Best v. District of Columbia

• Decision Date: 10 August 1990
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 89-3382-LFO.
• Citation: 743 F. Supp. 44
• Parties: Alton A. BEST, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

743 F. Supp. 44

Alton A. BEST, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 89-3382-LFO.

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

August 10, 1990.

Stephen L. Braga, Jay L. Alexander, Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, Washington, D.C., for plaintiffs.

Harry Toussaint Alexander, Jr., Asst. Corp. Counsel, D.C., Correctional Litigation Section, Washington, D.C., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

OBERDORFER, District Judge.

Plaintiffs bring this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the common law of the District of Columbia, alleging violations of their privacy rights. Plaintiffs are 23 D.C.Code offenders who were videotaped without their consent while they were hand-cuffed and chained by the feet and around their waists. Defendants move to dismiss or for summary judgment. Defendants have also moved for a protective order limiting discovery pending decision on the Motion to Dismiss. For the reasons stated herein, the defendant's motion to dismiss or for summary judgment will be denied and the motion for a protective order is rendered moot.

I.

Plaintiffs were inmates at the Lorton Reformatory in Lorton Virginia. During the night of December 14, 1988, plaintiffs were roused from their cells without warning and taken to a Lorton gymnasium where they were chained in hand-cuffs, leg-irons, and belly chains. At approximately 2:30 a.m. on the morning of December 15, 1988, plaintiffs were transported to Dulles Airport, placed aboard a plane, and flown to the state of Washington where they were placed in the Spokane County Jail in Spokane, Washington. They were accompanied by Department of Corrections personnel, including defendant Officer Raymond Ballard and defendant Patricia Britton, the Coordinator of Special Projects. From time to time during the flight, defendant Ballard walked through the rear of the plane where plaintiffs were seated and videotaped plaintiffs. Some of the plaintiffs objected, some hid their faces, some tried to hide their faces but the hand-cuffs and chains prevented them from doing so, and others were sleeping.

II.

The government moves to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) or in the alternative for summary judgment. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) permits dismissal of a claim only if, construing the allegations in the complaint in favor of the plaintiff, it is beyond doubt that plaintiff can prove no set of facts that would justify relief. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). Summary judgment is proper only when there is no genuine issue of material fact. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56.

Certain of the claims in defendants' Motion are appropriately treated under summary judgment because defendants have submitted, attached to their Motion, a "Statement of Material Facts not in Dispute" and a "Declaration of Patricia B. Britton," which constitute matters outside the pleadings. When such matters are considered, a motion for dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) is treated as a summary judgment motion pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b). With respect to those claims in defendants' Motion to which the Statement and Declaration do not apply, the Motion will be treated as a Motion to Dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6).

III.

Defendants' initial contention is that the District of Columbia is not a suable entity under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Section 1983 provides:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any state or Territory or the District of Columbia deprives any citizen of their rights under the Constitution or laws shall be liable to the party injured ...

The Supreme Court has clearly held that a municipality is a "person" and may be held liable under § 1983. Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), overruling Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 187-91, 81 S.Ct. 473, 484-86, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961). In contrast, however, the Court has recently held that a state is not a "person" within the meaning of § 1983 and may not be sued under that section. Will v. Michigan Dept. of State Police, ___ U.S. ___, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989).

The District of Columbia is a "body corporate for municipal purposes." D.C.Code § 1-102(a). In addition, the District has been treated as a municipality by courts. See, e.g., Haynesworth v. Miller, 820 F.2d 1245, 1271-72 (D.C.Cir.1987). The question therefore is whether, as asserted by defendants, the District of Columbia also qualifies as a state for purposes of the definition of "person" under § 1983. Will does not so hold. The Court's reasoning in Will was based largely on Eleventh Amendment considerations and the Court clearly limited its holding to entities protected by the Eleventh Amendment:

Prior to Monell the Court had reasoned that if municipalities were not persons then surely states also were not. And Monell overruled Monroe, undercutting that logic. But it does not follow that if municipalities are persons then so are States. States are protected by the Eleventh Amendment while municipalities are not, and we consequently limited our holding in Monell "to local government units which are not considered part of the State for Eleventh Amendment purposes." Conversely, our holding here does not cast any doubt on Monell, and applies only to States or governmental entities that are considered "arms of the State" for Eleventh Amendment purposes.

