Pirela v. Village of North Aurora

• Decision Date: 28 June 1991
• Docket Number: No. 89-1231,89-1231
• Citation: 935 F.2d 909
• Parties: 56 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 515, 56 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 40,842 Pablo F. PIRELA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 909

935 F.2d 909

56 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 515,

56 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 40,842

Pablo F. PIRELA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 89-1231.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued June 14, 1990.

Decided June 28, 1991.

Claudia Oney, Mark Rivera, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.

Ronald L. Kammer, Gerald Haberkorn, Kendall Griffith, Hinshaw & Culbertson, Lynn D. Dowd, Cassiday, Schade & Gloor, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellee.

Charles A. Shanor, Gwendolyn Young Reams, Vincent Blackwood, Lamont N. White, E.E.O.C., Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae, E.E.O.C.

Before POSNER, FLAUM, and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

After being passed over for two promotions and being suspended without pay for various infractions of the police department's rules and regulations, Pablo F. Pirela, a black Puerto Rican, came to believe he was being discriminated against on the basis of his race and national origin. Accordingly, on January 29, 1986, Pirela initiated charges against the Village of North Aurora with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by completing an intake questionnaire and being interviewed by an intake officer. At that time, Pirela was informed that a formal charge against the Village would be drafted for his review and signature.

However, before Pirela could bring formal charges against the Village, Police Chief Edward Kelly of the North Aurora Police Department filed a complaint against Pirela which charged Pirela with five infractions of the Rules and Regulations of the North Aurora Police Department. In response to Kelly's complaint, the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners of North Aurora conducted hearings on the matter in April of 1986. After the hearing, the Board found Pirela guilty of four of the five alleged violations and subsequently discharged him from his position with the NAPD.

Pirela filed a complaint for administrative review of the Board's decision in the Circuit Court for Kane County, Illinois. When he presented his case to the circuit court, Pirela argued only that the Board's decision was against the manifest weight of the evidence; he did not introduce (or attempt to introduce) any evidence that his employment was terminated as the result of racial or national origin discrimination. The circuit court concluded that the Board's findings were not against the manifest weight of the evidence and affirmed the Board's decision discharging Pirela on March 26, 1987.

During the pendency of the state court proceedings, Pirela continued to pursue his discrimination charge against the Village. On May 27, 1986, he filed a formal charge of discrimination with the EEOC. Then, later in June of the same year, Pirela amended his EEOC charge to include an allegation of discriminatory discharge. Soon after receiving his right to sue letter from the EEOC in March 1987, Pirela filed a three-count complaint in federal district court alleging discrimination on the basis of race in the Village's promotion, salary, suspension, and discharge procedures pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e et seq., discrimination on the basis of national origin in the Village's promotion, salary, suspension, and discharge procedures pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1981, and, violations of the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.

The Village moved to dismiss the lawsuit for failure to state a claim for which relief could be granted pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). The district court granted the motion with respect to count III because the Equal Pay Act applies only to wage differentials based on sex discrimination, see Ende v. Board of Regents, 757 F.2d 176, 183 (7th Cir.1985); 29 U.S.C. Sec. 206(d)(1), and Pirela had failed to include any allegations of sex-based discrimination. ¹ Although the Village argued that Pirela's Title VII and Sec. 1981 claims were barred by res judicata, the district court refused to dismiss counts I and II because Pirela's complaint had made no reference to any prior court proceedings. Instead, the court exercised its discretion and converted the Village's Rule 12(b)(6) motion into a Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 motion for summary judgment. After the parties had each submitted a memorandum addressing the converted motion for summary judgment, the court granted the Village's motion and dismissed Pirela's amended complaint. Pirela now appeals from the district court's grant of summary judgment.

I.

