Opinion ID: 397448
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Constitutional Claims based upon Reassignment and Discharge.

Text: 26 Padway claims to have been denied due process and equal protection contrary to the Fifth and to the Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and she seeks redress under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). 27 We note that in the second count of the complaint, based upon 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Padway said The Municipal Defendants and individual defendants are named herein (referring to the second count only) solely for the purposes of securing declaratory relief. All the defendants in this case are either municipal or individual. Thus the only relief sought under § 1983 is declaratory relief. In any event, the school district is not liable under § 1983 where the sole theory of liability is respondeat superior. Monell v. New York City Department of Social Services, 1978, 436 U.S. 658, 691-95, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2036-38, 56 L.Ed.2d 611; May v. Enomoto, 9 Cir., 1980, 633 F.2d 164, 167 n.3. 28 The third count, which we interpret to be based on 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), (it refers to § 1987) is worded more broadly: To the extent that the individual Defendants are named in this count other than for declaratory relief, Plaintiff alleges that said Defendants acted outside their proper authority. The Municipal Defendants and individual Defendants to the extent that they acted within their proper authority, if any, are named in this count solely for the purpose of obtaining declaratory relief. Thus, the relief sought from the individual defendants under § 1985(3) is both declaratory and monetary. The relief sought from the municipal defendants under § 1985(3) is declaratory only. 29 We doubt that Padway has a cause of action under § 1985(3). The only allegations of conspiracy concern the activities of the defendants and no others. The individual defendants were all the Trustees and an employee of the school district. We doubt that their actions amounted to a conspiracy. See Girard v. 94th St. and Fifth Ave. Corp., 2 Cir., 1976, 530 F.2d 66, 70-72. However, we have never held that it is impossible to have a conspiracy between trustees (or directors) and employees of a single corporation. It may be possible under some circumstances. The parties have not addressed this issue in their briefs. It may be that this issue can be properly resolved on summary judgment after further argument before the district court, either on the present record or after further discovery. We note that this is the only federal claim upon which the individual defendants could conceivably be liable for money damages. 30 It is not possible to use § 1985(3) to redress violations of Title VII. Great American Fed. S. & L. Assn. v. Novotny, supra, 422 U.S. at 375-378, 99 S.Ct. at 2351-2352. However, because the school district is a subdivision of the state, discrimination by it on the basis of sex would be a violation of the Constitution, Personnel Administration of Massachusetts v. Feeney, 1979, 442 U.S. 256, 271-273, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 2292-2293, 60 L.Ed.2d 870, and might be redressed under either § 1983 or § 1985(3) if these provisions were otherwise appropriate. It is possible to use § 1985(3) to attack conspiracies against a class defined by sex. Life Insurance Co. of North America v. Reichardt, 9 Cir., 1979, 591 F.2d 499, 505. 31