Court Opinion

ID: 9428762
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:24:42.581796+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:15.085355
License: Public Domain

Justice Stevens,
dissenting.
The issue that divides the Court is fairly narrow. The ma- ' jority concedes that state agency proceedings will not bar a *509federal claim under Title VII, ante, at 470, n. 7, and Justice Blackmun assumes, arguendo, that a state court decision on the merits of a discrimination claim would create such a bar, ante, at 494-495, n. 10, and 508 (dissenting opinion). Thus, the area of dispute is limited to cases in which an adverse agency decision has been reviewed and upheld by a state court.
The proper resolution of the dispute depends, I believe, on the character of the judicial review to which the agency decision is subjected. If it is the equivalent of a de novo trial on the merits, then I would agree that the analysis in the Court’s opinion leads to the conclusion that 28 U. S. C. § 1738 forecloses a second lawsuit in a federal court. But as Justice Blackmun has demonstrated, ante, at 490-493, that is not the character of the relevant judicial review in New York. The New York court’s holding that the agency decision was not arbitrary or capricious merely establishes as a matter of law that a rational adjudicator might have resolved the discrimination issue either way. * It is therefore entirely *510consistent with § 1738 for a federal district court to accept the New York judgment as having settled that proposition, and then to proceed to resolve the discrimination issue in a de novo trial.
*511Both the text of Title VII and its legislative history indicate that Congress intended the claimant to have at least one opportunity to prove his case in a de novo trial in court. Thus, while I agree with the Court that Title VII did not impliedly repeal § 1738, I cannot accept the Court’s construction of § 1738 in this case. In New York, as Justice Black-mun demonstrates, the judicial review is simply a part of the “proceedings” that are entitled to “substantial weight” under Title VII.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

In the two cases cited in Flah’s, Inc. v. Schneider, 71 App. Div. 2d 993, 420 N. Y. S. 2d 283 (1979), the Appellate Division had developed the standard for reviewing agency dismissals for lack of probable cause. According to Mayo v. Hopeman Lumber & Mfg. Co., 33 App. Div. 2d 310, 307 N. Y. S. 2d 691, motion for leave to appeal dism’d, 26 N. Y. 2d 962, 259 N. E. 2d 477 (1970), the test is whether the agency determination “was arbitrary, capricious or characterized by an abuse of discretion or a clearly unwarranted exercise of discretion.” 33 App. Div. 2d, at 313, 307 N. Y. S. 2d, at 694 (paraphrasing N. Y. Exec. Law § 297-a(7)(e) (McKinney 1972)). The Appellate Division observed that “[f ]or the [Divison of Human Rights] to dismiss his complaint under such circumstances it must appear virtually that as a matter of law the complaint lacks merit.” 33 App. Div., at 313, 307 N. Y. S. 2d, at 695.
In State Div. of Human Rights v. New York State Drug Abuse Control Comm’n, 59 App. Div. 2d 332, 399 N. Y. S. 2d 541 (1977), the Division of Human Rights had dismissed the complaint after an investigation but with*510out a hearing. The Appeal Board had reversed and remanded for further proceedings. In sustaining the Human Rights Division, the Appellate Division clarified its holding in Mayo:
“In [Mayo] it was not our intention to deprive the commissioner [of the Division of Human Rights] of his statutory duty to [determine whether there is a reasonable basis for sustaining the complaint, based upon complainant’s evidence, and for requiring the employer to answer and submit to a hearing]. Thus, after the commissioner has made a full investigation, wherein the complainant has had full opportunity to present his evidence and exhibits, under oath if he so requests, if the commissioner determines that complainant has not shown probable cause for his complaint, the appeal board has no authority to reverse such determination and order a [hearing], provided that the commissioner’s determination is rationally supported by the record before him.” Id., at 336-337, 399 N. Y. S. 2d, at 544 (citations omitted).
These cases demonstrate that the issue before a New York court reviewing an agency dismissal of a discrimination complaint is not the equivalent of the merits issue in a Title VII action.
The Court’s citations to New York cases, ante, at 480-481, n. 21, simply do not support the general proposition that a New York court’s affirmance of an agency’s dismissal of a complaint necessarily determines that the complaint lacked merit as a matter of law. It is true that some of those cases contain language similar to the observation in Mayo that the agency may summarily dismiss a complaint only if it appears “virtually that as a matter of law the complaint lacks merit.” As in Mayo, however, other language in those cases refutes the notion that only complaints meritless as a matter of law are permitted to be dismissed without hearings by the agency. See, e. g., New York State Division for Youth v. State Human Rights Appeal Board, 83 App. Div. 2d 972, 973, 442 N. Y. S. 2d 813, 814 (1981) (“We conclude that here, absent a full investigation including an opportunity for confrontation, the determination of the division was based on a record which was inadequate to meet the test of substantial evidence and was, therefore, arbitrary and capricious”); State Division of Human Rights v. Blanchette, 73 App. Div. 2d 820, 821, 423 N. Y. S. 2d 745 (1979) (“After the State Division of Human Rights has conducted an investigation of a complaint, with full opportunity to the complainant to support his or her claims of discrimination, the Division’s determination of no probable *511cause and dismissal of the complaint may not be vacated by the Appeal Board or the court if it is supported by substantial evidence”). The facts of the cases also demonstrate that allegations that clearly state a cause of action are not necessarily sufficient to avoid dismissal without a hearing. See, e. g., Stasiak v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 66 App. Div. 2d 962, 411 N. Y. S. 2d 700 (1978). Moreover, it is perfectly clear that the New York courts do not reach an independent conclusion on the merits of a discrimination claim that has been adjudicated against the claimant by the agency after a formal hearing.