Acevedo-Orama v. Rodriguez-Rivera

389 F.Supp.2d 238

Manuel ACEVEDO-ORAMA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Luis E. RODRIGUEZ-RIVERA, et al., Defendants.

No. Civ. 04-1835(HL).

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

September 12, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Israel Roldan-Gonzalez, Aguadilla, PR, for Plaintiffs.

Michael C. McCall, Michael Craig McCall Law Office, Jo-Ann Estades-Boyer, Maria Judith Surillo, Department of Justice, San Juan, PR, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

LAFFITTE, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, nineteen (19) former employees of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (hereafter "DNER"), bring this action against Luis Rodriguez Rivera (Secretary of the DNER); Marcos Ramos Rovira (Mayaguez Regional Director of the DNER); Rosaly Rosa (DNER Rangers Corps. Commissioner); and Mayra Vazquez (DNER Human Resources Director), pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging political discrimination in violation of the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. Plaintiffs also seek to invoke this Court's supplemental jurisdiction over claims arising under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, specifically Puerto Rico Law No. 100 of 1959, 29 L.P.R.A. § 146, and Puerto Rico Law No. 382 of 1950, 29 L.P.R.A. §§ 136-138.

Pending before the Court is a partial motion to dismiss the complaint brought by defendants Luis Rodriguez Rivera and Mayra Vazquez.¹ Plaintiffs filed an opposition² to said motion and defendants filed a reply³ to plaintiffs' opposition. For the reasons set forth below, defendants' partial motion to dismiss the complaint is granted in part and denied in part.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

In ruling on a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a court must accept all well-pled factual averments as true and must draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence & Coordination Unit, 507 U.S. 163, 164, 113 S.Ct. 1160, 122 L.Ed.2d 517 (1993); Carparts Distrib. Ctr., Inc. v. Automotive Wholesaler's Ass'n, 37 F.3d 12, 14 (1st Cir.1994). A court should not dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim unless it is clear that the plaintiff will be unable to prove any set of facts which would entitle him or her to recovery. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Miranda v. Ponce Fed. Bank, 948 F.2d 41, 44 (1st Cir.1991). However, this deferential standard is not a "toothless tiger." Doyle v. Hasbro, Inc., 103 F.3d 186, 190 (1st Cir.1996). The court is not obliged to accept "bald assertions, unsupportable conclusions, periphrastic circumlocutions, and the like." Aulson v. Blanchard, 83 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir.1996).

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The complaint sets out the following factual background. Plaintiffs⁴ were employees of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER). During their employment, plaintiffs were all active members of the New Progressive Party (NPP) and participated in the November 2000 general election in support of NPP candidates. Defendants⁵ are all members of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP). Plaintiffs allege that their political beliefs and affiliations were known to defendants.

According to the complaint, when defendants took office in 2000, they initiated a campaign of political harassment and discrimination in an effort to purge employees associated with the NPP from the DNER. Allegedly, plaintiffs' job functions and responsibilities were taken away from them. Consequently, plaintiffs submit that they either spent the entire work day without performing any tasks or performing tasks of minimal responsibility meant only to humiliate them. Plaintiffs claim that defendants informed them that under no circumstances was the Secretary of the DNER (defendant Luis Rodriguez Rivera) going to retain employees that were not politically loyal to the PDP; that plaintiffs were going to be dismissed; that plaintiffs' letters of dismissal had already been signed by defendant Rodriguez Rivera; and that the only way plaintiffs could keep their jobs was if they switched political affiliation from the NPP to the PDP. Plaintiffs also claim that they were harassed with political remarks such as: "Now the Popular Democratic Party is in power," and "You don't have Pesquera or Rosello to save you."

On or around January 28, 2004, plaintiffs received letters of dismissal signed by defendant Rodriguez Rivera indicating that their termination of employment would take effect on February 29, 2004. In said letters, the reason given for the dismissal was that plaintiffs' transitory appointments with the DNER had expired and their contracts would not be renewed. Plaintiffs claim that after their dismissal, defendants retained new employees, who are all members of the PDP, to perform plaintiffs' former functions, duties and responsibilities. Plaintiffs conclude that the only reason they were harassed, demoted, and ultimately dismissed was because they were affiliated with the NPP.

