Hernandez Del Valle v. Santa Aponte, 77-1220

Decision Date10 May 1978
Docket NumberNo. 77-1220,77-1220
Citation575 F.2d 321
PartiesJuan HERNANDEZ del VALLE, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. Jesus SANTA APONTE, etc., Defendant, Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Reina Colon de Rodriguez, Asst. Sol. Gen., with whom Hector A. Colon Cruz, Sol. Gen., was on brief, for defendant, appellant.

Alfonso M. Christian with whom Jose Ramon Perez Hernandez, San Juan, P. R., was on brief, for plaintiff, appellee.

Before CAMPBELL, BOWNES and MOORE, * Circuit Judges.

LEVIN H. CAMPBELL, Circuit Judge.

The principal issue on this appeal in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 is whether a discharged employee's demand to be reinstated to a job from which he claims to have been unconstitutionally removed tolled the running of the statute of limitations. Because we disagree with the district court's interpretation of the rules for tolling we reverse the judgment in favor of plaintiff and order the suit dismissed.

Joaquin Hernandez del Valle filed his complaint in the district court on September 5, 1975, charging Jesus Santa Aponte, the mayor of the city of San Lorenzo, with violation of his constitutional rights. Alleging that Santa had fired him from his post as a permanent employee of the city for political reasons and without due process of law, Hernandez del Valle sought reinstatement and damages. Santa moved to dismiss the complaint as time barred, but the district court proceeded to hear the case on its merits, and on March 16, 1977, granted judgment for plaintiff in the sum of $2,557.85. The court refused to require reinstatement of Hernandez del Valle, however, and plaintiff has not appealed from that portion of the order. Santa appeals from the judgment for damages.

Hernandez del Valle was appointed an ambulance driver for the city of San Lorenzo on November 10, 1972. This position was classified as permanent under Puerto Rico's civil service laws and therefore enjoyed tenure protection under P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 21, § 1553. At some time during the summer of 1973, Santa, the mayor of San Lorenzo, learned that Hernandez del Valle was receiving a disability pension from the Veterans Administration. On July 31, 1973, Santa sent plaintiff a letter demanding a copy of his VA medical records and threatening him with immediate discharge if he did not comply. Hernandez del Valle handed over the records, which indicated that in the spring of 1972 he had been hospitalized for schizophrenia and had been forced to leave his previous job as an ambulance driver. After his release, he was determined to be 80% disabled, primarily due to his nervous condition. However, the VA also issued plaintiff a letter after his hospitalization that declared he was "physically fit to perform the duties of his job"; the record does not indicate whether Santa saw a copy of this letter. On August 15, 1973, Santa discharged plaintiff, informing him "you do not meet the requirements of health to continue performing the work as driver of the ambulances of the San Lorenzo Health Center." Plaintiff was not tendered a hearing either before or after his discharge, and Santa made no effort to find him alternative employment within the municipality.

On August 23, 1973, and again on October 12, Hernandez del Valle's attorney sent letters to Santa contending that the dismissal was illegal and void and demanding that his client be reinstated in his old job or in a similar position with similar pay. The letters did not mention Hernandez del Valle's interest in back pay or other compensatory relief and did not discuss the possibility of litigation. On September 17, 1974, more than a year after his discharge, Hernandez del Valle sought a writ of mandamus from the superior court to restore his job. He obtained a voluntary dismissal of that suit on July 12, 1975, shortly before he filed this action.

Before the district court Santa maintained that the suit was time barred because it was brought more than a year after the discharge. The district court agreed that the applicable statute of limitations was one year, but held that each of the letters sent to Santa by plaintiff's attorney tolled the statute. On the merits, the district court ruled that plaintiff had not been discharged for his political beliefs, and no appeal has been taken from that part of the decision. On the due process claim, however, the district court ruled that plaintiff had a protected property interest in his employment within the meaning of the fourteenth amendment, that he had been deprived of his employment without notice or a hearing, and that defendant's blatant disregard of the procedural requirements of a dismissal articulated in P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 21, § 1553, evidenced sufficient bad faith to remove defendant's qualified immunity from damages. The district court accordingly awarded plaintiff back pay and costs in the sum of $2,557.85. Because of plaintiff's current 100% disability as determined by the VA, the district court refused to order reinstatement.

In Ramirez de Arellano v. Alvarez de Choudens, 575 F.2d 315 (1st Cir., May 10, 1978), this court has addressed the question of what statute of limitations applies in Puerto Rico to § 1983 suits such as this one and under what circumstances that statute may be tolled. After determining that the applicable period of limitation is one year, we construed the relevant tolling statute, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 31, § 5303, 1 as not suspending the statute of limitations during the pendency of a similar but not identical suit. The same tolling statute contains a provision not involved in Ramirez de Arellano: this other provision permits tolling of the statutory period "by extrajudicial claim of the creditor". Its meaning is at issue here.

The district court recognized that the plaintiff's suit would have been time barred unless the two letters sent by his attorney demanding his reinstatement had the effect of tolling the statute. Interpreting various decisions of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico dealing with this provision, the district court ruled:

"The letters addressed by plaintiff's attorney to defendant interrupted the period of limitations; said letters classified plaintiff's dismissal as illegal and requested his reinstatement. The fact that money damages were not sought in the aforementioned letters is irrelevant."

The...

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    • U.S. District Court — District of Maryland
    • May 20, 1980
    ...F.Supp. 652, 663 (E.D.Pa.1978); Hernandez Del Valle v. Santa Aponte, 440 F.Supp. 254, 258 (D.P.R. 1977), rev'd on other grounds, 575 F.2d 321 (1st Cir. 1978); Jennings v. Shuman, 567 F.2d 1213, 1220-1221 (3rd Cir. 1977); Cartolano v. Tyrrell, 421 F.Supp. 526 (N.D.Ill. 1976). Given the requi......
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    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • October 13, 1981
    ...(Ct.Cl.1980); Taliaferro v. Willett, 588 F.2d 428 (4th Cir. 1978); Burt v. Abel, 585 F.2d 613 (4th Cir. 1978); Hernandez del Valle v. Santa Aponte, 575 F.2d 321 (1st Cir. 1978) (dictum); D'iorio v. County of Delaware, 592 F.2d 681 (3d Cir. 1978) This circuit has not addressed the question o......
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    • U.S. Claims Court
    • April 30, 1980
    ...of a lack of procedural due process even if they would have been terminated after a proper hearing. See also Hernandez del Valle v. Santa Aponte, 575 F.2d 321, 324 (1st Cir. 1978); Hostrop v. Board of Jr. College Dist. No. 515, 523 F.2d 569, 579 (7th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 963, ......
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    • U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit
    • June 8, 1982
    ...Jesus, 37 P.R.R. 143 (1927). See also Hernandez Del Valle v. Santa Aponte, 440 F.Supp. 254 (D.P.R.1977), rev'd on other grounds, 575 F.2d 321 (1st Cir. 1978); Bedard v. Consolidated Mutual Insurance Co., 313 F.Supp. 1021, 1021-22 (D.P.R.1970). This tolling is effective only with regard to i......
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