Silva Rivera v. State Insurance Fund Corp., Civil No. 03-1727(DRD).

• Decision Date: 26 April 2007
• Docket Number: Civil No. 03-1727(DRD).
• Citation: 488 F.Supp.2d 72
• Parties: Rafael SILVA RIVERA, et al., Plaintiffs v. STATE INSURANCE FUND CORPORATION, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

488 F.Supp.2d 72

Rafael SILVA RIVERA, et al., Plaintiffs v. STATE INSURANCE FUND CORPORATION, et al., Defendants.

Civil No. 03-1727(DRD).

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

April 26, 2007.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

John F. Nevares, John F. Nevares & Assoc. PSC, San Juan, PR, for Plaintiffs.

Jo-Ann Estades-Boyer, Prado, Nunez & Associates, PSC, Jose Enrico Valenzuela-Alvarado, Department of Justice Office of the Solicitor General, Juan M. Rivera-Gonzalez, Ruben A. Rivera-Rosa, Sanchez Betances Sifre Munoz Noya & Rivera Law Offices, PSC, San Juan, PR, for Defendants.

AMENDED OPINION AND ORDER NUNC PRO TUNC

DOMINGUEZ, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs' Motion for Reconsideration of Judgment and/or to Alter or Amend Judgment (Docket No. 63), filed on August 14, 2006 and Defendant's Response in Opposition (Docket No. 71) filed on September 11, 2006.

Plaintiffs aver that the res judicata and/or collateral estoppel doctrines do not preclude their civil rights claims in the instant federal action and consequently that the Court erred when it found that the England Reservation Constitutional¹ doctrine was applicable to the instant case and further that the Court considered arguments based on Plaintiffs' failure to present evidence without ever allowing them to conduct discovery. Plaintiffs focused mainly in the fact that the hearing officer in the pretermination hearing was not a neutral party. For said reason, Plaintiffs request the Court to vacate its Order and Judgment (Docket entries No. 60 & 61) and ultimately deny Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment.

However, Defendants aver that Plaintiffs are using their motion as a vehicle to relitigate and/or rehash matters that have already been litigated, considered and decided by the Court and that they are trying to gratify their errors of noncompliance and failure to controvert the essential material facts. Defendants further state that since the disciplinary hearings were conducted by neutral adjudicators, the administrative proceedings were made in a judicial capacity. Moreover, Defendants aver that the voluntary submission to the proceedings and the subsequent failure to appeal the decisions confer preclusive effect upon Plaintiffs' federal claims particularly as to collateral estoppel of facts adjudicated at State level decisions. Finally, Defendants aver that since Plaintiffs' claims were not sustained by "wrongful" evidence, the Court did not err in granting summary judgment in Defendants', nor did it err by dismissing the entire case with prejudice. For said reasons, Defendants contend that the Court should deny Plaintiffs' Motion to Alter or Amend Judgment, and sustain its Opinion and Judgment.

The Court reconsiders not because the designated official was not neutral but because of the nature of a pretermination hearing as set forth by the United States Supreme Court and followed by the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. The Court briefly explains.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On July 1, 2003 plaintiffs Rafael Silva Rivera and his wife, Joanne Fabricio Fernandez, filed a complaint for injunctive relief, declaratory judgment, compensatory and punitive damages pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The plaintiffs allege that their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and association were violated due to having been discriminated against because of their political affiliations. In addition, plaintiffs aver violations to the equal protection of the laws and due process of law, protected by the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as well as by the Article II, Sections 1, 6, and 7 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Plaintiffs also contend that these rights were infringed when the hearings granted to them by Defendants were merely informal, non-adversarial, administrative proceedings held by the agency itself which, in turn, merely afforded Mr. Silva Rivera the opportunity to present evidence to contradict his employer's purported reasons for dismissal.

Pursuant to the complaint, the alleged Constitutional violations then became evident when the outcome of these hearings became known. The administrative hearings resulted in a recommendation to the head of the agency, from a hearing examiner, terminating Mr. Silva Rivera from his employment for disciplinary reasons. Subsequently, the administrator followed the recommendation of the pretermination officer. The plaintiffs state that the administrative procedure cannot be binding in as much as an interested party, his employer, remains the ultimate decisionmaker. Plaintiffs also allege that the Defendants are liable under Article 1802 of the Puerto Rico Civil Code, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 31, § 5141, since Mr. Silva Rivera was deprived of his functions and responsibilities as a career employee, and, as a result, he felt segregated and humiliated in front of other employees. Plaintiffs allegedly suffered great physical, Moral, and mental distress. Subsequently, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment asserting the applicability of the doctrines of res judicata and/or collateral estoppel, thus, barring plaintiffs' civil rights claims in the instant case.

