Santiago v. New York State Dept. of Correctional Services

Decision Date10 September 1991
Docket NumberNo. 842,D,842
Citation945 F.2d 25
Parties56 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1442, 57 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,045, 60 USLW 2211 Rafael SANTIAGO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES and Dr. Melvin J. Steinhart, Defendants, New York State Department Correctional Services, Defendant-Appellant. ocket 90-7020.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Lawrence S. Kahn, Deputy Sol. Gen., New York City (Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen., State of N.Y., Howard L. Zwickel, Ellen J. Fried, Marilyn T. Trautfield, of counsel) for defendant-appellant.

Michael H. Sussman, Goshen, N.Y., for plaintiff-appellee.

Before PIERCE, WINTER and WALKER, Circuit Judges.

WALKER, Circuit Judge:

This case presents the novel issue of whether an action for damages based on a state's past deprivations of Fourteenth Amendment guarantees may be brought directly against a state under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, despite the traditional bar of Eleventh Amendment state immunity. Although a statutory civil rights damage action against a state alleging past Fourteenth Amendment deprivations is barred by the Eleventh Amendment, the question arises whether an action may nonetheless proceed directly under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment since the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted subsequent to the Eleventh and imposes affirmative due process and equal protection obligations of the states through Section 1's self-executing substantive provisions.

The case comes to us as an appeal from an opinion and order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Robert J. Patterson, Judge ) denying a motion by the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) to dismiss plaintiff-appellee Rafael Santiago's suit against it brought under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983 and 1985(3) for emotional damages, litigation costs, and an injunction. 725 F.Supp. 780. Because we agree with DOCS that an action directly under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment is barred by the Eleventh Amendment because it does not fit under either the "clear statement" or "waiver" exceptions to states' immunity from retroactive damage suits against them in federal court, we reverse Judge Patterson's denial of DOCS' motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds. We also hold that Judge Patterson should have dismissed Santiago's claim for prospective relief due to his failure to abide by the Ex Parte Young fiction in suing DOCS directly, instead of an officer of DOCS.

Reversed, and complaint dismissed.

BACKGROUND

On June 15, 1987, Plaintiff-Appellee Rafael Santiago, a Hispanic corrections officer employed at the Otisville Correctional Facility in Orange County, New York, had an altercation with his supervisor. Following this incident, Santiago requested a leave of absence from the facility, which he received. During his leave, Santiago sought treatment from a privately retained psychologist. In late June, this psychologist sent a letter to the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) opining that Santiago would be able to resume work by July 15. However, DOCS refused to allow Santiago to return to work until he had been examined by a state Employee Health Service (EHS) physician, in order to determine whether he could return to work without jeopardizing the health or safety of other employees. The EHS physician, Dr. John Hargraves, examined Santiago on July 6, and then referred him to defendant Dr. Melvin Steinhart, a psychiatrist, for an additional examination. Dr. Steinhart is not employed by EHS, but performs outside examinations of state employees at the request of the state.

Based on his own examination of Santiago, and an additional examination by Dr. Horenstein, an EHS consulting clinical psychologist, Dr. Steinhart recommended to DOCS that Santiago's medical leave be continued. On August 13, 1987, DOCS notified Santiago that he would be placed on involuntary leave of absence. Santiago protested this action to DOCS, requesting a hearing pursuant to N.Y. Civil Service Law § 72(1) to contest the determination. DOCS referred Santiago to Dr. Steinhart for an additional examination, which took place on September 15, 1987. Based on this examination, Dr. Steinhart prepared what Santiago terms a "materially misleading and false report" concluding that Santiago was mentally unfit to perform the duties of a corrections officer.

In October, 1987, Santiago's hearing pursuant to § 72(1) on his challenge to DOCS' involuntary leave decision was held. After several hearing days, the hearing officer found that Santiago was unable to perform the duties of a corrections officer due to a "medical disability." Pursuant to Civil Service Law § 72(3), Santiago appealed this determination to the Civil Service Commission, which after its hearing in April, 1988, reversed the hearing officer's decision, finding that as of July 15, 1987, Santiago had been fit for work as a corrections officer. The Commission ordered Santiago reinstated, and awarded him back pay and benefits for the time he had been on involuntary leave. The Commission did not, and was without authority to, award Santiago compensation for pain and suffering or for his litigation costs.

Santiago then commenced a suit in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, claiming that DOCS and Dr. Steinhart had violated 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985(3), and Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment by conspiring to prepare a materially misleading report relied upon by DOCS in finding plaintiff unfit for work. This action, Santiago claimed, was a part of DOCS' systemic and intentional practice of disciplining black and Hispanic corrections officers in a discriminatory fashion. Santiago sought damages for emotional distress and reimbursement of his litigation costs from DOCS, and punitive damages against Steinhart, as well as an injunction that would prohibit DOCS from taking any "retaliatory action" against him for bringing the lawsuit.

