Anaya v. City of Albuquerque

• Decision Date: 26 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 16864,16864
• Citation: 924 P.2d 735,122 N.M. 326,1996 NMCA 92
• Parties: Richard ANAYA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE, et al. and Arthur Blumenfeld, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

Page 735

924 P.2d 735

122 N.M. 326

Richard ANAYA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE, et al. and Arthur Blumenfeld Defendants-Appellees.

No. 16864.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

July 26, 1996.

Certiorari Denied Sept. 12, 1996.

[122 N.M. 327] Paul Livingston, Albuquerque, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Robert M. White, City Attorney, Bruce T. Thompson, Assistant City Attorney, Albuquerque, for Defendants-Appellees.

OPINION

FLORES, Judge.

¶1 Plaintiff appeals from an order of summary judgment dismissing his claims against the City of Albuquerque (the City), his previous employer, and Arthur Blumenfeld, the City's chief administrative officer (referred to collectively as Defendants). Plaintiff raises several issues, all of which present us with another opportunity to consider the composition of a cause of action for the purposes of applying res judicata. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶2 Plaintiff was initially hired by the City as a laborer in 1982. Thereafter, in 1985, he was promoted to heavy equipment operator in the City's Park and General Services Department. Plaintiff alleged that the City's Substance Abuse Task Force met regularly in private session between April 1990 and February 1991 to develop a drug-testing policy and program for City employees. On March 13, 1992, the City required Plaintiff to submit to a drug test pursuant to its policy and program. Subsequently, Plaintiff was notified that he was charged with violating Administrative Instruction No. 121 (revised) (employee who operates any vehicle or equipment that requires a commercial driver's license shall submit to and pass a substance abuse test), and a pre-termination hearing was held on March 30, 1992. On March 31, 1992, the City terminated Plaintiff's employment on the grounds that the drug test results were positive and that he violated Administrative Instructions Nos. 121 (revised) and 123 (revised) (no employee shall operate or drive City equipment or vehicles which require a commercial driver's license without a current City operator's permit). Administrative grievance hearings were held on August 12, 1992, and October 5, 1992. Thereafter, on December 3, 1992, the City's Personnel Board accepted the hearing officer's recommendation to sustain the termination.

¶3 On August 19, 1993, Plaintiff, together with six other former City employees, filed an action against Defendants and others in district court. Anaya v. City of Albuquerque, No. CV 93-7720 (Anaya I ). Their complaint alleged that the City's substance abuse policies were invalid because the Substance Abuse Task Force failed to comply with the Open Meetings Act (OMA) in the alleged private meetings between April 1990 and February 1991. NMSA 1978, §§ 10-15-1 to -4 (Repl.Pamp.1995). See generally Gutierrez v. City of Albuquerque, 96 N.M. 398, 401, 631 P.2d 304, 307 (1981) (purpose of OMA is "to open the meetings of governmental bodies to public scrutiny by allowing public attendance at such meetings"). The plaintiffs sought enforcement of the OMA so as to invalidate the City's drug-testing policies and thus reverse the termination of their employment because they failed a drug test. Summary judgment was granted for the defendants in Anaya I on March 27, 1995, against Plaintiff and four other plaintiffs, all of whom had been terminated from employment. No appeal was taken from that final judgment.

¶4 Plaintiff individually initiated this action in district court on October 6, 1993. Plaintiff repeated the allegations he made in Anaya I, and he supplemented them with additional claims that: (1) the City's Personnel Board's processes violated the OMA; (2) the drug test violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the New Mexico and Federal constitutions; (3) he was deprived of his interest in employment without due process of law; and (4) Defendants breached Plaintiff's employment contract. On June 30, 1995, Defendants moved for summary judgment on the grounds of res judicata, and the trial court granted Defendants' motion on September 8, 1995.

DISCUSSION

¶5 The broad question before us on this appeal is whether, under the doctrine of res judicata, the prior judgment in Anaya I bars Plaintiff from bringing the claims against Defendants in this action. As the parties seeking to bar Plaintiff's second action, Defendants have the burden of establishing res judicata. See Hopkins v. Guin, 105 N.M. 459, 463, 734 P.2d 237, 241 (Ct.App.1986), cert. quashed, 105 N.M. 395, 733 P.2d 364 (1987). The district court's determination that the prior judgment was res judicata to Plaintiff's claims in this case is a legal question that is reviewable de novo. See Clark v. Haas Group, Inc., 953 F.2d 1235, 1237 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 832, 113 S.Ct. 98, 121 L.Ed.2d 58 (1992); Schueller v. Schueller, 117 N.M. 197, 199, 870 P.2d 159, 161 (Ct.App.1994) (question of law reviewed de novo); Blea v. Sandoval, 107 N.M. 554, 557, 761 P.2d 432, 435 (Ct.App.) (effect of prior judgment "is a legal question that does not require a review of the facts"), cert. denied, 107 N.M. 413, 759 P.2d 200 (1988).

