Soto v. Chardon

• Decision Date: 07 May 1981
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 79-198.
• Citation: 514 F. Supp. 339
• Parties: Juan Fumero SOTO, Plaintiff, v. Carlos CHARDON et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

514 F. Supp. 339

Juan Fumero SOTO, Plaintiff, v. Carlos CHARDON et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. 79-198.

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

May 7, 1981.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Hiram Cancio, Jaime R. Nadal Arcelay, Jesus R. Rabell Mendez, Blanca Mera Roure, and Cancio, Nadal & Rivera, Hato Rey, P.R., for plaintiff.

Robert Cordova, Sally de Jesus Kellogg, San Juan, P.R., Ines Equia Miranda de Casanova, Puerto Rico Dept. of Justice, San Juan, P.R., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

GRANT, Senior District Judge, sitting by designation.

Fifty-five school teachers and administrators, plaintiffs in these 55 consolidated cases, brought individual suits charging that they were unlawfully discriminated against and demoted due to their association with and membership in the Popular Democratic Party (PDP), a political party in the Commonwealth. Each plaintiff's theory is that Carlos A. Chardon, then Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth, and his Assistant Secretary for Personnel, Oscar Ramos, members of the governing New Progressive Party, unlawfully demoted each of the plaintiffs at dates ranging from May till June of 1977, in violation of the First and Fourteenth amendments, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and various Puerto Rican statutes. 18 L.P.R.A. §§ 249e,¹ 211 and 214 et seq. Actions under Puerto Rican law come within both § 1983 and its jurisdictional predicate, 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3). Examining Board of Engineers v. Flores de Otero, 426 U.S. 572, 96 S.Ct. 2264, 49 L.Ed.2d 65 (1976). It is impermissible to discriminate in the work place based upon a person's political affiliations. Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976); Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980); Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972).² These suits were brought against Chardon and Ramos in their individual and official capacities.³

Before trial, the individual plaintiffs, each represented by the same group of attorneys, indicated that a large portion of their proof at trial would consist of establishing a pattern of unlawful discrimination, requiring repetitious testimony from a number of plaintiffs. Inasmuch as the factual and legal issues, the attorneys and the parties were common to all these cases, these suits were ordered consolidated pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 42(a). Subsequently, other judges in this district transferred a number of "Chardon" cases for inclusion in the consolidated trial. This trial was bifurcated, and was to consider only the liability issues. Fed.R.Civ.P. 42(b). See Court Order, January, 1981. In essence, the jury's findings on the issue of liability in this captioned case was made binding upon the parties in all of the consolidated cases. The damages issues were not consolidated.

Each of the plaintiffs herein was demoted from the position of school principal or other supervisory position in which he or she did not have tenure. Upon demotion as ordered by the Department he or she was returned to the tenured position as school teacher or to lesser administrative rankings, as previously occupied. No one was discharged. While the complaints of most teachers requested declaratory relief, reinstatement, back pay and punitive damages, approximately ten to fifteen suits were filed by teachers who chose to leave the Department during the pendency of these lawsuits. These ex-teachers were no longer interested in the equitable relief of reinstatement, but in turn sought a more substantial monetary judgment than those who remained employees of the Department.

These cases were tried to a jury. With the agreement of counsel, the following instruction was given pertaining to the defendants' affirmative defense that they had acted in good faith while demoting each plaintiff, and thus were protected by a qualified official immunity:

We have made reference to the affirmative defense of good faith and a qualified immunity.

The jury is instructed that the defendants were each public officials of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. They were acting in their official capacity at all times pertinent to this case.

And, as such, they did enjoy a qualified immunity that protects them if they acted with a good faith belief based upon reasonable grounds that their actions were necessary.

It is the existence of reasonable grounds for the belief formed and acted upon at the time, and in light of all the circumstances, coupled with a good faith belief, that affords a basis for a qualified immunity of State officials for acts that are performed in the course of their official conduct.⁴

The Commonwealth officials who are defendants in this case are not immune from liability for actions taken under Section 1983 if that official knew or should have known that the action taken within his sphere of official responsibility would violate the Constitutional or legal rights of the teachers affected, or if the official took the action with the malicious intention of causing a deprivation of Constitutional or legal rights or other injury to the teachers.⁵ (emphasis added).

