Agosto v. Aponte Roque, Civ. No. 85-0916 (JP).

• Decision Date: 06 August 1992
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 85-0916 (JP).
• Parties: Maria M. AGOSTO, et al., Plaintiff, v. Awilda APONTE ROQUE, et al., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

800 F. Supp. 1033

Maria M. AGOSTO, et al., Plaintiff, v. Awilda APONTE ROQUE, et al., Defendant.

Civ. No. 85-0916 (JP).

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

August 6, 1992.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Héctor Urgell Cuebas, Urgell, Miranda & Feijoo, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Frank Rodríguez García, Ponce, Puerto Rico, for plaintiff.

Lisa E. Bhatia Gautier, Saldaña, Rey & Alvarado, Santurce, Puerto Rico, for defendant.

OPINION & ORDER

PIERAS, District Judge.

The Court has before it plaintiffs' Motion Requesting Judgment dated August 22, 1990, and defendants Motion for Dismissal of All Claims dated September 11, 1990, as well as supplemental briefs filed by both sides. For the reasons set out below, plaintiffs' motion is hereby GRANTED and defendants' motion is hereby DENIED.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

The material facts controlling this case are set forth in detail in the Opinion & Order issued by this Court on March 19, 1986. Agosto v. Aponte Roque, 631 F.Supp. 1082, 1083-1092 (D.Puerto Rico (1986). A brief summary of the facts is nonetheless essential in understanding the issues now before the Court. All five plaintiffs, María M. Agosto, Luz M. Camacho, Virginia Díaz, Vicente Vázquez Castro, and Miguel A. Vega, were career public employees of the Department of Education of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for between twenty-two (22) and thirty two (32) years. Defendant María Scott Morales is, and was at the time of the actions which gave rise to plaintiffs' complaint, the Regional Director of the Humacao Region of the Puerto Rico Department of Education. She was appointed to the position on January 14, 1985, two weeks after Governor Rafael Hernández Colón, the leader of the Popular Democratic Party, took office. Governor Hernández had succeeded former Governor Carlos Romero Barceló of the rival New Progressive Party. All five plaintiffs are members of the New Progressive Party.

Within four days of her appointment, defendant Scott had taken away the majority of the duties and responsibilities held by each of the plaintiffs, assigning these duties to personnel in the region who were in subordinate positions to plaintiffs but who were members of the Popular Democratic Party. Plaintiffs were not consulted prior to the taking away of their duties. When plaintiffs asked defendant Scott for the reason for her action, she told them that the Popular Democratic Party had won the election and that changes were therefore required in the region. At trial, all plaintiffs testified that they had been relieved of their duties solely because of their political affiliation. Defendant Scott, who was present during the entire trial and testified, presented no other justification for her conduct.

As a result of the reorientation of duties, plaintiff Agosto, who as Assistant Regional Director had varied supervisory and other responsibilities, was left with severely limited duties. She was made to appear as a mere assistant rather than Assistant Director of the Region, and for all practical purposes to be an employee who was demoted. Plaintiff Díaz, who as a General Supervisor for School Services had been assigned varied supervisory and managerial tasks, was left having to ask Scott for permission to use a telephone, to make photocopies, or to have typing done. She appeared as an individual whose duties had been purposefully taken away to show that she was no longer in command and that her stature had been diminished because her political party had lost the election. Plaintiff Camacho, who as a General Supervisor of School Services had also been assigned varied supervisory and managerial duties, was left without any supervisory authority and with the responsibility of overseeing a program for which she had an inadequate background. Plaintiff Vázquez, who as a General Supervisor of School Services had broad responsibilities relating to personnel, curriculum, and budget, was left responsible only for the school transportation program. Plaintiff Vega was also a General Supervisor of School Services who had been a Regional Coordinator involved in, among other things, the coordination of personnel in the region. He failed to prove that substantial changes in his tasks had been caused by defendants.

Defendants presented several arguments at trial. They challenged plaintiffs' assertion that the changes in their duties were politically motivated. Defendant Scott argued that the positions held by plaintiffs were always subject to reshaping by her predecessors and that she should be allowed the same flexibility. She argued that the responsibilities retained by plaintiffs were substantial. She stated that she was in the midst of determining the needs of the region and that when a complete analysis had been made, she would begin adding functions pertinent to the positions held by plaintiffs.

