Eason v. Clark County School Dist.
| Decision Date | 11 September 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-17377.,No. 00-17370.,No. 01-15692.,No. 01-15749.,00-17370.,00-17377.,01-15692.,01-15749. |
| Citation | 303 F.3d 1137 |
| Parties | Derrick EASON; Serena Eason, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT; Robert T. Henry; Mila Kitt; Beverly J. Minnear, Defendants-Appellees. Derrick Eason; Serena Eason, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Clark County School District; Robert T. Henry; Mila Kitt; Beverly J. Minnear, Defendants-Appellees. Shawn Witte, a Minor, by his next friend and Parent, Teresa Witte, Plaintiff-Appellant, and Teresa Witte, Plaintiff, v. Clark County School District; Robert T. Henry; Macke Woodard; Beverly J. Minnear, Defendants-Appellees. Shawn Witte, a Minor, by his next friend and Parent, Teresa Witte, Plaintiff-Appellant, and Teresa Witte, Plaintiff, v. Clark County School District; Robert T. Henry; Macke Woodard; Beverly J. Minnear, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Barbara E. Buckley (argued) and Sara V. Winter, Clark County Legal Services Program, Inc., Las Vegas, NV, for the plaintiffs-appellants.
Rick D. Roskelley, Hicks & Walt, Las Vegas, NV, for the defendants-appellees.
Andrew J. Kahn, McCracken, Stemerman, Bowen & Holsberry, Las Vegas, NV, for the amicus curiae Las Vegas Interfaith Council for Worker Justice.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada; Roger L. Hunt, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. Nos. CV-97-01608-RLH, CV-97-01608-RLH(LR1), CV-98-00368-RLH and CV-98-00368-RLH/LRL.
Before: REINHARDT and FISHER, Circuit Judges, and MOLLOY, District Judge.*
Shawn Witte and Derrick Eason appeal the dismissal of their actions alleging severe abuse and excessive corporal punishment inflicted by educators at Variety School, a public school attended exclusively by students with disabilities, in Nevada's Clark County School District ("District"). Shawn and Derrick both sued the District and individual District personnel for violations of their constitutional rights to substantive due process and equal protection under § 1983, the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and state law. In both cases, the district court held that all defendants were entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity, dismissed all claims and taxed costs against Shawn and Derrick. We reverse the dismissal of the § 1983 and state law claims against all defendants, as well as the ADA and Rehabilitation Act claims against the District, because the Clark County School District is not an "arm of the state" and therefore does not enjoy Eleventh Amendment immunity. Plaintiffs do not appeal the dismissal of the ADA and Rehabilitation Act claims against the individual defendants.
Shawn Witte, who is about 13 years old, has been diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional problems. For about three years, he attended Variety School, a public school in Nevada's Clark County School District attended exclusively by students with disabilities. He alleges that he "suffered repeated physical, psychological and verbal abuse at the hands of District personnel pursuant to policies either approved by the District or ratified by the District's failure to take action." The alleged severe pattern of abuse included the following: Shawn was force fed oatmeal, to which he is allergic, as well as oatmeal mixed in with his own vomit; he was strangled so he would run faster despite a physical deformity in his feet and legs; he was often subjected to the painful "take down procedure," in which he was pinned to the ground, his arms and legs forcibly crossed behind him, while a teacher applied pressure to his buttocks or spine; he was forced to run at high speeds on a treadmill with weights tied to his ankles; his food was thrown away if he did not use utensils properly; and he was squirted with water if unable to stay on task for long periods of time.
On March 2, 1998, Shawn, by his next friend and parent, Teresa Witte, sued the Clark County School District; Robert T. Henry, Director of Program Development in the District; Beverly J. Minnear, principal of Variety School, and Woodard Macke, a classroom teacher at Variety School, for violations of his constitutional rights to substantive due process and equal protection under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 794; Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1231 et seq. and state law.
