Sims v. City of New London

• Decision Date: 31 May 1990
• Docket Number: Civ. No. H-89-16(AHN).
• Citation: 738 F. Supp. 638
• Parties: Andrew H. SIMS, Jr. v. CITY OF NEW LONDON, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut

738 F. Supp. 638

Andrew H. SIMS, Jr. v. CITY OF NEW LONDON, et al.

Civ. No. H-89-16(AHN).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

May 31, 1990.

Susan G. Nelson, Copp, Berall, Wellette, Bates & Carta, Groton, Conn., for plaintiff.

Hyman Wilensky, Wilensky, Schwartz, and Hirsch, New London, Conn., Barbara J. Sheedy, Gillooly, McGrail, Carroll and Sheedy, New Haven, Stephen P. Fogerty, Joseph G. Lynch, Halloran & Sage, Hartford, Conn., for defendants.

RULING ON MOTION FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS

NEVAS, District Judge.

Andrew Sims, former City Engineer of the City of New London, Connecticut (the "City"), brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 against the City and the members of the City Council (the "Council") in their official capacities (count one). He has also brought suit against Council members Basilica, Massad, Nahas and Olsen in their individual capacities (count two). Sims claims that by publicly charging him with improprieties, and thereafter failing to hold an official hearing to investigate the veracity of those charges, the defendants have deprived him of a liberty interest in his reputation without affording him due process of law.

This matter is now before the court on defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c), Fed.R. Civ.P. Defendants claim that they did not deprive Sims of due process by failing to hold a hearing. Alternatively, the Council members assert that they are immune from prosecution of this suit under one of two theories: (1) that the claims against the Council members in their official capacities are superfluous and therefore should be dismissed; and (2) that the claims against the Council members in their individual capacities are barred by the doctrine of legislative immunity. For the reasons discussed below, defendants' motion on the first count is granted with leave to amend. The motion on the second count is also granted.

I. Background

Andrew Sims is a registered professional engineer, licensed to practice in the State of Connecticut. At all times relevant to this suit, Sims was employed as City Engineer by the City. Throughout his tenure Sims consistently received both annual salary increases and satisfactory performance appraisals. On or about July 14, 1988, however, Gregory Massad, a member of the Council, publicly called for Sims's resignation, charging him with acts of dishonesty and wrongdoing, and with unethical and unprofessional conduct in his performance as City Engineer. On July 15, 1988, an article appeared in The Day, a newspaper having general circulation in the Southeastern portion of Connecticut. The article, entitled New London Councilor Calls for Sims's Resignation, reported Massad's accusations and a list of the charges against Sims. Several similar articles soon followed.

As a result of these accusations, the Council voted to form a committee to investigate the charges, appointing Massad as its chair. Sims denied the charges and demanded that the matter be investigated and adjudicated by an impartial tribunal, one not chaired by Massad. The Council agreed, and on October 3, 1988 referred the matter to the American Arbitration Association. Nonetheless, on October 27, 1988, Sims tendered a letter of resignation to the City Manager, effective January 9, 1989. News of Sims's resignation also made the pages of The Day.

On November 7, 1988, Sims contacted the defendants demanding that the hearing go forward despite his resignation so that he might have the opportunity to answer the charges which had been publicly leveled against him. The Council refused, and on November 21, 1988 voted to terminate the arbitration proceeding. Consequently, Sims brought this suit alleging that the defendants' actions denied him of a liberty interest in his reputation without due process of law.

II. Discussion

A. Standard of Review

Rule 12(c), Fed.R.Civ.P., provides:

After the pleadings are closed but within such time as not to delay the trial, any party may move for judgment on the pleadings. If, on a motion for judgment on the pleadings, matters outside the pleadings are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment and disposed of as provided in Rule 56, and all parties shall be given reasonable opportunity to present all material made pertinent to such a motion by Rule 56.

A Rule 12(c) motion may be granted "where material facts are undisputed and where a judgment on the merits is possible merely by considering the contents of the pleadings." Sellers v. M.C. Floor Crafters, Inc., 842 F.2d 639, 642 (2nd Cir.1988). When passing on a motion for judgment on the pleadings, a court must accept as true all well-pleaded facts alleged in the complaint and refrain from dismissing the action unless the non-movant can prove no set of facts that would entitle itself to relief. Bloor v. Carro, Spanbock, Londin, Rodman & Fass, 754 F.2d 57, 61 (2nd Cir.1985).

