Thompkins v. Stuttgart School Dist. No. 22, 85-1023

• Citation: 787 F.2d 439
• Decision Date: 31 March 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-1023,85-1023
• Parties: 40 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 726, 39 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 36,075, 54 USLW 2510, 31 Ed. Law Rep. 416 Charlotte THOMPKINS, Ida Walker, Appellant, v. STUTTGART SCHOOL DISTRICT # 22; Ken Alderson, Supt. of the Stuttgart School District; Mary Stone; Thomas Hill; James Mason; Charles E. Smith; Garland Hayes; Norris Ragan; Charles Day, in their official capacities as members of the Board of Education in the Stuttgart School District, Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

Page 439

787 F.2d 439

40 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 726,

39 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 36,075, 54 USLW 2510,

31 Ed. Law Rep. 416

Charlotte THOMPKINS, Ida Walker, Appellant, v. STUTTGART SCHOOL DISTRICT # 22; Ken Alderson, Supt. of the

Stuttgart School District; Mary Stone; Thomas Hill; James

Mason; Charles E. Smith; Garland Hayes; Norris Ragan;

Charles Day, in their official capacities as members of the

Board of Education in the Stuttgart School District, Appellees.

No. 85-1023.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 31, 1985.

Decided March 31, 1986.

John Walker, Little Rock, Ark., for appellant.

Christopher Heller, Little Rock, Ark., for appellee.

Before ARNOLD, Circuit Judge, BRIGHT and HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judges.

HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

Ida Walker appeals from the district court's dismissal of her pendent state claim. The Stuttgart School District School Board dismissed Walker, a nonprobationary teacher who had taught in the district for a long time. Walker filed suit in the district court raising a federal claim, that her dismissal was based on discriminatory reasons, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 2000e et seq. and 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1981 and Sec. 1983, and a pendent state claim, that her dismissal was not in compliance with the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act of 1979, Ark.Stat.Ann. Secs. 80-1264--1264.10 (Repl.1980) (repealed 1983). ¹

The district court found that her dismissal was based on legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons. This finding has not been appealed. The district court then held that it had no jurisdiction to decide the pendent state law claim because the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act vested exclusive jurisdiction of an appeal from the decision of a school board in the state court. Walker appeals. She argues that the district court erred in dismissing the pendent claim because the state legislature cannot limit the pendent jurisdiction of the federal courts. We reverse and remand.

I. PENDENT JURISDICTION.

A. Judicial Power. The district court held that it had no jurisdiction to decide the pendent state law claim because the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act provides that "[t]he exclusive remedy for any person aggrieved by the decision of the school board shall be appealed [an appeal] therefrom to the circuit court of the county in which the school district is located...." Ark.Stat.Ann. Sec. 80-1264.9(b). The district court's decision appears to be based on the argument that if the state created a right, which would not otherwise exist, it could also limit the remedies. It held that the proposition that the laws of a state cannot enlarge or restrict the jurisdiction of the federal courts, see Markham v. City of Newport News, 292 F.2d 711, 716 (4th Cir.1961) (diversity case), did not control in this pendent jurisdiction dispute.

"[P]endent jurisdiction is a judge-made doctrine of expediency and efficiency derived from the general Art. III language conferring power to hear all 'cases' arising under federal law or between diverse parties." Pennhurst State School & Hospital v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 104 S.Ct. 900, 919, 79 L.Ed.2d 67 (1984); see also United Mine Workers v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 725, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 1138, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966). The right to assert jurisdiction over state claims through the doctrine of pendent jurisdiction is a law of the United States, and, as such, under the supremacy clause of the Constitution, Article VI, this law has precedence over any contrary state law. ² Once a district court has determined that under the laws of the United States it may assert pendent jurisdiction, any contrary state law which would deny that jurisdiction is ineffective. Wojciechowski v. Harriman, 607 F.Supp. 631, 634-35 (D.N.M.1985) (pendent jurisdiction is derived from the Constitution; therefore the supremacy clause prohibits a state from restricting a federal court's pendent jurisdiction); Gruss v. Curtis Publishing Co., 361 F.Supp. 58, 59 (S.D.N.Y.1973) (district court denied motion to dismiss pendent claim which argued that the federal court had no jurisdiction over the claim because state statute which created the right designated that exclusive jurisdiction was in the state court), later judgment on the merits was reversed in 534 F.2d 1396 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 887, 97 S.Ct. 240, 50 L.Ed.2d 168 (1976).