After a bench trial, this Court found in favor of all plaintiffs except Vega, holding that they had set forth a prima facie case of political discrimination and that defendants had failed to present a credible nondiscriminatory justification for their actions. Injunctive relief was granted in the form of reinstatement. Compensatory and punitive damages were also awarded. Defendants had never raised the defense of qualified immunity.

Defendants appealed on four grounds: (i) failure to state a claim under the First and Fourteenth amendments, (ii) qualified immunity, (iii) clearly erroneous factual findings, (iv) excessive damage awards, and (v) overly broad injunctive relief. The First Circuit addressed only defendants' first ground for appeal — that plaintiffs had failed to state a claim under the First and Fourteenth amendments for political discrimination — although it addressed this issue in considerable detail. The question presented to the court was whether protections provided to public employees terminated as a result of political discrimination which were recognized by the Supreme Court in Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976), and Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980), should be available to "government employees whose employment, while not terminated, was subjected to less advantageous conditions and responsibilities because of the employees' political affiliation." Agosto v. Aponte-de-Feliciano, 889 F.2d 1209, 1212. The court answered this question in the affirmative and proceeded to set forth a series of guidelines for determining the types of conduct short of termination that are actionable. The court remanded the case for reconsideration of the facts in light of the newly enunciated standard.

On January 17, 1990, this Court ordered the parties to submit any additional information they wished to present to the Court prior to its reconsideration. Defendants responded by requesting a stay of these proceedings pending the outcome of Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois, 497 U.S. 62, 110 S.Ct. 2729, 111 L.Ed.2d 52 (1990), a Supreme Court case which considered, in light of the prior decisions in Elrod and Branti, the constitutionality of several related political patronage practices, including promotion, transfer, recall, and hiring after layoff. A stay of these proceedings was granted on February 2, 1990. On June 21, 1990, the Supreme Court rendered its decision in Rutan, holding that the patronage practices at issue, unless "narrowly tailored to further vital government interests ... impermissibly encroach on First Amendment freedoms." Rutan, 497 U.S. at ___, 110 S.Ct. at 2736, 111 L.Ed.2d at 66. The Court, balancing the First Amendment interests of individual government workers and of an incoming administration, found:

Our conclusions in Elrod, supra, and Branti, supra, are equally applicable to the patronage practices at issue here. A government's interest in securing effective employees can be met by discharging, demoting or transferring staffmembers whose work is deficient. A government's interest in securing employees who will loyally implement its policies can be adequately served by choosing or dismissing certain high-level employees on the basis of their political views. Likewise, the `preservation of the democratic process' is no more furthered by the patronage promotions, transfers, and rehires at issue here than it is by patronage dismissals.

Id., 497 U.S. at ___, 110 S.Ct. at 2737, 111 L.Ed.2d at 66.

Following the issuance of the decision in Rutan, plaintiffs filed, on August 22, 1990, their Motion Requesting Judgment, in which they asked this Court to reaffirm its decision based on the First Circuit's opinion in this case, which they assert, and the Court agrees, was not altered by Rutan. Defendants responded by filing, on September 11, 1990, a Motion for Dismissal of All Claims. Defendants also argued that Rutan had no effect on the First Circuit's opinion in this case, but argued that the First Circuit's calculus directed a finding in defendants' favor. On November 27, 1991, the Court held a hearing to accept additional evidence and argumentation on the issues raised in the parties' cross motions.¹

II. Discussion

In addressing the issues presented by the appeals in this case, the circuit court endeavored not to consider the specific questions presented in this case but to set forth an analytical framework to be applied in all cases of alleged political discrimination in which plaintiffs complain of action short of termination. The court sought to provide the district courts with a mechanism to assist them in "sifting out the chaff of minor irritants and frustrations from the wheat of truly significant adverse actions." Agosto-de-Feliciano, 889 F.2d at 1214. This mechanism is "a standard for evaluating employee burdens that protects against at least some politically motivated actions short of discharge, but that also gives due breadth to the government's interest in the effective implementation of its policies." Id. at 1215. The...