Opinion ID: 199133
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: dismissal of claims against roca, rubianes, and cintron

Text: 6 To explain the error in the court's dismissal of Lopez's claims against Diana Roca, Wanda Rubianes, and Marlene Cintron, we must recount the procedural posture of this case at the time of the court's ruling. On June 2, 1997, the district court dismissed the claims against the FAA on Eleventh Amendment grounds, finding that the FAA was an arm of the government of Puerto Rico. In the same order, the court also dismissed Lopez's claims against all of the individual defendants except Alvarado because liability under § 1983 cannot rest on a theory of respondeat superior. 1 Lopez then sought to amend his complaint pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a), alleging additional acts by Alvarado and three of the previously dismissed government officials -- Rubianes, Cintron, and Roca. The court initially denied the motion to amend the complaint, and Lopez moved for reconsideration. 7 While this motion was pending, Alvarado, the sole remaining defendant, moved for summary judgment on the basis of the original complaint. Before acting on the summary judgment motion, the district court allowed the amended complaint against Alvarado, Rubianes, Cintron and Roca. The court then granted summary judgment in favor of Alvarado, first on the basis of the original complaint, and then, upon reconsideration, on the basis of the amended complaint as well. The court also entered judgment against Lopez, asserting that there were no longer any defendants remaining in the case. That statement was incorrect because of the court's decision to allow Lopez to file his amended complaint. 8 The amended complaint identified Rubianes, Cintron and Roca (as well as Alvarado) as defendants and it added to the allegations of the original complaint. The district court's allowance of this amended complaint reinstated Lopez's claims against the three previously dismissed defendants. With these defendants back in the case, the district court could not enter a judgment against Lopez on the basis of granting summary judgment to Alvarado without disposing of the claims it had allowed in the amended pleading against Rubianes, Cintron, and Roca. See 6 Wright, Miller & Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1476, 556-57 (1990) (noting that once an amended pleading is filed it supercedes the pleading it modifies and that any subsequent motion . . . should be directed at the amended pleading). 9 Moreover, before disposing of claims against the reinstated defendants, the court had to provide Lopez with notice and an opportunity to be heard. See Futura Development of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, 144 F.3d 7, 14 (1st Cir. 1998) (sua sponte dismissal requires notice and opportunity to be heard); see also Rogan v. Menino, 175 F.3d 75, 79 (1st Cir. 1999) (sua sponte summary judgment requires notice and opportunity to be heard). The notice requirement could not be ignored simply because the district court had previously dismissed the claims against Rubianes, Cintron, and Roca in the original complaint. See Reese v. Sparks, 760 F.2d 64, 66 (3d Cir. 1985) (error for district court to grant sua sponte summary judgment on the amended complaint without notice, notwithstanding that the court had previously granted summary judgment on the basis of the original complaint); 2 accord Reflectone, Inc. v. Farrand Optical Co., Inc., 862 F.2d 841, 845 (11th Cir. 1989); United States Dev. Corp. v. People's Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n, 873 F.2d 731, 735 (4th Cir. 1989). 10 Lopez had no such notice here. Rubianes, Cintron and Roca never filed a motion to dismiss or a motion for summary judgment once the amended complaint was permitted. The district court provided no notice to Lopez that it was considering sua sponte dismissal or summary judgment. Instead, the district court granted summary judgment to Alvarado on the basis of his pending motion and then simply asserted that the rest of the case had also been terminated, ignoring the fact that Rubianes, Cintron and Roca were reinstated as defendants because of the amended complaint it had allowed. Under these circumstances, entering judgment in favor of these defendants was an error.