Sosa v. Hiraoka

• Decision Date: 09 November 1988
• Docket Number: No. CV-F-87-461 REC.,CV-F-87-461 REC.
• Citation: 714 F. Supp. 1100
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California
• Parties: Luis Roberto SOSA, Plaintiff, v. Harry HIRAOKA, Dorothy Smith, Warren Smith, Leslie Thonesen, and Ron Manfredi, individually and as members of the Board of Trustees of defendant State Center Community College District; Clyde McCully, individually and in his official capacity as President of Fresno City College; Ernest R. Leach, individually and in his official capacities as President and Dean of Instruction; Arthur Ellish, individually and in his official capacity as Acting President and Dean of Instruction; Gerald Stokle; William Stewart, Defendants.

714 F. Supp. 1100

Luis Roberto SOSA, Plaintiff, v. Harry HIRAOKA, Dorothy Smith, Warren Smith, Leslie Thonesen, and Ron Manfredi, individually and as members of the Board of Trustees of defendant State Center Community College District; Clyde McCully, individually and in his official capacity as President of Fresno City College; Ernest R. Leach, individually and in his official capacities as President and Dean of Instruction; Arthur Ellish, individually and in his official capacity as Acting President and Dean of Instruction; Gerald Stokle; William Stewart, Defendants.

No. CV-F-87-461 REC.

United States District Court, E.D. California.

November 9, 1988.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Patience Milrod, Fresno, Cal., for plaintiff.

Joseph P. Zampi, San Diego, Cal., for defendants.

DECISION AND ORDER RE MOTION TO DISMISS/STRIKE

COYLE, District Judge.

On October 17, 1988, the court heard defendants' Motion to Dismiss and/or Strike Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint. Upon due consideration of the written and oral arguments of the parties, the court now enters its order granting defendants' Motion to Dismiss.

Defendants move, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to dismiss plaintiff's action on the grounds that as a matter of law the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction. In addition defendants move, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to dismiss on the grounds that plaintiff's first amended complaint fails to state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted. Also, defendants move pursuant to Rule 12(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to strike from the plaintiff's complaint any impertinent or immaterial matter.

I. Background.

This case originated when on or about December 13, 1985, plaintiff filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against defendant State Center Community College District. This charge alleged that plaintiff had been discriminated against on the basis of national origin and gave one example of such discrimination, i.e., that plaintiff was not appointed Department Head of the Sociology/Human Services and Women's Studies Department. On or about November 21, 1986, the EEOC issued its determination regarding plaintiff's charge and on or about May 19, 1987, the EEOC issued a right to sue notice to plaintiff.

Plaintiff filed his original complaint with this court on August 17, 1987, alleging a claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On March 18, 1988 defendants filed a motion to dismiss the complaint or alternatively for judgment on the pleadings, which was granted in part with leave to amend on May 19, 1988. On April 4, 1988 plaintiff filed a motion for leave to amend the complaint, which motion was granted on July 27, 1988. On August 23, 1988 plaintiff filed and served by mail on defendants the first amended complaint. The amended complaint purports to allege an action for employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., in an action for denial of equal rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981.

II. Applicable Standard of Review.

The court noted in its May 19, 1988 ruling that the parties had not addressed the procedural issue raised when the defendants submitted as an exhibit to their motion to dismiss a copy of the EEOC determination. Generally, when external matters are included with a Rule 12(b)(1) or (b)(6) motion to dismiss, the motion is then treated as a summary judgment motion. But according to Rosales v. U.S., 824 F.2d 799 (9th Cir.1987), cited by this court, it may "make a finding of fact necessary to rule on the subject matter jurisdiction question ... if the jurisdictional facts are not intertwined with the merits."

The jurisdictional question is whether or not the court has jurisdiction over claims and defendants not named in plaintiff's EEOC charge. In order to determine whether the "jurisdictional issue and substantive claims are so intertwined that resolution of the jurisdictional question is dependent on factual issues going to the merits," the court need not review the contents of the charge, attached to both parties' pleadings, which gives rise to a number of factual disputes. The court need only look to the EEOC determination, submitted by defendants as Exhibit B, in order to determine the issue of jurisdiction. The existence of the determination is alleged in the amended complaint. The jurisdictional facts found in the determination are sufficient to establish the scope of this action and therefore the subject matter jurisdiction of this court with respect to the Title VII action.

