Court Opinion

ID: 9462817
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:51:13.674899+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:48.315458
License: Public Domain

KUNZIG, Judge
(concurring in the result).
I concur in the result reached by the majority. With due respect, however, I feel obliged to state that I reach that result by different reasoning.
In this civil- rights case plaintiff, a former Indiana University (I.U.) graduate student appeals the district court’s memorandum opinion of October 17,1974, dismissing with prejudice his suit, inter alia, for money damages against an I.U. professor, the I.U. trustees as a corporate entity, and the I.U. trustees individually. Plaintiff’s complaint is based upon actions by I.U. officials after a plagiarism charge was lodged against him by Professor Maurice Gamier in May 1970. In his brief, Hill asserts four bases for district court error: (1) improper consideration of an affidavit; and erroneous dismissal of (2) the professor, (3) the corporate entity, and (4) the trustees as individuals. Plaintiff’s brief contested the action of the lower court as it relates to section 1983 relief. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1971).1
In addition, at oral argument, plaintiff for the first time asserted two more grounds for error: improper denial of section 1983 injunctive relief against individual trustees, and faulty dismissal of the action insofar as it asks for section 11)31 relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (1971),
My study of the meager record before us leads me to have serious reservations about any decision based on an in-depth reliance on the factual posture at this stage of the proceedings. This is a motion to dismiss which can, of course, properly be interpreted as a motion for summary judgment. However, candor requires that I express misgivings over the absence of any offer of affidavits of fact from the defendants on the crucial issues involved.2
Fortunately, there is no need in the instant case to follow such reasoning. Plaintiff is either unable under the law to pursue his action against any defendant he has seen fit to sue or has completely failed to use his intra-university remedies. The District Court judge correctly dismissed his suit against the professor, the trustees as a corporate entity and the trustees individually as analyzed hereinafter.
I would affirm the ruling below.
I. Alleged Errors Argued in the Briefs:
A. The affidavit:
Plaintiff’s initial argument attacks the lower court’s use of defendants’ affidavit in support of their motion to dismiss. I concur in the majority’s treatment of this issue. There is no error in the district court’s consideration of the contents of the affidavit in ruling on the motion to dismiss.
B. The action against the professor:
Plaintiff attempts to recover both compensatory and punitive damages against Professor Maurice Gamier for his alleged violation of plaintiff’s fourteenth amendment due process rights. On May 14, 1970, Gamier sent plaintiff a letter that he had given plaintiff “Fs” in two courses due to plagiarism of a paper. Plaintiff received this notification on May 16,1970. No other active conduct by Gamier is charged by plaintiff. The action was brought in the district court on June 13, 1972.
Plaintiff bases his suit against Gamier on 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1971)3 charging that the *254professor violated his fourteenth amendment due process rights by imposing a “stigma-type” penalty without prior notice and an opportunity to be heard. The district court found that plaintiff’s action was barred by the statute of limitations. I agree.
Section 1988 contains no limitation provision. Courts, therefore, apply the time bar used by the forum state for similar torts. Henig v. Odorioso, 385 F.2d 491 (3rd Cir. 1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 1016, 88 S.Ct. 1269, 20 L.Ed.2d 166 (1968), rehearing denied, 391 U.S. 929, 88 S.Ct. 1814, 20 L.Ed.2d 671 (1968); Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, Inc., 489 F.2d 525 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. granted on other grounds, 417 U.S. 929, 94 S.Ct. 2639, 41 L.Ed.2d 232 (1974); Jones v. Jones, 410 F.2d 365, 366 (7th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1013, 90 S.Ct. 547, 24 L.Ed.2d 505 (1970). The district court found that the Indiana statute of limitations for character injury applied to this action. Both parties agree. The time for bringing plaintiff’s suit against Gamier was therefore two years. Burns Ind. Code Ann. § 2-602 (Ind.Code § 34-1-2-2) (1971). The complaint shows that the last participation attributable to Gamier in any violation of Hill’s constitutional rights occurred on May 16, 1970, well over two years before plaintiff filed this complaint (June 13,1972). There is nothing further in the record to show subsequent wrongful conduct by Gamier. Clearly, a court cannot go dehors the record to imply any such further conduct.
However, plaintiff contends that the professor either waived the time limitation or that his alleged wrongful conduct constituted a tort that continued until remedied. Since the violation continued past June 13, 1970, Hill argues, it is not barred by the statute of limitations.
Plaintiff suggests that defense attorney York made some sort of waiver of the statute of limitations time bar on behalf of Gamier. However, the York affidavit, discussed in the majority decision, specifically disavows any such waiver as to defendant Gamier.4 Plaintiff’s attorney never offered counter affidavits and never contested York’s assertions in any way. Therefore, the district court correctly rejected plaintiff’s waiver argument.
Further, I am convinced that Garnier’s wrongdoing, if any, did not constitute a continuing wrong. Absent ongoing circumstances such as false imprisonment, a section 1983 claim for relief arises at the time a tortfeasor interferes with a victim’s rights. Rinehart v. Locke, 454 F.2d 313, 315 (7th Cir. 1971). Plaintiff’s claims against Gamier thus accrued at the time of the last overt act attributable to the professor, May 14, 1970, or at the latest on May 16, 1970, the date plaintiff received Garnier’s letter. Since this suit was filed on June 13, 1972, the district court properly found that plaintiff’s section 1983 action against Gamier was barred by the two year statute of limitations.
C. The action against the trustees as a corporate entity:
Plaintiff also brought a section 1983 civil rights action against the I.U. trustees as a corporate entity (the corporate entity), again contending that the plagiarism penalty violated his constitutional rights. He seeks both money damages and equitable relief. Section 1983 applies only to wrongful conduct by “persons.” 5 The correctness of the district court’s dismissal in favor of the corporate entity hinges upon its determination that the corporate entity is not a “person” as that term is used in section 1983. In my opinion the trial judge correctly dismissed the complaint against the corporate entity.
