Adden v. Middlebrooks

• Decision Date: 04 January 1983
• Docket Number: No. 79-1810,79-1810
• Citation: 688 F.2d 1147
• Parties: John ADDEN, Administrator of the Estate of Kerry K. Adden, Deceased, Plaintiff- Appellant, v. J. D. MIDDLEBROOKS, Superintendent of the Louisiana Correctional and Industrial School, Unit of Department of Corrections of the State of Louisiana, and C. Paul Phelps, Director of the State of Louisiana Department of Corrections, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 1147

688 F.2d 1147

John ADDEN, Administrator of the Estate of Kerry K. Adden, Deceased, Plaintiff- Appellant, v. J. D. MIDDLEBROOKS, Superintendent of the Louisiana

Correctional and Industrial School, Unit of Department of

Corrections of the State of Louisiana, and C. Paul Phelps,

Director of the State of Louisiana Department of

Corrections, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 79-1810.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued April 9, 1982.

Decided Sept. 15, 1982.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Jan. 4, 1983.

Gregory E. Barrett, Rockford, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.

William Sullivan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Louisiana Dept. of Justice, Baton Rouge, La., for defendants-appellants.

Before PELL, WOOD, and CUDAHY, Circuit Judges.

PELL, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff appeals from the district court's dismissal of his suit seeking damages for the wrongful death of Kerry K. Adden. We address two principal issues on appeal. The first is whether the real defendant of this suit is the State of Louisiana. If it is, the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the controversy and, further, the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution barred the suit. The second issue is whether the district court had personal jurisdiction over the defendants.

I.

On April 8, 1976, Walter Lee Cook and Ronnie J. Tucker escaped from a work crew of inmates assigned to the Louisiana Correctional and Industrial School (LCIS). The LCIS is a unit of the State of Louisiana Department of Corrections (Department of Corrections or Department) at DeQuincy, Louisiana. Actions taken to apprehend the two inmates were unsuccessful. On May 24, 1976, in Rockford, Illinois, Cook and Tucker allegedly caused the death of Kerry K. Adden.

John Adden, the administrator of Kerry Adden's estate, subsequently filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. J. D. Middlebrooks, Superintendent of LCIS, and C. Paul Phelps, Director of the Department of Corrections, were named as defendants. Jurisdiction was based on diversity of citizenship. The complaint alleged that the defendants were negligent in permitting the two prisoners to escape. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that the court lacked both personal and subject matter jurisdiction and that the suit was barred by the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution. The case was assigned to a magistrate who recommended that the motion be granted, relying on the ground of sovereign immunity. The magistrate addressed the question of subject matter jurisdiction implicitly but did not reach the issue of personal jurisdiction. The district judge adopted the report and recommendation of the magistrate.

II.

For purposes of this appeal, we will assume without so deciding that Louisiana law governs this controversy and that Adden's complaint states a cause of action pursuant thereto. Both parties have indicated in their supplemental briefs before this court that they believe Louisiana law is applicable. They differ, not surprisingly, over whether the plaintiff has stated a cause of action. The appellees claim that, as a matter of law, proximate cause cannot be proven on the facts stated by Adden. See, e.g., Frank v. Pitre, 353 So.2d 1293 (La.1977). We need not address these questions, however, because we find the jurisdictional issues dispositive.

III.

The issues of the Eleventh Amendment bar and subject matter jurisdiction are closely related in this case. The plaintiff invoked the subject matter jurisdiction of the district court pursuant to the diversity statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (1976). That statute provides, in pertinent part: "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions where the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $10,000 ... and is between ... citizens of different states." For diversity jurisdiction to exist, the defendant(s) must fall within the definition of "citizen." States are not "citizens" within the meaning of section 1332 and, therefore, are not within the reach of the diversity statute. State Highway Commission v. Utah Construction Co., 278 U.S. 194, 200, 49 S.Ct. 104, 106, 73 L.Ed. 262 (1929). In determining whether diversity jurisdiction exists, the court is not bound by the status of the named defendant but must inquire as to who is the real party in interest. See id. at 199-200, 49 S.Ct. at 105-106. If the State of Louisiana is determined to be the real defendant in this suit, the cause must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The Eleventh Amendment of the United States Constitution similarly limits the jurisdiction of the federal courts by providing that "(t)he judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit, in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state." If the named defendant in a suit is other than the State itself, the test of the Eleventh Amendment's applicability is whether the state is the " 'real, substantial party in interest.' " Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 663, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1355, 39 L.Ed.2d 669 (1974) (quoting Ford Motor Co. v. Department of Treasury, 323 U.S. 459, 464, 65 S.Ct. 347, 350, 89 L.Ed. 389 (1945)).

