Opinion ID: 786176
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jurisdiction over Bracey's Claim

Text: 29 The rights protected by Connecticut General Statute section 31-51q relate to the exercise by [an] employee of rights guaranteed by the first amendment to the United States Constitution or section ... 4 ... of article first of the Constitution of the state [of Connecticut]. 6 Conn. Gen.Stat. § 31-51q. Bracey claims that the Board violated section 31-51q by retaliating against him because he exercised his free speech rights as guaranteed by the United States and Connecticut Constitutions when complaining to the DCF and reporting to the hospital and police department. 30 To begin at the starting point, Barbara, 99 F.3d at 54, Congress has provided a cause of action with respect to such a claim. Bracey asserts that he lost his employment as a public-school teacher because of his exercise of his right to speak to the DCF, the hospital, and the police department about a matter of public interest: the physical treatment of public-school students. Congress, through enactment of what is now 42 U.S.C. § 1983, created a cause of action applicable to, among many other things, just such circumstances. See, e.g., Melzer v. Bd. of Educ., 336 F.3d 185 (2d Cir.2003) (addressing section 1983 claim brought against the New York City Board of Education for retaliatory termination of the plaintiff's teaching position allegedly in violation of his constitutional rights to freedom of association and expression), cert. denied, 540 U.S. 1183, 124 S.Ct. 1424, 158 L.Ed.2d 87 (2004); see also Scott v. Coughlin, 344 F.3d 282 (2d Cir.2003) (addressing under section 1983 a prisoner's claim of retaliatory disciplinary infraction charges against him for exercise of First Amendment rights); Phillips v. Bowen, 278 F.3d 103 (2d Cir.2002) (considering under section 1983 the plaintiff's claim of retaliatory adverse employment action for her exercise of First Amendment rights); McCullough v. Wyandanch Union Free Sch. Dist., 187 F.3d 272, 278 (2d Cir.1999) (addressing under section 1983 the plaintiff's claim of retaliatory discharge for exercise of First Amendment rights); Clue v. Johnson, 179 F.3d 57 (2d Cir.1999) (same, in the context of retaliatory job suspension); cf. Mitchum v. Foster, 407 U.S. 225, 242, 92 S.Ct. 2151, 32 L.Ed.2d 705 (1972) (The very purpose of § 1983 was to interpose the federal courts between the States and the people, as guardians of the people's federal rights — to protect the people from unconstitutional action under color of state law, whether that action be executive, legislative, or judicial. (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)); LeBlanc-Sternberg v. Fletcher, 67 F.3d 412, 426 (2d Cir.1995) (holding, in the context of the free exercise of religion, that [s]ection 1983 creates a cause of action against any person who, acting under color of state law, deprives another of `any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws' of the United States, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, including ... First Amendment right[s]), cert. denied, 520 U.S. 1263, 117 S.Ct. 2431, 138 L.Ed.2d 193 (1997). 31 The question, then, is whether Bracey's state-law claim necessarily turn[s] on some construction of federal law. Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U.S. at 9, 103 S.Ct. 2841. We conclude that it does. Bracey alleges on the face of his well-pleaded complaint that the Board violated his rights as established, under section 31-51q, by either the United States or the Connecticut Constitution. Courts construing section 31-51q consistently look to federal First Amendment law to determine whether section 31-51q gives rise to a cause of action in the cases before them. See, e.g., Cotto v. United Techs. Corp., 48 Conn.App. 618, 629, 711 A.2d 1180, 1186 (1998) (In deciding whether the allegations of the plaintiff's complaint [under section 31-51q] state a cause of action for the deprivation of a constitutionally protected right, it is instructive to review federal and state cases arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 because § 31-51q is analogous.); Daley v. Aetna Life & Cas. Co., 249 Conn. 766, 778-79, 734 A.2d 112, 121 (1999) (looking to Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983), and Luck v. Mazzone, 52 F.3d 475 (2d Cir.1995), to determine whether section 31-51q applies to speech about private matters); Andersen v. E & J Gallo Winery, No. H 85-295(JAC), 1985 WL 134, at , 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14063, at - (D.Conn. Nov. 7, 1985) (interpreting section 31-51q by turn[ing] for guidance to cases involving claims brought by public employees alleging termination of employment in violation of their First Amendment Rights, looking, inter alia, to Connick, 461 U.S. 138, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983)); D'Angelo v. McGoldrick, 239 Conn. 356, 360 n. 5, 685 A.2d 319, 322 n. 5 (1996) (explaining that section 31-51q encompasses rights guaranteed by the first amendment to the United States constitution). 7 Whether Bracey recovered because the Board violated his right to free expression under the United States Constitution or the Connecticut Constitution, or both, then, does not matter. In any case, a federal question was implicated on the face of his well-pleaded complaint. 32 We therefore conclude that the vindication of Bracey's state-law rights as asserted in his well-pleaded section 31-51q cause of action requires that a court construe federal First Amendment law and evaluate [its] scope. D'Alessio v. N.Y. Stock Exch., Inc., 258 F.3d 93, 101 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 1066, 122 S.Ct. 666, 151 L.Ed.2d 580 (2001). The federal question raised by Bracey's claim is thus substantial. Id. at 101-02. The district court was therefore correct in exercising jurisdiction over the claim.