B. Analysis

Sims alleges that the defendants' actions created "a stigma ..., severely damaging to his good name, reputation, standing in the community, honor and integrity, both personally and professionally." Complaint para. 30. This stigma "severely damaged his business and professional relationships in the community, severely restricting his opportunities for future employment in the Southeastern Connecticut area." Id. para. 31. Sims further asserts that Massad, with reckless indifference to his rights, "commenced a publicity campaign against Plaintiff intended to result in the discontinuance of Plaintiff's employment with the City," id. para. 18, and, as a result, the Council failed to pay his customary annual salary increase as recommended by the City Manager. Id. para. 24.

Sims claims that denying him the opportunity to clear his name created the impression that his resignation was an admission of wrongdoing. He contends that by not holding the hearing, the City and the Council have deprived him of a liberty interest in his reputation without due process of law. Additionally, he claims that in their individual capacities certain members of the Council, by voting to terminate the hearing, likewise denied him due process of law.

1. The Official Capacity Claims

The defendants assert that claims against the Council members are essentially claims against the City. Because the City is also a defendant, they argue that the suits against the Council members in their official capacities are redundant and should be dismissed. The court disagrees.

Defendants do not claim, nor could they, that a suit against the City is barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 647-48, 100 S.Ct. 1398, 1413, 63 L.Ed.2d 673 (1980); Monell v. Department of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 690, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2035, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). The Monell Court held specifically that "local government officials sued in their official capacities are `persons' under section 1983 in those cases which, as here, a local government would be suable in its own name." Monell, 436 U.S. at 690 n. 55, 98 S.Ct. at 2035 n. 55. Accordingly, official capacity suits "generally represent only another way of pleading an action against an entity of which an officer is an agent." Id. Defendants apparently rely upon this language to assert that the suit against the Council members in their official capacities is superfluous. Such reliance is misplaced.

Municipal officials sued in their official capacities, like municipalities themselves, are not immune from suit. See Owen, 445 U.S. at 638 & n. 18, 100 S.Ct. at 1409 & n. 18 (holding that members of the city council in their official capacity are not immune from a section 1983 suit against the municipality for deprivation of liberty interest in reputation without due process); Goldberg v. Whitman, Civ. No. 88-840, slip op. at 6-7, ___ F.Supp. ___, ___ (D.Conn. Aug. 8, 1989) (Nevas, J.). Section 1983 abrogated whatever sovereign immunity previously existed for municipal entities. See Owen, 445 U.S. at 647-48, 100 S.Ct. at 1413. "The result is not different simply because the plaintiff has named municipal officials as defendants in their official capacities in lieu of—or in this case, in addition to—the municipal entity itself." Goldberg, at ___. Granted, "there is no longer a need to bring official-capacity actions against local government officials, for under Monell, local government units can be sued directly for damages and injunctive or declaratory relief." Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 167 n. 14, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3106 n. 14, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985) (citations omitted). But it is a nonsequitur that such suits cannot be brought. Indeed, the Supreme Court has implicitly held, after Monell, that plaintiffs may file suit against both a municipality and its agents in their official capacities. See, e.g., Owen, 445 U.S. at 638 n. 18, 100 S.Ct. at 1409 n. 18.¹ Moreover, the second circuit has held that if the municipal entity is not named, suits against local government actors in their official capacities are entirely proper when, as here, the plaintiff seeks injunctive relief. Perez v. Ortiz, 849 F.2d 793, 798 (2nd Cir.1988) (citing Graham, 473 U.S. at 167 n. 14, 105 S.Ct. at 3106 n. 14). But see Rosa R. v. Connelly, 889 F.2d 435, 437 (2nd Cir.1989) (claim against municipal officer sued in his official capacity properly dismissed absent allegation that he was directly and personally responsible for the purported unlawful conduct); Alfaro Motors, Inc. v. Ward, 814 F.2d 883, 886 (2nd Cir.1987) (same). The court finds, therefore, that the argument that a plaintiff may sue either a municipality or its agents but not both is without merit.

2. The Individual Capacity Claims: Legislative Immunity

The complaint also alleges that defendants Basilica, Massad, Nahas, and Olsen, by voting to terminate the hearing, deprived Sims of liberty without due process of law. Sims alleges that ...