Graziano v. RI STATE LOTTERY COM'N

• Decision Date: 18 November 2002
• Docket Number: No. 97-144-Appeal.,97-144-Appeal.
• Citation: 810 A.2d 215
• Parties: Catherine E. GRAZIANO and John P. Hawkins v. RHODE ISLAND STATE LOTTERY COMMISSION et al.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

810 A.2d 215

Catherine E. GRAZIANO and John P. Hawkins v. RHODE ISLAND STATE LOTTERY COMMISSION et al.

No. 97-144-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

November 18, 2002.

Present: WILLIAMS, C.J., LEDERBERG, FLANDERS, JJ. and WEISBERGER, C.J. (Ret.)

Keven A. McKenna, Providence, Catherine E. Graziano, for Plaintiff.

William P. Devereaux; Claire J. Richards, John Tarantino; Patricia Rocha; Robert P. Brooks; Stephen A. Izzi; Robin L. Main; James R. Lee, Providence, for Defendant.

OPINION

WEISBERGER, Chief Justice (Ret.)

This case comes before us on the appeal of plaintiffs Catherine E. Graziano and John P. Hawkins from a summary judgment entered in the Superior Court in favor of the defendants on all issues raised in the plaintiffs' second amended complaint, save only Count I, which alleged a violation of the Rhode Island Open Meetings Act. The defendants have cross-appealed from that portion of the Superior Court judgment entered after trial, which held them to be in violation of the Open Meetings Act, G.L.1956 chapter 46 of title 42.

The plaintiff Hawkins also appeals from the open meetings portion of the judgment on the ground that it failed to award him reinstatement to his position as Director of the Rhode Island Lottery Commission.

We affirm the summary judgment entered in the Superior Court in favor of the defendants but reverse that portion of the judgment which held the defendant LotteryCommission to have been in violation of the Open Meetings Act. The facts and procedural history of this case insofar as pertinent to the appeal are as follows.

Facts and Procedural History

This controversy arises out of the dismissal by the Lottery Commission of plaintiff John P. Hawkins (Hawkins) as the Director of the Lottery Commission on March 25, 1996. Hawkins had been appointed to the Lottery Commission on October 28, 1993, by then Governor Bruce Sundlun. This appointment was confirmed and approved by the majority of the members of the Lottery Commission. See G.L.1956 § 42-61-3. This statute also provides that the director "shall serve at the pleasure of the commission."

Prior to his termination, disagreements had arisen between Hawkins and certain members of the Lottery Commission in respect to the introduction of a televised bingo program as part of the Lottery Commission's activities, the hiring of a public relations consultant, a trip to Maine on a chartered plane, and his general management style. Other public officials, including Governor Lincoln C. Almond, had been publicly critical of Hawkins' management practices. On Friday, March 22, 1996, the Commission caused a secretary to post a notice on the front door of its headquarters in Cranston at approximately 4 p.m., setting forth that a meeting of the Commission would take place on Monday, March 25, 1996 at 4 p.m. The subject of the meeting was entitled "correspondence."

On March 25, 1996, the Lottery Commission met with seven members in attendance. Also present at the meeting were plaintiff Hawkins, his attorney, plaintiff Catherine E. Graziano (plaintiff Hawkins' sister) as well as numerous members of the public, including representatives of the media, both print and electronic (television stations 6, 10 and 12).

The meeting was called to order at the time specified in the notice. Commissioner Donald Wyatt moved passage of a resolution to terminate Hawkins in his position as director. The motion passed by unanimous vote of all commissioners in attendance. Two members were absent.

On August 26, 1996, plaintiffs Hawkins and Graziano filed a complaint in the Superior Court for the County of Providence, alleging numerous violations of Hawkins' rights to the position of lottery director, based upon his statutory tenure by reason of his length of service as counsel to the Lottery Commission and as director of said Commission. The complaint alleged that Hawkins had a property right to the position of director, pursuant to article 3, section 7 of the Rhode Island Constitution. It also alleged that the Commission had violated the Rhode Island Open Meetings Act, violated the doctrine of promissory estoppel and that the Commission and public officials had stigmatized Hawkins' reputation. He further alleged violation of the Federal Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988. The plaintiff Hawkins alleged violations of his contractual rights and his rights of association, pursuant to the First Amendment of the Federal Constitution.

