Watson v. University of Utah Medical Center, 94-4209

CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit)
Citation75 F.3d 569
Docket NumberNo. 94-4209,94-4209
Parties106 Ed. Law Rep. 1030 Sharlene K. WATSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH MEDICAL CENTER, Dale Gunnell, Director of University of Utah Medical Center; Evelyn Hartigan, Individually and as Administrative Director of Nursing; William Duncan, Individually and as Employee of Human Resource; Sally Heard, Individually and as Head Nurse of Labor and Delivery; Donna Harland, Individually and as Director of Nursing; Heidi Klenk; William T. Evans; Robert Steed; David Robinson, Director of Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Defendants-Appellees.
Decision Date19 January 1996

Blake S. Atkin of Atkin & Lilja, Salt Lake City, Utah, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Elizabeth King, Assistant Attorney General (Jan Graham, Attorney General, with her, on the brief), Salt Lake City, Utah, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before MOORE and LOGAN, Circuit Judges, and COOK, District Judge. *

LOGAN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Sharlene K. Watson appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants University of Utah Medical Center (Medical Center) and several Medical Center employees, most of whom she sued in both their official and individual capacities, in her suit brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 1 Her amended complaint alleged that these defendants violated her due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments when they participated in disciplinary action taken against her as an employee of the Medical Center. Reading her complaint liberally, plaintiff asserted defendants deprived her of her liberty interest in practicing her profession as a nurse and her property rights in her public employment and in her nursing license, all without due process of law.

On appeal plaintiff argues the district judge erred in ruling that (1) the Medical Center and defendants, insofar as they were sued in their official capacities, are entitled to immunity under the Eleventh Amendment; and (2) the individual defendants are entitled to qualified immunity insofar as they were sued as individuals.

I

Plaintiff was working as a labor and delivery nurse on February 22, 1992, when she participated in the birth of a baby at the Medical Center. Although a medical doctor, David Dowling, was present plaintiff delivered the baby. The Medical Center had a policy that nurses could deliver only "in emergency situations (precipitous deliveries)." App. 80. The parties dispute whether that condition was met here. Plaintiff's version is that she knew that Dr. Dowling had been vomiting earlier in the evening, that he arrived just before the birth, and that he requested that she deliver the baby under his supervision. One of the defendants, nurse Heidi Klenk, was present at the birth; she stated that the delivery was not imminent when the doctor entered the room, but that plaintiff told the doctor it was her baby to deliver. Dr. Dowling gave somewhat different accounts of the delivery on different occasions but essentially stated that he did, in one or two words, ask plaintiff to perform the delivery. He also stated that although he had been ill that evening he could have delivered the baby, but that plaintiff could well have believed he was asking her to deliver the baby because he was too ill to do so.

A few days after the delivery, Klenk informed defendant Donna Harland, director of nursing, and defendant Sally Heard, head nurse of labor and delivery, that she believed plaintiff had acted improperly in delivering the baby. Shortly thereafter, Heard, Harland, and defendant William Duncan, Medical Center Human Resource Director, met with plaintiff to discuss the allegedly improper delivery. Plaintiff asserts Duncan and Heard told her they would make an example of her because they did not want nurses delivering babies. Plaintiff responded with her version of the events and asked that they speak with two other employees present during the delivery, Dr. Dowling and nurse Tyra Robinson, to determine what occurred. Duncan and Heard agreed to do so. At this meeting they informed plaintiff that if she had delivered a baby against Medical Center policy her employment could be terminated.

On March 2, 1992, plaintiff met with Duncan, Heard and Harland a second time and presented, along with her own recounting, four coworkers as witnesses. Dr. Dowling was not present, however, and plaintiff contends that Dowling's supervisors discouraged his attendance. Further, plaintiff asserts that one of her coworkers, nurse Robinson, was harassed in the meeting and told to leave. After a five-hour meeting, Duncan and Harland notified plaintiff that she would be placed on administrative leave without pay and that the matter would be referred to the state Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) for investigation.

Plaintiff asserts that she then requested from defendant Evelyn Hartigan, Associate Administrator/Associate Dean of the College of Nursing, an appointment to protest the outcome under Medical Center employee grievance procedures. Hartigan cancelled the meeting; plaintiff states that Hartigan called her and told her she had nothing to grieve.

