Jicarilla Apache Nation v. Rio Arriba County
| Decision Date | 30 October 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV. 02-1470JBRLP.,CIV. 02-1470JBRLP. |
| Citation | 376 F.Supp.2d 1096 |
| Parties | JICARILLA APACHE NATION, Plaintiff, v. RIO ARRIBA COUNTY; Moises Morales, Rio Arriba County Commissioner; Lorenzo Valdez, Rio Arriba County Manager; Agapito Candelaria, Rio Arriba County Chief Appraiser; and Unknown John and Jane Does, each in both his or her official and individual capacities; Andrew Chavez, Rio Arriba County Commissioner; Elias Coriz, Rio Arriba County Commissioner; and Arthur Rodarte, Rio Arriba County Assessor, each in his official capacity only; and Alfredo Montoya, Ray Tafoya, and David Salazar, each in his individual capacity only, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Mexico |
Daniel I.S.J. Rey-Bear, Jennifer J. Dumas, Nordhaus Haltom Taylor Taradash & Bladh, LLP, Albuquerque, NM, for Plaintiff.
R. Galen Reimer, Harriet Hickman, Gallagher, Casados & Mann, P.C., Albuquerque, NM, for Defendants.
THIS MATTER comes before the Court on the Defendants' Second Motion for Summary Judgment, filed April 20, 2004 (Doc. 92). The primary issue is whether Rio Arriba County and the individual Defendants in their official capacity engaged in conduct, policy, custom or practice that caused a violation of the Jicarilla Apache Nation's (the "Nation") right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. Because the Court previously ruled that the individual Defendants in their individual capacities did not violate the Constitution, there can be no liability for the County or the individual Defendants in their official capacity. The Court, therefore, grants the Defendants' Second Motion for Summary Judgment and dismisses the Nation's Complaint with prejudice.
The Court granted the Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, filed April 15, 2003 (Doc. 19). See Order, filed March 30, 2004 (Doc. 85). The Court found that the Nation had not produced evidence of a constitutional violation and that the individual defendants were thus entitled to qualified immunity. See Memorandum Opinion, filed August 31, 2004 (Doc. 129). The Defendants filed a Second Motion for Summary Judgment and argue that the Court should grant summary judgment for Defendants Rio Arriba County, Andrew Chavez (Rio Arriba County Commissioner), Elias Coriz (Rio Arriba County Commissioner), Arthur Rodarte (Rio Arriba County Commissioner), Moises Morales (Rio Arriba County Commissioner), Lorenzo Valdez (Rio Arriba County Commissioner), and Agapito Candelaria (Rio Arriba County Chief Appraiser), each in their official capacities.
Rule 56 allows a court to grant summary judgment if a party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law and there are no genuine issues of material fact. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). "Summary judgment is proper only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Quaker State Minit-Lube, Inc. v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 52 F.3d 1522, 1527 (10th Cir.1995).
The moving party bears the initial burden of establishing the absence of any genuine issue of material fact. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The moving party can meet this burden by Bewley v. City of Duncan, 149 F.3d 1190, 1998 WL 314382, *4 (10th Cir.1998)(citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548).
For the purposes of summary judgment, the court will assume the evidence of the non-moving party to be true, will resolve all doubts against the moving party, construe all evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and draw all reasonable inferences in the non-moving party's favor. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The court should, however, grant summary judgment "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).
The remaining individual defendants in this suit are named in their official capacities. In an official capacity suit, the named officials are merely the agents of the governmental entity which is the real party in interest. See Hafer v. Melo, 502 U.S. 21, 25, 112 S.Ct. 358, 116 L.Ed.2d 301 (1991); Langley v. Adams County, 987 F.2d 1473, 1477 n. 2 (10th Cir.1993). Therefore, the Nation's suit against the individual defendants in their official capacities is really a suit against the County.
