Mangiafico v. Blumenthal

• Decision Date: 02 March 2005
• Docket Number: No. 3:04CV74MRK.,3:04CV74MRK.
• Citation: 358 F.Supp.2d 6
• Parties: Sebastian MANGIAFICO, Plaintiff, v. Richard BLUMENTHAL, John Armstrong, and Teresa Lantz, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut

358 F.Supp.2d 6

Sebastian MANGIAFICO, Plaintiff, v. Richard BLUMENTHAL, John Armstrong, and Teresa Lantz, Defendants.

No. 3:04CV74MRK.

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

March 2, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Michelle N. Holmes, Sack, Spector & Karsten, West Hartford, CT, for Plaintiff.

Philip Miller, Susan Quinn Cobb, Attorney General's Office, Hartford, CT, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

KRAVITZ, District Judge.

Plaintiff Sebastian Mangiafico, a Captain in the Connecticut Department of Corrections ("DOC"), brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988 against Defendants Richard Blumenthal, the Attorney General of the State of Connecticut, John Armstrong, a former DOC Commissioner, and Teresa Lantz, the current DOC Commissioner. As clarified by his counsel at oral argument, Captain Mangiafico makes two claims in his lawsuit, which seeks monetary and other relief against the defendants in their individual capacities. First, he asserts that he was denied equal protection of the laws when the Attorney General, in conspiracy with the other Defendants, decided that the State, through the Attorney General's Office, would not appear on Captain Mangiafico's behalf and represent him in a prisoner civil rights action currently pending in this District. Second, Captain Mangiafico claims that Commissioner Lantz violated his First Amendment rights by retaliating against him for bringing this lawsuit. See Am. Compl. [doc. # 9].

Currently pending before the Court is Defendants' Motion to Dismiss [doc. # 19]. The motion to dismiss requires this Court to decide the following issue of first impression within the Second Circuit and, so far as the Court is aware, elsewhere as well: Whether a state attorney general is entitled to absolute immunity from a § 1983 claim that is based upon the attorney general's decision not to defend a state employee in a pending civil lawsuit involving the employee's conduct. The Court concludes that the Attorney General is entitled to absolute immunity on such a claim. Therefore, the Court dismisses Captain Mangiafico's § 1983 claim against the Attorney General. However, the Court denies Defendant Lantz's motion to dismiss the First Amendment retaliation claim asserted against her. Accordingly, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss [doc. # 19] is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I.

The standard for assessing a motion to dismiss is familiar. On a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court should "construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, accepting the complaint's allegations as true." Todd v. Exxon Corp., 275 F.3d 191, 197 (2d Cir.2001). "A complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim `unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.'" Id. at 197-98 (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). Thus, "[t]he issue is not whether a plaintiff will ultimately prevail but whether the claimant is entitled to offer evidence to support the claims." Bernheim v. Litt, 79 F.3d 318, 321 (2d Cir.1996) (internal quotation marks omitted).

In considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, a district court ordinarily must "limit itself to the facts stated in the complaint, documents attached to the complaint as exhibits and documents incorporated by reference in the complaint." Hayden v. County of Nassau, 180 F.3d 42, 54 (2d Cir.1999). For purposes of Rule 12(b)(6) motions to dismiss,

the complaint is deemed to include any written instrument attached to it as an exhibit or any statements or documents incorporated in it by reference. Even where a document is not incorporated by reference, the court may nevertheless consider it where the complaint relies heavily upon its terms and effect, which renders the document integral to the complaint.

Chambers v. Time Warner, Inc., 282 F.3d 147, 153 (2d Cir.2002) (internal citations and quotations omitted). Moreover, when considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a court may also consider "matters of which judicial notice may be taken," Brass v. Am. Film Techs., Inc., 987 F.2d 142, 150 (2d Cir.1993), so long as the plaintiff relied on the terms and effect of such matters in drafting his complaint. "[T]he harm to the plaintiff when a court considers material extraneous to a complaint is the lack of notice that the material may be considered. Accordingly, `where plaintiff has actual notice of all the information in the movant's papers and has relied upon these documents in framing the complaint the necessity of translating a Rule 12(b)(6) motion into one under Rule 56 is largely dissipated.'" Chambers, 282 F.3d at 153 (quoting Cortec Indus., Inc. v. Sum Holding L.P., 949 F.2d 42, 48 (2d Cir.1991)) (internal citation omitted).

