Martinez-Velez v. Rey-Hernandez
| Decision Date | 23 October 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 06-1410.,No. 06-1411.,No. 06-1412.,No. 06-1409.,06-1409.,06-1410.,06-1411.,06-1412. |
| Citation | 506 F.3d 32 |
| Parties | Jesús MARTINEZ-VÉLEZ; Juan F. Martínez-Nieves; Harry J. Rivera-Lugo; Miguel A. Vega-Barreiro; Ricardo J. Castillo-Montesino; José R. Castillo-Montesino; Orlando Tollens-Ortiz; Edith Pérez-Posso; Luis A. García-González; Socorro Avilés-Pérez; Marangeli Rivera-Collazo, Plaintiffs, Appellees, José A. Reyes-Cañada; José A. Rivera-Torres; Roberto Ramírez-Santos; Israel L. Pabón-Torres; Iris Rivera-Ruiz, Plaintiffs, v. César REY-HERNÁNDEZ, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in his personal capacity; Lizzette Pillich-Otero, in her official capacity as Assistant Secretary for Human Resources of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; María Celia Rivera, in her official capacity as Assistant Secretary for General Services of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; Rafael Aragunde, Defendants, Carmen I. Motta-Montañez, in her official capacity as Director of the Legal Division of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; José A. Rivera-Saurí, in his official capacity as Transportation Supervisor of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and his personal capacity, Defendants, Appellants. Jesús Martínez-Vélez; Juan F. Martínez-Nieves; Harry J. Rivera-Lugo; Miguel A. Vega-Barreiro; Ricardo J. Castillo-Montesino; José R. Castillo-Montesino; Orlando Tollens-Ortiz; Edith Pérez-Posso; Luis A. García-González; Socorro Avilés-Pérez; Marangeli Rivera-Collazo, Plaintiffs, Appellees, José A. Rivera-Torres; Roberto Ramírez-Santos; Israel I. Pabón-Torres; José A. Reyes-Cañada; Iris Rivera-Ruiz, Plaintiffs, César Rey-Hernández, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in his personal capacity; Carmen I. Motta-Montañez, in her official capacity as Director of the Legal Division of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; María Celia Rivera, in her official capacity as Assistant Secretary for General Services of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; José A. Rivera-Saurí, in his official capacity as Transportation Supervisor of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and his personal capacity; Rafael Aragunde, Defendants, Lizzette Pillich-Otero, in her official capacity as Assistant Secretary for Human Resources of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity, Defendant, Appellant. Jesús Martínez-Vélez; Juan F. Martínez-Nieves; Harry J. Rivera-Lugo; Miguel A. Vega-Barreiro; Ricardo J. Castillo-Montesino; Orlando Tollens-Ortiz; Edith Pérez-Posso; Luis A. García-González; Socorro Avilés-Pérez; Marangeli Rivera-Collazo; José R. Castillo-Montesino, Plaintiffs, Appellees, José A. Rivera-Torres; Roberto Ramírez-Santos; Israel I. Pabón-Torres; José A. Reyes-Cañada; Iris Rivera-Ruiz, Plaintiffs, v. César Rey-Hernández, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in his personal capacity, Defendant, Appellant, Lizzette Pillich-Otero, in her official capacity as Assistant Secretary for Human Resources of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; Carmen I. Motta-Montañez, in her official capacity as Director of the Legal Division of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; María Celia Rivera, in her official capacity as Assistant Secretary for General Services of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; José A. Rivera-Saurí, in his official capacity as Transportation Supervisor of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and his personal capacity; Rafael Aragunde, Defendants. Jesús Martínez-Vélez; Juan F. Martínez-Nieves; Harry J. Rivera-Lugo; Miguel A. Vega-Barreiro; José R. Castillo-Montesino; Orlando Tollens-Ortiz; Luis A. García-González; Ricardo J. Castillo-Montesino; Edith Pérez-Posso; Socorro Avilés-Pérez; Marangeli Rivera-Collazo, Plaintiffs, Appellees, José A. Rivera-Torres; Roberto Ramírez-Santos; Israel L. Pabón-Torres; Iris Rivera-Ruiz; José A. Reyes-Cañada, Plaintiffs, v. César Rey-Hernández, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in his personal capacity; Lizzette Pillich-Otero, in her official capacity as Assistant Secretary for Human Resources of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; Carmen I. Motta-Montañez, in her official capacity as Director of the Legal Division of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; María Celia Rivera, in her official capacity as Assistant Secretary for General Services of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and in her personal capacity; José A. Rivera-Saurí, in his official capacity as Transportation Supervisor of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and his personal capacity, Defendants, Rafael Aragunde; Secretary of Education, Defendant, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Edward W. Hill-Tollinche with whom Quiñones & Sánchez, P.S.C., was on brief, for Lizzette Pillich-Otero.
