Ahlmeyer v. Nevada System of Higher Educ.
| Decision Date | 18 February 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 06-15654.,06-15654. |
| Citation | 555 F.3d 1051 |
| Parties | Linda AHLMEYER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEVADA SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION; Mike Reed, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Jeffrey A. Dickerson, Reno, NV, for the appellant.
Mary Phelps Dugan, General Counsel, Nevada System of Higher Education, Reno, NV, for the appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, Edward C. Reed, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-05-00557-ECR.
Before: JOHN T. NOONAN, W. FLETCHER, and CARLOS T. BEA, Circuit Judges.
Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., to promote the employment of older persons and prohibit arbitrary discrimination by employers based on age. See 29 U.S.C. § 621(b). Congress crafted a detailed administrative scheme with complex enforcement mechanisms to accomplish these goals. When a district court dismissed Linda Ahlmeyer's ADEA claim because it was barred by the Eleventh Amendment, Ahlmeyer moved to amend her complaint so she could vindicate the same alleged wrong — workplace discrimination based on her age — through 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The district court denied Ahlmeyer's motion as futile and, pursuant to the parties' stipulated dismissal of Ahlmeyer's remaining claims, entered an order dismissing the claims with prejudice. Because we hold the ADEA is the exclusive enforcement mechanism for claims of age discrimination in employment, we affirm.
On October 17, 2005, Ahlmeyer filed a complaint in district court against the Nevada System of Higher Education ("NSHE") and her former supervisor Mike Reed. The complaint alleged that Ahlmeyer, who was over forty years old, was not allowed to take classes during work hours and was denied requests for an assistant, unlike her younger coworker. Ahlmeyer also contended she was written up and given substandard evaluations based on actions for which younger employees were not reprimanded. The complaint contained three claims, only one of which is at issue in this appeal:1 the NSHE violated the ADEA.
The NSHE and Reed moved for partial summary judgment on Ahlmeyer's ADEA claim, on the basis that the claim was barred by the Eleventh Amendment to the federal Constitution.2 In response, Ahlmeyer moved to amend her complaint and replace the ADEA claim with a § 1983 claim against Reed personally, based on claimed age discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Under Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents, 528 U.S. 62, 120 S.Ct. 631, 145 L.Ed.2d 522 (2000), the district court concluded Ahlmeyer's ADEA claim against the NSHE was barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Therefore, the district court granted the NSHE's and Reed's motion for partial summary judgment and dismissed Ahlmeyer's ADEA claim. The district court also denied Ahlmeyer's motion to amend her complaint, holding the ADEA creates an exclusive remedy for age discrimination by employers; no claim for relief for age discrimination exists under § 1983. On March 23, 2006, the parties stipulated to dismissal of the remaining claims, and the district court entered an order dismissing the claims with prejudice.
Ahlmeyer appealed the district court's denial of her motion to amend. She contends the ADEA does not preclude her § 1983 claim against Reed individually.
As a preliminary matter, the NSHE and Reed contend this court lacks jurisdiction to hear this case, because Ahlmeyer did not appeal from a final decision of the district court as required by 28 U.S.C. § 1291. This claim is without merit. It cannot be disputed that the district court's March 23, 2006, order dismissing all remaining claims in the action constituted a final decision of the district court. The NSHE and Reed contend this court lacks jurisdiction, however, because Ahlmeyer's notice of appeal did not expressly reference the March 23, 2006, order.
A notice of appeal generally must specify the "judgment, order, or part thereof being appealed." Fed. R.App. P. 3(c)(1)(B). Nonetheless, this court repeatedly has held "a mistake in designating the judgment appealed from should not bar appeal as long as the intent to appeal a specific judgment can be fairly inferred and the appellee is not prejudiced by the mistake." Lynn v. Sheet Metal Workers' Int'l Ass'n, 804 F.2d 1472, 1481 (9th Cir. 1986) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). "In determining whether `intent' and `prejudice' are present, we apply a two-part test: first, whether the affected party had notice of the issue on appeal; and, second, whether the affected party had an opportunity to fully brief the issue." Id.
