Doe v. City of New York
| Decision Date | 28 January 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 527,D,527 |
| Citation | 15 F.3d 264 |
| Parties | 63 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1117, 63 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 42,819, 62 USLW 2496, 9 Indiv.Empl.Rts.Cas. (BNA) 360, 22 Media L. Rep. 1246 In the Matter of the Claim of John DOE (this name being fictitious), Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK; The City of New York Commission on Human Rights; Dennis DeLeon, as Commissioner/Chair of the City of New York Commission on Human Rights and Individually and Karen Arthur, as an employee of the City of New York Commission on Human Rights and Individually, Defendants-Appellees. ocket 93-7596. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Marla Hassner, Chadbourne & Park, New York, N.Y., for plaintiff-appellant.
Elaine Rothenberg, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York (O. Peter Sherwood, Larry A. Sonnenshein, and Neil M. Corwin, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, of counsel), for defendant-appellee.
Before: OAKES, KEARSE, and ALTIMARI, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff-appellant John Doe, so identified in order to protect his privacy and anonymity, appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Griesa, J.) dismissing his civil rights complaint brought under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1988) 825 F.Supp. 36. Doe brought the action against the defendant-appellees City of New York, the City of New York Commission on Human Rights (the "Commission"), and certain employees of the city and of the Commission. Doe alleged The district court dismissed the complaint on the city's motion for dismissal pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), finding that the settlement was a public record in which there could be no reasonable expectation of privacy. After finding that there was no constitutional violation, the court also dismissed the remaining pendent state claims for lack of federal jurisdiction. Doe now appeals, arguing that the district court erred in finding that the settlement was inherently a public record as a matter of law. For the reasons stated below, we agree, and we reverse the judgment of the district court and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
that the defendant-appellees (collectively herein the "city") violated his constitutional right to privacy by revealing to the public the details of a conciliation agreement settling a discrimination complaint lodged against Delta Air Lines, Inc. ("Delta") by Doe with the Commission. Doe argued that this disclosure by the city, made pursuant to city law, caused him to be the victim of discrimination and resulted in severe embarrassment and ostracism. He alleged a violation of his constitutional right to privacy, actionable under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, and also raised various pendent state claims.
In the summer of 1989, Doe learned that he was infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus ("HIV"), the virus that eventually causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ("AIDS"). According to Doe, his HIV status was an intensely personal matter which he did not share even with his family, his friends, or his colleagues at work for fear of ostracism and discrimination. Also according to Doe, the only people he informed about his condition were his medical doctor, his attorney, and the individuals involved in the prosecution of this lawsuit.
Doe was an employee of Pan American World Airways ("Pan Am") during the time of Pan Am's 1991 bankruptcy and Delta's acquisition of many of Pan Am's services. Doe, along with thousands of other former Pan Am employees, interviewed with Delta for a position. He was not offered one. On February 10, 1992, Doe filed a complaint with the Commission against Delta, charging that Delta had failed to hire him because he was a single gay male and because of Delta's suspicion that Doe was HIV seropositive.
On August 3, 1992, the Commission, Delta, and Doe entered into a "Conciliation Agreement" ("the agreement," "the settlement," or "the Conciliation Agreement") settling Doe's claims against Delta. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Delta hired Doe as a customer services agent. The agreement also awarded Doe back pay, seniority privileges, and a monetary settlement. Because of the sensitive nature of Doe's situation, the agreement included the following confidentiality clause:
Except as required by any court or agency or upon the written consent of Doe or his attorney, Delta and the [Commission's Law Enforcement] Bureau agree not to disclose Doe's given name through any oral or written communication which identifies Doe by his given name as the plaintiff in this lawsuit or as a settling party to this Conciliation Agreement to any person that is not a party to or involved with this proceeding.
Despite the above confidentiality clause, on August 6, 1992 the Commission issued a press release disclosing the terms of the Conciliation Agreement, without the knowledge or consent of Doe or Doe's counsel. On August 7 and 8, 1992, various New York newspapers published articles based upon the press release, describing the nature of the settlement. Although the press release did not expressly identify Doe by his given name, Doe alleges that it did contain sufficient information to allow those who knew or worked with Doe to identify him as the individual described in the release. Doe contends that, as a result of the press coverage, his colleagues at Delta became aware of his HIV status, causing him to suffer discrimination and embarrassment at work as well as the emotional manifestation of extreme anxiety.
Doe subsequently commenced the present action under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, alleging that the Commission breached his constitutional right to privacy by non-consensually disclosing In an opinion dated June 14, 1993, the district court granted the city's motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The court found that Doe's HIV status had been made a matter of public record once Doe filed a complaint with the Commission. The Court cited to the Administrative Code of the City of New York, Sec. 8-115(d) (Cum.Supp.1991) ("Administrative Code"), which provides that "[e]very conciliation agreement shall be made public unless the complainant and respondent agree otherwise and the commission determines that disclosure is not required to further the purposes of this chapter." Based on this provision, the district court further opined:
his HIV status to the public in the press release. Asserting supplemental jurisdiction, Doe also claimed, among other things, that the press release breached the terms of the Conciliation Agreement, constituting a breach of contract.
Plaintiff's proceeding before the Commission and the resulting conciliation agreement would have been a matter of public record but for the non-disclosure provision of the agreement. The constitutional right to privacy does not extend to matters of public record. See Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469, 494-495, 95 S.Ct. 1029, 1045-1047, 43 L.Ed.2d 328 (1975); Scheetz v. The Morning Call, Inc., 946 F.2d 202, 207 (3d Cir.1991). Whatever right of confidentiality plaintiff had came from the contract he entered into with Delta and the Commission, and stems from the contract not the Constitution. There is a difference of view among the parties as to the proper interpretation of the contract. What needs to be litigated here is the issue of contract interpretation [under state law].
Based on the above reasoning, Doe's cause of action under Sec. 1983 was dismissed and the remaining state causes of action were dismissed due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Doe now appeals, arguing that the district court erred in finding that his HIV status was a matter of public record.
We review the district court's dismissal of the Doe's complaint under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) de novo. See Grimes v. Ohio Edison Co., 992 F.2d 455, 456 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 467, 126 L.Ed.2d 419 (1993). On this review, we must "view the pleadings in the light most favorable to, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of, the non-moving party." Madonna v. United States, 878 F.2d 62, 65 (2d Cir.1989). The allegations contained in the complaint must be accepted as true, and the complaint may not be dismissed "unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Id. (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). Where the complaint involves a civil rights violation, as it does here, the standard is to be "applied with particular strictness." Branum v. Clark, 927 F.2d 698, 705 (2d Cir.1991) (citations omitted).
The district court essentially found that any right of privacy that Doe possessed was waived by his bringing a claim to the Commission, because city Administrative Code required the public dissemination of all settlements entered pursuant to the Commission's authority. Our inquiry, therefore, centers on two important questions: (1) whether Doe had a constitutional right to privacy in his HIV status; (2) and whether that right was waived by his bringing a discrimination complaint to the Commission, thereby making his HIV status a matter of public record.
We must first determine whether an individual such as Doe has a constitutional right to privacy in his HIV status. Doe misinterprets the district court's decision to mean that the court found no constitutional right to privacy in such information. In fact, the district court actually held that such a right existed, but that Doe had essentially waived any right to privacy by bringing the action to a public agency bound by law to reveal to the public any conciliation agreements made pursuant to its authority. Similarly, the city does not contend in its brief Individuals who are infected with the HIV...
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