*255In Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed. 492 (1961), the Supreme Court found that municipal corporations and counties are not “persons” as that word is used in section 1983 and, therefore, not liable for money damages in section 1983 actions. Later, in City of Kenosha v. Bruno, 412 U.S. 507, 93 S.Ct. 2222, 37 L.Ed.2d 109 (1973), the Court further concluded that municipal corporations and counties are equally exempt from equitable section 1983 suits. In each case, the Court based its conclusion on the premise that Congress never intended to subject municipal corporations and counties to section 1983 liability.
To answer the question of section 1983 exposure of the corporate entity here involved, we must decide whether the same rationale that applies to exclude municipal corporations and counties from the ambit of section 1983 operates to preclude other bodies “politic and corporate” from section 1983 liability. -I would conclude that it does. To determine whether a state university board of trustees is a “person” within the ambit of section 1983, we look at the relevant legislative history, case law, and the nature of the corporate entity itself.
As developed in Monroe v. Pape, supra, the intent of Congress to exclude “cities, counties and parishes” from the ambit of section 1983 was made clear by the fact that a proposal by Senator Sherman to make municipalities and counties liable for civil rights, violations was unequivocally rejected by the House. Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. at 190-91, 81 S.Ct. at 485-86, 5 L.Ed.2d at 506-07. While this proposal did not purport to apply to all “bodies politic and corporate,” several ramifications result. First, by using the term “person” in section 1983, Congress did not intend to extend liability to “bodies politic and corporate.” The Sherman proposal would have been completely unnecessary if the term “person” had been intended to apply to “bodies politic and corporate.”6 Second, no court should presume that Congress intended to create a liability on the part of state “bodies politic and corporate” absent a clear expression of such intent. Therefore, I do not believe that Congress intended to create section 1983 liability for “bodies politic and corporate” such as state university boards of trustees.
Various courts that have considered the question of whether “person” in 1983 covers public school districts and universities have reached the same result. See, e. g., Sires v. Cole, 320 F.2d 877, 879 (9th Cir. 1963); Kirstein v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 309 F.Supp. 184, 188 (E.D.Va.1970); Schreiber v. Joint School Dist. No. 1, 335 F.Supp. 745 (E.D.Wis.1972); Powers v. Mancos School Dist. RE-6, 369 F.Supp. 648 (D.Colo.1973); Buhr v. Buffalo School Dist. No. 39, 364 F.Supp. 1225 (D.N.D.1973); Kerr v. Clarenceville School Dist., 344 F.Supp. 1244 (E.D.Mich.1972).7
Finally, given the nature of the I.U. corporate entity, I would not on practical grounds differentiate between municipali*256ties and counties on one hand and “bodies politic and corporate” on the other for purposes of section 1983 liability. All are chartered by the state. All involve the situation where, should a court impose liability, the taxpayer rather than the real wrongdoer would bear the economic burden.
In short, I find no reason to construe “person” as used in section 1983 to apply to state-supported university boards of trustees, but not to municipalities and counties. Therefore, based upon the legislative history, case law, and the nature of Indiana University as a “body politic and corporate,” I would hold that the corporate entity is not a person within section 1983 either for purposes of money damage or equitable liability. The district court, therefore, properly dismissed the action against the trustees as a corporate entity.
D. The action against the trustees individually.8
Plaintiff’s counsel conceded at oral argument that he had no case against the trustees individually, insofar as section 1983 money damage liability is concerned. I agree with plaintiff’s concession and therefore, would also affirm the Trial Judge’s conclusion on this phase of the case.9
II. Alleged Errors Raised for the First Time at Oral Argument:
Plaintiff’s attorney now contends that the district court further erred by denying equitable relief against individual trustees and by dismissing without discussion plaintiff’s section 1331 claim.10 Here, a court finds itself at a distinct disadvantage since these questions were raised for the first time at oral argument. In addition, plaintiff did not trouble to brief these points. I would still concur with the result reached by the district court, although I reason as follows:
Plaintiff comes before the court for equitable relief under section 1983 asking that we direct individual trustees to “correct” his academic records by substituting satisfactory grades for the unsatisfactory ones. Plaintiff also seeks section 1331 money damages from each defendant.
In order to inject the judiciary into what is essentially an intra-university dispute, plaintiff must first exhaust his available administrative remedies. Stevenson v. Board of Education, 426 F.2d 1154 (5th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 957, 91 S.Ct. 355, 27 L.Ed.2d 265 (1970); Boyd v. Smith, 353 F.Supp. 844 (N.D.Ind.1973). We should not consider such disputes where the institution itself might, given the chance, correct its own shortcomings. Here plaintiff never denied the plagiarism charges in his court complaint. As the majority correctly points out, in May 1970, he left I.U. and apparently never returned. Although plaintiff was informed that he had a right to appeal Dr. Garnier’s penalties using the University’s own internal procedures, the record is absolutely silent as to any attempt by plaintiff to do so. Since the court is restricted to the record, I would affirm the district court’s denial of section 1983 equitable relief in favor of individual trustees and section 1331 money damage relief because plaintiff’s total failure to exhaust the administrative remedies available to him forecloses his claim that he was denied procedural due process.
In a proper case, I could envision that a timely filed procedural due process action against state university officials who personally impose a stigma-type penalty without notice and an opportunity to be heard, *257after exhaustion of available administrative remedies, might be successful under sections 1331 or 1983. Compare Kister v. Ohio Bd. of Regents, 365 F.Supp. 27 (S.D.Ohio 1973), aff’d, 414 U.S. 1117, 94 S.Ct. 855, 38 L.Ed.2d 747 (1974); McDonald v. National Collegiate Athletic Ass’n., 370 F.Supp. 625 (C.D.Cal.1974); Marin v. University of Puerto Rico, 377 F.Supp. 613 (D.Puerto Rico 1974) . The action at bar is not such a case.
The district court properly considered defendants’ affidavit and correctly dismissed plaintiff’s multi-faceted civil rights complaint, as delineated above, on statute of limitations grounds, on plaintiff’s failure to sue proper persons, on his failure to allege actual participation by defendants, and on plaintiff’s failure to exhaust his administrative remedies. I would therefore hold that there was no error in the district court’s dismissal of the action.
Accordingly, although I arrive at the same result by a somewhat different route, I concur in the judgment reached in the majority opinion.

