Haddad v. Fromson

Page 1085

154 F.Supp.2d 1085

Michael George HADDAD, Plaintiff, v. John S. FROMSON, et al., Defendants.

No. 5:00CV64.

United States District Court, W.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

May 2, 2001.

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Charles R. Toy, Farhat & Story, PC, East Lansing, MI, for plaintiff.

Mark W. Matus, Jennifer M. Granholm, Attorney General, Corrections Division, Margaret A. Nelson, Jennifer M. Granholm, Attorney General, Tort Defense Division, Lansing, MI, for defendants.

OPINION

QUIST, District Judge.

This is a civil rights action brought against the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), the Michigan Department of State Police (MSP), John S. Fromson, an employee of the MDOC, and unnamed employees of MDOC and MSP. Plaintiff's complaint, filed by counsel, seeks damages on a number of federal and state-law theories arising from Defendants' actions in publishing Plaintiff's name on the Michigan Sex Offenders Registry and not deleting his name therefrom after Plaintiff's conditional plea of nolo contendere to a sex offense was withdrawn. The matter is now before the court on dispositive motions filed by all defendants. For the reasons set forth below, the court concludes that Defendants' motions should be granted. All federal claims against the individual defendants will be dismissed. Plaintiff's federal claims against the departmental defendants and all his state-law claims will be remanded to the state courts.

Facts

On February 1, 1998, Plaintiff was charged in the Clinton County Circuit Court with one count of criminal sexual conduct, first-degree, MICH. COMP. LAWS § 750.5206, arising from an alleged sexual assault upon his sister. On July 10, 1998, Plaintiff entered a conditional plea of nolo contendere to a reduced charge of criminal sexual conduct, fourth-degree, MICH. COMP. LAWS § 750.520e. After the guilty plea hearing, the circuit judge instructed Plaintiff to meet with Defendant John S. Fromson, a probation officer employed by the MDOC. Plaintiff and Fromson completed paperwork relevant to sentencing. In addition, Fromson obtained Plaintiff's signature on a "Michigan Sex Offender Registration" form, as required by the Michigan Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA), MICH. COMP. LAWS § 28.721-.732. SORA requires persons convicted of certain sex offenses to complete a registration form upon conviction, before sentencing or entry of the final order of disposition. MICH. COMP. LAWS § 28.724(4). The Act requires certain state officers, including probation officers, to provide the registration form "after the individual is convicted," explain the duty to register and accept the completed registration for processing. Id. In the present case, the state officer with responsibility to execute the requirements of the statute was defendant Fromson, who completed the form and provided plaintiff with a copy. On the same day, July 10, 1998, Fromson delivered the completed registration form to Clinton County Central Dispatch, where the information was entered into the Law Enforcement Information Network.

Plaintiff appeared for sentencing before the Clinton County Circuit Court on October 5, 1998. At the sentencing hearing, the trial judge did not sentence Plaintiff, but allowed him to withdraw his conditional nolo contendere plea and placed the matter back on the trial docket. On February 1, 1999, the MSP implemented SORA by posting on the Internet a Public Sex Offender Registry (Registry) identifying Plaintiff, among others, as a convicted sex offender. Approximately ten days later, on February 11, 1999, the Clinton County Circuit Court dismissed the criminal case against Plaintiff, because Plaintiff's sister had refused to release her medical records as ordered by the Court.

On February 4, 1999, Plaintiff discovered that his name was on the Registry. His counsel informed the MSP that the charge against him had been dismissed. Plaintiff's name was thereafter removed from the Registry, although the parties disagree concerning the date of removal.

Plaintiff initiated a civil action against the MDOC and MSP in the Michigan Court of Claims. He initiated a separate suit against Defendant Fromson and unknown employees of MDOC and MSP in the Ingham County Circuit Court, alleging that the publication of his name on the Registry violated SORA and constituted defamation. The two cases were consolidated on March 30, 2000. On May 30, 2000, Plaintiff filed an amended complaint in the consolidated action, alleging for the first time claims arising under federal law. On June 13, 2000, Fromson and MDOC removed the case to this court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1446, with the written consent of MSP.

The amended complaint filed in the consolidated state-court action sets forth Plaintiff's claims in this removed case. Counts I and II arise under state law and set forth claims under SORA and state defamation law. Counts III, IV, and V purport to set forth claims against the departmental defendants arising directly under the federal Constitution: equal protection (count III); substantive due process (count IV); and procedural due process (count V). Count VI asserts a civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Fromson and unnamed individual Defendants for violation of Plaintiff's rights to equal protection and due process of law. Count VII arises under the Michigan Constitution. Defendants have filed dispositive motions directed to all federal claims.

