Opinion ID: 202788
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Qualified Immunity on the Due Process Claim 4

Text: 27 Qualified immunity `provides a safe harbor for public officials acting under the color of state law who would otherwise be liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for infringing the constitutional rights of private parties.' Borges Colón v. Román-Abreu, 438 F.3d 1, 18 (1st Cir.2006) (quoting Whitfield v. Meléndez-Rivera, 431 F.3d 1, 6 (1st Cir.2005)). We apply a three-part test to determine whether a public official is entitled to qualified immunity, asking (1) whether plaintiff's allegations, if true, establish a constitutional violation; (2) whether that right was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation; and (3) whether a similarly situated reasonable official would have understood that the challenged action violated the constitutional right at issue. Mihos v. Swift, 358 F.3d 91, 102 (1st Cir.2004). If all three questions are answered in the affirmative, we deny qualified immunity. Id. at 110. Defendants argue that, even assuming the first two prongs are satisfied, they are entitled to qualified immunity under the third prong of the test because a similarly situated reasonable official would not have believed that the pre-hearing deprivation violated Plaintiffs' rights to procedural due process. 28 We review a district court's denial of summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds de novo, considering only purely legal questions. Suboh v. Dist. Attorney's Office, 298 F.3d 81, 90 (1st Cir. 2002). 29 With respect to Contreras, Defendants argue that he is entitled to qualified immunity because he was acting pursuant to a presumptively constitutional statute. Defendants point out that the Puerto Rico Insurance Code authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to suspend, revoke or refuse to renew a license by issuing an order . . . to licensee not less than fifteen days prior to the effective date thereof, subject to the right of the licensee to have a hearing, and provides that pending such hearing, the license shall be suspended. P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 26, § 947(2)(a). Defendants further point out that, as with all state statutes, this statutory provision is presumed to be constitutional, see Conn. ex rel Blumenthal v. Crotty, 346 F.3d 84, 102 (2d Cir.2003), and that no court had, during the relevant time period, found the statute unconstitutional. Accordingly, Defendants argue that even if section 947(2)(a) is now deemed unconstitutional, Contreras is entitled to qualified immunity for his good faith reliance on the presumptively valid provisions of the Insurance Code. See Freeman v. Blair, 862 F.2d 1330, 1332 (8th Cir.1988) (holding that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity where any defects in the regulatory scheme were not sufficiently obvious to make the defendants' reliance on the scheme objectively unreasonable). 30 With respect to Juarbe, Defendants argue that she is entitled to qualified immunity on the due process claim because she did not draft or sign the Order, she was not Contreras's supervisor at the time of the issuance of the Order, and she was not present during the conversation in which Contreras allegedly told Rosario that he would have to carry [out] the investigations against this N.P.P. member. Thus, Defendants argue that there is no connection between Juarbe's conduct and the alleged constitutional violation of revoking Plaintiffs' licenses without a hearing. We do not think this argument goes to qualified immunity so much as to the ultimate question of liability under § 1983, a question not properly before us. See Gutiérrez-Rodríguez v. Cartagena, 882 F.2d 553, 560 (1st Cir.1989) (Section 1983 imposes liability upon those who ` subject[] or cause[] to be subjected, ' any citizen of the United States . . . to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws . . . . (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 1983) (emphasis added) (other alterations in original)). In any event, Defendants acknowledge that Juarbe participated in meetings in which the Order was being drafted and that she enforced the Order after it was issued. We think any reasonable official in Contreras's or Juarbe's situation would have known that the summary revocation provision in the Insurance Code is unconstitutional; therefore, qualified immunity is available to neither defendant. 