DOCS moved to dismiss the suit under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) and (6), arguing that the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution barred the maintenance of this action under both the civil rights statutes and the Fourteenth Amendment for damages against a state or a state agency in federal court. In responding to DOCS' motion, Santiago conceded that his §§ 1981 and 1983 claims against DOCS were barred by the Supreme Court's decisions in Patterson v. McClean Credit Union, 491 U.S. 164, 109 S.Ct. 2363, 105 L.Ed.2d 132 (1989) and Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police 491 U.S. 58, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989), respectively; however, Santiago maintained that he still had a cause of action against DOCS directly under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In a November 29, 1989 opinion, Judge Patterson denied DOCS' motion to dismiss, agreeing with Santiago that the Eleventh Amendment did not bar his suit under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court dismissed the § 1985(3) claim because Santiago failed to satisfy that section's threshold requirement of a conspiracy between "two or more persons", it held that a suit under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment fell under both the "clear statement" and "waiver" exceptions to Eleventh Amendment immunity. Congress had expressed its clear intention to hold states responsible for due process and equal protection violations without due process of law by passing the self-executing substantive provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment embodied in Section 1, Judge Patterson reasoned, and the states had waived their immunity from citizens' suits protesting such deprivations by ratifying the Amendment. The court then addressed the "separate" question of whether Section 1 permits a remedy for violations of its provisions encompassing a retroactive damage award. Holding that the need for a damage recovery beyond backpay or injunctive relief permits courts to fashion a remedy based on Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Agents, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971), for a constitutional violation not encompassed by other statutes, the court allowed Santiago's claim for emotional damages against DOCS to proceed.

DOCS appeals from Judge Patterson's decision.

DISCUSSION
A. Permissibility of a Suit for Retroactive Damages against States under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment

The question squarely before us in this appeal is whether a person may bring a suit for retroactive damages against a state or a state agency 1 in federal court directly under Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, despite the principle of state sovereign immunity embodied in the Eleventh Amendment. In answering it, we find Santiago's argument that "the Fourteenth Amendment, ex proprio vigore works a pro tanto repeal of the Eleventh Amendment" Milliken v. Bradley, 433 U.S. 267, 290-91, n. 23, 97 S.Ct. 2749, 2762-63, n. 23, 53 L.Ed.2d 745 (1977) (failing to reach the issue), to be too facile. An examination of Supreme Court Eleventh Amendment jurisprudence reveals a complex and flexible relationship between that Amendment and the Fourteenth, and leaves no room for the notion that the later amendment simply erased the earlier. Without denying the self-executing nature of the substantive provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment that impose substantial duties on the states, the Court has nevertheless recognized that states have enjoyed a historical immunity, embodied in the Eleventh Amendment, from suit in federal court "seeking to impose a liability which must be paid from public funds in the state treasury." Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 663, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1356, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974). Therefore the Court has to this date only sanctioned actions for damages arising from a state's violation of the Fourteenth Amendment when Congress has acted under § 5 of the Amendment to "enforce" its secti...

To continue reading

Request your trial
205 cases
  • Taylor v. Norwalk Cmty. Coll.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
    • September 28, 2015
    ...their official capacities." Ghent v. Moore, 519 F.Supp.2d 328, 334 (W.D.N.Y.2007) (citing, inter alia, Santiago v. New York State Dep't of Corr. Servs., 945 F.2d 25, 32 (2d Cir.1991)). a. Eleventh Amendment and Section 1983 1. State and State Agencies The Supreme Court explicitly held in Wi......
  • Orria-Medina v. Metropolitan Bus Authority
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico
    • September 6, 2007
    ...See, e.g. Santiago v. N.Y. St. Dept. Of Correctional Services, 725 F.Supp. 780, 783-84 (S.D.N.Y.1989), rev'd on other grounds, 945 F.2d 25 (2d Cir. 1991). The Court has determined that the MBA is a "person" under section 1983. For the same reasons, the Court determines that the MBA is a "pe......
  • We the Patriots USA, Inc. v. Conn. Office of Early Childhood Dev.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
    • January 11, 2022
    ...purposes, the agency is the alter ego of the state and the state is the real party in interest." Santiago v. N.Y. State Dept. of Corr. Servs. , 945 F.2d 25, 28 n.1 (2d Cir. 1991). The Eleventh Amendment, however, is not without exception. Congress may abrogate a state's immunity by statute,......
  • Jurist v. Long Island Power Auth.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York
    • May 10, 2021
    ...relief is only available against a state official who must be specifically named. Id. at 192-93 (quoting Santiago v. N.Y. State Dep't of Corr. Servs., 945 F.2d 25, 32 (2d Cir. 1991) ). Also, the Eleventh Amendment does not permit a federal court to grant equitable relief when plaintiffs all......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT