Danos v. Jones, Civil Action No. 09-6299.

• Decision Date: 08 July 2010
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 09-6299.
• Citation: 721 F.Supp.2d 491
• Parties: Rhonda DANOS, Plaintiff, v. Edith JONES, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, individually and in her official capacity as presiding officer of the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana

721 F.Supp.2d 491

Rhonda DANOS, Plaintiff,

v.Edith JONES, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, individually and in her official capacity as presiding officer of the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 09-6299.

United States District Court,E.D. Louisiana.

July 8, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

Samuel S. Dalton, Attorney at Law, Jefferson, LA, Remy Voisin Starns, Attorney at Law, New Orleans, LA, for Plaintiff.

Brigham J. Bowen, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

W. HAROLD ALBRITTON, Senior Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This cause is before the court on a Motion to Dismiss (Doc. # 43), filed by the Defendants on May 19, 2010. The Plaintiff was given an opportunity to respond to the Motion and did so, and the Defendants, with the consent of the Plaintiff, sought and obtained permission of the court to file a Reply in support of their Motion. To aid in its understanding of the parties' positions, the court held oral argument on the Motion to Dismiss on June 24, 2010.

The Plaintiff, Rhonda Danos, filed a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment on September 15, 2009. The Defendants are the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit, Edith Jones, Carolyn Dineen King, Jerry E. Smith, W. Eugene Davis, Rhesa H. Barksdale, Edith Brown Clement, Priscilla Owen, Jennifer Walker Elrod, Leslie H. Southwick, Sarah Vance, Neal B. Biggers Jr., Louis G. Guirola, Sam R. Cummings, Hayden Head, and Fred Biery, all of whom are judges named individually and in their capacities as members of the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit.

Danos seeks a Declaratory Judgment, reinstatement of her employment, back pay and benefits, and attorneys' fees and costs.

The Defendants have moved in all capacities to dismiss all claims in the Complaint for Declaratory Judgment for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim.

For reasons to be discussed, the Motion to Dismiss is due to be GRANTED for lack of jurisdiction. ¹

II. MOTION TO DISMISS STANDARD

A Rule 12(b)(1) motion challenges the district court's subject matter jurisdiction and takes one of two forms: a “facial attack” or a “factual attack.” A “facial attack” on the complaint requires the court to assess whether the plaintiff has alleged a sufficient basis for subject matter jurisdiction. Lawrence v. Dunbar, 919 F.2d 1525, 1529 (11th Cir.1990). A “factual attack,” on the other hand, challenges the existence of subject matter jurisdiction based on matters outside the pleadings. Lawrence, 919 F.2d at 1529. Under a factual attack, the court may hear conflicting evidence and decide the factual issues that determine jurisdiction. Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Collins, 921 F.2d 1237, 1243 (11th Cir.1991). The burden of proof on a Rule 12(b)(1) motion is on the party averring jurisdiction. Thomson v. Gaskill, 315 U.S. 442, 446, 62 S.Ct. 673, 86 L.Ed. 951 (1942)

III. FACTS

The allegations of the Plaintiff's Complaint for Declaratory Judgment are as follows:

Rhonda Danos (“Danos”), the Plaintiff in this case, was employed as a secretary to United States District Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr. for nearly fourteen years. She was terminated from her employment on September 19, 2008. In this case, Danos challenges the order issued by the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit pursuant to which she was terminated.

In May of 2007, the Department of Justice filed a formal Complaint of Judicial Misconduct Concerning the Honorable G. Thomas Porteous, Jr. with Defendant Edith H. Jones, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Department of Justice disclosed that it had chosen not to prosecute Judge Porteous. In November 2007, a Special Investigatory Committee report recommended that the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit (“Judicial Council”) refer the matter to the Judicial Conference of the United States. In December 2007, the matter was certified to the Judicial Conference of the United States.

In June of 2008, the Judicial Conference of the United States certified to the House of Representatives the Judicial Conference's determination that impeachment of Judge Porteous may be warranted. The Judicial Conference also authorized an invitation to the Judicial Council to decide whether to suspend proceedings regarding sanctions for misconduct, to issue a public reprimand, and to direct that no further cases be assigned to Judge Porteous for two years or until final action regarding impeachment and removal by Congress, if earlier than two years.