DOPL investigated. Apparently at first it found no violation; then it changed its decision and thereafter changed its decision again. In May 1992, plaintiff filed this suit. 2 The record shows the Medical Center took no further action concerning plaintiff's employment; she apparently remained on unpaid administrative leave. Plaintiff did not actively seek another job until October 1992, and found employment in December 1992. 3

Defendants moved for summary judgment. The district court ruled that the Medical Center was entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity. The court rejected the individual defendants' claims to absolute immunity, based on their assertion that they acted in an adjudicatory capacity when they determined whether plaintiff was subject to disciplinary action for violating hospital policy. The court ruled, however, that the individual defendants were entitled to qualified immunity, because plaintiff failed to meet her burden of establishing that at the time she was placed on leave without pay defendants' actions violated clearly established law.

On appeal, we review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the legal standard of Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Summary judgment is appropriate if the record shows 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." Wolf v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 50 F.3d 793, 796 (10th Cir.1995). In applying this standard, "we examine the factual record and reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment." Id.

II

We first address the issue of the Medical Center's immunity from liability under the Eleventh Amendment. The Eleventh Amendment bars a suit for damages against a state in federal court, absent a waiver of immunity by the state. Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 663, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1355-56, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974). Congress did not abrogate state Eleventh Amendment immunity when it enacted § 1983, Quern v. Jordan, 440 U.S. 332, 341, 99 S.Ct. 1139, 1145, 59 L.Ed.2d 358 (1979); however, that immunity extends only to the states and governmental entities that are "arms of the state." Ambus v. Granite Bd. of Educ., 995 F.2d 992, 994 (10th Cir.1993) (en banc). The arm-of-the-state doctrine bestows immunity on entities created by state governments that operate as alter egos or instrumentalities of the states. Mascheroni v. Board of Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 28 F.3d 1554, 1559 (10th Cir.1994).

To make the determination whether an entity is an arm of the state we engage in two general inquiries. "[T]he court first examines the degree of autonomy given to the agency, as determined by the characterization of the agency by state law and the extent of guidance and control exercised by the state. Second, the court examines the extent of financing the agency receives independent of the state treasury and its ability to provide for its own financing." Haldeman v. State of Wyo. Farm Loan Bd., 32 F.3d 469, 473 (10th Cir.1994); see also Mascheroni, 28 F.3d at 1559. "The governmental entity is immune from suit if the money judgment sought is to be satisfied out of the state treasury." Haldeman, 32 F.3d at 473.

Our cases have consistently found state universities are arms of the state. See Mascheroni, 28 F.3d at 1559 (University of California); Seibert v. State of Okla., 867 F.2d 591, 594 (10th Cir.1989) (University of Oklahoma); Prebble v. Brodrick, 535 F.2d 605, 610 (10th Cir.1976) (University of Wyoming); Brennan v. University of Kan., 451 F.2d 1287, 1290 (10th Cir.1971) (University of Kansas and University of Kansas Press); see also Korgich v. Regents of N.M. Sch. of Mines, 582 F.2d 549, 551-52 (10th Cir.1978) (New Mexico School of Mines).

Turning to the University of Utah we note the Utah legislature established a State Board of Regents which has the "power to govern the state system of higher education consistent with state law," and is vested with the "control, management, and supervision" of the University. Utah Code Ann. §§ 53B-1-101(2), 103(2). Fifteen of the sixteen members of the Board of Regents are appointed by the governor with the consent of the state senate, id. §§ 53B-1-104(1), and the Board of Regents appoints the president of the University of Utah, id. § 53B-2-102. The University of Utah has a Board of Trustees with ten members--eight appointed by the governor--which is responsible for many administrative functions of the University. See id. §§ 53B-2-103, 104(1). The University holds all of its real and personal property as a trustee of the State Board of Regents. See id. § 53B-20-101. Pharmaceutical & Diagnostic Servs. v. University of Utah, 801 F.Supp. 508 (D.Utah 1990), in finding the University of Utah is an arm of ...

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