Opinion ID: 445561
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Approach to Implication of Constitutional Damages Actions

Text: 52 The history of constitutionally based actions for money damages begins with Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971). In Bivens, the Court ushered into our law the principle that citizens can bring an action to recover damages for fourth amendment violations from federal officers acting in their official capacity, notwithstanding the absence of a congressionally authorized cause of action. The Supreme Court has extended this principle to plaintiffs seeking to bring actions under the fifth amendment, see Davis v. Passman, 442 U.S. 228, 99 S.Ct. 2264, 60 L.Ed.2d 846 (1979), and the eighth amendment, see Carlson v. Green, 446 U.S. 14, 100 S.Ct. 1468, 64 L.Ed.2d 15 (1980). This court has implied constitutional damages actions for violations of the first amendment. See Dellums v. Powell, 566 F.2d 167, 195-96 (D.C.Cir.1977), cert. denied, 438 U.S. 916, 98 S.Ct. 3146, 57 L.Ed.2d 1161 (1978). 53 It is axiomatic that a Bivens action can be brought only against one who is engaged in governmental (or state) action 19 or, to put the matter another way, who is acting under color of federal law. The principle underlying the requirement of state action is that individual  'rights secured by the Constitution are protected only against infringement by governments.'  Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., 457 U.S. 922, 936, 102 S.Ct. 2744, 2754, 73 L.Ed.2d 482 (1982) (quoting Flagg Bros., Inc. v. Brooks, 436 U.S. 149, 156, 98 S.Ct. 1729, 1733, 56 L.Ed.2d 185 (1978)). Thus, it is clear that in order to prevail on his Bivens claim, Reuber would have to prove that officials at NCI and officers at Litton and Bionetics conspired to discipline him because of his exercise of first amendment rights. 20 We, of course, cannot resolve this issue here since, given the posture of this case, we must take all of plaintiff's factual allegations as true. 54 While we cannot resolve the fact-bound issue of whether state action was present in this case, we can address the purely legal question presented. The legal question, simply stated, is whether constitutional tort claims for damages can be brought only against federal officials or whether Bivens, by analogy to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, encompasses actions against private parties acting under color of federal law. The Supreme Court has never had occasion to address this issue. This circuit expressly left open the question whether Bivens liability might extend to private parties under certain circumstances in Zerilli v. Evening News Association, 628 F.2d 217 (D.C.Cir.1980). 21 55 In Zerilli, the plaintiffs alleged that the Department of Justice had, in the course of illegal electronic surveillance, transcribed certain communications between the plaintiffs and others. Ten to fifteen years later, officials at the Department of Justice released the material to the Evening News Association. This newspaper then published that information in a series of articles entitled Organized Crime in Detroit. Plaintiffs alleged that the officials and the newspaper had conspired to violate their fourth amendment rights and thus sued both the officials and the newspaper under a Bivens constitutional tort theory. 56 After dismissing the claim against the federal officials on the ground that it was identical to a claim pending in a related case in the same court, the court turned to the Bivens claim against the newspaper. The court noted that although the Supreme Court had not addressed the issue of extending Bivens liability to reach private parties acting under the color of federal law, the Court had more generally indicated that Bivens liability is inappropriate  '[when defendants demonstrate] special factors counselling hesitation....'  Zerilli, 628 F.2d at 223 (quoting Bivens, 403 U.S. at 396, 91 S.Ct. at 2004). We then relied on this general exception to Bivens liability to dispose of the Zerilli case: 57 Assuming without deciding that private parties may in some circumstances be held liable under Bivens for conspiring with federal officials, we believe there are three special factors that, taken together, preclude us from imposing such liability in the present case. 58 Id. (citations omitted). In other words, assuming a Bivens action did exist, the presence of special factors in the case made Bivens liability inappropriate. 22 59 The Zerilli approach is the approach taken by Bivens and its progeny: the presence of special factors in a particular case may render an otherwise existing Bivens -type action inappropriate. A court, however, must start its inquiry into the propriety of a damages remedy from the proposition that [h]istorically, damages have been regarded as the ordinary remedy for an invasion of personal interests in liberty. Bivens, 403 U.S. at 395, 91 S.Ct. at 2004. In Carlson v. Green, 446 U.S. 14, 100 S.Ct. 1468, 64 L.Ed.2d 15 (1980), the Supreme Court stated: 60 Bivens established that the victims of a constitutional violation by a federal agent have a right to recover damages against the federal official in federal court despite the absence of any statute conferring such a right. Such a cause of action may be defeated in a particular case, however, in two situations. The first is when defendants demonstrate special factors counselling hesitation in the absence of affirmative action by Congress. The second is when defendants show that Congress has provided an alternative remedy which it explicitly declared to be a substitute for recovery directly under the Constitution and viewed as equally effective. 