Manuel v. Veterans Admin. Hosp.
| Decision Date | 28 September 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-1430,87-1430 |
| Citation | 857 F.2d 1112 |
| Parties | Charles MANUEL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. VETERANS ADMINISTRATION HOSPITAL; Thomas W. Simpson; James G. Fasone; Jerome Hoban; Paul Vance; William Beutell and James Stephens, Defendants-Appellees, Robert LeBlanc; Maynard Enos, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
John R. Foley (argued), Prather, Harrington & Foley, P.C., Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff-appellant.
Francis L. Zebot (argued), Asst. U.S. Atty., Detroit, Mich., for defendants-appellees.
Before KEITH and WELLFORD, Circuit Judges, and HORTON, District Judge. *
Charles Manuel, the appellant, brought this lawsuit against the Veterans Administration for alleged violations of the Federal Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552a. Mr. Manuel claims he was denied access to three Veterans Administration documents generated by special undercover investigators Maynard Enos and Robert LeBlanc who were assigned to a special investigative project at the VA Medical Center, Allen Park, Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Manuel charges the Veterans Administration failed to place the three documents generated by special investigators Enos and LeBlanc into the Veterans Administration's system of records and that failure constitutes a violation of the Federal Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552a(d)(1).
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granted summary judgment in favor of the Veterans Administration, finding Mr. Manuel had failed to state a claim under the Privacy Act for which relief could be granted.
The district court ruled the Privacy Act did not include the three documents involved in this case. In reaching its decision, the Court stated:
The defendant VA has filed a Motion for Summary Judgment under Rule 56. The motion is directed to Count [II], which is the only remaining Count in [p]laintiff's [s]econd [a]mended [c]omplaint. Count [II] has been labeled by plaintiff as violation of the Privacy Act. Under Count II Plaintiff asserts that he has requested on, quote, at least two separate occasions, end of quote, copies of two Reports of Contact and [a] Uniform Offense Report. Plaintiff asserts that he is aware that the--a report does exist and believes that the reports have been intentionally or unintentionally mislaid. Plaintiff has also asserted that, in response to the request that defendants Vance and Stephens have informed him that there are no Reports of Contacts or Uniform Offense Reports within any of the VA files, plaintiff argues that this is in error.
In the instant Motion, the movant has attached an affidavit from defendant Thomas W. Simpson who, as the custodian of the 32VA00 system and Chief of the Security Service for the Veterans Administration Hospital in Allen Park, Michigan, asserts that he has examined the 32VA00 system and does not find any of the information contained therein.
Plaintiff argues that the defendant's Motion has been narrowly drawn. It was neither the intent--strike that. The plaintiff argues--strike that. The plaintiff argues, in response, that it is not the intent of the Congress to make such request on the Privacy Act so narrow in scope so as to allow an abuse of the system, as he believes has occurred. The Court has found this motion to be troubling in the sense that an examination of the statute would, in the judgment of the Court, suggest that the--there are individuals who are required to maintain certain records. Plaintiff has correctly pointed out that under 32VA00 Plaintiff has also pointed out that the records of employees, quote, who have been accused of improper and unethical conduct, end of quote, should also be maintained. The record in its present form indicates that the custodians of these records have ostensibly and/or presumably conducted an examination of the records and found the records--the system to be barren. The Court believes that the defendant, through its representatives, has fully satisfied the language and the letter of the law. The difficulty that the Court has had revolves around a situation such as that which has been described by plaintiff wherein an individual who, for bad purposes or through negligence, fails or refuses or neglects to or purposefully prevents a document from getting into the system for his own purposes.
that records of veterans, employees and citizen health care facilities investigation records are to be maintained at such VA health care facility, including the facility in Allen Park, Michigan.
The Court does not believe that the Privacy Act covers such a situation. Thus, the Court believes that the defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment should be granted.
The Court has been troubled because the Privacy Act, as it apparently is presently constituted, allows or creates a situation whereby a well-meaning citizen of the United States can have his or her rights denied or at least thwarted by the purposeful or malicious actions of a government employee who has been charged with the responsibility of maintaining these records. However, the facts are clear and despite the belief or conjecture of the plaintiff, that Beutell, Fasone, Simpson and/or Vance have purposefully misdirected the information that he seeks. This Court is powerless to make a judgment to the contrary. Thus, in a technical sense, the Court concludes that there are not genuine issues of material fact with regard to this issue, and the Court will enter a Summary Judgment in favor of the defendant Veterans Administration as relates to Count [II], which, according to the records of the Court, is the only remaining count which remains in this case.
Now, if there can be some evidence, Mr. Foley or Mr. Manuel that--which would in someway account for the disappearance of the records, then I will entertain a motion to reinstate. But I have made my decision on a vary narrow basis, namely; that the record in its present form does not support the contention of the plaintiff that there has been a violation of the Privacy Act. The Court believes that the Privacy Act, as Mr. Foley has correctly pointed out, has many gaps. We believe this is a gap which the Congress should plug up.