¶6 There are four requisite elements for the application of res judicata: (1) the same parties or parties in privity; (2) the identity of capacity or character of persons for or against whom the claim is made; (3) the same subject matter; and (4) the same cause of action in both suits. Myers v. Olson, 100 N.M. 745, 747, 676 P.2d 822, 824 (1984); Three Rivers Land Co. v. Maddoux, 98 N.M. 690, 694, 652 P.2d 240, 244 (1982), overruled on other grounds by Universal Life Church v. Coxon, 105 N.M. 57, 59, 728 P.2d 467, 469 (1986), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 905, 107 S.Ct. 2482, 96 L.Ed.2d 374 (1987). Here, the parties do not dispute that the first three elements have been met. It is the fourth requirement, identity of the causes of action, that is at the heart of this dispute.

¶7 Our Supreme Court has adopted the rules contained in the Restatement (Second) of Judgments Sections 24 and 25 (1982) (Restatement ), for guidance in deciding what constitutes a cause of action for res judicata purposes. Three Rivers Land Co., 98 N.M. at 695, 652 P.2d at 245. Section 24 of the Restatement provides:

(1) ... the claim extinguished [by a first judgment] includes all rights of the plaintiff to remedies against the defendant with respect to all or any part of the transaction, or series of connected transactions, out of which the action arose.

(2) What factual grouping constitutes a "transaction", and what groupings constitute a "series", are to be determined pragmatically, giving weight to such considerations as whether the facts are related in time, space, origin, or motivation, whether they form a convenient trial unit, and whether their treatment as a unit conforms to the parties' expectations or business understanding or usage.

¶8 Defendants characterize Plaintiff's two lawsuits as challenges to his termination from employment, and they argue that the only differences between the two actions are the legal theories advanced to secure reinstatement. The transactional test requires us to go beyond any similarity in desired outcome and to examine the operative facts underlying the claims made in the two lawsuits. See 18 Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 4407 (1981) ("single legal wrong" phrase used in traditional res judicata formulas should be discarded); Restatement, supra, § 24 cmt. b (concept of a "transaction" as used in the Restatement "connotes a natural grouping or common nucleus of operative facts"). Underlying the test is the need to balance the interests of Defendants and of the courts in bringing litigation to a close and the interest of Plaintiff in the vindication of his claims. See 18 Wright, Miller & Cooper, supra, § 4407; Restatement, supra, § 24 cmt. b.

¶9 In Anaya I the plaintiffs alleged that the City's Substance Abuse Task Force met in secret, closed session from April 1990 through February 1991. According to the plaintiffs, the Substance Abuse Task Force discussed, formulated, and promulgated Administrative Instructions Nos. 121 and 123 that Plaintiff was later charged with violating. The violations alleged by the City resulted in the termination of Plaintiff's employment. Plaintiff makes the same allegations in this case. Plaintiff's claim in Anaya I completely overlaps a similar claim he has made in this case. Thus, we hold that summary judgment was proper in this case with respect to that claim--Plaintiff's challenge to the validity of the procedures by which the pertinent administrative instructions were developed. See Carter v. Thurber, 106 N.M. 429, 431-32, 744 P.2d 557, 559-60 (Ct.App.1987) (summary judgment proper where only question was res judicata effect of prior judgment). Plaintiff's additional claims in this action, however, merit further examination.

¶10 Those additional claims and related allegations are as follows: (1) Defendants violated Plaintiff's rights under the Fourth Amendment in that the City had no suspicion Plaintiff was using drugs nor had any valid reason for requiring a drug test, and any off-duty use was not related to Plaintiff's on-duty work or conduct; (2) Plaintiff did not receive due process because the City did not allow him to appeal the drug test results, the grievance hearing was unreasonably delayed, the hearing officer was neither competent nor properly selected, Plaintiff was improperly allocated the burden of proving the discharge was erroneous, no valid, written procedural rules were in effect for the hearing, and the chairman of the Personnel Board was neither neutral nor properly selected; (3) Defendants violated the OMA in that the hearing officer, members of the Personnel Board, and the board chairman were selected and appointed in secret and closed meetings, and the Personnel Board addressed Plaintiff's grievance in two closed...