Orange v. County of Suffolk

• Decision Date: 13 September 1993
• Docket Number: No. CV 93-0707.,CV 93-0707.
• Citation: 830 F. Supp. 701
• Parties: Mona A. ORANGE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

830 F. Supp. 701

Mona A. ORANGE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, et al., Defendants.

No. CV 93-0707.

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

September 13, 1993.

Block, Amelkin & Hamburger by Lane T. Maxson, Smithtown, NY, for plaintiffs.

Robert J. Cimino, Suffolk County Atty. by Robert H. Cabble, Hauppauge, NY, for defendants County of Suffolk and Gaffney.

Pachman, Pachman, Brown & Farneti, P.C. by Karen R. Brown, Commack, NY, for all other named defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

WEXLER, District Judge.

Mona A. Orange, Maxine G. Batson, Joan M. Ward and James W. Couch ("Plaintiffs"), current and/or former Suffolk County Civil Service competitive class employees with the Department of Social Services ("DSS"), have brought the instant action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the County of Suffolk (the "County"), Suffolk County Executive Robert J. Gaffney ("Gaffney"), and eleven current or former members of the Suffolk County Legislature ("legislator defendants") (collectively, "Defendants"). Plaintiffs allege that the individual Defendants conspired to act and acted to wrongfully discharge or adversely affect Plaintiffs' employment with Suffolk County on the basis of their political affiliation in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. They further allege that the same acts by Defendants violated § 107 of the New York State Civil Service Law. Plaintiffs seek damages, declaratory and injunctive relief under § 1983 and invoke the Court's jurisdiction over the pendent state law claim.

Now before the Court is Defendants' motion, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to dismiss the federal claims upon the ground that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Defendants further seek to dismiss the state claim on statute of limitations grounds or, in the alternative, that upon the dismissal of the federal claims, this Court decline to continue to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state claim. Finally, the defendant legislators seek attorney's fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988. For the reasons stated below, Defendants' motion is granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs make the following allegations: (1) their supervisor, a registered Democrat who was appointed in April 1989 to a statutory five-year term as the Suffolk County Commissioner of Social Services, was a target of a Republican patronage scheme; (2) Defendants conspired to force the Commissioner's resignation by subjecting her to political and economic pressure through an unlawful reorganization of her Department, including the abolishment of Plaintiffs' positions; (3) in furtherance of this political patronage scheme, Defendants conspired to take adverse employment actions against only non-Republican Civil Service employees; (4) Defendants carried out this scheme through the adoption of budgetary Resolution No. 53-1992 (the "Resolution") by the Republican-controlled Legislature; (5) said Resolution purported to "effectuate cost avoidance and/or cost savings of approximately three hundred thousand dollars during fiscal year 1992"; and (6) in actuality, the Resolution resulted in a negligible, if any, cost savings.

In total, the Resolution abolished fifteen positions in the DSS. Three of those positions were vacant, three were held by Republicans, two by political independents, and the remaining seven by Democrats. Plaintiffs contend, however, that none of the three "affected" Republicans was actually adversely affected by the resolution: two never lost their jobs, and the third was initially demoted, but then promoted by defendant Gaffney to a grade higher than she had at the time the resolution was adopted. Conversely, all but one of the remaining nine individuals were either fired or demoted.

Plaintiffs further allege that the following incident involving Douglas R. LaLone, a County Civil Service employee within the DSS, is demonstrative of Defendants' alleged patronage scheme. LaLone, a Democrat, learned that his position was listed in the Resolution and would ultimately be abolished. Thereafter, he spoke with politically influential Republicans, including John Powell, the Chairman of the Republican Party for the Town of Brookhaven (not a party to this suit). Because LaLone then changed his party affiliation to Republican and agreed to other terms imposed on him by Powell, including selling or purchasing approximately $1,500 in tickets to a Republican fundraiser, LaLone's name was stricken from the Resolution.

