Opinion ID: 3064440
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The comprehensive remedial scheme of the

Text: ADEA overcomes the presumption against implied preclusion. Although the implied preclusion of one statute by another is disfavored, see Crawford Fitting Co. v. J.T. Gibbons, Inc., 482 U.S. 437, 442 (1987), the Supreme Court has held that, “[w]hen the remedial devices provided in a particular Act are sufficiently comprehensive, they may suffice to demonstrate Congressional intent to preclude the remedy of suits under § 1983,” Sea Clammers, 453 U.S. at 19-20. The Fourth Circuit in Zombro analyzed the ADEA’s enforcement mechanism and found it “no less specific and comprehensive” than the statutes at issue in Sea Clammers. Zombro, 868 F.2d at 1366-67. The most comprehensive district court opinion holding the ADEA does not preclude § 1983 claims is Mummelthie v. Mason City, Iowa, 873 F. Supp. 1293 (N.D. Iowa 1995). The Mummelthie district court rejected the Fourth Circuit’s use of the Sea Clammers doctrine in the context of the ADEA.6 Mummelthie, 873 F. Supp. at 1313. The district court reasoned that Sea Clammers applies only to the question of whether a statute forecloses the use of § 1983 for a violation of the statute itself, as opposed to the “violation of rights with an independent source in the Constitution.” Id. The court found the application of Sea Clammers invalid because it 6 Of course, as noted above, the Eighth Circuit’s affirmance was on a different ground completely. The court avoided the question of whether the ADEA precludes § 1983 claims, instead finding support in the record for the “district court’s finding that [the alleged discriminatory] hiring decision was not based on Mummelthie’s age.” 78 F.3d at 589. AHLMEYER v. NEVADA SYSTEM OF HIGHER ED. 1929 resulted in the implied repeal of § 1983 in the area of age discrimination in employment, and “[s]uch repeal by implication is disfavored.” Id. at 1319. The implied preclusion of one statute by another, while disfavored, is not impermissible. In fact, the Sea Clammers doctrine functions as an exception to the presumption against implied preclusion. The use of the Sea Clammers doctrine is applicable to the interplay between the ADEA and § 1983, as the Zombro court convincingly demonstrates. Zombro, 868 F.2d at 1366-67. Moreover, the Seventh Circuit has interpreted the Sea Clammers doctrine as applying to constitutional claims when the statutory claim and the constitutional claim are identical. See Williams v. Wendler, 530 F.3d 584, 586 (7th Cir. 2008). “When Congress enacts a comprehensive scheme for enforcing a statutory right that is identical to a right enforceable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which creates a civil remedy for violations of federal rights (including constitutional rights) under color of state law, the section 1983 lawsuit must be litigated in accordance with the scheme.” Id. (citing Sea Clammers, 453 U.S. at 20-21). Because the ADEA provides broader protection than the Constitution, a plaintiff has “nothing substantive to gain” by also asserting a § 1983 claim. See id. Even if Sea Clammers does not apply when a § 1983 claim seeks to vindicate constitutional, not statutory, rights, the Supreme Court has held a comprehensively remedial statutory scheme can preclude the vindication of constitutional rights through § 1983. See Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 489 (1973) (holding that § 1983 is unavailable to prisoners attacking their imprisonment because Congress passed the more specific habeas corpus statute); Smith v. Robinson, 468 U.S. 992, 1009 (1984), superseded on other grounds by Handicapped Children’s Protection Act, Pub. L. No. 99-372, § 2, 100 Stat. 796 (1986) (codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1415(1)) (holding that the comprehensiveness of the Education Handicapped Act (“EHA”) indicates that “Congress intended the EHA to be 1930 AHLMEYER v. NEVADA SYSTEM OF HIGHER ED. the exclusive avenue through which a plaintiff may assert an equal protection claim to a publicly financed education”). [5] We are unable to perceive, and counsel have not pointed us to, a constitutional claim for age discrimination that is not vindicated fully by the ADEA. The comprehensive remedial scheme of the ADEA demonstrates that Congress intended the ADEA to serve as the exclusive means for pursuing claims of age discrimination in employment. Therefore, the preclusion of § 1983 claims in this context is required.