The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff and against each defendant. The Court then defined malicious intent,⁶ and requested that the jurors return to their deliberations to answer the following interrogatory:

Following a finding by the jury that the defendants Carlos Chardon and Oscar Ramos, individually and in their official capacities are liable to the plaintiffs in this consolidated cause, the jury is now instructed to deliberate further for the sole purpose of answering this question: Did the defendant Carlos Chardon have a malicious intent to deprive plaintiffs of their constitutional or other rights?

And a similar question with respect to the other defendant: Did the defendant Oscar Ramos have a malicious intent to deprive the plaintiffs of their constitutional or other rights? (emphasis added).

The jurors answered "No" with respect to each defendant. No objection was made regarding this interrogatory. It is noted here that the language in the prior charge and the special interrogatory is identical. The Court now must give effect, if possible, to both the general verdict for plaintiff, and the interrogatory answer that defendants lacked malicious intent.

(I) Punitive Damages

The Supreme Court has construed 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to allow an award for compensatory damages. It has not, as yet, definitively ruled as to whether punitive damages are also available:

To the extent that Congress intended that awards under § 1983 should deter the deprivation of constitutional rights, there is no evidence that it meant to establish a deterrent more formidable than that inherent in the award of compensatory damages. See Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409 at 442, 96 S.Ct. 984 at 1000, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (White, J., concurring in judgment).

Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247, 256-57, 98 S.Ct. 1042, 1048-1049, 55 L.Ed.2d 252 (1978) (emphasis added) (footnote omitted). The footnote following this holding further explained the Court's position:

This is not to say that exemplary or punitive damages might not be awarded in a proper case under § 1983 with the specific purpose of deterring or punishing violations of constitutional rights. See, e. g., Silver v. Cormier, 529 F.2d 161, 163-164 (CA10 1976); Stengel v. Belcher, 522 F.2d 438, 444 n.4 (CA6 1975), cert. dismissed, 429 U.S. 118 97 S.Ct. 514, 50 L.Ed.2d 269 (1976); Spence v. Staras, 507 F.2d 554, 558 (CA7 1974); Caperci v. Huntoon, 397 F.2d 799, 801 (CA1), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 940 89 S.Ct. 299, 21 L.Ed.2d 276 (1968); Mansell v. Saunders, 372 F.2d 573, 576 (CA5 1967); Basista v. Weir, 340 F.2d 74, 84-88 (CA3 1965). Although we imply no approval or disapproval of any of these cases, we note that there is no basis for such an award in this case. The District Court specifically found that petitioners did not act with a malicious intention to deprive respondents of their rights or to do them other injury, see n.6, supra, and the Court of Appeals approved only the award of "nonpunitive" damages, 545 F.2d 30, 31 (1976).

We also note that the potential liability of § 1983 defendants for attorney's fees, see Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act of 1976, Pub.L. 94-559, 90 Stat. 2641, amending 42 U.S.C. § 1988, provides additional — and by no means inconsequential — assurance that agents of the State will not deliberately ignore due process rights. See also 18 U.S.C. § 242, the criminal counterpart of § 1983.

Id. at 257 n.11, 98 S.Ct. at 1049 n.11 (emphasis added).

The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has held that punitive damages are available against § 1983 defendants "when there are aggravating circumstances." Fact Concerts, Inc. v. City of Newport, 626 F.2d 1060, 1067 (1st Cir. 1980), citing Alicea Rosado v. Garcia Santiago, 562 F.2d 114, 121 (1st Cir. 1977) (bad faith) and Caperci v. Huntoon, 397 F.2d 799, 801 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 940, 89 S.Ct. 299, 21 L.Ed.2d 276 (1968) (unwarranted invasion of privacy). In Rosado, supra, it was stated: "Intentional interference with constitutional rights, standing alone, is not enough; there must also be `aggravating circumstances.'" 562 F.2d at 121. Citing the standards used by other circuits, the Rosado court continued: "and the Third Circuit has described the standard as `malicious and wanton disregard' of a plaintiff's rights." Id. (citation omitted).

The jury's answer to the interrogatories in this case ended any claim for punitive damages. As the plaintiff's attorneys acknowledged, the award of punitive damages is a decision for the trier of fact. Although the parties failed to raise the issue, any decision granting or denying punitive damages must include an assessment of the conduct in question, evidentiary inferences and evaluations pertaining to motive and knowledge. Alicea Rosado v. Garcia Santiago, supra. See also Lee v. Southern Home Sites Corp., 429 F.2d 290, 294 (5th Cir. 1970). See also Anno...