Meadow Valley Contractors, Inc. v. Johnson
| Decision Date | 20 March 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. CV-S-00-0045PMPRJJ.,CV-S-00-0045PMPRJJ. |
| Citation | 89 F.Supp.2d 1180 |
| Parties | MEADOW VALLEY CONTRACTORS, INC.; and Walter Construction (USA), Inc., formerly known as Walter & SCI Construction, Plaintiffs, v. Terry JOHNSON, individually and in his official capacity as Labor Commissioner of the State of Nevada; Gail Maxwell, individually and in her official capacity as former Acting Labor Commissioner of the State Nevada and current Chief Investigator for the Labor Commissioner of the State of Nevada; and Thomas E. Stephens, individually and in his official capacity as the Director of the Department of Transportation of the State of Nevada, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Nevada |
Gregory E. Smith, Smith & Kotchka, Las Vegas, NV, for plaintiffs.
Leslie A. Nielsen, Asst. Chief Deputy Atty Gen., Dianna Hegeduis, Deputy Atty Gen., Las Vegas, NV, for defendants.
Presently before this Court is Defendants Terry Johnson's and Gail Maxwell's Motion to Dismiss (# 11) filed on January 31, 2000. Plaintiffs Meadow Valley Contractors, Inc. and Walter Construction (USA), Inc. filed an Opposition (# 14) on February 9, 2000. Defendants filed a Reply (# 16) and an Affidavit in Support of Motion to Dismiss (# 17) on February 14, 2000.
This is a dispute arising out of the interpretation and constitutionality of provisions of Nevada's prevailing wage laws. The Nevada Legislature has created a regulatory scheme governing the payment of wages to workmen employed in state public works projects. Under Nev.Rev.Stat. § 338.040, all "[w]orkmen employed by contractors or subcontractors or by public bodies at the site of the work and necessary in the execution of any contract for public works are deemed to be employed on public works." Employers of such workers are subject to certain prevailing wage requirements. Section 338.020 states, in pertinent part, that:
1. Every contract to which a public body of this state is a party, requiring the employment of skilled mechanics, skilled workmen, semiskilled mechanics, semiskilled workmen or unskilled labor in the performance of public work, must contain in express terms the hourly and daily rate of wages to be paid each of the classes of mechanics and workmen. The hourly and daily rate of wages must:
(a) Not be less than the rate of such wages then prevailing in the county in which the public work is located, which prevailing rate of wages must have been determined in the manner provided in NRS 338.030; and
* * * * * *
3. The prevailing wage so paid to each class of mechanics or workmen must be in accordance with the jurisdictional classes recognized in the locality where the work is performed.
Nev.Rev.Stat. § 338.020(1), (3).
Co-Plaintiff Walter Construction, Ltd. ("Walter Construction") is a construction company doing business in the State of Nevada as a general contractor. Walter Construction entered into an agreement with Co-Plaintiff Meadow Valley Contractors, Inc. ("Meadow Valley") for the manufacture and installation of precast bridge segments for the Interstate 15/U.S. Highway 95 Interchange (commonly referred to as the "Spaghetti Bowl"), a large public works project located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The precast bridge segments were constructed in a production facility located approximately 11 to 12 miles away from the Spaghetti Bowl.
On or about December 10, 1999, Defendant Gail Maxwell, the then Acting Labor Commissioner of the State of Nevada, allegedly requested that the Nevada Department of Transportation withhold approximately $249,000 from the final payment of Meadow Valley for its involvement in the Spaghetti Bowl project. This amount allegedly represents the difference between the lawfully-required prevailing wage and the wages actually paid by Walter Construction.
On January 7, 2000, Meadow Valley and Walter Construction (hereinafter referred to as the "Plaintiffs") sued Terry Johnson (the current Labor Commissioner of the State of Nevada), Gail Maxwell, and Thomas E. Stephens (the Director of the Nevada Department of Transportation) in both their individual and official capacities. Stephens was dismissed as a party from this suit on January 24, 2000. (Notice of Dismissal (# 4)). Johnson and Maxwell (hereinafter referred to as the "Defendants") remain. The Complaint (# 1) asserts that the Defendants' withholding of public works funds violated Plaintiffs' procedural and substantive due process, in contradiction of the civil rights provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201. Plaintiffs seek, in pertinent part, (1) injunctive relief "prohibiting Johnson, Maxwell, the Labor Commissioner, Stephens and/or NDOT [the Nevada Department of Transportation] from enforcing or attempting to apply NRS 338 to Walter [Construction]'s work at the ... pre-cast yard" and (2) "a declaration that the work performed by Walter [Construction] at the ... pre-cast yard for the Spaghetti Bowl project is not subject to the prevailing wage rates of NRS 338." (Compl. ¶ 49(1)-(3)).
