Taylor v. New York City Transit Authority

• Decision Date: 26 October 1970
• Docket Number: No. 23,Docket 34650.,23
• Citation: 433 F.2d 665
• Parties: Julian C. TAYLOR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY and Civil Service Commission of the City of New York, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

433 F.2d 665 (1970)

Julian C. TAYLOR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY and Civil Service Commission of the City of New York, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 23, Docket 34650.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued September 16, 1970.

Decided October 26, 1970.

George J. Robertazzi, Brooklyn, N. Y., for plaintiff-appellant.

John A. Murray, Brooklyn, N. Y. (Sidney Brandes, Brooklyn, N. Y., on the brief), for defendants-appellees.

Before WATERMAN, MOORE and KAUFMAN, Circuit Judges.

MOORE, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from an order and judgment granting defendants-appellees' motion for summary judgment and denying plaintiff-appellant's cross-motion for the same relief, under Rules 12 and 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The District Court memorandum and order is reported in 309 F.Supp. 785 (E.D. N.Y.1970).

Appellant Taylor commenced this action under the Civil Rights and Declaratory Judgment Acts, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 2201, seeking a declaratory judgment to test the constitutionality of his dismissal by the New York City Transit Authority (Authority) and an injunction to nullify his dismissal and to require his reinstatement with back pay. We assume, without discussion, that there is jurisdiction. See Eisen v. Eastman, 421 F.2d 560, 563-565 (2d Cir. 1969); cf. Gold v. Lomenzo, 425 F.2d 959, 961 (2d Cir. 1970).

The principal question presented for decision to this court is whether a collateral attack on federal constitutional grounds should be permitted against exhaustively litigated and ostensibly final state administrative and judicial determinations of the merits of Taylor's case. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the decision of the district court.

Facts

The facts in this case are not in dispute. On July 15, 1962, appellant, an Authority Road Car Inspector then off duty, was involved in an altercation in which he was implicated in an assault with a gun upon a stranger. He was arrested, but criminal charges were subsequently dropped. When the facts of his off duty behavior came to the attention of the Authority, a formal charge and specification was prepared by the office of the Authority's General Counsel which was responsible for the prosecution of dismissal actions. The charge was brought pursuant to the agency's rules and regulations and was served together with a notice of hearing on July 30, 1962 over the name of the then General Counsel, Daniel T. Scannell (Scannell), who had been on vacation in Europe since July 10th, not to return until August 13th.

On August 9th, a day after all criminal charges were dropped against appellant, a departmental hearing on the misconduct charge was held before a hearing referee, who sustained the charge and recommended discharge of appellant from the Authority's employ. The report containing the referee's findings and recommendation, along with a full transcript, was submitted to the Authority's Members on August 12th. On August 13th, Scannell returned from Europe, and on August 14th was appointed a Member of the Authority, succeeding a Member who resigned the same day to accept a judicial appointment. In the absence of the Authority's third Member, Scannell, on September 4th, cast the second, last and deciding vote against appellant, who was then formally notified of his dismissal. It is this "dual role" played by Scannell which appellant claims vitiates his dismissal.

Under § 76 of the New York Civil Service Law, McKinney's Consol.Laws, c. 7,¹ appellant was required, within 20 days of the Authority's decision to elect to appeal his discharge either to the New York City Civil Service Commission (Commission) or to a New York Supreme Court under Article 78 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules. Appellant elected to appeal to the Commission, which held a judicial-like adversary proceeding in which the parties were represented by counsel. The Commission denied appellant's appeal on or about June 7th, 1963. At no time was the constitutional issue of Scannell's disqualification raised in these proceedings.

On September 18, 1964, 15 months after the Commission's denial of his appeal, appellant commenced an Article 78 proceeding, which combines elements of common law mandamus and certiorari, in the New York Supreme Court, Kings County, Special Term, alleging the same grounds and seeking the same relief as here. The New York court dismissed the proceeding on January 13, 1965, on the ground that the Commission action was not "arbitrary" and that appellant's election under § 76 "with knowledge of all the facts" to appeal to the Commission precluded his maintaining the court action. The Supreme Court, Appellate Division, unanimously affirmed on the same ground of election of remedies and additionally grounded its affirmance on the lapsing of the applicable four-month statute of limitations for Article 78 actions. Taylor v. New York City Transit Authority, 25 A.D.2d 682, 269 N.Y.S. 2d 75, 76 (2d Dep't 1966). The Appellate Division, however, was not quite as firm on the issue of plaintiff's "knowledge" regarding Scannell's participation in the Authority's dismissal proceedings:

"We additionally find that petitioner knew, or should have known, at the time of his appeal to the Civil Service Commission, that Commissioner Scannell had taken part * * *" Id.

