Opinion ID: 200462
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Bivens Jury Instruction Issue

Text: 59 Orekoya's request for a Bivens jury instruction was, in essence, a request to reconsider the legal ruling of a prior judge in the proceeding. We review such requests for abuse of discretion. Ellis v. United States, 313 F.3d 636, 648 (1st Cir. 2002). 60 Orekoya's § 1981 claim went to the jury, which returned a verdict against him. The instruction given was: 61 To establish this case, Mr. Orekoya must persuade you by a preponderance of the evidence of four things: 62 First, that he is a member of a distinct racial or ethnic group; 63 Second, that Agent Mooney discriminated against him because of his race or ethnicity; 64 Third, that he was deprived of the full and equal benefit of the laws as enjoyed by white citizens; and, Fourth, that he suffered damages as a result of this discrimination. 65 That Mr. Orekoya, as a black Nigerian, is a member of a distinct racial group is not a matter of dispute. The real issue in this case is whether the actions taken by Agent Mooney involving Mr. Orekoya, such as you find them, were motivated by a racially discriminatory purpose; that is, did Mr. Agent Mooney intentionally and purposefully discriminate against Mr. Orekoya because he was a black person from Nigeria, or were his actions motivated by some legitimate race-neutral reason. 66 This instruction itself was subject to no objection. 67 Orekoya's argument, which was presented by post-instruction objection and pre-instruction request, 7 is that he was entitled to an additional instruction on the ground that a jury could perfectly well find he had not been discriminated against because he was black but that would not dispose of the issue of whether he had been discriminated against because he was Nigerian. This is a serious error, he says, because his entire case was geared to showing Agent Mooney's excessive zeal in targeting and harassing Nigerians because of their nationality, not their race. The government's response is that there was no longer any Bivens issue (if a Bivens claim was stated at all — an issue we do not reach) to submit to the jury because Judge Young had dismissed the Bivens claim on qualified immunity grounds in 1997 and Orekoya thereafter did not pursue the issue. Orekoya demurs that Judge Young dismissed only the Fifth Amendment due process claims and not the Fifth Amendment equal protection claims. 68 While it is true that the discussion in the court's 1997 order says Orekoya argued his Fifth Amendment due process rights had been violated, the order quite clearly dismisses all Fifth Amendment claims in Counts I, II, and IV. Those counts are brought, respectively, under the United States Constitution, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act. Moreover, defendant Mooney had moved to dismiss on qualified immunity grounds all constitutional claims asserted. Both parties discussed the equal protection aspects of the constitutional claim in their summary judgment briefs. Judge Young's omission of a discussion of the equal protection claims did not mean the dismissal did not encompass those claims. 69 Orekoya next erroneously argues that Judge Young could not have granted qualified immunity because national origin discrimination precludes the availability of qualified immunity as a defense, citing to DiMarco-Zappa v. Cabanillas, 238 F.3d 25, 31, 37 (1st Cir.2001). The assertion is flatly wrong. DiMarco applied the usual rules of qualified immunity and concluded, on the facts there, that immunity was not available. There is no per se rule that national origin discrimination is exempt from qualified immunity analysis. 70 Further, if plaintiff thought the immunity order ambiguous, he had some obligation to resolve the ambiguity by straightforwardly presenting it by motion for reconsideration. The record is bare. We do not, as does plaintiff, read Judge Lindsay's colloquy with counsel on May 13, 1999 as establishing that there was a live Bivens claim under the equal protection prong of the Fifth Amendment. To the contrary, Judge Lindsay, in discussing the § 1981 claim which would go to the jury, seemed to say that in addition to the qualified immunity defense, no Bivens claim was stated on the merits because a remedy existed under § 1981. 71 At most there is a belated request to the trial judge, Judge Stearns, for a Bivens jury instruction. In these circumstances the decision by the trial judge not to permit rebirth of a theory long buried was not an abuse of discretion. 72 That trial judge added another reason for rejecting the proposed instruction: it was not close to affecting the outcome. If the jury returned a verdict against plaintiff on the instructions given, plaintiff surely would have lost as well on the instruction he requested. The instruction given required a finding of discrimination against Orekoya as a black person from Nigeria and that the discrimination be based on his race or ethnicity. We agree that any purported error in failing to give the additional requested instruction was harmless.