Court Opinion

ID: 9459247
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:14:50.000026+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:05.383905
License: Public Domain

*1059WISDOM, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I respectfully dissent.
On the face of the complaint a federal question is present within the ambit of 28 U.S.C. § 1331. The district court had subject matter jurisdiction. Whether the complaint stated a cause of action is a different question. Whether, on the merits, the plaintiff is entitled to relief under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 2796(a) is a different question. The majority fuses these three questions into one. The result is to submerge the federal jurisdiction issue. See Gully v. First National Bank, 1936, 299 U.S. 109, 57 S.Ct. 96, 81 L.Ed. 72; Bell v. Hood, 1946, 327 U.S. 678, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939. And see Gomez v. First National Bank, 5 Cir. 1969, 417 F.2d 569.
Cenia Community Action Committee, Inc., domiciled in Rapides Parish, enjoys the domestic benefits of a Louisiana charter. But it is not a private, unfettered corporation in any real sense. Cenia owes its birth and continued existence to the beneficence of the United States government. In return, it is subject to the control of the federal government through the Office of Economic Opportunity under 42 U.S.C. § 2781 et seq.
As appears from the complaint, Cenia was organized for the purpose of qualifying as a grantee community action agency of the OEO under 42 U.S.C. § 2781. Congress adopted the Equal Opportunity Act to combat poverty, to create jobs, to disburse money for the reduction or elimination of poverty, all on a national scale. To insure federal supervision and uniformity, OEO divided the country into regions and adopted guidelines. Cenia, for example, is directly responsible to Region VI of OEO in Dallas, Texas. It must comply with the guidelines and policies formulated by Region VI in Dallas. In the event of any conflict between the policies and practices of Cenia with those of Region VI or federal legislation (as interpreted by OEO), Cenia must yield. In accordance with OEO Guidance VI 6900-1, “ Guide to Grantee Personnel Management,” Cenia promulgated a “Personnel Policies Manual” incorporating to a great extent provisions of OEO Regulations. This manual provides explicit safeguards for disciplinary action against an employee and also an appellate administrative review by Region VI in Dallas. The plaintiff, Mrs. Hines, attempted to appeal her dismissal as Executive Director of Cenia by a letter to the Regional Counsel in Dallas. The Deputy Regional Counsel replied, not stating that Region VI had no jurisdiction over Cenia but stating that:
Where the director himself is terminated, that action is by the board itself, which has the power to do so, and there is no place from there to appeal. We do not interfere with an agency’s personnel policies, even though the Regional Office reserves the right to approve all CAA personnel policies. As a practical matter, the CAP appeal procedures simply would not apply to the director because of the above reasons.
Mrs. Hines contends that under 28 U.S. C. § 2796(a) and the interpretation placed by Region VI in its Guide to Grantee Personnel Management, as well as by Cenla’s own Manual, she is entitled to all the protection of any employee. She asserts, therefore, that she was denied due process as well as the rights accorded her under the Economic Opportunity Act and all the OEO regulations under that Act.
All of this appears on the face of the complaint. There is far more federal involvement here than there is in a parking garage or a Hill-Burton hospital. See Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 1961, 365 U.S. 715, 81 S.Ct. 856, 6 L.Ed.2d 45; Simkins v. Cone Mem. Hosp., 4 Cir. 1963, 323 F.2d 959. Moreover, ours is a Court which puts substance above form, facts above needless fictions, and national interest above all.
Congress provided $811,300,000 for community action agencies similar to Cenia. Congress does not give away that kind of money without strings. *1060Here there are federal statutes, rules, regulations, agency policies, and practices — so many federal strings that it is both naive and obdurately parochial for the Court to conclude that Cenia was a purely private corporation and that no federal law was involved. Justice cannot be done in this case without construing the Equal Opportunity Act and the federal regulations under it which control the policies and practices of the grantee community action agencies. The only thing that is not federal in this case was the charter. At issue is a federal question for the district court to recognize and decide.
PER CURIAM:
A member of the Court in active service having requested a poll on the reconsideration of this cause en banc, and a majority of the judges in active service not having voted in favor of it, rehearing en banc is denied.