Here, the docket sheets in the prisoner civil rights action involving Captain Mangiafico are matters of which this Court may properly take judicial notice. See Brass, 987 F.2d at 150; Hayden, 180 F.3d at 54. Furthermore, Captain Mangiafico clearly incorporated pleadings from the prisoner civil rights action by reference in his complaint, and he relied on events in that action in drafting his complaint. See, e.g., Compl. [doc. # 1], at ¶¶ 4-12; Am Compl. dated Feb. 17, 2004 [doc. # 9], at ¶¶ 5-6, 9-32; Am. Compl. dated Aug. 11, 2004 [doc. # 34], at ¶¶ 5-6, 9-33; see also Chambers, 282 F.3d at 153. Therefore, the Court will take judicial notice of the docket sheet and pleadings in the prisoner civil rights action that is the focus of Captain Mangiafico's claims, and the Court can do so without converting Defendant's motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) into a motion for summary judgment under Rule 56. See Hayden, 180 F.3d at 54.

II.

On August 12, 1998, Captain Mangiafico was involved in the removal of an inmate, Duane Ziemba, from his jail cell at Connecticut's Northern Correctional Institution after Mr. Ziemba had set off the sprinkler in his cell and flooded it because correctional officers were allegedly refusing to feed him. As a result of the injuries Mr. Ziemba claims he sustained during the cell extraction, he filed a lawsuit, Ziemba v. Armstrong, No. 98cv2344 (JCH) (the "Ziemba Action"), in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. The current defendants in that action are Captain Mangiafico and a number of other DOC employees, including former DOC Commissioner Armstrong. In that lawsuit, Mr. Ziemba is seeking damages from the defendants in their individual capacities under § 1983 because they allegedly violated his constitutional rights by, among other things, using excessive force and failing to provide adequate health care. See Ziemba v. Armstrong, No. 98cv2344 (JCH), Am. Compl. [doc. # 238].¹

The Connecticut General Assembly has enacted laws providing certain indemnification rights to state employees who are sued for acts committed while discharging their state duties. As is relevant to this case, § 5-141d(a) of the Connecticut General Statutes provides that the State "shall save harmless and indemnify" any state officer or employee from financial loss and expense arising out of:

any claim, demand, suit or judgment by reason of his alleged negligence or alleged deprivation of any person's civil rights or other act or omission resulting in damage or injury, if the officer, employee or member is found to have been acting in the discharge of his duties or within the scope of his employment and such act or omission is found not to have been wanton, reckless or malicious.

Conn. Gen.Stat. § 5-141d(a). Section 5-141d(b) also provides that "[t]he state, through the Attorney General shall provide for the defense" of any state officer or employee in any civil action in state or federal court arising out of an act or omission occurring (or alleged to have occurred) while the officer or employee was discharging his duties or within the scope of his employment,

except that the state shall not be required to provide for such a defense whenever the Attorney General, based on his investigation of the facts and circumstances of the case, determines that it would be inappropriate to do so, and he so notifies the officer, employee or member in writing.

Conn. Gen.Stat. § 5-141d(b). Finally, under § 5-141d(c), the State will pay for a state employee's personal legal fees and costs to defend his interests in such a civil action only where:

(1) the Attorney General has stated in writing to the officer, employee or member, pursuant to subsection (b), that the state will not provide an attorney to defend the interests of the officer, employee or member, and (2) the officer, employee or member is thereafter found to have acted in the discharge of his duties or in the scope of his employment, and not to have acted wantonly, recklessly or maliciously. Such legal fees and costs incurred by a state office or employee shall be paid to the officer or employee only after the final disposition of the suit, claim or demand and only in such amounts as shall be determined by the Attorney General to be reasonable.

Conn. Gen.Stat. § 5-141d(c).

The procedural history of the Ziemba Action is somewhat complex due in part to the fact that Mr. Ziemba, acting pro se, filed a number of complaints and apparently did not properly and timely serve certain defendants, including Captain Mangiafico. Am. Compl. [doc. # 34], at ¶ 26. However, as suggested by counsel at oral argument and as is confirmed by the docket sheet for the Ziemba Action, it appears that at some point during the pendency of the Ziemba Action, an attorney from the Attorney General's Office filed an appearance on behalf of all of the defendants, including Captain Mangiafico. See Ziemba v. Armstrong, No. 98cv2344 (JCH), Appearance [doc. # 111]. Then, in or about January 2001, the Attorney General's...