Will, 109 S.Ct. at 2311 (citations omitted); see also id. at 2309. The Eleventh Amendment, and thus Will, does not apply to the District of Columbia. See Committee of Blind Vendors v. District of Columbia, 695 F.Supp. 1234, 1241, n. 6 (D.D.C.1988).

The Supreme Court also has held recently that territories are not "persons" for purposes of § 1983. Ngiraingas v. Sanchez, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 1737, 109 L.Ed.2d 163 (1990). As with states, the Court's rationale with respect to territories does not apply to the District of Columbia, which is a municipality. The Court's holding in Ngiraingas was based on its interpretation of Congress' 1874 redefinition of the term "person" in § 2 of the Dictionary Act, 16 Stat. 431, from "bodies politic and corporate" to "partnerships and corporations." Id. at 1742-43. Legislative history led the Court to conclude that territories were not considered corporations at the time. The Court noted, though, that the reasoning in Ngiraingas "is fully consistent with its decision in Monell," since the legislative history indicated that corporations did include municipal corporations, which were considered "persons." Id at 1743, n. 11. The District of Columbia, as a municipal corporation, is not subject to the same considerations applied to territories in Ngiraingas.

Defendants also argue that the jurisdictional statute associated with § 1983, 28 U.S.C. § 1343, establishes that the District is a state for purposes of § 1983. Section 1343(a)(3) provides for original jurisdiction in the district courts for any action "to redress the deprivation, under color of any State law, statute, ordinance, regulation or usage of any Constitutional or federal right." Section 1343(b)(1) states: "For purposes of this section ... the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a State...." Defendants' argument that, because the District of Columbia is considered a state for purposes of § 1343, it must be one for purposes of the definition of "person" under § 1983 fails for several reasons.

First, section 1343(b) explicitly states that its definition of the District is for purposes of that section; there is no evidence that it is appropriately applicable to any other section. Second, as noted by plaintiffs, if § 1343's definition of the District applied to § 1983 then the language in § 1983 applying to any violation "under color of law of any state or Territory or the District of Columbia" would be redundant. Third, § 1343(b) was added to § 1343 in 1979 at the same time § 1983 was amended to include the District of Columbia, thereby providing liability for actions taken "under color of the laws of any state or Territory or the District of Columbia." Pub.L. No. 96-170, §§ 1, 3, 93 Stat. 1284 (1979). The rationale for both amendments was to include deprivations of federal law taken "under color of" District of Columbia law rather than to define the District as a "person" or not a "person." See H.R. Rep. No 548, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. 1, 2-3, reprinted in 1979 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2609. And finally, there is no reason to extend the definition of the District of Columbia as a state from § 1343(b) to the meaning of "person" under § 1983, particularly in light of the fact that the District is not subject to Eleventh Amendment or other sovereign immunity and thus the rationale for the holding that states are not "persons" does not apply to it.

Plaintiffs contend that when Congress amended § 1983 to add District of Columbia law to its provision for actions taken under color of the law of "any state or Territory or the District of Columbia," it intended to subject the District of Columbia to liability as a "person." The House Report accompanying the amendment does include some indication of congressional intent to subject the District to the same liability as municipalities under Monell, stating for example that Monell "leaves the District of Columbia government and its officers as the only persons in the United States or its territories who are not subject to Section 1983 liability." Id at 2, 1979 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2610. This legislative history supports the argument that the District may be considered a "person" though it is not by itself sufficient to make that finding, since, as noted above, whether persons acting "under color of" an entity's laws are liable and whether that entity is liable for its actions as a "person" are two separate issues, as...