Whether we frame our analysis in terms of the applicability of the Eleventh Amendment or of the existence of diversity jurisdiction, we must determine who is the real party in interest. This determination is to be made by reference to the essential nature and effect of the proceedings. Ex parte New York, 256 U.S. 490, 500, 41 S.Ct. 588, 590, 65 L.Ed. 1057 (1921). We also bear in mind that "(t)here is never a presumption in favor of federal jurisdiction, but rather the basis for such jurisdiction must be affirmatively evidenced by the party invoking it." Johnson v. Texas Department of Corrections, 373 F.Supp. 1108, 1109 (S.D.Tex.1974) (citing Grace v. American Central Insurance Co., 109 U.S. 278, 73 S.Ct. 207, 27 L.Ed. 932 (1883)).

The appellant poses two arguments why the State of Louisiana is not, contrary to the finding of the district court, the true defendant in the instant suit. First, Adden urges that the liability alleged is individual in nature even though the State might also be subject to liability through the doctrine of respondeat superior. Second, Adden maintains that, even if his action is viewed as one against the Department of Corrections, the Department is not the "very equivalent of the government of the State of Louisiana."

A. Individual Liability of Middlebrooks and Phelps

At the outset, we must recognize that the present case is distinguishable from Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974), in which the Supreme Court held that the Eleventh Amendment did not necessarily bar a claim that named as defendants the Governor of Ohio, the Adjutant General of the Ohio National Guard, various other Guard officers and enlisted members, and the President of Kent State University. The Scheuer Court stated that "damages against individual defendants are a permissible remedy in some circumstances notwithstanding the fact that they hold public office." Id. at 238, 94 S.Ct. at 1687 (citations omitted). The critical distinction between Scheuer and the case before this court is that Scheuer involved allegations of unconstitutional activity whereas the present case does not. As the Scheuer Court noted, the Supreme Court established in 1908 that (W)hen a state officer acts under a state law in a manner violative of the Federal Constitution, he "comes into conflict with the superior authority of that Constitution, and he is in that case stripped of his official or representative character and is subjected in his person to the consequences of his individual conduct. The State has no power to impart to him any immunity from responsibility to the supreme authority of the United States.

416 U.S. at 237, 94 S.Ct. at 1686 (quoting Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 159-60, 28 S.Ct. 441, 453-54, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908)) (emphasis supplied by Scheuer Court). Because there are no claims of unconstitutional conduct on the part of the named defendants, they are not necessarily " 'stripped of (their) official or representative character,' " 416 U.S. at 237, 94 S.Ct. at 1686 (quoting 209 U.S. at 159-60, 28 S.Ct. at 453-54).

Two cases on which Adden relies, Geiger v. State, 242 So.2d 606 (La.App.1970), and Webb v. State, 91 So.2d 156 (La.App.1956), do not address, let alone resolve, the legal question before this court. In both Webb and Geiger, the plaintiffs sued the "State of Louisiana through (the) Department of Institutions" claiming damages for injuries sustained at the hand of escaped convicts. No prison officer was individually named as a defendant in either suit. These two cases support only the proposition that Adden might have brought his suit in a state court in Louisiana, naming the state as defendant.

Similarly, Payton v. United States, 679 F.2d 475 (Former 5th Cir. July 1, 1982) (en banc), is inapposite. Although that suit involved allegations of negligence by the United States Board of Parole and the United States Board of Prisons, the United States was the named defendant. The principal issue in the case was whether the challenged conduct was within the "discretionary function" exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671-2680, 2680(a) (1982).

Frank v. Pitre, 353 So.2d 1293 (La.1977), is also not dispositive. In that case, a policeman sought damages from a parish sheriff for injuries sustained at the hand of a prisoner who had been permitted to leave prison on a pass. The majority held that the appellate court order awarding damages must be reversed because the plaintiff had failed to establish that the prisoner's release was the proximate cause of the injury. Id. at 1295-96. The Frank court did not discuss directly whether it...