Charles Manuel appealed to this Court the district court's decision granting summary judgment in favor of the Veterans Administration. He contends the decision of the district court was predicated on an overly technical reading of 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552a(d)(1). Specifically, Mr. Manuel appealed to this court seeking a review of the district court's ruling on two points:
(1) the denial of access to three investigative reports or documents, and
(2) the failure of the custodian of records to place those documents within the Veterans Administration's system of records.
The facts in this case viewed in the light most favorable to Mr. Manuel are as follows. At the time of filing this lawsuit, Charles Manuel was a black federal police officer at the Allen Park Veterans Administration Medical Center ("VAMC"), with a December 11, 1979, seniority date. In December, 1980, Manuel became aware of an open detective position, under the supervision of Jerome Hoban, at the Palo Alto, California, VAMC. Manuel applied for the position pursuant to the requirements of VA Form SF171.
On December 20, 1980, Ms. Kathy Alfred, a secretary at the Allen Park VAMC, received a telephone call from an individual representing himself to be Jerry Hoban, Chief of Police, Palo Alto, California, VAMC, who asked to speak with Mr. Manuel. Ms. Alfred informed Hoban that On December 28, 1980, Hoban interviewed Manuel over the telephone for the detective position. Several weeks later, Hoban again telephoned the Allen Park VAMC and spoke to Lt. Ronald Hypes, Manuel's immediate supervisor, regarding Manuel's performance and capabilities. Hypes informed Hoban that Manuel was an efficient and punctual police officer.
Manuel was unavailable. Hoban then advised her that Manuel was being considered as one of the top five candidates for the position of detective at the Palo Alto, California, VAMC.
Sometime in April of 1981, a secretary in the personnel division at the Allen Park VAMC advised Manuel that Hoban had telephoned the Allen Park facility again and had requested that Manuel resubmit an application (VA Form SF171) for the position of detective at the Palo Alto, California, VAMC. Later in April of 1981, Manuel was contacted by Mr. Frank A. Manies, Personnel Management Specialist, Office of the Special Counsel, Washington, D.C. Mr. Manies discussed Manuel's application for the position of detective at the Palo Alto, California, VAMC and informed Manuel that he was investigating some "irregularities in filling the detective post at Palo Alto." Again, in late April of 1981, Manies spoke to Lt. Ronald Hypes, Manuel's supervisor and co-worker, regarding whether Hoban had telephoned the Allen Park VAMC and inquired about Manuel's suitability for filling the position of detective at the Palo Alto VAMC.
In June or July of 1982, Mr. Manies again contacted Manuel and informed him that: (a) Hoban denied ever speaking to Manuel regarding his application for the position of detective at the Palo Alto, California, VAMC, even though both Kathy Alfred and Lt. Hypes were present during Manuel's telephone interview and had spoken to Hoban themselves; (b) Hoban had said Manuel had not been considered for the position of detective since he had "failed to respond" to Hoban's inquiries; (c) five individuals were being considered as possible candidates for the detective position at the Palo Alto, VAMC; and (d) Manuel was candidate number five and his name had been taken off the list to make room for the name of Mr. Dreverskracht, a personal friend of Hoban's.
Mr. Dreverskracht, instead of Manuel or one of the other four announced candidates, had been awarded the position of detective at the Palo Alto, California, VAMC by Hoban. Mr. Dreverskracht was not one of the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hudson v. Reno
...name or other personal identifier, but by the name of the agency investigator who prepared them); Manuel v. Veterans Administration Hospital, 857 F.2d 1112, 1119 (6th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1055, 109 S.Ct. 1317, 103 L.Ed.2d 586 (1989) (same). Accordingly, the Court will not distu......
-
Jacobs v. National Drug Intelligence Center
...Dep't of Commerce, 83 F.3d 1453 (D.C.Cir.1996) (retrieval capability not enough, must be actual retrieval); Manuel v. Veterans Administration Hosp., 857 F.2d 1112 (6th Cir.1998) (no system of records where agency purposefully prevented information from getting into the system); Boyd v. Sec'......
-
Crummey v. Soc. Sec. Admin., Civil Action No. 10–01560(CKK).
...required to add information to its systems of records just because an individual has requested as much. See Manuel v. Veterans Admin. Hosp., 857 F.2d 1112, 1118 (6th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1055, 109 S.Ct. 1317, 103 L.Ed.2d 586 (1989); Wren v. Heckler, 744 F.2d 86, 89 (10th Cir.19......
-
Shannon v. General Elec. Co.
...a record, DOE-IG alleges, it is not a violation of the Privacy Act to disclose it. See id. at 9-10 (citing Manuel v. Veterans Admin. Hosp., 857 F.2d 1112, 1119-20 (6th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1055, 109 S.Ct. 1317, 103 L.Ed.2d 586 It is the "method of retrieval of a record rather t......