) granting the motion would represent a waste of judicial resources; (3) the motion was made after the entry of judgment; and (4) the movant can demonstrate good cause for delay. United States v. Brinkworth, 68 F.3d 633, 639 (2d Cir.1995) (citations omitted). Taylor did not strategically delay in raising her recusal claim until after the district court rendered a final judgment. Cf. Int'l Bus. Machs., 45 F.3d at 643 (noting that the timeliness requirement avoids the risk that a party is holding back a recusal application as a fall-back position in the event of adverse rulings on pending matters). The parties were not notified of the potential conflict until post-judgment. Since that time, the parties have not appeared before the magistrate judge, and there have been no further proceedings below in this case. Taylor raised her recusal claim in her brief on appeal, the first substantive papers filed in this case since she was notified of the magistrate judge's possible conflict of interest. Under these circumstances, we do not believe Taylor implicitly waived her recusal claim by an unwarranted delay or by abandonment. Cf. id. (holding that the rationale underlying the timeliness requirement was not implicated when case was in post-judgment phase and no matters were pending before the district court). 121 While the recusal claim has not yet been waived, our review of this issue is necessarily limited because plaintiff did not bring a motion for recusal below. Both parties urge us to review the magistrate judge's failure to recuse himself sua sponte for plain error. See Fed. R.Crim.P. 52(b); see also Bayless, 201 F.3d at 127; United States v. Schreiber, 599 F.2d 534, 536 (3d Cir.1979). In the civil context, however, we reverse only if there has been fundamental error. Fundamental error is more egregious than the `plain' error that can excuse a procedural default in a criminal trial, and is so serious and flagrant that it goes to the very integrity of the [proceeding]. Jarvis v. Ford Motor Co., 283 F.3d 33, 62 (2d Cir.2002) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted); see also Shade v. Hous. Auth. of City of New Haven, 251 F.3d 307, 313 (2d Cir.2001) (noting that fundamental error is narrower than plain error doctrine). If the magistrate judge erroneously failed to recuse himself as required by § 455, we cannot say that this alleged error is so flagrant that it infected the integrity of the proceedings below. The fact that a judge's offspring is employed by a party does not require recusal per se. See Southwestern Bell Tel. Co. v. FCC, 153 F.3d 520, 523 (8th Cir.1998) (holding that recusal unnecessary where son was employed by a company with over 50,000 workers, had no financial interest in the company, and occupied a non-management position); Datagate, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 941 F.2d 864, 871 (9th Cir.1991) (same); Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Bausch & Lomb Inc., 882 F.2d 1556 (Fed.Cir.1989) (same). Rather, the resolution of this question turns on a factual inquiry as to whether the magistrate judge's child is in a position to be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding. 28 U.S.C. § 455(b)(5)(iii). On the limited factual record before us, we cannot say that the magistrate judge's failure to recuse himself even constituted error, let alone a flagrant error. Moreover, given the early stage of the proceedings, the fact that the only substantive motion decided by the magistrate judge was the motion to dismiss, which we have subjected to de novo review, and that the magistrate judge made no factual findings, the failure to recuse did not result in any discernible prejudice to plaintiff.