Opinion ID: 304506
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: federal substantive law applicable

Text: 11 The defendants' contention that state substantive law is somehow assimilated into the Sec. 1983 remedy is wholly without merit. The Supreme Court has given clear recognition to the proposition that the rights under this statute and the rights arising under the state common law, although similar, are nonetheless distinct remedies. The same set of facts may give rise to violations of both the federal statute and the state common law, but the rights are not necessarily coterminous and the essential criteria are not necessarily the same. Thus in Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 180, 81 S.Ct. 473, 480, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961), the Court traced the legislative history of Sec. 1983 and noted that the purpose of Congress in passing it was to afford a federal right enforceable in federal court because, the Court said, 12    by reason of prejudice, passion, neglect, intolerance or otherwise, state laws might not be enforced and the claims of citizens to the enjoyment of rights, privileges, and immunities guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment might be denied by the state agencies. 3 13 In Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 87 S. Ct. 1213, 18 L.Ed.2d 288 (1967), the Supreme Court again stressed the federal remedy as opposed to that of the state and thus recognized the applicability of federal common law. 14 There are numerous other decisions which have recognized that the vindication of federal civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution is peculiarly subject to federal substantive law. See Whirl v. Kern, 407 F.2d 781 (5th Cir. 1969), cert. den. 396 U.S. 901, 90 S.Ct. 210, 24 L.Ed.2d 177; Lefton v. City of Hattiesburg, Miss., 333 F.2d 280 (5th Cir. 1964); Caperci v. Huntoon, 397 F. 2d 799 (1st Cir. 1968), cert. den. 393 U. S. 940, 89 S.Ct. 299, 21 L.Ed.2d 276; Marland v. Heyse, 315 F.2d 312 (10th Cir. 1963). 15 This court in Marland v. Heyse, 315 F.2d 312 (10th Cir. 1963) said: 16 The purpose of [Section 1983] is to create a right of action, enforceable in Federal courts, against those who, under color of state law, deprive any person of any rights, privileges and immunities guaranteed by the Constitution and laws. 17 315 F.2d at 314. 18 This is not to say that federal courts do not look to state decisions in formulating a federal standard in civil rights actions. The important point is that federal courts are not bound by the decisions of the state court in the district in which they are sitting in the sense that they would be if the case were a diversity action or a pendent jurisdiction case for the tort of false imprisonment.