DISCUSSION

Defendants Luis Rodriguez Rivera and Mayra Vazquez move to partially dismiss the complaint on the following four grounds: (1) plaintiffs have failed to state a claim of due process violation; (2) plaintiffs have failed to state a claim of equal protection violation; (3) defendants are entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity; and (4) defendants are entitled to qualified immunity.

I. Due Process

To establish a procedural due process claim, a plaintiff must show that she held a property interest as defined by state law and that defendants, acting under color of state law, deprived her of this property interest without constitutionally adequate process. Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Co., 455 U.S. 422, 428, 102 S.Ct. 1148, 71 L.Ed.2d 265 (1982); Mimiya Hosp., Inc. v. U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, 331 F.3d 178, 181 (1st Cir.2003). In order to establish a constitutionally protected property interest, plaintiff must demonstrate that she has a legally recognized expectation that she will retain her position.... Santana v. Calderon, 342 F.3d 18, 24 (1st Cir.2003).

In their motion to partially dismiss the complaint, defendants argue that plaintiffs were not entitled to due process because they lacked a constitutionally protected property interest in continued employment since they were all transitory or at-will employees. "Under Puerto Rico law, career employees have a property interest in their continued employment." Gonzalez-De-Blasini v. Family Dept., 377 F.3d 81, 86 (1st Cir.2004). However, it is settled that "an at-will employee lacks a reasonable expectation of continued employment, and, thus, has no property interest in her job." Gomez v. Rivera Rodriguez, 344 F.3d 103, 111 (1st Cir.2003) (internal punctuation omitted) (citing King v. Town of Hanover, 116 F.3d 965, 969 (1st Cir.1997)). "[T]ransitory employees generally do not have a property interest in continued employment beyond their yearly terms of appointment." King v. Town of Hanover, 116 F.3d 965, 969 (1st Cir.1997).

It appears from the complaint that plaintiffs were all transitory or at-will employees, and thus lacked a property interest in continued employment at DNER. Further, in their motion in opposition to defendants' motion to partially dismiss the complaint, plaintiffs state that they have no objection to the dismissal of their due process violation claims. Accordingly, defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiffs' due process claims is granted.

II. Equal Protection

Defendants contend that plaintiffs' equal protection claims should be dismissed because plaintiffs have failed to allege in the complaint how they were treated differently than others similarly situated. The Court rejects this argument.

"The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment commands that no State shall `deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,' which is essentially a direction that all persons similarly situated should be treated alike." City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr., Inc., 473 U.S. 432, 439, 105 S.Ct. 3249, 87 L.Ed.2d 313 (1985) (citing Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 216, 102 S.Ct. 2382, 72 L.Ed.2d 786 (1982)). A party who claims that governmental action violates the Equal Protection clause must demonstrate that she is "the victim of intentional discrimination." Tex. Dept. of Cmty. Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 255, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). Specifically, in order to state a claim under the Equal Protection Clause, plaintiffs must prove not only that defendants were aware of their membership in a protected group, but also that they acted because of it. See Pers. Adm'r of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 279, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979).

In the present case, plaintiffs have asserted that defendants harassed and ultimately dismissed them from employment solely on the basis of their affiliation with the NPP. Plaintiffs submit that they were informed that the only way they could retain their jobs was to switch allegiances to the PDP party. Plaintiffs also allege that after their dismissal they were directly replaced by new employees who were affiliated with the PDP. Taking all well-plead factual averments from the complaint as true and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of plaintiffs, it is apparent that plaintiffs allege that (1) defendants intentionally discriminated against them and that (2) plaintiffs were distinguished — or otherwise afforded different treatment — from similarly situated PDP members because of their affiliation with the NPP. Thus, the Court finds that plaintiffs have established a prima facie case of discriminatory intent and sufficiently made out an equal protection claim. See Tex. Dept. of Cmty. Affairs, 450 U.S. at 255, 101 S.Ct. 1089; Pers. Adm'r of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U.S. at 279, 99 S.Ct. 2282.

In their reply to plaintiffs' opposition to the partial motion to dismiss, relying on Nestor Colon Medina & Sucesores, Inc....