61 Id. at 18-19, 100 S.Ct. at 1471 (emphasis in original) (citation omitted). Carlson makes it clear that in assessing any Bivens action, the court must permit such an action unless Congress has already provided an equally effective remedy to redress the constitutional wrongs or unless special factors exist which taken together make the Bivens action inappropriate. 23 62 Whether Reuber has a Bivens action, in the first instance, depends on whether he has alleged circumstances sufficient to characterize the corporate defendants as federal actors. Given the posture of Zerilli, it was unnecessary to address the question of state action directly. Instead, this court recognized the private status of defendants as a special factor based on the Supreme Court's observation, in the context of an unlawful search and seizure, that [a]n agent acting--albeit unconstitutionally--in the name of the United States possesses a far greater capacity for harm than an individual trespasser exercising no authority other than his own. 628 F.2d at 224 (quoting Bivens, 403 U.S. at 392, 91 S.Ct. at 2002). 24 But we must also be cognizant that there are situations where because the private action is clearly backed up by the power, property and prestige of the government, its resultant harm approaches closely or even equals that of government officials. Cf. Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 365 U.S. 715, 725, 81 S.Ct. 856, 861, 6 L.Ed.2d 45 (1961) (state may be liable for discrimination by private party where state places its power, property and prestige behind the private conduct). [W]hen authority derives in part from Government's thumb on the scales, the exercise of that power by private persons becomes closely akin, in some respects, to its exercise by Government itself. Public Utilities Commission v. Pollak, 343 U.S. 451, 462 n. 8, 72 S.Ct. 813, 820 n. 8, 96 L.Ed. 1068 (1952) (quoting American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 401, 70 S.Ct. 674, 685, 94 L.Ed. 925 (1950)). In Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., 457 U.S. 922, 102 S.Ct. 2744, 73 L.Ed.2d 482 (1982), the Supreme Court stated: 63 [W]e have consistently held that a private party's joint participation with state officials in the seizure of disputed property is sufficient to characterize that party as a state actor for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. 64 Id. at 941, 102 S.Ct. at 2756. Clearly once state action is established, the private party is deemed a state or, in this case, a federal actor. 65 The defendants here are not federal officials, nevertheless, the defendants may be deemed federal actors. The defendants' private status shield is lost when they act in such a way as to create an integrated alliance with the government and their conduct therefore is imbued with the power and prestige of government officials. The facts alleged here strongly suggest this is such a case. 66 Taking Reuber's allegations as true, as we must at this juncture, the corporate defendants' alleged decision to punish Reuber for dissemination of his malathion study sufficiently invoked the power and prestige of the National Cancer Institute so as to make the decision a governmental one in perception as well as reality. In this case, the government--according to Reuber's allegations--had heavy thumbs on the scale with respect to the disciplining of Reuber. Reuber alleges that the decision to take disciplinary action against him was initially made by NCI officials, who used the FCRC contract to pressure Bionetics into taking action. Thus, the disciplinary action was, in every sense of the phrase, government conduct, with predictably direct ramifications on the alleged injury done to Reuber. If the decision was made by NCI, presumably Reuber would be precluded from seeking work at other NCI facilities; the federal nexus thus directly extends the harm beyond the immediate relationship of Reuber to his employer. In addition, here the corporate defendants and the government derive the mutual benefits of Bionetics' operation of FCRC. FCRC is a government-owned facility operated by Bionetics. See Brief for Appellant, No. 82-2376, at 8. Bionetics' operations at FCRC are totally financially dependent on its government contract to operate that facility. All publications generated by this facility must state that the work on which they are based was performed pursuant to Bionetics' contract with NCI. It is clear, then, that Bionetics derives the prestige of association with the federal government with respect to its work at FCRC. 67 Given this scenario, Reuber has alleged circumstances sufficient, if proven, to characterize the corporate defendants as federal actors and thus has stated a cause of action against these private parties under Bivens. 25 See Yiamouyiannis v. Chemical Abstracts Service, 521 F.2d 1392 (6th Cir.1975) (holding that plaintiff-scientist's complaint that he was harassed, defamed and constructively discharged for publicly expressing views contrary to those of HEW stated a cause of action against his private employer under Bivens ). 26