. In his brief, plaintiff’s argument centered on improper dismissal of the corporate entity both as to money damages and equitable relief, but plaintiff only contested the dismissal of individual trustees as it related to money damages.

. The only affidavit offered by defendants relates solely to the statute of limitations waiver argued by plaintiff. It fails to deal with defendants’ conduct toward plaintiff put in issue by the complaint in the instant case.

. Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State . . . subjects . . . any citizen of the United States ... to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be *254liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1971) (originally enacted April 20, 1871).

. See note 2, supra.

. “Every person who . . subjects . any citizen ... to the deprivation of any rights . . . shall be liable. . . . ” See note 3, supra.

. In Monroe v. Pape, the Supreme Court specifically rejected the proposition that the general definition of “person” contained in the Act of February 24, 1871, 16 Stat. 431, extended the meaning of the word “person” to “bodies politic and corporate,” insofar as the term is used in section 1983. The Court also noted that the present general code provision defining “person” (1 U.S.C. § 1 (1971)) does not apply to “bodies politic and corporate.” Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. at 190-91, 81 S.Ct. at 485-86, 5 L.Ed.2d at 506-07.

. The Seventh Circuit prior to the decision in City of Kenosha recognized that bodies politic were “persons” for purposes of equitable section 1983 suits although not “persons” for section 1983 money damage liability. Lee v. Board of Regents of State Colleges, 441 F.2d 1257 (7th Cir. 1971). Kenosha eliminated this distinction. Later in Aurora Educ. Ass’n E. v. Board of Educ., 490 F.2d 431 (7th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 985, 94 S.Ct. 2388, 40 L.Ed.2d 762 (1974), Senior District Judge Wysanski, sitting by designation from the District of Massachusetts, concluded that a local school district was not a municipal corporation, and therefore was subject to section 1983 liabilities. Judge Wysanski cited no legislative history or case law for this conclusion. My analysis that state university boards of trustees are not “persons” within the ambit of section 1983 need not necessarily conflict with the opinion in Aurora that local school boards are “persons." However, to the extent of any conflict, I would disagree with the Wysanski opinion.

. Section 1983 money damage liability.

. Section 1983 money damage liability requires actual participation in violation of civil rights by wrongdoers before liability can attach. Wood v. Strickland, 420 U.S. 308, 95 S.Ct. 992, 43 L.Ed.2d 214 (1975). Since plaintiff fails to assert participation by individual trustees in any violation of plaintiffs rights, plaintiff cannot prevail.

. 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (1971) provides in part:
(a) The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions wherein the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $10,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and arises under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States.