On January 13, 2000, this Court denied Plaintiffs' Ex Parte Motion for Temporary Restraining Order. (Order (# 3)). On February 23, 2000, this Court denied Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction after hearing oral argument. (Order (# 20)). Defendants, by way of their Motion to Dismiss, now seek dismissal of all claims asserted against them.
The issue presented by a motion to dismiss is not whether the plaintiff will ultimately prevail, but whether she may offer evidence in support of her claims. See Gilligan v. Jamco Dev. Corp., 108 F.3d 246, 249 (9th Cir.1997). Thus, a district court must restrict its consideration to those matters presented within the pleadings and presume the veracity of all factual allegations made therein. See Usher v. City of Los Angeles, 828 F.2d 556, 561 (9th Cir.1987). Matters that lie within a party's pleadings include: (1) documents physically attached to the complaint, see Durning v. First Boston Corp., 815 F.2d 1265, 1267 (9th Cir.1987); (2) documents of undisputed authenticity that are merely alleged or referenced within the complaint, see Parrino v. FHP, Inc., 146 F.3d 699, 706 (9th Cir.1998); Branch v. Tunnell, 14 F.3d 449, 454 (9th Cir.1994); and (3) public records and other judicially noticeable evidence, see Barron v. Reich, 13 F.3d 1370, 1377 (9th Cir.1994); MGIC Indem. Corp. v. Weisman, 803 F.2d 500, 504 (9th Cir. 1986).
Plaintiffs' claims for both injunctive and declaratory relief are closely intertwined. The extent of Plaintiffs' rights and duties under Nevada's prevailing wage laws will depend in large part upon the interpretation of certain provisions within Chapter 338 of the Nevada Revised Statutes. Before adjudication of these issues, however, Defendants contend that dismissal of the entire action from federal court is proper on the grounds of (A) immunity, (B) Younger abstention doctrine and (C) general justiciability grounds.
Defendants assert that the Eleventh Amendment and the absolute immunity doctrine shield them from liability in suit. Plaintiffs, however, correctly point out that the posture of this action precludes their usage.
For purposes of the Eleventh Amendment, a suit against an official in his or her official capacity is a suit against that official's office. See Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989); Eaglesmith v. Ward, 73 F.3d 857, 860 (9th Cir. 1995). States, however, are not considered to be "persons" for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and are therefore immune from suit. See DeNieva v. Reyes, 966 F.2d 480, 483 (9th Cir.1992). Nevertheless, an exception to this rule of immunity applies to actions for injunctive relief, see Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 167 n. 14, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985); Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 159-60, 28 S.Ct 441, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908), such as the one before this Court. (Compl. ¶ 49.) Accordingly, this Court will deny Defendants' requests for dismissal based upon Eleventh Amendment grounds.
Identical reasons undercut Defendants' reliance upon absolute immunity doctrine. In certain instances, state executive branch officials are entitled to absolute immunity for acts of a quasi-judicial or quasi-prosecutorial nature. See Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 512-13, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978); Meyers v. Contra Costa County Dep't of Social Servs., 812 F.2d 1154, 1157 (9th Cir.1987). Like Eleventh Amendment immunity, however, absolute immunity applies only to suits for damages and will not preclude a suit for declaratory or injunctive relief. See Fry v. Melaragno, 939 F.2d 832, 839 (9th Cir.1991).
Defendants, however, rightly contend that this Court should abstain from adjudication of this case under Younger abstention doctrine. Under this non-discretionary doctrine, see Fresh Int'l v. Agricultural Labor Relations Bd., 805 F.2d 1353, 1356 (9th Cir.1986), federal courts must refrain from enjoining state administrative proceedings that are judicial in nature, see The San Remo Hotel v. City and County of San Francisco, 145 F.3d 1095, 1103 (9th Cir.1998). Absent extraordinary circumstances, Younger abstention is required if the state proceedings (1) are ongoing, (2) implicate important state interests, and (3) provide the plaintiff with an adequate opportunity to litigate his or her federal claims. See Hirsh v. Justices of the Supreme Court, 67 F.3d 708, 712 (9th Cir.1995). This case fits comfortably within these three prongs.
First, there currently exists an ongoing state adjudicatory administrative proceeding worthy of deference. Contrary to Plaintiffs' assertions, propriety of Younger abstention is determined not by a comparison of the starting dates of the federal and state proceedings, but rather whether state...
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