Luis A. Rodríguez-Muñoz with whom Roberto Sánchez-Ramos, Secretary of Justice, Salvador Antonetti-Stutts, Solicitor General, Eileen Landrón-Guardiola, Eduardo Vera-Ramírez and Landrón & Vera, LLP, were on brief, for César Rey-Hernández, Carmen I. Motta-Montañez and José A. Rivera-Saurí.
Zulema E. Martínez-Alvarez with whom Salvador J. Antonetti-Stutts, Solicitor General, Mariana D. Negrón-Vargas, Deputy Solicitor General, and Maite D. Oronoz-Rodríguez, Deputy Solicitor General, were on brief, for Rafael Aragunde, in his official capacity as Secretary of Education.
Michael Craig McCall with whom Eliezer Aldarondo-Ortiz, Iván Castro-Ortiz, Sheila Torres-Delgado and Aldarondo & López Bras, were on brief, for plaintiffs, appellees.
Before BOUDIN, Chief Judge, SELYA, Senior Circuit Judge, and HOWARD, Circuit Judge.
On November 7, 2000, Puerto Rico's incumbent New Progressive Party ("NPP") was defeated by its primary opponent, the Popular Democratic Party ("PDP"), in the gubernatorial election. The governor-elect chose Cesar Rey-Hernandez to serve as Secretary of Education in the new administration and Rey took office on January 8, 2001. Events, mostly occurring after Rey took office, led certain employees of the department to file section 1983 claims, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000), in the federal district court for Puerto Rico.
The suit was filed against Rey and others by a group of drivers (and two of their spouses1), by a probationary attorney (Edith Perez-Posso) and by Luis Garcia-Gonzalez, an investigator who had served the secretary in the previous administration. Each plaintiff claimed to have suffered injury resulting from political discrimination in violation of the first amendment and subject to redress under section 1983. Rutan v. Republican Party of Ill., 497 U.S. 62, 74-76, 110 S.Ct. 2729, 111 L.Ed.2d 52 (1990).
The case was tried twice. On the first attempt, in May and June 2004, the jury deadlocked and a mistrial was declared. In a retrial in October and November 2005, the jury returned a verdict largely in the plaintiffs' favor on November 23, 2005. Because the case embraced four different "mini trials" with different parties and different episodes, we do no more here than summarize the verdicts as modified after post-trial motions.
1. Seven drivers obtained verdicts against Rey and Lizzette Pillich-Otero, who was Rey's Assistant Secretary for Human Resources, based on the drivers' transfer to a central transportation pool and loss of overtime pay. The awards ranged from $1 to $25,000 in compensatory damages with nominal awards for punitive damages.
2. The same seven drivers prevailed against Jose Rivera-Sauri, the supervisor of the office to which they were transferred, for alleged acts of harassment. Sauri was held liable with Rey and Pillich with no allocation of damages as between transfer and harassment claims.
3. Edith Perez-Posso, who worked as a probationary attorney in the legal division of the department, was awarded $11,000 plus nominal punitive damages against Carmen Motta-Montanez, the new director of the division who had evaluated and terminated Perez-Posso.
4. Luis Garcia-Gonzalez was awarded $10,000 in compensatory damages against Rey and Motta and a further $10,000 in punitive damages against Motta. Garcia had accused both of fostering administrative charges against him that led to temporary suspension and delayed his intended retirement.
The district court also granted equitable relief in light of the jury's findings. Specifically, the court ordered that a plan be adopted to ensure that overtime work not be distributed to career drivers based on political affiliation; that Perez be reinstated; and that an admonishment be expunged from Garcia's employment file. Plaintiffs' counsel were awarded attorneys' fees in the amount of $949,631.40.
All four defendants (Rey, Motta, Pillich and Sauri) now appeal, contesting the money judgments against them and the award of attorneys' fees. The current education secretary, who has succeeded Rey, seeks review only of the attorneys' fees awarded against the secretary in his official capacity. No one has sought to overturn the equitable relief. Before examining the four different episodes one by one, we begin with the common legal framework.
The Supreme Court, in a set of decisions beginning with Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976), has declared it to be a violation of the first amendment for government officials to take adverse actions—at least of a certain level of severity and with certain exceptions—against other government employees based on their political party affiliation.2 The rationale is to avoid chilling the employees' rights of political free speech and...
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