Plaintiffs also allege that Defendants' patronage scheme is evidenced by the fact that they chose to abolish the position held by a Democrat, plaintiff Maxine Batson, rather than one held by a Republican, despite the fact that the Republican, who held the identical Civil Service title and grade within the DSS, was appointed to her position more than one and a half years after the Democrat was appointed. Defendants note, however, that the termination of Batson was not a violation of seniority rights because these employees were provisional, and seniority has no application to provisional employees.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Absolute Legislative Immunity Applies to County Legislators

The Legislator defendants contend that they are entitled to absolute legislative immunity for their act of voting for Resolution No. 53-1992. It is settled law that state legislators are absolutely immune from suits for damages under § 1983 for acts taken in their legislative capacity. Tenney v. Brandhove, 341 U.S. 367, 71 S.Ct. 783, 95 L.Ed. 1019 (1951). Furthermore, "the claim of an unworthy purpose does not destroy the privilege.... The privilege would be of little value if legislators could be subjected to the cost and inconvenience and distractions of a trial upon a conclusion of the pleader, or to the hazard of a judgment against them based upon a jury's speculation as to motives." Id. at 377, 71 S.Ct. at 788.

In Lake Country Estates, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 440 U.S. 391, 99 S.Ct. 1171, 59 L.Ed.2d 401 (1979), the Supreme Court extended the doctrine of absolute legislative immunity to regional legislators. Id. at 405, 99 S.Ct. at 1179. The Court, however, expressly reserved the question of whether absolute immunity applies to legislators at the local level. Id. at 404, n. 26, 99 S.Ct. at 1178, n. 26.

Subsequently, at least nine circuit courts have addressed this question, and all have ruled that absolute legislative immunity does extend to local legislators who are sued in their individual capacity. See, e.g., Aitchison v. Raffiani, 708 F.2d 96, 90-100 (3d Cir. 1983); Reed v. Village of Shorewood, 704 F.2d 943, 952-53 (7th Cir.1983); see also Herbst v. Daukas, 701 F.Supp. 964, 966-67 (D.Conn.1988); Dusanenko v. Maloney, 560 F.Supp. 822, 826-27 (S.D.N.Y.1983), aff'd on other grounds, 726 F.2d 82 (2d Cir.1984); Goldberg v. Village of Spring Valley, 538 F.Supp. 646, 649 (S.D.N.Y.1982). Furthermore, in dicta, the Second Circuit recently adopted the same position, quoting Dusanenko for the proposition that there is "`no material distinction between the need for insulating legislative decision making at the state or regional level, and a corresponding need at the municipal level.'" Goldberg v. Town of Rocky Hill, 973 F.2d 70, 72-73 (2d Cir.1992).

Nevertheless, Plaintiffs contend that the legislator defendants are not entitled to absolute legislative immunity for the claims against them in their individual capacity. Plaintiffs note that the Second Circuit has never actually held that absolute legislative immunity applies to local legislators. Furthermore, Plaintiffs contend that Forrester v. White, 484 U.S. 219, 108 S.Ct. 538, 98 L.Ed.2d 555 (1988), supports their position that local legislators are entitled to only qualified immunity.

In Forrester, the Supreme Court held that a state court judge was not entitled to absolute judicial immunity, from a § 1983 action arising out of his discharge of a probation officer. Plaintiffs note that the Forrester Court made the following observations:

This Court has generally been quite sparing in its recognition of claims to absolute official immunity.... Moreover, the Court has been careful not to extend the scope of absolute legislative immunity further than its purposes require.

Id. at 224, 108 S.Ct. at 542.

However, those statements notwithstanding, Forrester did not in any way limit the application of absolute legislative immunity as applied to legislative acts of state or local legislators. The significance of Forrester to the instant case is its endorsement of the "functional analysis" that courts must employ in determining whether immunity applies in a given instance. Id. Under this approach, courts must analyze the "nature of the functions with which a particular official or class of officials has been lawfully entrusted, and ... evaluate the effect that exposure to particular forms of liability would likely have on the appropriate exercise of those functions." Id.

Based on the reasoning of Forrester and Goldberg, this Court finds that the local legislator defendants are entitled to absolute immunity from a § 1983 action against them in their individual capacity for all acts done in a legislative capacity.

B. The County Legislators Acted in a Legislative Capacity

Defendants contend that the legislators' acts here at issue: the making of budgetary adjustments through the elimination and creation of positions, and the overall reorganization of the DSS are clearly within the "sphere of legitimate legislative activity." Tenney, 341 U.S. at 376, 71 S.Ct. at 788. In response, Plaintiffs cite several cases in which courts have held that public officials making personnel or monetary decisions affecting public employees were acting in an administrative capacity. See Hughes v. Tarrant County, Texas, 948 F.2d 918 (5th Cir. 1991); Bryant v. Nichols, 712 F.Supp. 887 (M.D.Ala.1989); Detz...