Sturdevant v. Paulsen

• Decision Date: 10 July 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-1276,99-1276
• Citation: 218 F.3d 1160
• Parties: (10th Cir. 2000) KATHERINE S. STURDEVANT, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. MARIJANE A. PAULSEN, individually and in her official capacity as President of Pikes Peak Community College; EDWIN RAY, individually and in his official capacity as Vice President for Educational Services of Pikes Peak Community College; JANE ABBOTT, individually and in her official capacity as Dean of the Division of Communications, Humanities and Social Sciences of Pikes Peak Community College, Defendants, and STATE BOARD OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND OCCUPATIONAL EDUCATION, Defendant-Appellant
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 1160

218 F.3d 1160 (10th Cir. 2000)

KATHERINE S. STURDEVANT, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. MARIJANE A. PAULSEN, individually and in her official capacity as President of Pikes Peak Community College; EDWIN RAY, individually and in his official capacity as Vice President for Educational Services of Pikes Peak Community College; JANE ABBOTT, individually and in her official capacity as Dean of the Division of Communications, Humanities and Social Sciences of Pikes Peak Community College, Defendants and STATE BOARD OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND OCCUPATIONAL EDUCATION, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 99-1276

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS TENTH CIRCUIT

July 10, 2000

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Colorado (D.C. No. 98-B-1105) [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Christine M. Arguello, Deputy Attorney General (Ken Salazar, Attorney General and Antony B. Dyl, Assistant Attorney General with her on the briefs), Denver, Colorado, for the Appellant.

Sharyn E. Dreyer (Martha R. Houser, Cathy L. Cooper, and Bradley C. Bartels with her on the brief), Colorado Education Association, Denver, Colorado, for the Appellee.

Before SEYMOUR and LUCERO, Circuit Judges, and ELLISON^*, Senior District Judge.

LUCERO, Circuit Judge.

This interlocutory appeal of the district court's denial of Eleventh Amendment immunity presents the legal issue of whether the Colorado State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education ("the Board") is an "arm of the state" for purposes of the Eleventh Amendment. Resolution of this issue requires an inquiry into the financial relationships between the state and the Board, as well as the Board's degree of autonomy, but fundamentally comes down to the following question: Is the Board more like a political subdivision such as a local school district, or is it an alter ego of the state such as the governing board of a state university system? We conclude it is more akin to the latter, and reverse.

I

Plaintiff Katherine S. Sturdevant, a full-time history instructor at Pikes Peak Community College, asserts state law wrongful termination claims against the Board, as well as federal claims against other defendants that are not at issue in this interlocutory appeal of the district court's denial of Eleventh Amendment immunity. The Board asserted the defense of Eleventh Amendment immunity based on its claim that it is an alter ego or instrumentality of the State of Colorado. Adopting a magistrate's recommendation, the district court rejected the Board's claim of Eleventh Amendment immunity, and this interlocutory appeal followed.

Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-60-104 establishes and sets forth the powers and duties of the Board, which governs the State of Colorado's community college and occupational education system. See id. 23-60-102. The Board "is charged to develop and establish state policy for occupational education and to govern the state system of community colleges." Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-60-102(1). It is defined as a "body corporate" with the power to hold "money, lands, or other property" and to use such property in the interests of community and occupational education. Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-60-104(1)(b). Nine of its eleven members are appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate, subject to certain political and geographical diversity requirements. See Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-60-104(2)(a)(I). A student and faculty member from among the state community colleges, elected according to Board-established procedures, fill the additional two positions. See Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-60-104(2)(a)(II).

The Board controls and administers a "state board for community colleges and occupational education fund." Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-60-107(1). This fund contains money obtained by legislative appropriation as well as grant, contract, gift, sale, or other means. See id. Fund balances do not revert to the general fund at the end of the year. See id.

Board powers and duties over the state system of community and technical colleges include, in part, constructing facilities and issuing "revenue bonds and other revenue obligations," Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-60-202(1)(b); fixing the "tuition and fees to be charged in the community and technical colleges" in accordance with the level of legislative appropriation therefor, Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-60-202(1)(c); and planning and implementing policies for the community and technical educational system generally, see Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-60-202. In many respects, however, the Board's powers are subordinate to the oversight of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education ("CCHE"). The CCHE may approve or modify the Board's proposed budget before making a funding recommendation to the governor and general assembly, see Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-1-105(2), establishes binding policies on tuition and fees, see id. 23-1-108(12), and must approve the service area of, and all educational programs at, Board-governed institutions, see id. 23-1-107, -109. Finally, with respect to its oversight of community and technical colleges, the Board enjoys and is subject to the same powers and duties as "the governing boards of institutions of higher education," Colo. Rev. Stat. 23-60-202(1).