31 First, to the extent Contreras or Juarbe acted in reliance on section 947(2)(a), enacted in 1957, we find such reliance unreasonable because that statute is no longer in effect, having been superseded by the Puerto Rico Uniform Administrative Procedure Act, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 3, § 2101 et seq. (the Puerto Rico APA). In Chalkboard, Inc. v. Brandt, 902 F.2d 1375 (9th Cir.1989), the Ninth Circuit examined a factual scenario very similar to this case. There, an agency summarily suspended a day care center's license under a statute that allowed for such suspension in emergency situations. Id. at 1377-78. However, a later-enacted statutory provision required that the agency notify the attorney general of any emergency circumstances, after which the attorney general could seek a restraining order. Id. at 1378-79. The Chalkboard court denied qualified immunity, holding that the summary closure procedures used by defendants in th[at] case could not reasonably have been believed to meet constitutional requirements. Id. at 1380-81. In so holding, the Ninth Circuit specifically noted that it could not 32 accept the contention that a general purpose summary-closure provision enacted years earlier remains at the disposal of the DHS officials when the state has adopted a more recent and specific statutory scheme which provides for both routine and expedited methods of suspending the license . . . and which does not permit summary action by agency officials. 33 Id. at 1379. 34 Neither party disputes that the Puerto Rico APA provides for pre-deprivation hearings at all agency levels. See P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 3, §§ 2102-2103, 2151-2170(a); see also Magriz v. Empresas Nativas, Inc., 143 P.R. Dec. 63, 70 (1997). Enacted in 1988, it requires all agencies adjudicating a controversy to safeguard (A) [t]he right to timely notice of the charges or complaints or claims against one of the parties[;] (B) [t]he right to introduce evidence[;] (C) [t]he right to an impartial adjudication[; and] (D) [t]he right to have the decision based on the record of the case. P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 3, § 2151(a)(2). The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico has held that the Puerto Rico APA expressly supersedes any conflicting statutes. See Hernández v. Golden Tower Dev. Corp., 125 P.R. Dec. 744, 749 (1990) ([I]t is the express intent of the lawmaker, in adopting a uniform judicial review procedure for rulings or orders of administrative agencies or departments, that [the Puerto Rico APA] prevail over any other legal provision—appertaining to any agency in particular—that may be repugnant to the provisions of said act.); Asociación de Dueños de Casas de la Parguera, Inc. v. Junta de Planificación de P.R., 148 D.P.R. 307, 314 (1999). Given the Puerto Rico APA's pre-deprivation hearing requirement, any claimed reliance on section 947's summary-revocation provision is unreasonable as a matter of law. 5 35 We also find reliance on section 947(2)(a) unreasonable because the statute is patently unconstitutional. Although state officials are ordinarily entitled to rely on presumptively valid state statutes, courts have held such reliance unreasonable where the relevant law is so grossly and flagrantly unconstitutional that any person of reasonable prudence would be bound to see its flaws. Michigan v. DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31, 38, 99 S.Ct. 2627, 61 L.Ed.2d 343 (1979); See, e.g., Lawrence v. Reed, 406 F.3d 1224, 1232 (10th Cir.2005) (denying qualified immunity to an official who relied on an ordinance allowing for the destruction of derelict automobiles without a hearing because the official could not reasonably have concluded that his actions were consistent with due process); Carey v. Nev. Gaming Control Bd., 279 F.3d 873, 882 (9th Cir.2002) (denying qualified immunity to an official who relied on statutes requiring individuals stopped pursuant to Terry to identify themselves because a reasonable officer in [the defendant's] position would have known that [the plaintiff] had a clearly established Fourth Amendment right not to identify himself). 36 Section 947(2)(a) is patently unconstitutional because it specifically provides for the suspension of a professional license before a hearing is provided, without limitation. P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 26, § 947(2)(a). It has long been established that a state may not suspend a professional license without a pre-deprivation hearing. 6 See Beauchamp v. De Abadia, 779 F.2d 773, 775 (1st Cir.1985) (Beauchamp unquestionably had a protected interest in his license to practice medicine. A clearer example of `new property' is not easily imagined. The district court's holding that he had a right to a hearing before his license could be revoked was correct. (internal citations omitted)); see also Mard v. Town of Amherst, 350 F.3d 184, 192 (1st Cir.2003)(In general, the state must provide some kind of hearing before depriving an individual of a protected property interest. (internal quotation marks omitted)). 7 Thus, we find that Defendants are not entitled to rely on section 947(2)(a)'s allowance for pre-hearing deprivations because a reasonable official in their position would have known that it violates the Due Process Clause. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's denial of Defendants' motion for summary judgment.