Marrero-Garcia v. Irizarry, MARRERO-GARCI

• Decision Date: 07 April 1994
• Docket Number: MARRERO-GARCI,T,No. 93-2098,93-2098
• Citation: 33 F.3d 117
• Parties: Franciscahe Other Plaintiffs that appear in Addendum Number I Attached to the Complaint Which Number 367 Persons, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Maria Margarita IRIZARRY, Engineer and Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Acueduct and Sewage Authority in Her Personal and Official Capacity, et al., Defendants-Appellees. . Heard
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 117

33 F.3d 117

Francisca MARRERO-GARCIA, The Other Plaintiffs that appear in Addendum Number I Attached to the Complaint Which Number 367 Persons, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Maria Margarita IRIZARRY, Engineer and Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Acueduct and Sewage Authority in Her Personal and Official Capacity, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 93-2098.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard April 7, 1994.

Decided Aug. 24, 1994.

Jesus Hernandez Sanchez, with whom Hernandez Sanchez Law Firm, Ariel O. Caro Perez and Law Offices of Alvaro R. Calderon, Jr., were on brief for appellants.

Georgiana S. Colon, with whom Edgardo Colon Arraras, Goldman Antonetti Cordova & Axtmayer, Enrique J. Mendoza-Mendez, Law Offices of Enrique J. Mendoza Mendez, Mirta E. Rodriguez Mora, Department of Justice, Federal Litigation Div., Manuel E. Izquierdo, Arturo Trias, and Trias, Acevedo & Diaz, were on brief for appellees.

Before BREYER, ^* Chief Judge, TORRUELLA and SELYA, Circuit Judges.

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs-appellants are a group of residents of Condominium Bahia-A, located at Calle Las Palmas in Santurce, Puerto Rico ("the residents"). The residents brought this The district court found that under the circumstances of this case, the residents did not have a protected property interest in continued water service and, therefore, dismissed the suit on summary judgment. This appeal followed. We affirm the district court's decision.

42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 action for injunctive relief and damages after the defendants-appellees, the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority ("PRASA") and its officers, suspended water services to the Condominium for a period of ten days. Plaintiffs allege that by suspending water services, PRASA deprived them of their property without due process of law.

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c) provides for entry of summary judgment when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." A party opposing a motion for summary judgment "must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); Mack v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 871 F.2d 179, 181 (1st Cir.1989).

We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, viewing the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and drawing all reasonable inferences in the nonmoving party's favor. LeBlanc v. Great American Ins. Co., 6 F.3d 836, 841 (1st Cir.1993). "[W]e must reverse if we find that issues of fact which were adequately raised below need to be resolved before the related legal issues can be decided." Mack, 871 F.2d at 181.

II. BACKGROUND

The facts of this case are set forth in the district court's opinion, Garcia v. Irizarry, 829 F.Supp. 523, 525 (D.P.R.1993). Here, we quote only those facts relevant to this appeal.

Condominium Bahia-A (hereinafter "the Condominium") is a 234-unit housing project which was originally owned and developed by the Corporacion de Renovacion Urbana y Vivienda ("CRUV"), a now-defunct public housing agency of the Puerto Rican Government. On November 11, 1972, CRUV opened an account with the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority ("PRASA") for water and sewer services for the Condominium. ¹ The PRASA account served all of the units of the Condominium through a single meter. PRASA thereafter billed and collected from CRUV for water and sewer services provided to the Condominium.

In early 1973, ownership of the Condominium was passed to its residents. A Council of Owners of the Condominium Bahia-A ("the Council") was constituted to, among other things, "administer all phases and aspects" of the Condominium including "contract[ing] all necessary services." On February 14, 1973, the Council and the Board of Directors of the Condominium notified Banco de Vivienda, the mortgagor of the property, that they had taken over the administration of the Condominium.

[The residents] have alleged that when they purchased their properties from CRUV they were told, as an incentive, that CRUV would continue to pay for all water and sewer services. CRUV in fact continued to be billed and to pay for these services until October 1, 1981, at which time CRUV requested to [sic] PRASA that it cancel the account for the Condominium.