The district court dismissed all claims against all defendants on the ground that defendants were immune from suit in federal court under the Eleventh Amendment and subsequently awarded costs of $6,879.87 to defendants.1 Shawn timely appealed both orders.
Derrick Eason, who is about 12 years old, has been diagnosed with autism, cognitive impairment and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He attended Variety School from 1992, when he was three, to August 1997. Like Shawn, Derrick alleges that he suffered severe abuse at the hands of Variety School and District personnel, including being subjected to the "take down" procedure, being sprayed in the face with refrigerated water, being forced to run or walk on the treadmill with weights on his ankles or around a table continuously, having the teacher scream degrading comments at him, having numbing or noxious solutions applied to his mouth and lips to prevent him from biting himself and having vinegar put in his food.
Derrick, by his next friend and parent, Serena Eason, also sued the District, Henry, Minnear and Mila Kitt, Derrick's teacher during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 school years. The district court dismissed all claims against all defendants on the basis of Eleventh Amendment immunity and later awarded costs of $8,484.62 to defendants. Derrick timely appealed both orders.
We review de novo the district court's Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal, "accepting as true all well-pleaded allegations of fact in the complaint and construing them in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs." Zimmerman v. City of Oakland, 255 F.3d 734, 737 (9th Cir.2001). "We review de novo the issue of whether a party is immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment." Sofamor Danek Group v. Brown, 124 F.3d 1179, 1183 n. 2 (9th Cir. 1997).
The Eleventh Amendment states:
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
U.S. Const. amend. XI. The amendment has been construed to bar suits by citizens against their own states, Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 276, 106 S.Ct. 2932, 92 L.Ed.2d 209 (1986); Pennhurst v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 100, 104 S.Ct. 900, 79 L.Ed.2d 67 (1984); Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 18, 10 S.Ct. 504, 33 L.Ed. 842 (1890), and "[i]t has long been settled that the reference to actions `against one of the United States' encompasses not only actions in which a State is actually named as the defendant, but also certain actions against state agencies and state instrumentalities." Regents of the Univ. of Calif. v. Doe, 519 U.S. 425, 429, 117 S.Ct. 900, 137 L.Ed.2d 55 (1997) (citations omitted) ( that California state university enjoys Eleventh Amendment immunity). In contrast, the Eleventh Amendment does not extend to counties and municipal corporations. Lincoln County v. Luning, 133 U.S. 529, 10 S.Ct. 363, 33 L.Ed. 766 (1890) (); see also Lake Country Estates, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 440 U.S. 391, 401, 99 S.Ct. 1171, 59 L.Ed.2d 401 (1979) (). Cf. Moor v. County of Alameda, 411 U.S. 693, 717-719, 93 S.Ct. 1785, 36 L.Ed.2d 596 (1973) (), overruled in part by Monell v. Dept. of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978) ().
The central question in this case is whether the Clark County School District is an "arm of the state," entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity. Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 280, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977). The Supreme Court has mentioned in passing that the Eleventh Amendment does not afford "local school boards" immunity from suit, Missouri v. Jenkins, 495 U.S. 33, n. 20, 110 S.Ct. 1651, 109 L.Ed.2d 31 (1990), and in Mt. Healthy, the Court held an Ohio school district subject to suit because it was "more like a county or city than ... like an arm of the State." Id. at 280, 97 S.Ct. 568. Moreover, most courts have held that school districts are not entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity.2
In Mitchell v. Los Angeles, 861 F.2d 198 (9th Cir.1989), we articulated five factors to determine whether an agency is an arm of the state: (1) "whether a money judgment would be satisfied out of state funds," (2) "whether the entity performs central governmental functions," (3) "whether the entity may sue or be sued," (4) "whether the entity has the power to take property in its own name or only the name of the state" and (5) "the corporate status of the entity." Id. at 201. We consider each of these factors in turn.
The first Mitchell factor — whether a money judgment will be satisfied out of state funds — is the most important. See e.g., Edelman v....
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