Opinion ID: 196764
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 3 In 1981, the City of Gurabo enacted an ordinance, pursuant to P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 3, § 1351, designating eleven municipal offices as positions of trust or confidentiality, including the directorship of the Office of Federal Programs (OFP), the municipal agency charged with obtaining and administering federal funding for various public works projects. See Municipal Ordinance No. 3, Series 1981-82 (Sept. 14, 1981). 4 In August 1991, then-Mayor Ramon Garcia Caraballo appointed Ortiz, a fellow member of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP), as OFP Director, and allegedly described the position to Ortiz as a non-confidence position. Mayor Caraballo later extended Ortiz' appointment through August 1993. In November 1992, however, after the PDP mayoral candidate was rejected by the electorate, outgoing Mayor Caraballo notified Ortiz that he should resign forthwith because the OFP directorship was a confidential position which the new administration was entitled to fill. Ortiz refused to resign. Thereafter, the incoming New Progressive Party (NPP) mayor, defendant-appellee Willie Victor Rivera-Arroyo (Rivera), dismissed Ortiz. 5 In due course, Ortiz initiated the present action for damages and reinstatement under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of Gurabo and Mayor Rivera, claiming political discrimination and deprivation of his property interest in continued employment without the benefit of a pretermination hearing, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The defendants moved for summary judgment on the ground that the OFP directorship is a trust position for which compatible political affiliation constitutes a legitimate qualification. See Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980); Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976). Their motion was accompanied by a written certification from the City personnel office defining the responsibilities of the OFP directorship. 1 After determining that the evidence compelled a finding that the OFP directorship is a trust position, the district court granted summary judgment for defendants on all claims. Ortiz Pinero v. Rivera Acevedo, 900 F.Supp. 574 (D.P.R.1995). II