Webb v. State of Ala., Dept. of Pensions and Sec.

• Citation: 850 F.2d 1518
• Decision Date: 02 August 1988
• Docket Number: No. 87-7497,87-7497
• Parties: Wendell WEBB, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE OF ALABAMA, DEPARTMENT OF PENSIONS AND SECURITY; Lee County Department of Pensions and Security, Defendants, Leon Frazier, Director; James Slaughter, Director, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit)

Page 1518

850 F.2d 1518

Wendell WEBB, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE OF ALABAMA, DEPARTMENT OF PENSIONS AND SECURITY; Lee County Department of Pensions and Security, Defendants Leon Frazier, Director; James Slaughter, Director Defendants-Appellees.

No. 87-7497.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Aug. 2, 1988.

Margaret Y. Brown, Auburn, Ala., for plaintiff-appellant.

James E. Long, State Dept. of Human Resources, William Prendergast, Montgomery, Ala., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

Before JOHNSON and HATCHETT, Circuit Judges, and ESCHBACH ^*, Senior Circuit Judge.

JOHNSON, Circuit Judge:

This action is brought under 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1983. The district court first abstained from ruling to await the conclusion of state proceedings. The Alabama Supreme Court rendered judgment adversely to the plaintiff, Wendell Webb, and the defendants moved the district court for summary judgment on grounds of res judicata or collateral estoppel. The summary judgment motion was granted on April 9, 1987. We reverse the summary judgment because Webb's section 1983 claims are barred by neither res judicata nor collateral estoppel.

I. Background

Wendell Webb had care of a foster child, Darrin Vosyka, pursuant to a long-term foster care agreement with the Lee County Department of Pensions and Security entered into December 15, 1981. On January 20, 1984, Darrin was removed from Webb's foster care without a hearing and put into state custody. Webb pursued return of the child through a post-removal administrative hearing conducted by the Alabama Department of Pensions and Security. Webb was represented by counsel, and the evidence before the panel came from some fifty witnesses. On a best interest of the child theory, the administrative panel upheld the state's removal.

Webb appealed the administrative panel's decision to the Family Court Division of the Circuit Court of Montgomery County. On December 28, 1984, the family court held that Webb had standing to appeal as a matter of foster parents' due process rights. The court also held that Webb had no statutory right to appeal the temporary hearing procedure, and therefore determined that Webb's only avenue of appeal was by petition for writ of common law certiorari. Webb filed such a petition on January 15, 1985. The family court reviewed the case on the record and, on April 16, 1986, found that the administrative panel's decision was supported by substantial evidence. Webb appealed to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. Finding evidence to support the decision based on the appropriate best interest of the child test, the civil appeals court affirmed the family court on October 8, 1986. Webb v. State, Dept. of Pensions & Security, 500 So.2d 1104 (Ala.Civ.App.1986). The Alabama Supreme Court denied certiorari on January 30, 1987.

Meanwhile, Webb filed this section 1983 suit in federal district court on January 18, 1985. The complaint alleged four counts: 1) loss of property and liberty interests because of Darrin's removal without due process of law; 2) loss of property and liberty interests because of failure to provide adequate notice of charges against Webb in the administrative hearing; 3) a pendent state claim of breach of the long-term foster care agreement; and 4) a pendent state claim of conspiracy to defraud Webb by making false representations with regard to the placement of Darrin.

In its first order, the district court dismissed the suit brought against the state departments as barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Invoking the federal abstention doctrine, the district court abstained from deciding the suit brought against the state officials. In its second order, following completion of the state proceedings, the district court found that the "causes of action in the instant case arose from the same circumstances relied upon in the State cause of action and either were or could have been raised in that proceeding," and that "the federal question (due process) was raised in the State Court and was finally decided against the Plaintiff." The district court dismissed the cause of action "as barred by the principles of res judicata or collateral estoppel."

The parties allege no disputed issues of fact in this case, and therefore summary judgment is reviewed de novo as to the correct application of law. Tackitt v. Prudential Ins., 758 F.2d 1572 (11th Cir.1985).

