Acosta Sepulveda v. Hernandez Purcell, Civ. No. 86-0862(JP).
| Decision Date | 12 January 1988 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 86-0862(JP). |
| Citation | 679 F. Supp. 151 |
| Parties | Edna ACOSTA SEPULVEDA, Plaintiff, v. Pedro HERNANDEZ PURCELL, Executive Director of the Land Administration of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, in his personal and official capacity, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico |
José Ramón Pérez Hernández, Old San Juan, P.R., for plaintiff.
María L. Jiménez Colón, Federal Litigation Div., Dept. of Justice, San Juan, P.R., for defendant.
Edna Acosta Sepúlveda brought this action for back pay, damages, injunctive relief, and declaratory relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. She alleges four causes of action, two under the first amendment and two under the fourteenth amendment. Acosta was demoted from her position as Assistant Executive Director in the Land Administration for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a trust position, to Personnel Director, a career position. She was subsequently dismissed from her position as Personnel Director. These adverse personnel decisions, she claims, were based on her political beliefs and affiliation with the New Progressive Party (NPP) and Acosta alleges a first and fourteenth amendment violation as to both job changes.
The matter was tried to the Court without a jury, and both parties presented witnesses and submitted documentary evidence. After careful consideration of the evidence, and after due deliberation, the Court now makes the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. Fed.R.Civ. P. 52(a).
1. Plaintiff Edna Acosta Sepúlveda is a former employee of the Land Administration of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
2. Defendant Pedro Hernández Purcell is, and was at the time of the action that gave rise to the complaint, the Executive Director of the Land Administration. The Puerto Rico Land Administration is a governmental agency created by Law No. 13 of 1962, codified at 23 L.P.R.A. § 311 et seq.
3. Acosta is a member of the New Progressive Party (NPP), and her political affiliation was known by her co-workers in the Land Administration. The NPP lost the general elections held in Puerto Rico on November 6, 1984, and the control of the Executive Branch of the Commonwealth Government which it held for the previous eight years. Defendant is a member of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) whose candidate, Rafael Hernández Colón, was elected Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the general elections held on November 6, 1984, and who at present holds said office. Pedro Hernández Purcell was appointed Executive Director on April 1, 1985, after the Governor had taken office on January 1, 1985.
4. Acosta graduated from the University of Puerto Rico in 1978 with a bachelor of arts degree in Finance and Business Administration. Thereafter, and while a public employee, Acosta went to law school and earned the degree of Juris Doctor.
5. Acosta worked in the private sector for the Gas Products Corporation from August 27, 1979, to March 31, 1980, in the Accounting Department. Among her functions were the receipt of valuables and application of payments from clients toward regular accounts. She was also in charge of the Group Medical Plan from the Travelers Insurance Company, in which she handled and coordinated the Plan and provided follow up to claims from employees. These duties involved maintenance of personnel records and dealings with the corporation's employees. This experience is sufficient to be incorporated as an integral part of the four-year personnel administration requirement for the post of Personnel Director.
6. Acosta began work with the Commonwealth Government on July 1, 1978, with the Social Services Department, as Administration Technician. She prepared federal proposals, supervised federally funded projects, coordinated Social Security contributions and benefits, reported how federal funds were distributed, and followed up on projects with the Committee to Fight Crime and the Right to Work Administration.
7. Acosta began work with the Land Administration on April 1, 1980, as Personnel Director, a trust position. Her duties included coordinating the administrative and technical functions of the personnel area regarding classification, appointments, selection, training, retention, and supervision of four employees. She held that position for three years and three-and-one-half months until June 15, 1983, when the position was changed to a career position. She held this position until December 1983, the date she was appointed to Assistant Executive Director of Management, also known as Director of Administration, a trust position. That position involved the coordination of personnel and the inventory of land. She was directly responsible to the Executive Director of the Land Administration. On June 15, 1985, defendant Hernández, the Executive Director, demoted Acosta to her previous position as Director of Personnel with a reduced monthly salary from $2,114.00 to $1,749.00, a $365.00 decrease. Acosta did not grieve this personnel action.
