Galvin v. Lloyd

• Citation: 663 F. Supp. 1572
• Decision Date: 13 July 1987
• Docket Number: Civ. No. H-86-348(AHN).
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: Catherine A. GALVIN v. Douglas LLOYD, Stephen Downing, Harry Gaucher, James Harkins, Raymond James, and Mark Shipman, individually and in their capacities as members of the Connecticut Commission on Medicolegal Investigations

663 F. Supp. 1572

Catherine A. GALVIN v. Douglas LLOYD, Stephen Downing, Harry Gaucher, James Harkins, Raymond James, and Mark Shipman, individually and in their capacities as members of the Connecticut Commission on Medicolegal Investigations

Civ. No. H-86-348(AHN).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

July 13, 1987.

Joan C. Harrington, Koskoff, Koskoff & Beider, Bridgeport, Conn., for plaintiff.

Richard J. Lynch, Lisa B. Oliveri, Office of the Atty. Gen., Hartford, Conn., for defendants.

RULING ON MOTIONS TO DISMISS

NEVAS, District Judge.

On March 19, 1986, the Connecticut Commission on Medicolegal Investigations ("Commission") announced that Dr. Catherine Galvin had been removed as Chief Medical Examiner ("CME") for the State of Connecticut. The Commission then appointed another pathologist to the vacancy. Dr. Galvin brought suit on April 2, 1986, against some members of the Commission in both their official and individual capacities. The plaintiff alleges that her removal by the defendants violated federal and state law, and she seeks injunctive, declaratory, and monetary relief. The defendants have moved to dismiss pursuant to Rules 12(b)(2) and 12(b)(6), Fed.R.Civ.P. For the reasons stated below, the defendants' motions¹ are granted in part and denied in part.

Facts and Procedural Posture

The facts alleged are as follows: The Commission, acting under Section 19a-404 of the Connecticut General Statutes,² appointed Dr. Galvin, a forensic pathologist, to the post of CME on February 9, 1981. She served continuously in that capacity until her removal in March of 1986. On March 4, 1986, a Connecticut television station broadcast allegations about Dr. Galvin that were made by an employee of her office. In response to these allegations, the chairperson of the Commission, defendant Dr. Douglas Lloyd, requested that the plaintiff take accrued vacation time. On March 6th, Dr. Galvin began vacation leave but continued to sign autopsy reports and other work-related documents. The employee's allegations and the plaintiff's dismissal on March 19th were the subject of substantial media coverage.

The plaintiff alleges violations of 42 U.S.C. Section 1983; the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; Article 1, Section 10 of the Connecticut Constitution;³ and section 19a-404 of the Connecticut General Statutes. Jurisdiction is predicated on section 1983, 28 U.S.C. Section 1331, and the doctrine of pendent jurisdiction. She alleges that the defendants deprived her of constitutionally-protected property and liberty interests when they terminated her employment without due process of law. The plaintiff seeks reinstatement to her position as CME; a declaratory judgment that she was wrongfully removed from this position; back pay, front pay, and compensatory damages; an injunction precluding the appointment of any other individual as CME; and costs and attorneys' fees.

Discussion

A. Rule 12 Standards

A Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss is properly granted only where "it is clear that no relief could be granted under any set of facts that could be proved consistent with the allegations." Yale Auto Parts, Inc. v. Johnson, 758 F.2d 54, 58 (2d Cir.1985) (quoting Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 2232, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984)). Moreover, in ruling on a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, all well-pleaded factual allegations set forth by the plaintiff must be taken as true. Miree v. DeKalb County, 433 U.S. 25, 27 n. 2, 97 S.Ct. 2490, 2492 n. 2, 53 L.Ed.2d 557 (1977). In addition, the allegations of the complaint must be construed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974).

The plaintiff and the defendants have presented facts and documentary proof outside the complaint. Rule 12(b), Fed.R.Civ.P., states in pertinent part:

If, on a motion asserting the defense numbered (6) to dismiss for failure of the pleading to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, matters outside the pleading are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment and disposed of as provided in Rule 56, and all parties shall be given reasonable opportunity to present all material made pertinent to such a motion by Rule 56.