A governmental entity may not be held liable for constitutional violations where there is no underlying constitutional violation by any of its officers. See Hinton v. City of Elwood, 997 F.2d 774, 782 (10th Cir.1993)(citing City of Los Angeles v. Heller, 475 U.S. 796, 799, 106 S.Ct. 1571, 89 L.Ed.2d 806 (1986); Apodaca v. Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Dept., 905 F.2d 1445, 1447-48 (10th Cir.1990); Watson v. City of Kansas City, 857 F.2d 690, 697 (10th Cir.1988)); Myers v. Oklahoma County Board of County Commissioners, 151 F.3d 1313, 1316 (10th Cir.1998) (); McCook v. Springer School District, 44 Fed.Appx. 896, 910, 2002 WL 1788529 (10th Cir.2002). In Hinton v. City of Elwood, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit explained "that where a municipality is `sued only because [it was] thought legally responsible' for the actions of its officers, it is `inconceivable' to hold the municipality liable if its officers inflict no constitutional harm, regardless of whether the municipality's policies might have `authorized' such harm." Hinton v. City of Elwood, 997 F.2d at 782 (quoting City of Los Angeles v. Heller, 475 U.S. at 799, 106 S.Ct. 1571).
The Defendants assert that there no longer exists any genuine issue of material fact because the Court previously held that the individual Defendants, in their individual capacities, did not violate the Constitution. Thus, the Defendants assert it is improper to allow the suit to proceed against the County and the individual Defendants in their official capacities. The Nation argues that its claims against the County and its officials should proceed because the Court ruled on whether the Defendants were entitled to qualified immunity, but did not determine whether the Defendants actually violated the Nation's constitutional rights.
Because this Court previously granted summary judgment, and in doing so held that the Nation had not produced evidence that the individual Defendants in their individual capacity violated the Constitution, see Memorandum Opinion, filed August 31, 2004 (Doc. 129), there can be no liability for County or the individual Defendants in their official capacities. There is no underlying constitutional violation. The Court will therefore grant the Defendants' Second Motion for Summary Judgment.
The Nation argues that the Court should deny the Defendants' Second Motion for Summary Judgment because the Nation needs additional discovery to establish facts supporting its claims which limited discovery thus far has precluded. The Nation asserts it cannot present facts essential to oppose the Defendants' motion because it "has not yet had an opportunity to pursue meaningful discovery." Plaintiff's Response to Defendants' Second Motion for Summary Judgment at 15, filed July, 12, 2004 (Doc. 105).
Contrary to its assertion, the Nation has had opportunities for discovery. At the outset of this suit, the parties agreed to postpone initial disclosures and to stay discovery until after an adjudication of the Defendants' affirmative defenses. See Provisional Discovery Plan, filed January 2, 2003 (Doc. 9); Plaintiff's and Named Defendants' Joint Motion to Set Briefing Schedule for Motion to Dismiss and Revised Discovery Schedule, filed February 26, 2003 (Doc. 16); Order, filed March 3, 2003 (Doc. 17). The Defendants then moved for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. See Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, filed April 14, 2003 (Doc. 19); Defendants' Memorandum Brief in Support of Their Motion for Summary Judgment, filed April 15, 2003 (Doc. 21). The Nation then decided it wanted to do discovery to respond to the motion for summary judgment in July of 2003. The Honorable Martha Vasquez, now Chief United States District Judge, granted the Plaintiff's Unopposed Motion to Stay Consideration of Defendants Motion for Summary Judgment on the Existence of Intentional or Purposeful Discrimination Pending Discovery on that Issue, filed July 14, 2003 (Doc. 31). See Order Staying Consideration of Defendants Motion for Summary Judgment on the Existence of Intentional or Purposeful Discrimination Pending Discovery on that Issue, filed July 18, 2003 (Doc. 36).
Subsequently, the Nation served its first set of requests for production on September 24, 2003. See Certificate of Service For Plaintiff's First Request for Production of Documents To All Named Defendants, filed September 25. 2003 (Doc. 42). The Defendants had almost...
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...reasonableness.” See Bruning v. Pixler, 949 F.2d 352, 356 (10th Cir. 1991); see also Jicarilla Apache Nation v. Rio Arriba Cnty., 376 F.Supp.2d 1096, 1102 (D.N.M. 2004), aff'd, 440 F.3d 1202 (10th Cir. 2006); Kelley v. City of Albuquerque, 375 F.Supp.2d 1183, 1203 (D.N.M. 2004), aff'd, 542 ......