Wang v. New Hampshire Bd. of Registration in Medicine, 94-1864

• Citation: 55 F.3d 698
• Decision Date: 11 January 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-1864,94-1864
• Parties: John W. WANG, M.D., Plaintiff, Appellant, v. NEW HAMPSHIRE BOARD OF REGISTRATION IN MEDICINE, et al., Defendants, Appellees. . Heard
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

Page 698

55 F.3d 698

John W. WANG, M.D., Plaintiff, Appellant, v. NEW HAMPSHIRE BOARD OF REGISTRATION IN MEDICINE, et al.,

Defendants, Appellees.

No. 94-1864.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard Jan. 11, 1995.

Decided June 6, 1995.

Vincent C. Martina, for appellant.

Daniel J. Mullen, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., with whom Jeffrey R. Howard, Atty. Gen., was on brief, for defendants.

CYR and BOUDIN, Circuit Judges, and KEETON, ^* District Judge.

CYR, Circuit Judge.

John W. Wang, M.D., appeals from a district court judgment dismissing his claims for monetary and equitable relief relating to certain disciplinary proceedings conducted by the New Hampshire Board of Registration in Medicine, which culminated in the revocation of his license to practice medicine in New Hampshire. We affirm the district court judgment.

I BACKGROUND

Wang practiced medicine for approximately sixteen years under a medical license issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1967, then moved to New Hampshire in 1983 and resumed the practice of medicine under a newly-obtained New Hampshire medical license. On March 16, 1988, the Board of Registration in Medicine for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ("Massachusetts Board") revoked Wang's medical license for professional misconduct. ¹ In light of the Massachusetts Board action against Wang, the New Hampshire Board of Registration in Medicine ("New Hampshire Board" or "Board") issued an order on July 20, 1988, suspending his New Hampshire medical license pursuant to the New Hampshire reciprocal revocation statute, ² and allowing him until August 26 to request an administrative hearing.

Wang promptly obtained preliminary injunctive relief from a New Hampshire superior court, enjoining the suspension order pending a revocation hearing before the New Hampshire Board. The Board in turn withdrew its suspension order and, on August 11, 1988, ordered that Wang show cause why his New Hampshire license ought not be revoked on the ground that he had never informed the Board of the license revocation order issued by the Massachusetts Board. On October 5, 1988, the New Hampshire Board decided to investigate Wang's New Hampshire medical practice.

Pending investigation by the New Hampshire Board, Wang appealed the Massachusetts Board license revocation order to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ("SJC"). Contemporaneously, Wang sought--and on February 23, 1989, obtained--a second New Hampshire superior court order, enjoining the New Hampshire Board from pursuing "any hearing the result of which might be revocation of [Wang's] New Hampshire license based on the action of the Massachusetts Board ... until such time as the matter in Massachusetts has been finally adjudicated in the [SJC]." Two months later--on reconsideration--the New Hampshire superior court vacated its injunction for lack of jurisdiction. The following week, the SJC upheld the Massachusetts Board license revocation order.

On May 22, 1989, counsel was appointed by the New Hampshire Board to investigate Wang's New Hampshire medical practice. The investigation took over two years, followed by hearings commencing in July and ending in October, 1991. The Board found that--in and of itself--the unprofessional Wang appealed the revocation decision to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, claiming deprivations of his due process rights under state and federal law, including alleged violations of the Board's own rules, regulations and enabling statutes, and asserting conflicts of interest and unfair prejudice on the part of Board members and its counsel. On August 26, 1992, the New Hampshire Supreme Court summarily affirmed the license revocation order, finding the New Hampshire Board decision neither unjust nor unreasonable, and that the appeal presented no substantial question of law.

                conduct which had prompted the Massachusetts Board to revoke Wang's medical license warranted revocation of his New Hampshire license.  Further, the Board found that Wang's unreasonable withholding of information from the Board during its investigation into his New Hampshire medical practice, and his failure even to demonstrate an attempt to address the professional deficiencies in his Massachusetts practice, combined "not only [to] justify, but [to] require reciprocal license revocation in New Hampshire."   On March 5, 1992, the Board issued its written decision and order revoking Wang's New Hampshire medical license
                