The judgment was unanimously affirmed without opinion by the New York Court of Appeals. Taylor v. New York City Transit Authority, 19 N.Y.2d 724, 279 N.Y.S.2d 181, 225 N.E.2d 886 (1967). Review was not sought in the United States Supreme Court. Instead, the present action was instituted in the District Court below.

Judicial Res Judicata

Section 76(3) of the New York Civil Service Law provides that "the decision of such civil service commission shall be final and conclusive, and not subject to further review in any court." The absolute language of this statutory subsection notwithstanding, however, New York courts have asserted jurisdiction over claims where state agency determinations under § 76 have been "purely arbitrary." See, e. g., Trotman v. Hoberman, 56 Misc.2d 915, 290 N.Y.S.2d 680 (Sup.Ct., Spec.Term, N.Y.Co.1968); Santella v. Hoberman, 29 A.D.2d 655, 286 N.Y.S.2d 647 (2d Dep't 1968). The rationale underlying the assertion of judicial supervision over the proceedings of state agencies in such cases is that the New York legislature did not intend the words of the statute to be read in the absolute sense. Cf. Board of Educ. of City of New York v. Allen, 6 N.Y.2d 127, 136, 188 N.Y.S.2d 515, 520, 160 N.E. 2d 60 (1959). However, in Taylor's case, the Appellate Division, Second Department, refused to entertain appellant's constitutional claim on the ground that the Commission's determination of his case was not "purely arbitrary."

Judge Weinstein apparently concluded that because New York courts dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and/or lapsing of the statute of limitations, there is no res judicata effect to be accorded the final state court judgment in appellant's case. See 309 F.Supp. at 790. We disagree. While the state courts perceived themselves as powerless under § 76(3) to hear Taylor's belated Article 78 due process claim, it was only because the due process claim was not raised in the first instance before the Commission that they could not do so. Had appellant prosecuted his constitutional objection in a timely manner, and had the Commission made an unsatisfactory disposition thereof, the courts of New York, in the exercise of their responsibility under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution to entertain federal constitutional questions, no doubt would have taken jurisdiction of appellant's case. Cf. Testa v. Katt, 330 U.S. 386, 67 S.Ct. 810, 91 L.Ed. 967 (1947); Amos Treat & Co. v. S. E. C., 113 U.S. App.D.C. 100, 306 F.2d 260 (1962); Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. C. A. B., 102 U.S.App.D.C. 391, 254 F.2d 90 (1958). It is in this sense that we find that the state courts made a final determination on the "merits," which, under the principle of res judicata, we should not disturb.

Collateral Estoppel

In any event, the pivotal issue on which appellant's constitutional claim turns is the state of his knowledge as of the date of his § 76 Commission hearing. Appellant claimed before the New York courts, as he claims here, that he had no opportunity to raise his constitutional due process objection before the Commission, since he was not aware of the "dual role" played by Scannell until after the administrative determination had become final. Critical to the state courts' dismissal of appellant's Article 78 petition was their finding that appellant had actual or at least imputed knowledge of Scannell's "dual role," predicated on the minutes of the Commission hearing, wherein appellant's attorney expressly referred to the Authority report and determination which bore the printed and signed name of Scannell in both his former capacity as the Authority's General Counsel and his subsequent capacity as Member of the Authority's governing board. The report was dated August 2, 1962, signed by Scannell as Member on September 4, 1962, and filed on September 14, 1962. A copy of the report was sent to appellant on the last-mentioned date.

We therefore agree with Judge Weinstein, judicial res judicata aside, that under the doctrine of collateral estoppel he was "bound to accept as true," 309 F.Supp. at 790-791, the material and necessary state courts' finding of a degree of knowledge sufficient to justify their dismissal of the Article 78 petition.

Minimum Due Process Standards

Appellant strenuously argues that the issue of knowledge is irrelevant with regard to the applicable standard of minimum due process in this case. There was no need for an objection to be raised at all before the Commission, he maintains, because Scannell's participation as prosecutor and judge in the process leading to his dismissal from the...