Sifre v. Department of Health, Civil No. 98-1904(JP).

• Decision Date: 31 March 1999
• Docket Number: Civil No. 98-1904(JP).
• Citation: 38 F.Supp.2d 91
• Parties: Elesma Oliveras SIFRE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, et. al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

38 F.Supp.2d 91

Elesma Oliveras SIFRE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, et. al., Defendants.

Civil No. 98-1904(JP).

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

March 31, 1999.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Ricardo L. Torres Muñoz, San Juan, PR, for plaintiffs.

Lynn M. Doble Salicrup, José R. Cintrón Rodríguez, San Juan, PR, for defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

PIERAS, District Judge.

I. Introduction and Background

The Court has before it Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Under Fed.R Civ.P. 12(B)(6) (docket No. 17), Plaintiffs' Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (docket No. 22), Defendants' Supplement to Motion to Dismiss (docket No. 24), and Plaintiffs' Opposition to Defendants' Supplement to Motion to Dismiss (docket No. 32). In addition, the Court will also examine Plaintiffs' Leave to File Amendment to the Complaint under FRCP 15 (docket No. 25), Defendants' Opposition to "Leave to File Amendment to the Complaint Under FRCP 15" and Motion to Strike the First Amended Complaint (docket No. 26), and Motion to Dismiss the First Amended Complaint (docket No. 27).

Plaintiffs filed their Complaint on August 10, 1998, bringing claims under the Americans With Disabilities Act ("ADA"), Titles I, II, and V, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12112, 12182, and 12203; § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. 794; and articles 1802 and 1803 of the Puerto Rico Civil Code, P.R.Laws Ann. tit. 31., §§ 5141, 5142. Plaintiffs are Elesma Oliveras Sifre ("Oliveras"), Ombudsman of the Puerto Rico Department of Health for HIV/AIDS, Carlos Aponte Ortiz ("Aponte"), Strategies and Liaison Coordinator for the Ombudsman's Office for HIV/AIDS patients, and Rubén Román Cruz ("Román"), Investigation Analyst at the Ombudsman's Office for HIV/AIDS. Plaintiffs all allege that they were discriminated against by their individual supervisors, the Secretary of the Department of Health, Carmen Feliciano de Melecio, the Executive Director of the AIDS Sexually Transmitted Diseases Program of the Department of Health, Ingrid Fernández Milián, the Auxiliary Secretary of Health Promotion and Protection of the Department of Health, Sylvette Soto Colón, and the Puerto Rico Department of Health in violation of the ADA and Rehabilitation Act as a result of their opposition to various regulations and other actions related to persons with HIV/AIDS.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Plaintiffs' Motion to Amend their Complaint to add § 1983 Violations

Before addressing Defendants' Motion to Dismiss, the Court must determine whether it will permit Plaintiffs' request for leave to amend their Complaint to add claims for a violation of Plaintiffs' First Amendment Rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. At the Initial Scheduling Conference, held on January 22, 1999, Plaintiffs informed the Court that they wished to amend their Complaint to add additional causes of action under § 1983. In a follow-up Order, the Court ordered Plaintiffs to file for leave to amend the Complaint on or before February 5, 1999 (docket No. 23). On February 8, 1999 Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Leave to File Amendment to the Complaint Under FRCP 15, arguing that their request to amend the Complaint is made in good faith, without any dilatory motives or undue delay, and relates to the same conduct described in the original Complaint. Thus, Plaintiffs argue that based on First Circuit law and Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court should permit the amendment.

Defendants oppose Plaintiffs' motion on several grounds. First, they point out that Plaintiffs filed their motion late — three days after the Court's deadline. Further, Defendants assert that Plaintiffs violated the Court's ISC Call by not providing Defendants with a copy of their Initial Scheduling Conference Memorandum until one day prior to the ISC. Defendants consider Plaintiffs to have engaged in a "pattern of tardiness, incompliance [sic] and negligence in the execution of their duties towards defendants and the Court" (Defs.' Opp'n. to Leave to File Amendment to the Compl. Under FRCP 15 and Motion to Strike the First Amended Compl. at 3), which they believe the Court should consider when ruling on their motion to amend the Complaint. Defendants further point out that Plaintiffs have improperly tried to assert amendments of the Complaint into their ISC Memorandum and Opposition to Defendants' initial Motion to Dismiss. In their final argument, Defendants claim that the Court should deny the proposed amendment because the newly added claims under § 1983 are time-barred, and thus, the amendment would be futile.

