Jaghory v. New York State Dept. of Educ.

• Decision Date: 15 December 1997
• Docket Number: 97-7037,Nos. 168,s. 168
• Citation: 1997 WL 765607,131 F.3d 326
• Parties: Zia JAGHORY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Thomas Sobel, Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, in his official and individual capacity, Regents of the University of the State of New York, R. Carlos Carballada, individually and in his official capacity as Chancellor of the University of the State of New York, Jorge L. Batista, Shirley C. Brown, Walter Cooper, Willard A. Genrich, Norma Gluck, Emlyn I. Griffith, Carl T. Hayden, Mimi Leven Lieber, Floyd S. Linton, Saul Cohen, Louise P. Matteoni, James C. Dawson, Diane O'Neil McGivern and Adelaide L. Sanford, individually and in their official capacity as members of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, New York State Board of Medicine, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 326

131 F.3d 326

Zia JAGHORY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Thomas Sobel Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, in his official and individual capacity, Regents of the University of the State of New York, R. Carlos Carballada, individually and in his official capacity as Chancellor of the University of the State of New York, Jorge L. Batista, Shirley C Brown, Walter Cooper, Willard A. Genrich, Norma Gluck, Emlyn I. Griffith, Carl T. Hayden, Mimi Leven Lieber, Floyd S Linton, Saul Cohen, Louise P. Matteoni, James C. Dawson Diane O'Neil McGivern and Adelaide L. Sanford, individually and in their official capacity as members of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, New York State Board of Medicine, Defendants-Appellees.

Nos. 168, 97-7037.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued Sept. 22, 1997.

Decided Dec. 15, 1997.

Walter C. Reid, New York City (Carl E. Person, Person & Reid, of counsel), for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Barbara K. Hathaway, Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York, New

York City (Dennis C. Vacco, Attorney General, Peter H. Schiff, Deputy Solicitor General, Michael Belohlavek, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel), for Defendants-Appellees.

Before OAKES, MESKILL and CALABRESI, Circuit Judges.

OAKES, Senior Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff Zia Jaghory ("Jaghory") appeals under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 from a final order entered December 5, 1996, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Frederic Block, J.), dismissing his claims brought under the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, and the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law §§ 290-301. Jaghory brought his claims against the New York State Department of Education, Thomas Sobel in his official and individual capacity as Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, R. Carlos Carballada in his official and individual capacity as Chancellor of the University of the State of New York, named members of the Board of Regents in their official and individual capacities, and the New York State Board of Medicine [collectively, the "Board"]. Jaghory seeks to challenge, under the Equal Protection and Supremacy Clauses of the U.S. Constitution, New York state medical licensing laws that determine the length of residency required of graduates of foreign medical schools. The challenged laws distinguish applicants who were citizens or aliens with permanent U.S. residency status, from those who were non-resident aliens, at the time of their enrollment in foreign medical school. Jaghory claims error in the district court's determinations that the Eleventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution bars his claims for damages against defendants in their official capacities, that Jaghory's claims for declaratory and injunctive relief against defendants are moot, and that the applicable statute of limitations bars his claims for damages against defendants in their individual capacities. We do not reach the merits of Jaghory's constitutional claims because we affirm the district court's dismissal of Jaghory's claims, on the grounds that he lacks standing and that the statute of limitations bars any case in which he may once have had standing.

I. FACTS

Jaghory graduated from a medical school located outside the United States. At the time he entered medical school, he was neither a citizen nor a permanent resident of the United States. Jaghory immigrated to the United States in 1969 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1975. In 1974, Jaghory passed the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates examination, and in 1977 successfully fulfilled the American Board of Anesthesiology's eligibility requirements. Jaghory passed the federal licensing examination for graduates of foreign medical school in 1984, receiving a grade that met New York State standards for licensure.

In 1983, Jaghory applied for a license to practice medicine in New York. New York law provides that, in order to be licensed to practice medicine in New York, applicants must satisfy education and experience requirements according to regulations promulgated by the Commissioner of Education. N.Y. Educ. Law § 6524(2), (3) (McKinney 1997). The applicable regulations require that "all applicants who make application for licensure ... shall have completed at least one year of postgraduate hospital training acceptable to the department...." N.Y. Comp.Codes R. & Regs. tit. 8, § 60.3(a) (1996) (emphasis added). Graduates of medical schools neither registered by the education department nor accredited by an acceptable accrediting organization, such as the school from which Jaghory graduated, must complete at least three years of approved postgraduate training. See Id. § 60.3(b)(2). The exception to the requirement pertaining to graduates of unaccredited medical schools, a statutory provision known as the "Fifth Pathway," allows a graduate "who at the time of his enrollment in a medical school outside the United States is a resident of the United States" to acquire a license after completing only the postgraduate hospital training "required by the Board of all applicants Jaghory reapplied for a New York medical license several times between 1983 and 1994, and was denied each time. Jaghory argued to the Board that as a naturalized citizen he qualified for the Fifth Pathway program, with its one-year residency requirement, and that, in any event, his extensive medical background and experience more than satisfied the three-year residency requirement that the State was demanding of most foreign medical school graduates. New York law grants the Board power to "[w]aive education, experience and examination requirements for a professional license prescribed in the article relating to the profession, provided the board of regents shall be satisfied that the requirements of such article have been substantially met...." N.Y. Educ. Law § 6506(5) (McKinney 1997). In 1985, the Board, exercising this discretion, granted Jaghory two years' credit toward the three-year postgraduate residency requirement, based on his prior education and experience. However, Jaghory never completed the remaining one year of residency training. Over Jaghory's continuing protest and objection, the Board repeatedly denied Jaghory a license to practice medicine, until March 17, 1995, when the Board finally granted Jaghory a license despite his failure to complete the residency requirement. In the meantime, Jaghory had practiced medicine outside of New York.

for licensure." N.Y. Educ. Law § 6528(a) (McKinney 1997). Because Jaghory had not been a resident of the United States at the time he enrolled in foreign medical school, he was denied entry into the Fifth Pathway program in 1983. The Board rejected Jaghory's application because he had not completed the three years of residency required of graduates of foreign medical schools who do not qualify for the Fifth Pathway program. Jaghory complains that it was solely because of his national origin that he was denied entry into the Fifth Pathway.

II. DISCUSSION

We review dismissal of a cause of action under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) or 12(b)(6) de novo. See Belliveau v. Stevenson, 123 F.3d 107, 108 (2d Cir.1997); Close v. New York, 125 F.3d 31, 35 (2d Cir.1997). Under these rules, the court must accept all factual allegations in the complaint as true and draw inferences from those allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Albright v. Oliver, 510 U.S. 266, 268, 114 S.Ct. 807, 810, 127 L.Ed.2d 114 (1994); McEvoy v. Spencer, 124 F.3d 92, 95 (2d Cir.1997); Hirsch v. Arthur Andersen & Co., 72 F.3d 1085, 1088 (2d Cir.1995). The court may not dismiss a complaint unless "it appears beyond doubt, even when the complaint is liberally construed, that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts which would entitle him to relief." Hoover v. Ronwin, 466 U.S. 558, 587, 104 S.Ct. 1989, 2005, 80 L.Ed.2d 590 (1984) (Stevens, J., dissenting); see also Still v. DeBuono, 101 F.3d 888, 891 (2d Cir.1996).

The district court dismissed the various counts of Jaghory's complaint below as moot, barred by the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and barred by the statute of limitations applicable to civil rights suits brought in the state of New York. We affirm the district court's dismissal, but on the grounds that Jaghory lacks standing as required by Article III of the U.S. Constitution, and that any case in which Jaghory might have had standing in the past is now barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Because these holdings dispose of Jaghory's entire claim, we do not reach the issues presented regarding mootness or Eleventh Amendment immunity.

A. Standing

Article III of the U.S. Constitution requires that a "case" or "controversy" be present in order to confer jurisidiction on federal courts for a particular claim; standing to sue is an essential component of that requirement. See Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 750, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 3324, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984); Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2205, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975). The party seeking to invoke the jurisidiction of the court bears the burden of establishing that he has met the requirements of standing. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 2136, 119 Jaghory fails to meet the standing requirements; he does not plead that he suffered a concrete injury that can fairly be traced to any action of the defendants or that would be redressed by a favorable decision. Jaghory complains that, because of his national origin, he was not permitted to enter the Fifth Pathway program, which allows graduates of foreign medical schools to receive a license to practice medicine after only one year of residency. See N.Y. Educ. Law § 6528(a). While the Board did deny Jaghory entry...