Court Opinion

ID: 9468599
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:18:43.469905+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:56.861363
License: Public Domain

*33WINTER, Chief Judge,
dissenting:
The question before us is not one which the Supreme Court has squarely answered. Thus we must make an informed prediction of what the Supreme Court would decide. Where I differ from the majority is that, in making the prediction, I think that we should adhere strictly to what the Supreme Court has said in other contexts. On the guidance from the Supreme Court which is presently available, I think that Hamlin is entitled to a plenary hearing. I therefore respectfully dissent.
I.
Before proceeding with my main thesis, I am constrained to comment on the majority’s treatment of the facts. In its statement of the question presented, the majority refers to Hamlin’s “expedient” of seeking damages under § 1983, and his “seemingly deliberate omission” of a request for immediate relief. Several paragraphs later it is asserted that Hamlin’s pro se pleading “clearly disclosed” a purpose to establish every ground for his release before asserting any claim in North Carolina’s courts, and immediately thereafter, the majority flatly characterizes Hamlin’s “seemingly deliberate omission” to request his release as a “deliberate failure” to seek that relief. Still later in the closing paragraph of the opinion, the majority softens its assertions by stating that Hamlin’s complaint has “all of the earmarks of a deliberate attempt to subvert” the requirement of exhaustion. Despite these characterizations, the majority asserts that motive is not relevant in a particular case.
There is no doubt that Hamlin sought damages for an alleged denial of constitutional right which, if established, would also entitle him to release, and that he did not pray his release. But I read the pleadings in vain to show any indication that Hamlin did so with or without bad faith. The district court decided that case on the pleadings; Hamlin was never interrogated as to his motives. The issue before us is difficult enough, and I would prefer to deal with it without speculation as to what went through Hamlin s mind when he brought his lawsuit.
II.
I turn then to what' is before us. The significant question in this appeal is whether Hamlin must first exhaust his state remedies before the district court can entertain his claims pursuant to § 1983, a question previously discussed but not decided by us in Rimmer v. Fayetteville Police Department, 567 F.2d 273 (4th Cir. 1977).
As the Supreme Court has had occasion to say, ordinarily “[i]t is no answer that the State has a law which if enforced would give relief. The federal remedy is supplementary to the state remedy, and the latter need not be first sought and refused before the federal one is invoked.” Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 183, 81 S.Ct. 473, 482, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961). The question arises here because the constitutional issues raised by Hamlin suggest that his imprisonment is illegal; and in Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 93 S.Ct. 1827, 36 L.Ed.2d 439 (1973), the Court held that “Congress has determined that habeas corpus is the appropriate remedy for state prisoners attacking the validity of the fact or length of their confinement, and that specific determination must override the general terms of § 1983.” 411 U.S. at 490, 93 S.Ct. at 1836. Federal habeas corpus requires exhaustion of state remedies. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b) (1976).
The plaintiffs in Preiser v. Rodriguez, however, sought federal injunctive relief directing the restoration of good-time prison credits that would have resulted in their release. In response to their argument that the habeas corpus exhaustion requirement could foreclose their claims for damages by operation of res judicata, the Court noted that an action for damages under § 1983 ordinarily does not require exhaustion of state remedies, observing:
If a state prisoner is seeking damages, he is attacking something other than the fact or length of his confinement, and he is seeking something other than immediate or more speedy release — the tradi*34tional purpose of habeas corpus. In the case of a damages claim, habeas corpus is not an appropriate or available federal remedy. Accordingly, ... a damage action by a state prisoner could be brought under the Civil Rights Act in federal court without any requirement of prior exhaustion of state remedies.
411 U.S. at 494, 93 S.Ct. at 1838 (emphasis in original).
Unlike the majority, I cannot read this language in Preiser as dependent upon the fact that plaintiffs there had nearly served their sentences so that there was no practical possibility of a subsequent state habeas corpus hearing. Preiser itself recognizes that exhaustion is required when a prisoner seeking his release is serving a relatively short sentence and it suggests that, if the time factor makes an otherwise adequate state remedy inadequate, a federal court might proceed without requiring exhaustion under the language of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b). In short, Preiser itself belies the explanation advanced by the majority for asserting that the language therein was not intended to mean what it says.
In this case, Hamlin has clearly brought an action for damages, seeking both compensatory and punitive damages in his prayers for relief. He also seeks a declaratory judgment “that the defendant’s acts and practices herein described and complained of violated plaintiff’s rights under the United States Constitution.” Finally, he requests injunctive relief suspending the sheriff from his duties, requiring the district attorney to provide him with the names and addresses of the grand jurors who charged him, and requiring his trial attorney to provide him with the trial transcript and his “certiorari petition” to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. On its face, Hamlin’s complaint does not directly attack the fact or length of his confinement nor does it seek his release therefrom. Preiser’s rule of exhaustion is therefore inapplicable.
In Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974), the Court confirmed this view of the applicability of Preiser v. Rodriguez. In Wolff state prisoners brought an action seeking both the restoration of good-time credits and damages for their deprivation. The Court noted that the restoration of credits was properly foreclosed by Preiser v. Rodriguez, saying:
