Bennun v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF RUTGERS, ETC.

• Decision Date: 21 May 1976
• Docket Number: No. 837-72,75-1621.,837-72
• Citation: 413 F. Supp. 1274
• Parties: Alfredo BENNUN, Plaintiff, v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF RUTGERS, the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY, et al., Defendants. Alfredo BENNUN, Plaintiff, v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF RUTGERS, the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY and Edward Bloustein, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

413 F. Supp. 1274

Alfredo BENNUN, Plaintiff, v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF RUTGERS, the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY, et al., Defendants.

Alfredo BENNUN, Plaintiff, v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF RUTGERS, the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY and Edward Bloustein, Defendants.

Nos. 837-72, 75-1621.

United States District Court, D. New Jersey, Civil Division.

May 21, 1976.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Rodgers, McCulloch & Barlow, by Kenneth McCulloch, New York City, for plaintiff.

Pitney, Hardin & Kipp, by S. Joseph Fortunato, Morristown, N. J., for defendants, Board of Governors of Rutgers, etc. and Edward Bloustein.

Rothbard, Harris & Oxfeld, by Emil Oxfeld, Newark, N. J., for defendants, Wilhoft, Somberg and Anderson.

OPINION

MEANOR, District Judge.

The defendants, Board of Governors and Edward Bloustein, have moved for dismissal of the amended complaints or for summary judgment in both of these civil actions.¹

THE STATE SUIT

On April 6, 1972, the plaintiff, Alfredo Bennun, an associate professor of biochemistry, filed a complaint in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division (No. L-22164-71), naming as defendants three faculty members who, together with the plaintiff, were employed at the Newark College of Arts and Sciences of Rutgers University. The complaint alleged that these three had maliciously interfered with the tenure granting process as a result of which the plaintiff had been denied tenure. In January 1973, plaintiff amended the complaint to add Rutgers as a defendant on the theory that an agent of the University had negligently prepared and presented the plaintiff's personnel papers at the time he was considered for tenure, and that Rutgers had negligently developed regulations and policies for promotion and tenure which denied plaintiff a fair hearing or review. Plaintiff sought compensatory and punitive damages on account of each of these alleged acts.

On February 5, 1974, plaintiff's state court action went to trial before the Honorable Arthur C. Dwyer, J.S.C. The trial ended on March 1, 1974. The amended complaint was dismissed as to Rutgers at the close of the plaintiff's case; by opinion dated March 15, 1974, the judge dismissed the entire amended complaint.

THE FIRST FEDERAL SUIT

In May 1972, the plaintiff commenced the first of two federal court actions. Named as defendants in this action were Rutgers, the Board of Governors of Rutgers, Edward Bloustein, the president of Rutgers, and the three individual faculty members joined as defendants in the state case. The amended complaint alleged that Dr. Bennun had been wrongfully denied tenure and sought damages and back pay pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

On June 9, 1972, the Board of Governors of Rutgers, upon the recommendation of President Bloustein, voted to grant tenure to the plaintiff. Thereafter, on October 1, 1973, the plaintiff filed a second amended complaint. The jurisdictional allegations of this complaint fail to mention 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. Nevertheless, it is clear that the first count, which is similar in many respects to the first count alleged in the previous amended complaint, was intended to make out a claim under Title VII. The essence of the first count is that, in spite of his having received tenure in 1972, the defendants continued to deny Dr. Bennun the rights and privileges of a tenured professor on account of his national origin and his opposition to discriminatory practices. The second count alleges a violation of § 1983 in that the defendants acted to deprive him of his right to tenure on account of his national origin and heavy Spanish accent and did so acting under color of state law in violation of due process and equal protection. The third count of the amended complaint alleges a violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985. This count involves only the three individual defendants. It alleges that they conspired together to deprive the plaintiff of his right to tenure and that, following the grant of tenure by the Board of Governors, these three continued to deprive the plaintiff of the rights and privileges associated with his status as professor.

A comparison of the original complaint with the second amended complaint reveals that the amendment was made to incorporate events that happened after the filing of the first complaint. In particular, the amendment concerns itself with the alleged delay in granting tenure, not with the failure to grant tenure. The amendment also alleges that the conspiracy to deprive the plaintiff of tenure has become a conspiracy to deprive him of the privileges etc. of a tenured professor. The alleged activities of the defendants are in the nature of a continuing course of conduct.