In determining that the Board does not enjoy the State's Eleventh Amendment immunity, the district court concluded that it constitutes a political subdivision rather than an arm of the state. Specifically, the district court looked to the following factors: the Board's status as a "body corporate," its powers to raise and administer revenues, its "significant degree of autonomy," the fact that its funds do not annually revert to the state, and, most importantly, a conclusion that although the state risk management fund would pay any judgment against the Board, "the state of Colorado would not be legally liable to pay a judgment against the Board." (Appellant's App. at 88-89.) Considering these factors de novo and in light of the fundamental purpose of Eleventh Amendment arm-of-the-state doctrine, we disagree.

II

We have appellate jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal pursuant to the collateral order doctrine. "States and state entities that claim to be 'arms of the State' may take advantage of the collateral order doctrine to appeal a district court order denying a claim of Eleventh Amendment immunity." Puerto Rico Aqueduct & Sewer Auth. v. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc. 506 U.S. 139, 147 (1993).

III

Eleventh Amendment immunity is a question of federal law reviewed de novo. See Duke v. Grady Mun. Schs., 127 F.3d 972, 975 (10th Cir. 1997). We give some deference to the rationale of state court decisions regarding the arm-of-the-state status of a particular entity, but do not regard them as dispositive. See id. at 978.

Eleventh Amendment immunity bars damages actions against a state in federal court, even by its own citizens, unless the state waives that immunity. See U.S. Const. amend. XI; Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 663 (1974).¹ In Mount Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 280 (1977) (citations omitted), the Court held that "[t]he bar of the Eleventh Amendment to suits in federal courts extends to States and state officials in appropriate circumstances, but does not extend to counties and similar municipal corporations." In interpreting Mt. Healthy, we have explained that "[t]he arm-of-the-state doctrine bestows immunity on entities created by state governments that operate as alter egos or instrumentalities of the states." Watson v. University of Utah Med. Ctr., 75 F.3d 569, 574 (10th Cir. 1996) (citing Mascheroni v. Board of Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 28 F.3d 1554, 1559 (10th Cir. 1994)).

Our inquiry under the arm-of-the-state doctrine is well defined.

The issue here . . . turns on whether the [entity] is to be treated as an arm of the State partaking of the State's Eleventh Amendment immunity, or is instead to be treated as a municipal corporation or other political subdivision to which the Eleventh Amendment does not extend. The answer depends, at least in part, on the nature of the entity created by state law.

Mt. Healthy, 429 U.S. at 280; see also Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Doe, 519 U.S. 425, 429-30 & n.5 (1997). In other words, the inquiry with regard to a particular entity is whether it is "more like a county or city than . . . like an arm of the state?" Mt. Healthy, 429 U.S. at 280. Although ultimately a matter of federal law, arm-of-the-state status must be determined in each case by reference to the particular state laws characterizing the entity. See Duke, 127 F.3d at 975, 978; Ambus v. Granite Bd. of Educ., 995 F.2d 992, 994 (10th Cir. 1993) (en banc).

In Watson, we further elaborated on the Mt. Healthy test for arm-of-the-state status. To determine whether an entity is an arm of the state

we engage in two general inquiries. [T]he court first examines the degree of autonomy given to the agency, as determined by the characterization of the agency by state law and the extent of guidance and control exercised by the state. Second, the court examines the extent of financing the agency receives independent of the state treasury and its ability to provide for its own financing. The governmental entity is immune from suit if the money judgment sought is to be satisfied out of the state treasury.

Watson, 75 F.3d at 574-75 (internal quotations and citations omitted). With respect to the last and particularly important factor of state treasury liability, "[w]e interpret Doe, 519 U.S. at 431, to require us to focus on legal liability for a judgment, rather than practical, or indirect, impact a judgment would have on a state's treasury." Duke, 127 F.3d at 981. Although our consideration of the various enumerated factors requires consideration of certain aspects of a state entity in multiple contexts, we nevertheless pursue the factors in detail, because they lead us to a different conclusion than that of the district court.

A. Legal...