Danos has incorporated into her Complaint letters signed by the Honorable Edith H. Jones in which the Judicial Council refers to disciplinary action contemplated by the Judicial Council against Judge Porteous, based in part on the Judicial Conference's recommendation, but also refers to the suspension of his power to employ staff.

A majority of the Judicial Council voted to issue, and the Judicial Council ordered, a public reprimand of Judge Porteous, pursuant to Rule 20(b)(1)(D)(i), and ordered that no new cases be assigned to Judge Porteous for two years from the date of the Order and Public Reprimand or until Congress takes final action on the impeachment proceedings, whichever occurs earlier. Additionally, the Judicial Council ordered that, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 332(d)(1), Judge Porteous's authority to employ staff be suspended for the period of time during which his new cases would be suspended. See Exhibit A to the Complaint. Danos was terminated pursuant to this order.

Judge Porteous was impeached by the House of Representatives on March 11, 2010. His trial by the Senate has been scheduled, but has not yet occurred.

IV. DISCUSSION

At the outset, the court notes that while the individual Defendants have been named in both their individual and official capacities in the caption of the Complaint for Declaratory Judgment, no claims are asserted against the individual Defendants in their individual capacities. Furthermore, Danos clarified at oral argument that she does not intend to pursue claims against the individual Defendants, but only named the individuals in an attempt to assert an ultra vires theory. Accordingly, the court interprets the Complaint as only stating claims against the Judicial Council and the individual Defendants in their official capacities, which the Defendants have moved to dismiss based on sovereign immunity. The court now turns to the sovereign immunity defense as to those claims.

Sovereign Immunity

In a lawsuit against the United States, or an agency or official of the United States, the United States must waive its sovereign immunity and consent to suit for a court to exercise subject matter jurisdiction in the case. U.S. v. Mitchell, 463 U.S. 206, 212, 103 S.Ct. 2961, 77 L.Ed.2d 580 (1983). There is no dispute in this case, and counsel for Danos conceded at oral argument, that the members of the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit are federal officials protected by sovereign immunity. See, e.g., Shemonsky v. Vanaskie, No. 04CV2759, 2005 WL 2031140 (M.D.Pa. Aug. 16, 2005) (sovereign immunity barred claim against Judicial Council of the Third Circuit). The Defendants contend, therefore, that the claims against the Defendants in their official capacities, as well as the Judicial Council, are due to be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on the basis of sovereign immunity.

There is apparently no dispute that the Judicial Council is entitled to sovereign immunity. The Plaintiff, Danos, however, contends that her claims against the members of the Judicial Council are not barred by sovereign immunity because they fit within the ultra vires exception to sovereign immunity. The ultra vires exception was recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States as an exception to sovereign immunity which allows for suit against federal officials in limited circumstances. See Larson v. Domestic & Foreign Commerce Corp., 337 U.S. 682, 69 S.Ct. 1457, 93 L.Ed. 1628 (1949). The Supreme Court in Larson explained that the ultra vires exception applies in two situations: (1) where an officer's powers are limited by statute, but his actions go beyond those limitations, or (2) if his actions are unconstitutional. Larson, 337 U.S. at 689-90, 69 S.Ct. 1457. Under these circumstances, the officials' actions are considered individual and not of the sovereign. Id. at 689, 69 S.Ct. 1457.

The Defendants dispute that the ultra vires exception to sovereign immunity is still a viable exception to sovereign immunity in the Fifth Circuit, but alternatively argue that, even if the exception can apply in cases in the Fifth Circuit, it does not apply in this case.

In support of the argument that the Larson ultra vires exception no longer applies in the Fifth Circuit, the Defendants cite Geyen v. Marsh, 775 F.2d 1303 (5th Cir.1985). In Geyen, the court declined to apply the ultra vires theory, finding that the 1976 Amendments to the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”), did away with this exception. Id. at 1307. The court used the following broad language:

The principal purpose of this amendment was to do away with the ultra vires doctrine and other fictions surrounding sovereign immunity. As the House Report notes, “Actions challenging official conduct are intrinsically against the United States and are now treated as such for all practical purposes.” H.R.Rep. No. 1656, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 11 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad. News 6121, 6131. Were we to hold, as amicus urges, that Geyen's action is not against the United States, we would revive the technical complexities that Congress sought to eliminate in 1976. We decline to do so. We hold that Geyen's action challenging his activation and the denial of his hardship applications is against the United States and subject to § 2401(a)'s six-year limitation.

Id.

If Geyen applies in this case, the claims...