For almost four years after the CRUV account for the Condominium was canceled, PRASA made no effort to collect from the Condominium's residents for water and sewer services provided. No explanation has been provided for this situation. On July 12, 1985, PRASA requested in writing that the Condominium, through its Board of Directors, place a bond with 829 F.Supp. at 524-25.

PRASA to register an account in its name. PRASA warned that the failure to register an account could lead to suspension of water services. On July 22, 1985, the Council answered PRASA's request by refusing to pay for any water and sewer services unless individual meters were installed for each of the apartments." (citations omitted).

Between September of 1985 and December of 1989, PRASA officials had several meetings with representatives of the Council and at least one meeting with the residents of the Condominium to discuss the situation. See id. at 525. PRASA repeatedly "requested that the Condominium register an account and place the required bond for the water and sewer services. PRASA proposed a plan whereby the pending debt could be paid in installments. The residents rejected PRASA's proposals and again insisted on the installation of individual meters, to be paid for by PRASA or CRUV." Id.

On July 24, 1990, PRASA unilaterally opened an account on behalf of the Condominium and began issuing monthly bills. The account was not requested by the Condominium and the Condominium did not place a bond with PRASA. None of these bills were paid or responded to in any fashion by the Condominium. On April 3, 1991, through a letter personally delivered to Francisca Marrero, the new President of the Board of Directors of the Condominium, PRASA requested a payment in the amount of $448,872.08 for services rendered under the account. PRASA stated that the failure to pay or submit a proposal for payment would result in the suspension of the water services after 20 days. A copy of the letter to Marrero was delivered to each unit along with another letter urging the residents to take action to avoid suspension of services.

[The residents] have alleged that Marrero requested on several occasions that a meeting be arranged with the Executive Director of PRASA, defendant Maria Margarita Irizarry, to discuss the situation and that her requests were refused. [The residents] charge that the failure to grant the requests for such a hearing violated their due process rights as established under Puerto Rico law. ²

On April 24, 1991, 21 days after the delivery of the Marrero letter, water service to the Condominium was suspended. On May 3, 1991, after the Condominium agreed to place a bond in the amount of $5,000.00 to cover current monthly bills, the service was reinstated. Two months later, PRASA filed a complaint in the Superior Court of Puerto Rico for the collection of the amounts owed for water and sewer services since 1981. This complaint was thereafter filed seeking relief based on the allegedly unconstitutional 10-day deprivation of water and sewer services.

Id. at 525-26.

The only issue before the district court was "whether [the residents] suffered a deprivation of their procedural due process rights resulting from PRASA's 10-day suspension of water service to the Condominium Bahia-A." Id. at 527. The district court stated that "[t]he procedural due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizens with a protected property interest the right to notice and an opportunity to be heard prior to a deprivation of such a property interest by the government" and that "[a] threshold issue in this case is whether [the residents] enjoyed a protectable 'property' interest in the water service which was suspended." Id. The district court indicated that "if such a property interest does not

exist, the due process clause provides no protection." Id. Finding that "plaintiffs had no property interest in the continued receipt of water services for which they never contracted," the district court dismissed the case. Id. at 529.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Issues of Material Fact

The residents first argue that this case presented unresolved issues of material fact, which rendered the district court's grant of summary judgment erroneous. A fact is "material" when it has "the potential to affect the outcome of the suit under the applicable law." Nereida-Gonzalez v. Tirado-Delgado, 990 F.2d 701, 703 (1st Cir.1993). While this case may present unresolved issues of fact, we disagree with the residents' contention that these disputes are material to the resolution of this action. In particular, the residents contend that a determination of whether CRUV owed the residents a contractual duty to pay the water services is material to this dispute. The residents also contend that the issue of whether the residents were "clandestine users" of the water services was an unresolved issue of material fact.

We disagree with the residents' conclusion that these matters are material to the resolution of this dispute. The existence of any contractual agreement between CRUV and the residents is irrelevant to the issue before us, that is, whether at the time PRASA disconnected the water service, the residents had a protected property interest in the continued receipt of water services. A determination of whether the residents were "clandestine users" is also unnecessary to the resolution of this case as regardless of whether or not they were ...