On April 28, 1997, the plaintiffs appeared before a justice of the Superior Court who denied plaintiffs' request for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction. Thereafter, on October 28, 1997, Hawkins filed a complaint in the Federal District Court for the District of Rhode Island that was later described by a Federal District Court Judge as "a carbon copy of the original state court complaint." The federal complaint did add a claim for violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 to 634, and added a number of new defendants, including the Rhode Island Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, the Rhode Island Personnel Appeals Board, and itsindividual members (the Personnel Appeals Board and its members subsequently were dismissed by plaintiff). On March 27, 1998, the parties came before a Federal District Court Judge for a determination of various motions to dismiss. At that time, plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the claim in his federal complaint which alleged the violation of the state's Open Meetings Law. The parties agreed to modify the pending motions to dismiss into motions for summary judgment. The plaintiff Graziano was not a party to the federal action.

In spite of the filing of the federal complaint, both plaintiffs continued to prosecute their action in state court. On January 29, 1999, a Superior Court justice considered the parties' motions for summary judgment with respect to a second amended complaint that Hawkins had filed in the Superior Court. That amended state complaint contained six counts, including a claim for violation of the "Open Meetings Law." The plaintiff sought to add two additional claims alleging estoppel and age discrimination, but the Superior Court justice refused to add those claims to the second amended complaint. Generally, the claims in the second amended complaint were the same as those advanced in the federal complaint. The Superior Court justice granted the defendants' motions for summary judgment on all of plaintiffs' claims, save the claim for the violation of the Open Meetings Law. On June 6, 1999, Hawkins filed a petition for certiorari with this Court seeking review of the Superior Court's granting of summary judgment (which was not final since the open meetings claim was still pending). This Court denied the petition for certiorari.

The Federal District Court proceeded to decide the motions for summary judgment, rejecting plaintiffs' claims of res adjudicata and abstention. The District Court granted motions for summary judgment filed by the defendants in favor of the defendants on all claims then pending before that court. This decision was entered on March 16, 2000. Judgment in favor ofthe defendants was entered on all claims, save the claim for violation of the Rhode Island Open Meetings Act, which had been voluntarily dismissed by plaintiff.

The District Court judgment was appealed to the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and a panel thereof affirmed the District Court judgment on January 31, 2001. No petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court was filed by plaintiff Hawkins. No other review was sought. The judgment therefore is final as to Hawkins and the defendants named in said action, including all defendants before this Court on appeal.

The defendants have set forth numerous arguments in support of the judgment of the Superior Court on all issues save the Open Meetings Act violation. In respect to that issue, defendants contend that the Superior Court justice erred.

The plaintiffs argue that the Superior Court erred in granting summary judgment against them on Counts II, III, IV, V, and VI of the Second Amended Complaint. The plaintiffs also contend that the Superior Court justice erred in declining to reinstate plaintiff Hawkins to his position as Director of the Lottery Commission and grant him all other associated benefits.

During the pendency of the court actions, plaintiff Hawkins sought relief from the Personnel Appeals Board pursuant to G.L.1956 § 36-4-42. The board denied jurisdiction on the ground that similar relief had been sought in the judicial forum. That decision was appealed to the Superior Court which upheld the decision of the board. Hawkins then sought review by certiorari in this Court. The petition was denied.

Although the parties in their respective briefs have raised a multiplicity of issues, we are of the opinion that two issues are dispositive of this appeal. We shall discuss these issues in the order of their significance to this opinion. Additional facts will be supplied as necessary to deal with these issues.

I. Res Adjudicata

The defendant members of the Lottery Commission and the Director of Administration argue that all the claims asserted by Hawkins in the Superior Court, save his claim for violation of the Open Meetings Law, are barred by the doctrine of res adjudicata. We are persuaded that the defendants' argument has merit.

As previously indicated in the Statement of Facts and Procedural History, the plaintiffs Graziano and Hawkins filed a complaint in the Rhode Island Superior Court for the County of Providence on August 26, 1996. The plaintiff Hawkins thereafter filed a complaint in the District Court of the United States for the District of Rhode Island on August 28, 1997. The federal complaint was substantially identical in its allegations to those contained in the state complaint except the federal...