On May 10, 2006, the Court issued an order (Docket No.52) referring this matter to then Magistrate Judge Gustavo Gelpi (now District Judge) for his Report and Recommendation ("R & R"). Magistrate Judge Gelpí, in turn, issued his R & R on May 11, 2006 (Docket No. 53) recommending that Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment be granted and that the case be dismissed. The Report and Recommendation was objected by Plaintiff on May 25, 2006 (Docket No. 54), Defendants Responded on June 15, 2006 (Docket No. 58). Subsequently, on July 31, 2006, the Court entered an Opinion and Order (Docket No. 60), adopting the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation, thereby granting Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment and dismissing the federal claims with prejudice and the state claims without prejudice.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Motions for reconsideration are generally considered either under Rules 59 or 60 of the Fed.R.Civ.P., depending on the time such motion is served. Perez-Perez v. Popular Leasing Rental, Inc., 993 F.2d 281, 284 (1st Cir.1993). It is settled that "[a] motion for reconsideration `does not provide a vehicle for a party to undo its own procedural failures and it certainly does not allow a party to introduce new evidence or advance arguments that could or should have been presented to the district court prior to the judgment.'" Marks 3 Zet-Ernst Marks GmBh & Co. KG v. Presstek, Inc., 455 F.3d 7, 15-16 (1st Cir.2006)(emphasis ours). Thus, a motion for reconsideration cannot be used as a vehicle to re-litigate matters already litigated and decided by the Court. Standard Quimica De Venezuela v. Central Hispano International, Inc., 189 F.R.D. 202, n.4 (D.P.R.1999). These motions are entertained by courts if they seek to correct manifest errors of law or fact, present newly discovered evidence, or when there is an intervening change in law. See Rivera Surillo & Co. v. Falconer Glass Indus., Inc., 37 F.3d 25, 29 (1st Cir.1994) (citing F.D.I.C. Ins. Corp. v. World University, Inc., 978 F.2d 10, 16 (1st Cir. 1992)); Cherena v. Coors Brewing Com., 20 F.Supp.2d 282, 286 (D.P.R.1998); see also National Metal Finishing Co. v. BarclaysAmerican/Commercial, Inc., 899 F.2d 119, 124 (1st Cir.1990). "Rule 59 motions are `aimed at re consideration, not initial consideration.'" Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation v. World University Inc., 978 F.2d 10, 16 (1st Cir.1992)(citations omitted). "Thus, parties should not use them to `raise arguments which could, and should, have been made before judgment issued.'" Id. (citation omitted). "Motion under Rule 59(e) must either clearly establish a manifest error of law or must present newly discovered evidence." Id. (citation omitted). "They may not be used to argue a new legal theory." Id. Hence, this vehicle may not be used by the losing party "to repeat old arguments previously considered and rejected, or to raise new legal theories that should have been raised earlier." Id. at 123. See also, Waye v. First Citizen's National Bank, 846 F.Supp. 310, 314 n. 3 (M.D.Pa.1994) (A motion for reconsideration is unavailable if it simply brings a point of disagreement between the court and the litigant, or to reargue matters already properly prior thereto disposed).

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not specifically provide for the filing of motions for reconsideration. Sierra Club v. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Assoc., Inc., 173 F.R.D. 275, 287 (D.Colo.1997); Hatfield v. Board of County Comm'rs for Converse County, 52 F.3d 858, 861 (10th Cir.1995). Notwithstanding, any motion seeking the reconsideration of a judgment or order is considered as a motion to alter or amend a judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e) if it seeks to change the order or judgment issued. Id.

As a general rule, motions for reconsideration should be exceptionally granted. As the Western District Court of Pennsylvania has wisely explained:

[M]otions for reconsideration must be strictly reviewed for at least four reasons. First, it would tend to undercut the court's first decision and transform it into an advisory opinion, which is prohibited. Second, motions for reconsideration run counter to the operation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which provide all the necessary safeguards to promote fair decisions. Third, broad interpretation of motions for reconsideration is not supported by controlling precedent. And last but not least, reconsideration of dispositive decisions ... hinders the court's ability to decide motions awaiting resolution that have yet to be reviewed once, let alone twice.

Williams v. City of Pittsburgh, 32 F.Supp.2d 236, 238 (W.D.Penn.1998).

Thus, in interest of finality, at least at the district court lev...