8. Acosta was replaced as Director of Administration by Mr. Ramón A. Rivera, a member of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP). Acosta held the position of Personnel Director until May 27, 1986, when Hernández dismissed her.
9. The minimum qualifications for Personnel Director are the following: (a) a Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university, preferably in Business Administration, with a major in management; (b) four years' experience in personnel administration with two of those four years in supervisory functions.
10. The minimum qualifications for the position of Assistant Executive Director of Administration are the following: (a) a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a major in management from an accredited college or university; (b) 5 years experience directing personnel and real estate works.
11. After due notice, a pretermination hearing as to Acosta's qualifications for the position of Personnel Director was held on January 17, 1986, before William Cancel Burgos, a staff attorney with the Land Administration appointed as a hearing examiner. A further hearing was held on February 11, 1986. Counsel for Acosta represented her at both hearings. Acosta presented evidence as to her qualifications, including an expert witness, Francisco Cappas, who testified that Acosta was qualified to hold the trust position of Personnel Director on April 1, 1980, and that she also qualified to hold the career position of Personnel Director on July 15, 1983. On April 4, 1986, Cancel issued a Report and Recommendation, finding that Acosta was not qualified for the position of Personnel Director in the career service. On May 27, 1986, by letter, Hernández terminated plaintiff from employment as Personnel Director, effective the next day.
12. Cancel's political affiliation is "Popular Independentista," that is, a pro-independence member of the PDP.1
13. Both plaintiff and her counsel requested copies of the Report and Recommendation that led to her dismissal. These requests were denied by defendant.
The Court held an Initial Scheduling Conference (ISC) on November 25, 1986, at which counsel for the parties appeared. Under the Court's schedule established at the ISC by the agreement of the parties, defendant was to have filed its motion for summary judgment on the issue of qualified immunity during the week of January 5, 1987. Defendant did not file the motion until February 18, 1987. Because the defendant's late filing was in serious contravention of the ISC Order, and because the motion was filed on the eve of trial, the Court refused to entertain the motion. See Order, dated March 4, 1987; see also Pieras, Jr., Judicial Economy and Efficiency Through the Initial Scheduling Conference: The Method, 35 Cath.U.L.Rev. 943 (1986); Fed.R.Civ.P. 16. Defendant took an immediate interlocutory appeal of this decision requesting a stay of the trial until the motion for summary judgment was acted upon, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals denied the stay. Edna Acosta Sepúlveda v. Pedro Hernández Purcell, No. 87-1212, (1st Cir. March 13, 1987). Plaintiff never opposed the motion for summary judgment. The issue of qualified immunity will be decided herein.
The defendant maintains that because this is a trust and confidence position, Hernández may dismiss Acosta for political reasons.
In actions brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a defense of qualified immunity from liability for damages is available to state executive officers performing discretionary functions, "insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). On a motion for summary judgment, it is appropriate for a trial court to determine whether the law was clearly established at the time of the conduct at issue. De Abadía v. Izquierdo Mora, 792 F.2d 1187 (1st Cir.1986). At the time of Acosta's demotion, the law was clearly established that public employees are protected by the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and association from being discharged or demoted solely because of political affiliation, unless political affiliation is an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the office involved. Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 518, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 1294, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980); Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 367-68, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 2686-87, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976). In Branti and Elrod, the Supreme Court recognized that in certain positions of government employment, where an employee's private political beliefs would interfere with the performance of her public duties, her first amendment rights could be required to yield to the state's vital interest in maintaining...
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Acosta-Sepulveda v. Hernandez-Purcell, ACOSTA-SEPULVED
...Administration of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in violation of her due process and First Amendment rights. Acosta Sepulveda v. Hernandez Purcell, 679 F.Supp. 151 (D.C.P.R.1988). We proceed to reverse the court's finding of due process violations and affirm on the First Amendment FACTUAL ......