Although the Ninth Circuit has held that a federal court has jurisdiction over incidents not listed in an EEOC charge, if they are "like or reasonably related to the allegations of the EEOC charge," Oubichon v. North American Rockwell Corp., 482 F.2d 569 (9th Cir.1973), or are within the "scope of the EEOC investigation which can reasonably be expected to grow out of the charge of discrimination," Serpe v. Four-Phase Systems, Inc., 718 F.2d 935 (9th Cir.1983), the investigation and discussion of the record and determination set the boundaries of the actual investigation which grew out of the charge of discrimination. Defendants present these facts merely to obtain a ruling on the subject matter jurisdiction question. Determining the scope of the EEOC investigation which could reasonably have been expected to grow out of the plaintiff's charge is not dependent on the factual issues going to the merits. A resolution of this jurisdictional issue, therefore, does not involve determining whether the incidents described in the determination actually established discrimination by defendants, but only to what extent they establish the scope of the civil action. Accordingly, the court may review the determination and make findings of fact with respect to it in this motion to dismiss.

Other courts have considered the actual EEOC determination or investigation in ruling on whether claims which were never the subject of any discussion or investigation by the EEOC or the parties could be addressed in the civil action. Ferguson v. Mobil Oil Corp., 443 F.Supp. 1334 (S.D.N. Y.1978); see also Grant v. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. of New York, 548 F.Supp. 1189 (S.D.N.Y.1982). Therefore, the determination certainly is relevant. The court need not consider any evidence outside the pleadings to make findings of fact in ruling on which defendants and claims are properly included. Since there is no factual dispute to decide with respect to this issue, as will be set forth in Section III-B of this order, the court finds that resolution of this issue does not require that the motion to dismiss be converted into a summary judgment motion.

III. 42 U.S.C. Section 1981.

A. Eleventh Amendment Immunity.

In Stones v. Los Angeles Community College District, 572 F.Supp. 1072, 1078 (C.D.Cal.1983), affirmed, 796 F.2d 270 (9th Cir.1986), the court held that if a successful action requires payment of sums out of the state treasury, it is barred by the Eleventh Amendment. See also Quern v. Jordan, 440 U.S. 332, 99 S.Ct. 1139, 59 L.Ed.2d 358 (1979). The most crucial question in determining whether a defendant is immune under the Eleventh Amendment is whether the defendant has such independent status that a judgment would not impact the state treasury. Jackson v. Hayakawa, 682 F.2d 1344, 1350 (9th Cir.1982), citing Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 664, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1356, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974). While Jackson was a suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the determination is no different under § 1981, since Stones involved claims under both sections. In Sessions v. Rusk State Hospital, 648 F.2d 1066 (5th Cir.1981), the court stated:

Unlike Title VII, § 1981 contains no congressional waiver of the states' Eleventh Amendment immunity. This indicates that Congress did not intend by the general language of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 to invoke its Fourteenth Amendment Power.

Additionally, the Stones court found that pursuant to the California Constitution, the community colleges are subject to a great degree of legislative control. The District performs the essential function of providing citizens of the state with higher education. While neither the state nor the federal courts have ruled on the Eleventh Amendment status of the state's community college system, several courts have held in analogous situations that they are "alter egos" or "arms" of the state and thus accorded immunity under the Eleventh Amendment. See Jackson at 1350; Vaughn v. Regents of University of California, 504 F.Supp. 1349, 1351-1354 (E.D. Cal.1981); Rutledge v. Arizona Board of Regents, 660 F.2d 1345, 1349 (9th Cir.1981). Furthermore, the grounds for this decision are not factual, but legal. In the Stones appeal, 796 F.2d 270 (9th Cir.1986), the court stated:

The district court concluded that Dr. Stones' suit for backpay against the district was barred by the Eleventh Amendment because state law treats the district as an arm of the state citation deleted and a money judgment levied against the district would be paid out of state apportioned funds.

Id. at 272.

Consequently, the court finds that the State Center Community College District as a community college within the California community college system, like the Los Angeles Community College District, is the type of state agency that enjoys Eleventh Amendment immunity against plaintiff's 42 U.S.C. § 1981 action for compensatory and punitive damages.

In addition, the individual defendants sued in their official capacity are also immune from claims for monetary relief under the Eleventh Amendment.

Eleventh Amendment immunity extends to actions against state officers sued in their official capacity because such actions are, in essence, actions against the governmental entity of which the officer is an agent. citations

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