In determining its jurisdiction a federal court "must look to the sources of its power and not to acts of states which have no power to enlarge or to contract the federal jurisdiction." Markham, 292 F.2d at 713. The jurisdiction of the federal courts is limited by the provisions of Article III and by acts of Congress. Owen Equipment & Erection Co. v. Kroger, 437 U.S. 365, 372, 98 S.Ct. 2396, 2401-02, 57 L.Ed.2d 274 (1978); see also Gibbs, 383 U.S. at 725, 86 S.Ct. at 1138 (guidelines for the exercise of pendent jurisdiction).

To allow a state legislature to limit the pendent jurisdiction of the federal courts would in many cases defeat the purpose of pendent jurisdiction; expediency, efficiency, and fairness to the parties, Gibbs, 383 U.S. at 726, 86 S.Ct. at 1139. If a claimant cannot raise his pendent state issue in federal court he has a choice of either going through the expense and ordeal of two separate, but related, trials, or of bringing all of his claims in the state court. One choice denies efficiency and expediency, and the other is unfair because it discourages him from presenting his federal claims in federal court. If the federal claim must be brought in federal court, then the claimant would have no choice but to bring two separate suits to resolve his related claims.

B. Judicial Discretion Defendants, alternatively, urge us to affirm the district court on the basis that it would have been an abuse of discretion for the district court to hear the pendent claim. Defendants assert several arguments to support this theory.

Defendants argue that a district court should not entertain jurisdiction of a pendent state claim when the plaintiff files a Title VII claim and a Sec. 1981 claim. They argue that we should follow the decisions of various district courts which have held that pendent state claims can never attach to Title VII claims because the availability of only equitable relief, ³ the requirement that the Title VII case be tried to the court, and the fact that the case is to be resolved as expeditiously as possible, indicate a congressional intent to preclude the attachment of pendent state claims. See, e.g., Frye v. Pioneer Logging Machinery, Inc., 555 F.Supp. 730, 733-34 (D.S.C.1983). Or, defendants argue, we should follow those district courts which have held that a court in its discretion should not hear the claims because there is a likelihood of jury confusion and that the state issue will predominate. See, e.g., Lazic v. University of Pennsylvania, 513 F.Supp. 761, 769-70 (E.D.Pa.1981).

If Walker had filed only a Title VII claim and a pendent state claim, the cases cited by defendants might be more persuasive. Her case, however, is distinguishable because she has also made a claim under Sec. 1981, and therefore she was entitled to a jury and arguably could have won compensatory and punitive damages as well as equitable relief. See Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, 421 U.S. 454, 460, 95 S.Ct. 1716, 1720, 44 L.Ed.2d 295 (1975). Most of the reasons mentioned in Frye and Lazic for dismissing the pendent claim are not applicable here. We hold that the district court properly could have exercised jurisdiction over a state claim pendent to the Sec. 1981 and Title VII claim.

We reject defendants' argument that it would have been an abuse of discretion for the district court to have heard the pendent state claim because the claim was separate and distinct from the federal claim. An integral part of Walker's discrimination claim was that she was not accorded the proper procedures for dismissal as outlined in the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act. Whether the school district failed to follow proper procedures and whether this failure was a result of discrimination are two related issues. It appears to us that on both issues many of the same witnesses would be testifying to the same facts. The state and federal claims derived from a common nucleus of operative fact, and the claims were such that they would ordinarily be tried in one judicial proceeding. See Gibbs, 383 U.S. at 725, 86 S.Ct. at 1138.

Defendants also argue that the district court should not be permitted to hear pendent state claims regarding teacher dismissals because these claims are more appropriately left to the state courts. See Frison v. Franklin County Board of Education, 596 F.2d 1192, 1194 (4th Cir.1979) (district court should have declined pendent jurisdiction because it was essentially a petition for judicial review of a state administrative action rather than a distinct claim for relief); Coe v. Bogart, 519 F.2d 10, 13 (6th Cir.1975) (pendent claim under Tennessee Teacher Tenure Act is more appropriately decided by the state court); see also Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U.S. 315, 317-18, 63 S.Ct. 1098, 1099, 87 L.Ed. 1424 (1943) (a federal court should decline to assert jurisdiction when it would be in the public's interest). We believe, however, that discretion to hear these types of pendent claims should be decided on a case-by-case basis. If the claims are sufficiently interrelated, as required by Gibbs, 383 U.S. at 725, 86 S.Ct. at 1138, then the plaintiff should not be forced to sue in two different courts. See Birdwell v. Hazelwood School District, 491 F.2d 490, 495 (8th Cir.1974) (we held that district court properly concluded it had pendent jurisdiction over the teacher's state contract claim that his discharge was in violation of the Missouri teacher termination statute).

II. MERITS OF THE PENDENT CLAIM.

Walker was a nonprobationary teacher in the Stuttgart School District. For the 1980-81 school year she was placed...