But the complaint also sought damages; and Preiser expressly contemplated that claims properly brought under § 1983 could go forward while actual restoration of good-time credits is sought in state proceedings. [Citation omitted] Respondent’s damages claim was therefore properly before the District Court and required determination of the validity of the procedures employed for imposing sanctions, including loss of good time, for flagrant and serious misconduct. Such a declaratory judgment as a predicate to a damages award would not be barred by Preiser; and because under that case, only an injunction restoring good time properly taken is foreclosed, neither would it preclude a litigant with standing from obtaining by way of ancillary relief an otherwise proper injunction enjoining the prospective enforcement of invalid prison regulations.
418 U.S. at 554-55, 94 S.Ct. at 2974. Wolff, as I read it, thus approves a procedure closely similar to that followed by plaintiff in this case. His prayer for a declaratory judgment that his constitutional rights were violated by the sheriff represents a necessary “predicate to a damages award.” In addition, the injunctive relief he seeks with respect to suspension of the sheriff is prospective; the remainder of the relief is merely for the purpose of assisting plaintiff in pursuing his legal remedies. I would conclude that under Wolff Hamlin should be able to proceed with his § 1983 complaint in the district court despite non-exhaustion.1
*35The majority seeks to avoid the language of Wolff on the ground that in Wolff relief was sought from prison authorities because of allegedly unconstitutional administrative actions and there was no attack upon the validity of a judgment of conviction calling into question the propriety of actions by state judges and justices. The majority asserts that the concept of comity, the foundation of the statutory requirement of exhaustion, is thus inapplicable or less forceful when something other than the correctness of state judicial actions is at stake. In expressing these views, the majority is in direct conflict with Preiser which considered and rejected this idea. There the argument was made that “the whole purpose of the exhaustion requirement ... is to give state courts the first chance at remedying their own mistakes ... [and exhaustion] does not apply when the challenge is not to the action of a state court, but ... to the action of a state administrative body.” (emphasis in original) 411 U.S. at 490-91, 93 S.Ct. at 1837. The argument was rejected:
We cannot agree. The respondents ... view the reasons for the exhaustion requirement of § 2254(b) far too narrowly. The rule of exhaustion in federal habeas corpus actions is rooted in considerations of federal-state comity ... and it has as much relevance in areas of particular state administrative concern as it does where state judicial action is being attached ...
411 U.S. at 491, 93 S.Ct. at 1837. The Court then went on to say that “[i]t is difficult to imagine an activity in which a State has a stronger interest, or one that is more intricately bound up with state laws, regulations, and procedures, than the administration of its prisons.” 411 U.S. 491-92, 93 S.Ct. at 1837. The impact and force of the language in Wolff may not be so easily avoided.
III.
I of course recognize that other courts which have considered this question have required state prisoners to exhaust their state remedies where their claims for damages under § 1983 are predicated on the invalidity of their convictions. Fulford v. Klein, 529 F.2d 377, 381 (5th Cir. 1976), aff’d in banc, 550 F.2d 342 (5th Cir. 1977); Guerro v. Mulhearn, 498 F.2d 1249, 1251-54 (1st Cir. 1974); Mastracchio v. Ricci, 498 F.2d 1257 (1st Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 909, 95 S.Ct. 828, 42 L.Ed.2d 838 (1975); see also Esper v. Whitacre, 615 F.2d 1359 (6th Cir. 1980) (unpublished) (citing Fulford and Guerro), following Smartt v. Avery, 411 F.2d 408, 409 (6th Cir. 1969).2
I find, however, the clear expressions of the Supreme Court in Preiser and Wolff more persuasive. If claims for damages under § 1983 are barred pending exhaustion of state remedies, adverse adjudication of those claims in state proceedings would subsequently operate as collateral estoppel upon the federal civil rights claims, Allen v. McCurry, 647 F.2d 167, and thus vitiate the congressional purpose in enacting the statute. The Congress of the Reconstruction era explicitly recognized that alternative state remedies were available, but it also determined that those remedies were insufficiently effective in protecting civil rights under the Constitution. See generally Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. at 173-83, 81 S.Ct. at 476-82. The Court in McCurry reemphasized the important distinctions between federal habeas corpus and § 1983. Habeas *36corpus is derived from criminal proceedings, so that the exhaustion requirement and limited availability of collateral estoppel represent integral parts of the statutory and constitutional scheme. Actions brought under the Reconstruction Civil Rights Acts, in contrast, are independent civil proceedings provided by Congress for the redress of violations of constitutional rights. Just as the application of collateral estoppel to these proceedings is appropriate, the application of an exhaustion requirement is inappropriate. See 66 L.Ed.2d at 316-20. So long as an action brought under § 1983 does not run afoul of the proscription in Preiser v. Rodriguez, I think that it should be allowed to proceed in the federal forum Congress provided therefor.
I would reverse the judgment of the district court and remand the case for further proceedings.

. See also Pope v. Chew, 521 F.2d 400 (4th Cir. 1975), where we held that the plaintiff could obtain declaratory relief on his § 1983 claim that his pardon was revoked without due process of law because he was seeking actual release from confinement in the state courts. *35Citing Wolff, we noted that “a federal court has inherent power to grant appropriate relief, and a declaratory judgment is always appropriate as a predicate to an award of damages.” 521 F.2d at 406 n.8. Similarly, in Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 95 S.Ct. 854, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975), the plaintiffs sought an order directing the state to hold a judicial hearing to test the probable cause for their detention; the Court noted that “[bjecause release was neither asked nor ordered, the lawsuit did not come within the class of cases for which habeas corpus is the exclusive remedy.” 420 U.S. at 107 n.6, 95 S.Ct. at 859 n.6.

. Cf. Meadows v. Evans, 529 F.2d 385, 386 (5th Cir. 1976), aff’d in banc, 550 F.2d 345, cert. denied, 434 U.S. 969, 98 S.Ct. 517, 54 L.Ed.2d 457 (1977). Under the Fifth Circuit view, to the extent claims for damages are unrelated to the validity of the prisoner’s conviction, the § 1983 action is permitted to proceed.