THE SECOND FEDERAL SUIT

On September 22, 1975, Dr. Bennun began a second federal suit. An amended complaint was filed and served October 22, 1975. The Board of Governors of Rutgers and Edward Bloustein, the president of the University, were the named defendants. This action is based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. Paragraph 8 of the amended complaint alleges that the plaintiff filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and that, following the exhaustion of his administrative remedies, he received a right to sue letter from the E.E.O.C. Suit was filed within 90 days of the receipt of this letter.

Paragraph 11 of the complaint alleges that since at least March 24, 1972 the defendants intentionally engaged in unlawful employment practices because of the plaintiff's national origin. Paragraph 11 then sets out, at length, a list of allegedly discriminatory acts. Many of these acts were previously pleaded in the second amended complaint filed in the first federal suit. Many were also involved in the state suit. The only apparent distinction between the claim in this suit and that set forth in the first count of the previous suit is that this suit resulted from a second right to sue letter. That is, the plaintiff filed charges with the E.E.O.C. on November 10, 1971 and then again on November 6, 1973. In each case a right to sue letter issued from the Commission. Giving a broad reading to the allegations of the first count of the first federal suit, it is apparent that the allegations of this second suit are subsumed within the first. It is also apparent that those events set out in ¶ 11 of the second suit which occurred subsequent to the filing of the second amended complaint in the first federal suit are alleged to be a part of a continuing practice of discrimination on the part of the defendants.

RES JUDICATA

Principles of res judicata are fully applicable to actions brought under the federal Civil Rights Act. Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 497, 93 S.Ct. 1827, 1840, 36 L.Ed.2d 439, 454 (1973). Thus, where a cause of action which encompasses a claim under the Civil Rights Act reaches judgment in one court, the judgment of that court will be given the same preclusive effect by a second court as would any other judgment of that first court.

28 U.S.C. § 1738 extended the Full Faith and Credit provisions of the United States Constitution, Art. 4, § 1 to all courts, federal as well as state. Davis v. Davis, 305 U.S. 32, 40, 59 S.Ct. 3, 6, 83 L.Ed. 26, 29 (1938). Under the principles of Full Faith and Credit, "state court judgments are entitled to the same res judicata effect in Federal courts as in State courts . . . and this principle is applicable to decisions involving Federal constitutional questions as well as issues of State law." Olson v. Board of Educ. of Union Free School Dist. No. 12, Malverne, N. Y., 250 F.Supp. 1000, 1004, n.8 (E.D.N.Y.1966), appeal dismissed 367 F.2d 565 (2d Cir. 1966) (citations omitted). Thus, the question presented is to what extent the judgment of the Superior Court of New Jersey, entered February 22, 1974, dismissing the plaintiff's cause of action would bar the instant case if it were brought in the courts of New Jersey.

It is clear from the review of the pleadings conducted above that all of the claims filed in this court arise out of the same complex of facts that gave rise to the state court action. New Jersey law is committed to the "enlightened policy that just and expeditious disposition at one time and place of all matters in controversy between the parties is to be encouraged." Wangler v. Harvey, 41 N.J. 277, 287, 196 A.2d 513, 519 (1963) (concurring opinion). Following the adoption of the reforms introduced by the Judicial Article of the 1947 Constitution of New Jersey, which joined the powers of law and equity in one Superior Court, New Jersey courts have consistently sought to resolve all claims arising out of the same factual circumstances in a single action. For instance, a judgment denying a claim for rescission will subsequently bar an action for damages arising out of the same factual situation. Ajamian v. Schlanger, 14 N.J. 483, 103 A.2d 9 (1954). In another case, the plaintiff was precluded from bringing a suit for damages arising out of the refusal of the county medical society to admit him to membership. He had previously brought an action in lieu of prerogative writs to compel the board to admit him to membership and had won the suit. The court held that the second action for damages sustained prior to the judgment in the first suit was barred by the single controversy doctrine. Falcone v. Middlesex Co. Med. Soc., 82 N.J.Super. 133, 196 A.2d 808 (Law Div.1964), affirmed 87 N.J.Super. 486, 210 A.2d 78 (App.Div.1965), modified 47 N.J. 92, 219 A.2d 505 (1966). The same reasoning compels the conclusion that the present actions, had they been brought in New Jersey, would be barred. They are merely different theories advanced by the plaintiff for recovery upon the same cause of action which was the...