Laborde-Garcia v. Puerto Rico Telephone Co., Civ. 88-1986CC.

• Decision Date: 17 April 1990
• Docket Number: No. Civ. 88-1986CC.,Civ. 88-1986CC.
• Citation: 734 F. Supp. 46
• Parties: Myriam E. LABORDE-GARCIA, Plaintiff, v. PUERTO RICO TELEPHONE COMPANY, Pedro Galarza, Edna Paz-De-Longo Julio Cesar Miranda, Julio Rodriguez Efren Perez-Quinones, Pedro Santiago-Morales and Olga Ferrer all in both their official and personal capacity, Defendants and Third-Party Plaintiffs, v. PUERTO RICO STATE INSURANCE FUND, Jorge Marquez-Gomez, in his official capacity as Acting Administrator of the Puerto Rico State Insurance Fund; Dr. Jesus H. Sanchez-Valdez, in his official and personal capacity, as San Juan Regional Medical Director of the Puerto Rico State Insurance Fund, Dr. Sheila A. Rivera, in her official and personal capacity as Medical Inspector at the San Juan Regional Office of the Puerto Rico State Insurance Fund; and Rafael Valle, in his official and personal capacity as Regional Director of the San Juan Regional Office of the State Insurance Fund, Third-Party Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

734 F. Supp. 46

Myriam E. LABORDE-GARCIA, Plaintiff, v. PUERTO RICO TELEPHONE COMPANY, Pedro Galarza, Edna Paz-De-Longo Julio Cesar Miranda, Julio Rodriguez Efren Perez-Quinones, Pedro Santiago-Morales and Olga Ferrer all in both their official and personal capacity, Defendants and Third-Party Plaintiffs, v. PUERTO RICO STATE INSURANCE FUND, Jorge Marquez-Gomez, in his official capacity as Acting Administrator of the Puerto Rico State Insurance Fund; Dr. Jesus H. Sanchez-Valdez, in his official and personal capacity, as San Juan Regional Medical Director of the Puerto Rico State Insurance Fund, Dr. Sheila A. Rivera, in her official and personal capacity as Medical Inspector at the San Juan Regional Office of the Puerto Rico State Insurance Fund; and Rafael Valle, in his official and personal capacity as Regional Director of the San Juan Regional Office of the State Insurance Fund, Third-Party Defendants.

No. Civ. 88-1986CC.

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

April 17, 1990.

Ramonita Dieppa-González, San Juan, P.R., for plaintiff.

José J. Santiago, Fiddler, González & Rodríguez, San Juan, P.R., for defendants and third-party plaintiffs.

Alice Net-Carlo, García-Rodón, Correa-Márquez & Valderas, Hato Rey, P.R., for third-party defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

CEREZO, District Judge.

Defendants and third-party plaintiffs, the Puerto Rico Telephone Company (hereinafter referred to as P.R.T.C.), and its officers Pedro Galarza, Edna Paz de Longo, Julio César Miranda, Julio Rodríguez, Efrén Pérez Quiñones, Pedro Santiago and Olga Ferrer, filed a third-party complaint on March 21, 1988 against the Puerto Rico State Insurance Fund (the Fund) and its officers, Jorge Márquez Gómez, Jesús H. Sánchez Valdés, Sheila A. Rivera, and Rafael Valle.

The third-party plaintiff alleges that the Fund and its officials violated their right to due process of law secured by the Constitutions of the United States and Puerto Rico by failing to notify them of a change in the status of a work-related accident suffered by plaintiff Myriam Laborde. This work-related accident was first classified, through an official decision dated September 7, 1988, as a recurrence of a prior accident suffered by plaintiff on July 7, 1986. Afterwards, on October 6, 1988, the P.R.T.C. dismissed plaintiff from her job for having exhausted her rights under 11 L.P.R.A. § 7, without requesting reinstatement. On October 24, 1988 a Special Medical Report was made by the Fund re-classifying the work-related accident in question as a new accident and not as a recurrence. The P.R.T.C. and its officials allege that they were never notified by the Fund of this change in status.

Third-party defendants have filed a Motion to Dismiss (docket entry 23) arguing that the P.R.T.C. lacks standing to bring this Section 1983 action. Their arguments are, first, that Section 1983 provides a remedy for private persons and is not intended to protect governmental entities and second, that the P.R.T.C., as a public corporation, is not a citizen with privileges and immunities secured by the Fourteenth Amendment and, therefore, it has no constitutional right to protect in a Section 1983 cause of action.

Third-party plaintiffs opposed the motion (docket entry 27), attacking the characterization of the P.R.T.C. as public corporation similar to a municipality. In support of their contention they argue that the P.R. T.C. has been consistently denied Eleventh Amendment immunity. According to its arguments, it is not an arm of the state but, instead, an independent entity with capacity to sue and be sued under Section 1983. Regarding the Fund's second argument, P.R.T.C. cites case law holding that corporations are customarily treated as legal persons for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment's due process and equal protection clauses and for this reason; that they, therefore, qualify as plaintiffs in actions under Section 1983 to vindicate their constitutional rights.

In evaluating the standing issue raised by the Fund it does not necessarily follow that the denial of P.R.T.C.'s immunity for not being an arm of the state is tantamount to a finding that it is not a governmental unit. The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico itself has recognized the P.R. T.C. as a political subdivision of the state. See Torres Ponce v. Jiménez, 113 D.P.R. 58, 67 n. 21 (1982). The denial of Eleventh Amendment immunity to the P.R.T.C. strengthens the position that it is an entity analogous to a municipal corporation.¹ The fact that the P.R.T.C. has some characteristics of a private corporation does not thwart its similarity to municipal corporation status. See Spence v. Boston Edison, 390 Mass. 604, 459 N.E.2d 80 (1983). We need not enter the standing issue raised by the Fund regarding whether municipalities and local government units are proper plaintiffs under this statute, however, inasmuch as we find that the P.R.T.C. lacks constitutional protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.

P.R.T.C.'s arguments supporting Fourteenth Amendment protection are based on several cases holding that corporations are treated as "legal persons" for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment's due process and equal protection clauses and "can qualify as plaintiff in Section 1983 actions to vindicate these and other federal constitutional and statutory rights.² The cases, however, are not dispositive of the issue here since none of the plaintiff corporations involved were public corporations.

The case law is clear in holding that a municipal corporation does not enjoy the constitutional guarantees of due process. Applying Cty. v. Municipal Elec. Authority of Ga., 621 F.2d 1301 (5th Cir.1980); Spence v. Boston Edison Co., supra, South Macomb Disposal v. Township of Washington, 790 F.2d 500 (6th Cir.1986...