Ahlmeyer's notice of appeal meets both of these requirements. First, the notice of appeal stated precisely the issue presented to this court: whether the district court erred in denying Ahlmeyer's motion to amend her complaint. Second, the NSHE and Reed had the opportunity fully to brief the issue on appeal and did so. Therefore, this court has jurisdiction to hear Ahlmeyer's claim.
We review a district court's denial of a motion to amend a complaint for abuse of discretion. Johnson v. Buckley, 356 F.3d 1067, 1077 (9th Cir.2004). Although five factors generally are considered when assessing the propriety of a motion to amend,3 futility of amendment alone can justify the denial of a motion. Id. A district court's exercise of discretion based on an erroneous interpretation of the law constitutes an abuse of discretion. In re Arden, 176 F.3d 1226, 1228 (9th Cir.1999).
Ahlmeyer attempted to assert her age discrimination claim against Reed as an action under § 1983 to vindicate her constitutional right to equal protection. Her claim can proceed only if the ADEA is not the exclusive remedy for claims of age discrimination in employment.
Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provides, in relevant part, that "[e]very person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State ... subjects ... any citizen of the United States ... to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured." Section 1983 claims are not available, however, where Congress has evinced an intent to preclude such claims through other legislation. Middlesex County Sewerage Auth. v. Nat'l Sea Clammers Ass'n (Sea Clammers), 453 U.S. 1, 19-20, 101 S.Ct. 2615, 69 L.Ed.2d 435 (1981). This congressional intent can be inferred when Congress has passed a sufficiently comprehensive legislative scheme to address violations of a given right. Id. ().
While this court has not ruled whether the ADEA is the exclusive remedy for age discrimination in employment claims, every other circuit to consider the question has so held. The leading case to hold the ADEA precludes § 1983 actions in the area of age discrimination in employment is Zombro v. Baltimore City Police Department, 868 F.2d 1364 (4th Cir.1989). We find the reasoning of Zombro particularly persuasive.
In Zombro, a police officer asserted a § 1983 claim contending the Baltimore City Police Department ("Department") discriminated against him on the basis of age when the Department transferred him to a "job of lesser status." Id. at 1365. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Department. Id.
On appeal, the Fourth Circuit analyzed the ADEA's complex enforcement scheme and observed, "If a violation of substantive rights under the ADEA could be asserted by way of a § 1983 action, the aggrieved party could avoid [the] specific provisions of the" ADEA.4 Id. at 1366. Moreover, the "assertion that constitutional rights have somehow been infringed does not ipso facto defeat the coverage, application and exclusivity of a comprehensive statutory scheme enacted by Congress to redress the alleged violation of rights." Id. at 1368. The Fourth Circuit found the ADEA's remedies sufficiently comprehensive to demonstrate congressional intent to preclude § 1983 actions in the area of age discrimination in employment. See id. at 1368-69. Finally, the court examined the text and history of the ADEA and found it "implausible that Congress would have intended to preserve the private cause of action under § 1983 for age discrimination when that cause of action would severely undermine, if not debilitate, the enforcement mechanism created by Congress under the ADEA." Id. at 1369. The court concluded the ADEA forecloses § 1983 claims and affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment. Id. at 1365, 1369.
The Fifth and Tenth Circuits have reached similar conclusions. See Migneault v. Peck, 158 F.3d 1131, 1140 (10th Cir.1998), abrogated on other grounds by Kimel v. Fla. Bd. of Regents, 528 U.S. 62, 120 S.Ct. 631, 145 L.Ed.2d 522 (2000), reaffirmed by Migneault v. Peck, 204 F.3d 1003, 1004 n. 1 (10th Cir.2000); Lafleur v. Tex. Dep't of Health, 126 F.3d 758, 760 (5th Cir.1997).
No circuit to consider the issue of whether the ADEA precludes § 1983 claims has reached the opposite conclusion and allowed a § 1983 claim based on the same conduct to go forward. See Mummelthie v. City of Mason City, Iowa, 78 F.3d 589 (8th Cir.1996) (per curiam) (unpublished table decision) (); Izquierdo Prieto v. Mercado Rosa, 894 F.2d 467, 470 (1st Cir.1990) (...
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