The federal courts are required to give state court judgments "the same full faith and credit ... as they have by law or usage in the courts of such State." 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1738; see Marrese v. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 470 U.S. 373, 380, 105 S.Ct. 1327, 1331, 84 L.Ed.2d 274 (1985); Schlangen v. Resolution Trust Corp., 934 F.2d 143, 145 (7th Cir. June 10, 1991); Torres v. Rebarchak, 814 F.2d 1219, 1222 (7th Cir.1987). Thus, when a state court judgment would be given preclusive effect under state law, section 1738 requires the preclusion of Title VII claims, Kremer v. Chemical Constr. Corp., 456 U.S. 461, 476, 102 S.Ct. 1883, 1894-95, 72 L.Ed.2d 262 (1982); see also Jones v. City of Alton, 757 F.2d 878, 883 (7th Cir.1985); La Salle Nat'l Bank of Chicago v. County of Du Page, 856 F.2d 925, 930 (7th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1081, 109 S.Ct. 1536, 103 L.Ed.2d 840 (1989), as well as Sec. 1981 claims. See Buckhalter v. Pepsi-Cola Bottlers, 768 F.2d 842, 850 (7th Cir.1985); Washington v. Groen Div./Dover Corp., 634 F.Supp. 819 (N.D.Ill.1986). Under Kremer, a court must employ a two-prong test for deciding whether a subsequent claim is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. We must first ascertain whether "the law of the state in which the prior judgment is rendered would give that judgment preclusive effect against the claims asserted in the federal action." Welch v. Johnson, 907 F.2d 714, 719 (7th Cir.1990) (citing Kremer, 456 U.S. at 481-82, 102 S.Ct. at 1897-98). Then, the court must determine whether the party had a full and fair opportunity to pursue its claim in the prior state proceeding. Id.

The basic principles of Illinois res judicata law are well-established. Under Illinois law, to constitute res judicata a decision must involve "(1) identity of parties or their privies in the two suits; (2) identity of causes of action in the prior and current suit; and (3) a final judgment on the merits in the prior suit." Schlangen v. Resolution Trust Corp., 934 F.2d at 146 (7th Cir. June 10, 1991); Rockford Mut. Ins. Co. v. Amerisure Ins. Co., 925 F.2d 193, 195 (7th Cir.1991); Torres, 814 F.2d at 1222. However, "the bar of res judicata extends not only to questions actually decided, but also to all grounds of recovery and defenses which might have been presented in the prior litigation between the parties." Henry v. Farmer City State Bank, 808 F.2d 1228, 1234 (7th Cir.1986) (citing Lake v. Tomes, 405 Ill. 295, 90 N.E.2d 774, 777 (Ill.1950)). As a result, "[a] defendant [ ] may not relitigate a defense, which was available but not raised in a prior action, by making it the basis of a claim in a subsequent action against the original plaintiff." Id. at 1234.

In this case, the parties contest only the second requirement--the identity of causes of action in the prior and current lawsuits. Specifically, the Village argues that Pirela should have raised his discrimination claims as a defense during his termination proceedings before the Board and circuit court. For the most part, we agree with the Village.

As this court has frequently noted, the Illinois courts have adopted two differing tests--the "same evidence" approach or the "transactional" approach--for determining whether a previous suit should be given res judicata effect. See Rockford Mut. Ins., 925 F.2d at 197; Hagee v. City of Evanston, 729 F.2d 510, 512-13 (7th Cir.1984). Under the "same evidence" test or "proof" approach, the courts must determine "whether the same evidence would sustain both actions." Id. at 513 (citing Mendelson v. Lillard, 83 Ill.App.3d 1088, 1094, 39 Ill.Dec. 373, 379, 404 N.E.2d 964, 970 (1980); Rotogravure Serv., Inc. v. R.W. Borrowdale Co., 77 Ill.App.3d 518, 525, 32 Ill.Dec. 762, 767, 395 N.E.2d 1143, 1148 (1978)). On the other hand, "a court employing a transaction approach will focus not on the type of proof required in each suit but the factual setting in which each suit arises." Hagee, 729 F.2d at 513. Thus, if both actions arise out of the same group of operative facts, the doctrine of res judicata bars the second suit. Rockford Mut. Ins., 925 F.2d at 197; Hagee, 729 F.2d at 513; Baird & Warner, Inc. v. Addison Indus. Park, Inc., 70 Ill.App.3d 59, 64, 26 Ill.Dec. 1, 8, 387 N.E.2d 831, 838 (1979).

Pirela's claim of discriminatory treatment by the Village in its termination and suspension procedures constitutes the same cause of action under either the "same evidence" or "transactional" approach. At their most basic, both suits would require Pirela to prove that the Village acted in a discriminatory manner when it suspended and discharged him. It is clear that Pirela would have to use the same proof to establish his federal discrimination claims as he could have presented in defense to his discharge from the NAPD. See, e.g., Welch, 907 F.2d at 721. Thus, because Pirela's same evidence would sustain both suits, application of the "same evidence" test would preclude his subsequent lawsuit claiming violations of Title VII and Sec. 1981. Our application of the transactional approach compels the same conclusion. Both of Pirela's claims arose out of the same operative facts: Pirela's misconduct and the NAPD's procedures relating to suspension and termination. Because his Title VII and Sec. 1981 claims in this litigation, as well as the possible defense he had in the state proceedings, concern this single procedural scenario, Pirela's action is barred by the transactional approach.

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