Discussion

I. Departmental Defendants

The MDOC and MSP have moved to dismiss the complaint on their own behalf and on behalf of their employees named in their official capacities. Their motion raises two separate and distinct grounds for dismissal: Eleventh Amendment immunity and failure to state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

A. Eleventh Amendment Immunity

The Eleventh Amendment provides that:

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens of Subjects of any Foreign State.

U.S. CONST. amend. XI. Although the amendment by its terms prohibits only suits against a state by citizens of another state or by aliens, the Supreme Court has held that the amendment's fundamental principles of sovereign immunity negate federal exercise of jurisdiction over suits by citizens against their own states as well. Board of Trustees of Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356, 121 S.Ct. 955, 962, 148 L.Ed.2d 866 (2001); Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 10 S.Ct. 504, 33 L.Ed. 842 (1890); see Pennhurst State School & Hospital v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 98, 104 S.Ct. 900, 907, 79 L.Ed.2d 67 (1984); Mumford v. Basinski, 105 F.3d 264, 267 n. 3 (6th Cir.1997). The Eleventh Amendment bars any suit, absent consent, against the state regardless of the form of relief requested. Pennhurst, 465 U.S. at 100-01, 104 S.Ct. at 908. It is well settled that the Eleventh Amendment bars federal court actions against the agencies and departments of the state, as well as the state itself. Pennhurst, 465 U.S. at 100, 104 S.Ct. 900; Alabama v. Pugh, 438 U.S. 781 782, 98 S.Ct. 3057, 57 L.Ed.2d 1114 (1978) (per curiam). Additionally, claims in federal court against state employees brought against them in their official capacities must be dismissed on Eleventh Amendment immunity grounds, as a suit against a state officer in his or her official capacity is tantamount to a suit against the state itself. See Brandon v. Holt, 469 U.S. 464, 471-72, 105 S.Ct. 873, 878, 83 L.Ed.2d 878 (1985).

Absent consent, the bar of the Eleventh Amendment precludes Plaintiff from suing either of the departmental Defendants or the individual Defendants in their official capacities, regardless of the nature of the claim. Both MDOC and MSP are departments of the State of Michigan created by statute. MICH. COMP. LAWS § 791.201 (MDOC); § 16.250 (MSP). Accordingly, these departments and their employees acting in their official capacities are immune from federal court suit.

In opposing the motion to dismiss these defendants, Plaintiff argues that the State of Michigan has waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity by removing this action from the state courts. The Supreme Court has long recognized that a state's sovereign immunity is a "`personal privilege which it may waive at its pleasure.'" College Sav. Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Exp. Bd., 527 U.S. 666, 675, 119 S.Ct. 2219, 2226, 144 L.Ed.2d 605 (1999) (quoting Clark v. Barnard, 108 U.S. 436, 447, 2 S.Ct. 878, 883, 27 L.Ed. 780 (1883)). The test for determining whether a state has waived its immunity from federal court jurisdiction is a "stringent one." Atascadero State Hosp. v. Scanlon, 473 U.S. 234, 241, 105 S.Ct. 3142, 3146, 87 L.Ed.2d 171 (1985). The Supreme Court has held that a state may waive its sovereign immunity by voluntarily submitting itself to federal court jurisdiction. See College Sav. Bank, 527 U.S. at 675-76, 119 S.Ct. at 2226.

Even in this context, however, the waiver of sovereign immunity must be done by act of the state legislature. See Ford Motor Co. v. Dep't of Treasury of Ind., 323 U.S. 459, 468-69, 65 S.Ct. 347, 352, 89 L.Ed. 389 (1945). Consequently, when a claim of waiver is based upon an action of executive branch officers submitting to federal court jurisdiction, the central issue "becomes one of their power under state law to do so." 323 U.S. at 467, 65 S.Ct. at 352; see Magnolia Venture Capital Corp. v. Prudential Securities, Inc., 151 F.3d 439, 445 (5th Cir.1998) ("[A] state through its constitution, statutes, or court decisions, must expressly authorize a state agency or representative to waive the state's Eleventh Amendment immunity."); Estate of Porter By Nelson v. Illinois, 36 F.3d 684, 690 (7th Cir.1994) ("[S]tate officials can only waive a state's Eleventh Amendment immunity if they are specifically authorized to do so by the...