Opinion ID: 2604574
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: APA Judicial Review, Section 1983 Actions, and Res Judicata

Text: In order to address whether the court of appeals correctly found res judicata inapplicable and remanded this section 1983 case for trial, we must analyze the nature of the claims made, the relief afforded to Stjernholm, and the law enunciated in prior litigation involving him. In Stjernholm I, 820 P.2d at 1167, the court of appeals, in a suit brought by Stjernholm as a result of prior disciplinary proceedings brought by the Board against him, correctly held that the Board is not a person for section 1983 purposes. After the Board instituted the third round of disciplinary proceedings against him, Stjernholm filed this section 1983 suit in district court, seeking injunctive relief against the individual Board members in their official capacities. This suit was filed in the district court and remained there while Stjernholm II, seeking judicial review of state agency action, was proceeding in the court of appeals under the Chiropractic Act, section 12-33-121, 5A C.R.S. (1991), and APA section 24-4-106(11). The case before us, Stjernholm III, concerns the section 1983 action, which paralleled the APA suit for judicial review of agency action, resolved by the court in Stjernholm II. In Stjernholm III, the court of appeals observed that the trial court found that the relief granted in the earlier adjudications and subsequent appeals comprise the relief sought. Stjernholm III, No. 94CA0917, slip op. at 5. By this finding and conclusion, the district court in effect determined that injunctive relief was unavailable and the case was moot. However, the court of appeals determined that Stjernholm's federal constitutional issues pertaining to a section 1983 action had not been litigated between the parties previously and therefore returned the case to the district court for trial. See id. at 6. The Board argues that Stjernholm's failure to raise all constitutional issues in Stjernholm II precludes litigation of those issues in this section 1983 action by reason of res judicata. A court reviewing agency action is competent to review state and federal constitutional issues therein, and parties are ordinarily barred from raising issues which were not presented in a single action for judicial review. But, in Board of County Commissioners v. Sundheim, 926 P.2d 545, 548-49 (Colo.1996), we held that a suit under section 1983, a federal cause of action, can exist separately from a C.R.C.P. 106(a)(4) action challenging the quasi-judicial decision of a governmental body. When only qualified immunity applies and the suit is for damages, a section 1983 claim must allege violation of a clearly established constitutional right and material facts of misconduct, under circumstances which reveal that reasonable officials would have understood that their conduct violated plaintiff's right. See City of Lakewood v. Brace, 919 P.2d 231, 238 (Colo.1996). In order to effectuate the applicable two-year statute of limitations which differed from the thirty-day filing requirement for judicial review of local governmental action under C.R.C.P. 106(a)(4), we recognized in Sundheim that failure to join the section 1983 claims in the suit for judicial review of agency action does not result in preclusion of the federal claims. Id. at 549. Our rationale in Sundheim allowing a section 1983 claim to be tried independently also applies here. Judicial review of state agency action under APA section 24-4-106(7) is the counterpart to judicial review of local governmental action under C.R.C.P. 106(a)(4). Here, judicial review of this agency's action must commence in the court of appeals under a special statutory provision of the Chiropractic Act, while section 1983 lawsuits are tried in the district court. Review of agency action, whether in the district court or the court of appeals, is essentially appellate in nature based on the Board's administrative record. See § 24-4-106(6), 10A C.R.S. (1988). Section 1983 suits involve evidentiary presentation to and fact finding by a district court. As to the alleged federal constitutional violations essential to a section 1983 action, the court of appeals did not err in refusing, as a general matter, to employ res judicata to preclude section 1983 litigation in the district court. Nonetheless, the Board is collaterally estopped from relitigating the issue of the summary license suspension decided between the parties, see City & County of Denver v. Block 173, 814 P.2d 824, 831 (Colo.1991), in Stjernholm II, and further proceedings in this section 1983 action to prevent recurrence of Stjernholm's summary license suspension are precluded by a lack of showing that the agency is likely to repeat such conduct. The district court correctly determined that Stjernholm obtained, in Stjernholm II, all the relief available to him. When a live controversy no longer exists because the conduct complained of is not subject to repetition and an injunction would have no practical legal effect, courts properly terminate section 1983 litigation when it becomes apparent to the court that the relief requested is unavailable and the case moot. See Taxpayers for the Animas-La Plata Referendum v. Animas-La Plata Water Conservancy Dist., 739 F.2d 1472, 1478-79 (10th Cir. 1984). Here, a live controversy no longer exists. Official immunity precludes damages and, under the law of the case of Stjernholm II, equitable relief would have no practical legal effect. Stjernholm's license has been restored and the Board cannot summarily suspend it in the absence of new circumstances and a Board finding that an emergency exists.