Under Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, leave to amend a Complaint "shall be freely given when justice so requires." Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a). Although Courts have discretion to permit an amendment, Rule 15(a)'s mandate that leave is to be freely given "is to be heeded." Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962). The First Circuit, however, has stated that the "`liberal amendment policy prescribed by Rule 15(a) does not mean that leave will be granted in all cases.'" Acosta-Mestre v. Hilton Int'l of Puerto Rico, 156 F.3d 49, 51 (1st Cir.1998) (quoting 6 CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT, ARTHUR R. MILLER & MARY KAY KANE, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 1487, at 611 (2d ed.1990)). Acceptable reasons for denying a plaintiff leave to amend include:

undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party by virtue of allowance of the amendment, futility of amendment, etc.

Foman, 371 U.S. at 182, 83 S.Ct. 227. Based on this standard, a court can refuse to grant leave to amend a complaint if the claim to be added is without legal merit. See Liberty Leather Corp. v. Callum, 653 F.2d 694, 700 (1st Cir.1981).

While Plaintiffs filed certain motions after court deadlines, these minor delays cannot constitute undue delay and are not a sufficient reason to deny leave to amend the Complaint. Further, only six months have passed since the original Complaint was filed on August 10, 1998, and the parties have not yet begun to engage in discovery; therefore, Defendants' argument that they would be prejudiced by Plaintiffs' addition of the § 1983 claims is without merit. See Acosta-Mestre, 156 F.3d at 51 (affirming district court decision to deny second amendment to complaint, requested fifteen months after initial complaint had been filed over a year after the first amendment, because defendants would be prejudiced by amendment).

The Court, however, agrees with Defendants' argument that the amendment should not be permitted because the statute of limitations governing § 1983 actions has run. Section 1983 does not provide its own statute of limitations; when a federal statute does not include a limitations period, courts look to the most analogous state statute of limitations for guidance. See Carreras-Rosa v. Alves-Cruz, 127 F.3d 172, 174 (1st Cir.1997) (citing Wilson v. García, 471 U.S. 261, 278-80, 105 S.Ct. 1938, 85 L.Ed.2d 254 (1985)). The First Circuit has held that for § 1983 claims, the statute of limitations governing personal injury actions is to be applied. See id. In Puerto Rico, the relevant limitations period is one year, based on Article 1868(2) of the Puerto Rico Civil Code, P.R.Laws Ann. tit. 31 § 5298(2). See id. The accrual date of a § 1983 action, however, is determined by federal law. See id.; Torres v. Superintendent of the Police of Puerto Rico, 893 F.2d 404, 407 (1st Cir.1990). The accrual period "begins when the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury which is the basis of the action." Torres, 893 F.2d at 407 (citing Marrapese v. Rhode Island, 749 F.2d 934, 936 (1st Cir.1984)).

In the instant case, Plaintiffs' Complaint states that they were dismissed or transferred from their positions on June 30, 1997. This is the latest date their claims could have accrued.¹ Thus, to file a timely claim pursuant to § 1983, Plaintiffs must have filed their Complaint by July 1, 1998. Plaintiffs, however, did not file their Complaint until August 10, 1998. In addition, Plaintiffs make no specific claim that their § 1983 claims should be tolled, and the Court finds that no tolling occurred.

Tolling of a statute of limitations under § 1983 is governed by state law, and in Puerto Rico, "extrajudicial" claims and prior judicial claims serve to toll the limitations period. See Torres, 893 F.2d at 407 (citing article 1873 of the Puerto Rico Civil Code, P.R.Laws Ann. tit. 31 § 5303). In the instant case, the only possible extrajudicial claims that could toll the limitations period are the charges filed by Plaintiffs with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") within 180 days of their termination. The claims asserted in the charges, however, relate solely to Plaintiffs' causes of action under the ADA and Rehabilitation Act. In order for an extrajudicial claim to toll the statute of limitations for a later claim, the second cause of action must be identical to the first and require the same relief or conduct. See Benítez-Pons v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 136 F.3d 54, 59 (1st Cir. 1998); Rodríguez-Narváez v. Nazario, 895 F.2d 38, 44 (1st Cir.1990).

The Puerto Rico Supreme Court has held that the filing of a charge with the EEOC for causes of action under Title VII tolls equivalent causes of action for discrimination under Puerto Rico law. See Matos Molero v. Roche Products, Inc., 93 CDT 005, 1993 WL 839826 at *6-7 (P.R. Jan.14, 1993). As discussed by the Court in León-Nogueras v. University of Puerto Rico, "this result is perfectly consistent with the requirement that the substantive claims raised in the extrajudicial claim must be identical substantive claims raised in the subsequent judicial complaint." León-Nogueras v. University of Puerto Rico, 964 F.Supp. 585, 589 (D.Puerto Rico 1997). Since Plaintiffs' § 1983 actions for ...