Piphus v. Carey, s. 76-1649

CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)
Citation545 F.2d 30
Docket Number76-1652,Nos. 76-1649,s. 76-1649
PartiesJarius PIPHUS, a minor and Geneva Piphus, guardian ad litem for Jarius Piphus, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. John D. CAREY et al., Defendants-Appellees. PEOPLE UNITED TO SAVE HUMANITY et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. John D. CAREY et al., Defendants-Appellees.
Decision Date22 November 1976

David A. Goldberger, John S. Elson, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Michael J. Murray, Thomas P. Brown, Heineke & Schrader, Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellees.

Before CLARK, Associate Justice (Retired), * CASTLE, Senior Circuit Judge, and TONE, Circuit Judge.

TONE, Circuit Judge.

The District Court found that the rights of the plaintiff public school students to procedural due process had been violated by suspensions without hearings, and that the defense of good faith was not available to the defendant school authorities. Nevertheless, the court refused to award damages because of the lack of evidence of injury, and omitted awarding equitable or declaratory relief although acknowledging that such relief would be appropriate. We reverse, holding that damages and equitable and declaratory relief should have been granted.

The suspensions in both cases were for 20 days. One plaintiff was kept out of school for 8 days and the other for 17 days before their readmission resulting from preliminary injunction proceedings. After hearing both cases on their merits on stipulated records, the District Court held that both suspensions had been ordered without the due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment and that the defense of good faith was not available to the defendants. Inasmuch as the defendants do not question either holding on appeal, 1 the District Court's determination is conclusive on the liability issue. After finding the defendants liable, the court went on to observe that declaratory relief would be appropriate and that references to plaintiffs' suspensions should be deleted from their records. In dealing with plaintiffs' damage claim, however, the court held that, while the defendants' failure to satisfy the criteria for the defense of good faith 2 "technically" entitled plaintiffs to damages, none had been proved. The court dismissed the complaints, ordering no relief whatsoever.

Plaintiffs, in support of their damage claim, attempted to show the value of each missed day of school by submitting data on cost per pupil per day. After the court's decision, plaintiffs filed a "motion to amend the final order," in which they sought reconsideration of the damage issue. Judge McLaren, who rendered the initial decision, reopened the issue of damages, and plaintiffs then submitted data on non-resident tuition charges. Following Judge McLaren's death, the case was reassigned to Judge Leighton, who denied the post-trial motions.

The damage issue is controlled by Hostrop v. Board of Junior College District No. 515, 523 F.2d 569 (7th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 963, 96 S.Ct. 1748, 48 L.Ed.2d 208 (1976). We recognized in that case that non-punitive damages for the injury which is "inherent in the nature of the wrong" are recoverable for a violation of the right to procedural due process, as they are for the deprivation of voting rights or other constitutional rights. Id. at 579-580. This is so even if, as in the case at bar, there is no proof of individualized injury to the plaintiff, such as mental distress (which when found to have been suffered, would enhance the general damages recoverable), and even if no pecuniary loss is shown. The amount of the damages to be awarded when no individualized injury is shown is dependent on the nature of the wrong. The amount fixed by the District Court should be neither so small as to trivialize the right nor so large as to provide a windfall. 3

Accordingly, the District Court erred in not allowing damages even though no individualized injury was shown by the stipulated record. The court also erred in not considering the possibility of special damages for the school days plaintiffs lost as a result of their suspensions. Both in the stipulated record and in support of their post-trial motion, plaintiffs submitted data (to which no objection based on the rules of evidence appears to have been made) tending to show the pecuniary value of the time lost. These damages, however, and any others flowing from the suspension, as distinguished from the deprivation of a procedural due process right, would be recoverable only if a plaintiff's suspension would not have occurred absent the due process violation. Cf. Hostrop, supra, 523 F.2d at 579. On remand, therefore, as counsel for plaintiffs recognized at oral argument,...

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27 cases
  • Bilbrey by Bilbrey v. Brown
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)
    • August 2, 1984
    ...upon the appellees' point of view and not at the propriety of the relief to which the appellants were entitled. See Piphus v. Carey, 545 F.2d 30, 32 (7th Cir.1976), rev'd on other grounds, 435 U.S. 247, 98 S.Ct. 1042, 55 L.Ed.2d 252 (1978) (declaratory relief appropriate for violations of s......
  • Mother Goose Nursery Schools, Inc. v. Sendak
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana
    • June 29, 1984
    ...by the District Court should be neither so small as to trivialize the right nor so large as to provide a windfall." Piphus v. Carey, 545 F.2d 30, 32 (7th Cir.1976). The Supreme Court granted certiorari "to consider whether in an action under § 1983 for the deprivation of procedural due proc......
  • Lenard v. Argento
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)
    • February 15, 1983
    ...was error to instruct the jury as to a separate and distinct category of damages classified as "substantial damages." In Carey v. Piphus, 545 F.2d 30 (7th Cir.1976), rev'd 435 U.S. 247, 98 S.Ct. 1042, 55 L.Ed.2d 252 (1977), the Supreme Court reversed the position of this court regarding the......
  • Birnbaum v. US
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York
    • August 17, 1977
    ......A similar rule applies also to damages for constitutional torts. See, e. g., Piphus v. Carey, 545 F.2d 30, 31-32 (7th Cir. 1976) (appeal pending). .         Valuation of intangibles is difficult, but not impossible. In ......
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