This provision expressly permits the court to examine matters in addition to the pleadings when considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. If such additional matters are examined, the motion will be construed as if it had been brought for summary judgment under Rule 56, Fed.R.Civ.P. The court has complete discretion in deciding whether to accept such matters, but once it does, conversion to a Rule 56 motion is mandatory. See Carter v. Stanton, 405 U.S. 669, 671, 92 S.Ct. 1232, 1234, 31 L.Ed.2d 569 (1972) (per curiam). See generally 5 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil Section 1366 (1969 & Supp.1986) ("Wright & Miller"). The court elects not to draw on these extraneous matters in fashioning its ruling. Thus, the defendants' 12(b)(6) motion shall not be treated as one for summary judgment, and the court will limit its analysis to the four corners of the complaint.

B. Fourteenth Amendment

The Fourteenth Amendment due process clause attaches only if a state action impairs a person's "life, liberty, or property." Where this action does not deny life, liberty, or property, the government need not provide a procedure to determine the fairness of the impairment, no matter how adverse the effect of the action on the individual. The terms life, liberty, and property are not defined in the Constitution, and the Supreme Court has narrowly construed them. In the instant case, the plaintiff alleges that the defendants' state action deprived her of protected property and liberty interests without due process.

(i) Alleged Property Interest

Property interests protected by procedural due process are not created by the Constitution. "Rather, they are created and their dimensions are defined by existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state law.... Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2709, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). In Roth, the court held that a non-tenured teacher who was refused employment after expiration of a one-year contract had no claim of entitlement to the job because state law left the retention of such teachers in the total discretion of school officials. Id. at 578, 92 S.Ct. at 2709. The Court noted that the teacher "surely had an abstract concern in being rehired, but he did not have a property interest sufficient to require the University authorities to give him a hearing when they declined to renew his contract of employment." Id. (emphasis in original). Cases decided after Roth have re-emphasized the principle that the meaning of local law is crucial when deciding whether a property interest is protected by due process. See, e.g., Bishop v. Wood, 426 U.S. 341, 344 n. 7, 96 S.Ct. 2074, 2077 n. 7, 48 L.Ed.2d 684 (1976). Though a state may create a property interest, it cannot define the procedures for terminating that interest unless the state procedures meet or exceed the minimum procedural requirements of federal due process. Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 539-42, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 1492-93, 84 L.Ed.2d 494 (1985).

The Commission appointed Dr. Galvin to the CME position pursuant to Section 19a-404 of the General Statutes, which states in relevant part: "His term of office and annual salary shall be fixed by the commission and he may be removed by the commission only for cause." Conn.Gen.Stat. Section 19a-404. The plaintiff argues that this provision, by use of the phrase "only for cause," creates an entitlement to employment that can be divested only after due process safeguards are satisfied. Plaintiff's Brief in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss ("Plaintiff's Brief") at 17-20.

The Court has found that a state statute permitting employment dismissal "only for cause" creates a property interest protected by due process: "The hallmark of property ... is an individual entitlement grounded in state law, which cannot be removed except `for cause.'" Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Co., 455 U.S. 422, 430, 102 S.Ct. 1148, 1155, 71 L.Ed.2d 265 (1982) (citations omitted). See also Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565, 573, 95 S.Ct. 729, 735, 42 L.Ed.2d 725 (1975) ("absent sufficient cause for discharge," state employee "may demand the procedural protections of due process").

The defendants do not dispute that section 19a-404 creates a protectable property interest, but they argue that it is inapplicable to the plaintiff because her fixed term expired before the Commission made its formal announcement on March 19, 1987. Memorandum of Defendants in Support of Motions to Dismiss ("Defendants' Memorandum") at 5-21. According to the defendants, the Commission appointed Dr. Galvin to a five-year term that ended on February 10, 1986. Thus, they argue, the plaintiff had no property interest entitling her to due process when she was discharged as a holdover on March 19, 1986. Id. at 12. The plaintiff counters that section 19a-404 creates an indefinite term of appointment where removal of a CME can be made only for cause. Plaintiff's Brief at 17-20; Complaint para. 13. The parties have not cited, nor has the court located, cases interpreting the disputed language in the provision. At some future point in this litigation, the court may have to address the meaning of section 19a-404, but for the present the court denies on other grounds the defendants' challenge to the legal sufficiency of the plaintiff's property interest claim.

Protected property interests may arise from "independent sources" other than state statutory law. Roth, 408 U.S. at 577, 92 S.Ct. at 2709. The plaintiff alleges that at the time the defendants removed her from office, "the...