Meanwhile, on November 22, 1991, before the New Hampshire Board's license revocation order ever issued, Wang had commenced the present action against the Board, its members and counsel, in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire. The federal complaint under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 asserted claims for monetary relief and for temporary and permanent injunctive relief enjoining further disciplinary action by the Board; a judicial declaration that the Board's actions were fundamentally unfair and violative of Wang's right to due process of law; and an award of attorney fees against Board members and its counsel in their individual capacities. The federal district court stayed its proceedings pending a decision by the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

All defendants moved to dismiss the federal action shortly after the New Hampshire Supreme Court summarily affirmed the New Hampshire Board's license revocation order. The district court dismissed the claims for monetary relief against the Board and its members, in their official capacities, on Eleventh Amendment immunity grounds. Later, the claims for monetary relief against Board members and its counsel, in their individual capacities, were dismissed on grounds of absolute immunity. Finally, on July 12, 1994, the district court entered summary judgment on the claims for injunctive relief against the Board, finding that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to review the New Hampshire Supreme Court decision. Wang appealed.

II

DISCUSSION

On appeal, Wang contends that the district court erred in dismissing his claims for monetary relief against the Board and its members in their official capacities; in sustaining the absolute immunity claims interposed by Board members and its counsel, acting in their individual capacities, in that these defendants had exceeded their respective adjudicative and prosecutorial roles and would be entitled, at most, to qualified immunity under New Hampshire law; and in ruling that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to afford prospective injunctive relief.

A. Monetary Relief ³

1. The Board and Board Members (Official Capacities)

As it is well settled "that neither a state agency nor a state official acting in his official capacity may be sued for damages in a section 1983 action," Johnson v. Rodriguez, 943 F.2d 104, 108 (1st Cir.1991) (citing Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 2312, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989)), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1063, 112 S.Ct. 948, 117 L.Ed.2d 117 (1992); see also Kaimowitz v. Board of Trustees, Univ. of Ill.,

951 F.2d 765, 767 (7th Cir.1991) (finding that, as neither the state nor its "alter ego" (state university) is a "person" for section 1983 purposes, neither is subject to suit under section 1983), we affirm the dismissal of the claims for monetary relief against the Board and its members acting in their official capacities.

2. Board Members and Board Counsel (Individual Capacities)

Immunity claims in section 1983 actions are governed by federal law. Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 284 n. 8, 100 S.Ct. 553, 558 n. 8, 62 L.Ed.2d 481 (1980). Wang nonetheless contends that the Board members and its counsel, in their individual capacities, were entitled, at most, to "good faith" immunity (under New Hampshire law) from monetary liability under section 1983. As we discern no material distinction between the quasi-judicial and prosecutorial functions performed by these defendants in behalf of the New Hampshire Board, and those performed by their Massachusetts Board counterparts, the district court order dismissing these "individual capacity" claims was entirely proper. See Bettencourt v. Board of Registration in Medicine, 904 F.2d 772, 782-85 (1st Cir.1990).

The Massachusetts Board members and its professional staff were held absolutely immune from suit in their individual capacities under section 1983, on the ground that these officials serve in quasi-judicial capacities "functionally comparable" to those performed by a state court judge. Id. at 783. As with the Massachusetts Board, New Hampshire Board members weigh evidence and make factual determinations, N.H.Rev.Stat.Ann. Sec. 329:17(VI), determine sanctions, see id. Sec. 329:17(VII), and issue written decisions in disciplinary actions. See id. Sec. 329:18(III). ⁴

Although Wang attempts to differentiate between the two administrative tribunals on the ground that the New Hampshire Board assumed an "inquisitorial or investigative role" in this case by instigating and prosecuting the charges against him, the attempted distinction is without legal significance. State officials performing prosecutorial functions--including their decisions to initiate administrative proceedings aimed at legal sanctions--are entitled to absolute immunity as well. See Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 515, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 2915, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978); see also Horwitz v. Board of Medical Examiners, 822 F.2d 1508, 1515 (10th Cir.) (describing Colorado medical board officials' adjudicatory and prosecutorial role), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 964, 108 S.Ct. 453, 98 L.Ed.2d 394 (1987). Thus, New Hampshire Board counsel, like the Massachusetts Board professional staff, see Bettencourt, 904 F.2d at 785, is absolutely immune from suit, in his individual capacity, based on his participation in particular cases before the Board. See id.

Wang next argues that the New Hampshire Board members and its counsel were imbued with such "overwhelming malice...