II. Analysis

State preclusion of federal claims arises from the Full Faith and Credit Clause, U.S. Const., Art. IV, Sec. 1, as implemented by 28 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1738:

Such Acts, records and judicial proceedings or copies thereof, so authenticated, shall have the full faith and credit in every court within the United States and its Territories and Possessions as they have by law or usage in the courts of such State, Territory, or Possession from which they are taken.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court has directed federal courts addressing section 1983 suits fully to apply state preclusion principles when considering preclusive effects of state decisions. Migra v. Warren City School Dist., 465 U.S. 75, 104 S.Ct. 892, 79 L.Ed.2d 56 (1984); Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 101 S.Ct. 411, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980). In Gorin v. Osborne, 756 F.2d 834 (11th Cir.1985), this Circuit held that a state judicial affirmance of an administrative ruling is entitled to preclusive effect. See also Casines v. Murchek, 766 F.2d 1494 (11th Cir.1985). Based on our understanding of Alabama preclusion law, we conclude that this federal action is neither res judicata nor collaterally estopped.

The benchmark Alabama case reciting the elements necessary for a finding of res judicata or collateral estoppel is Wheeler v. First Alabama Bank of Birmingham, 364 So.2d 1190 (Ala.1978). According to Wheeler:

The elements of res judicata are as follows: 1) prior judgment rendered by court of competent jurisdiction; 2) prior judgment on the merits; 3) parties to both suits substantially identical; and 4) same cause of action present in both suits. If these elements are present, then the former judgment is an absolute bar to any subsequent suit on the same cause of action, including any issue which was or could have been litigated in the prior action.

Collateral estoppel operates where the subsequent suit between the same parties is not on the same cause of action. Requirements for collateral estoppel to operate are 1) issue identical to one involved in previous suit; 2) issue actually litigated in prior action; and 3) resolution of the issue was necessary to the prior judgment. If these elements are present, the prior judgment is conclusive as to those issues actually determined in the prior suit.

364 So.2d at 1199 (citations omitted). For this suit to be barred, the due process claims either could or should have been raised by Webb as part of the same cause of action in state court and are therefore claim precluded, or the due process claims are a different cause of action but were necessarily decided adversely to Webb in state court and are therefore issue precluded.

A. Collateral Estoppel

Whether part of the same cause of action or not, if the due process claims raised under section 1983 were not decided in the state court proceedings, there can be no collateral estoppel. Conley v. Beaver, 437 So.2d 1267 (Ala.1983) (collateral estoppel because issue was actually litigated and determined); Denniston & Co. v. Jackson, 468 So.2d 170 (Ala.Civ.App.1985) (no collateral estoppel if issue was not litigated). Webb could not have raised the due process claims in the original administrative hearing because those claims arose as a result of the hearing itself. The question, therefore, is what was decided by the state appeals. The state appeals consisted of the legal determination that application of the best interest of the child standard was correct and the factual determination that sufficient evidence supported the decision to remove Darrin from Webb's care. Webb's due process claims were not addressed by either this legal or this factual question.

In considering Webb's standing to appeal the administrative panel's decision, however, the Montgomery family court did discuss Webb's due process rights as a foster parent. The issue arose in the court's response to the defendants' motion to dismiss Webb's appeal: "The question of standing is dependent upon the question of whether or not Mr. Webb, as a foster parent, is entitled to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment." The court concluded that, "having established that Mr. Webb had a right to a due process hearing, it cannot be said that due process would prevent the right to appeal an adverse decision; therefore, the only real question is what method of appeal is correct."

The defendants maintain that the family court's discussion of Webb's constitutional rights actually decided Webb's section 1983 claims. Standing to appeal was disputed because Alabama provided neither an explicit statutory basis nor direct precedent for the post-termination proceedings governing foster parent care in Alabama. ¹ As a threshold matter of standing, the court decided that Webb was entitled to due process with regard to Darrin. Specifically, the court decided that Webb did have liberty and property interests as a foster parent sufficient to entitle him to post-administrative hearing appeals. The family court did not decide whether Webb's due process rights had been violated. ² Therefore the family court's due process discussion could not have rendered Webb's section 1983 claims collaterally estopped.

B. Res Judicata

Given that the due process claims are not issue precluded, they can be claim precluded only if the claims raised in the state and federal litigation are part of the same cause of action. The pivotal question concerning res judicata in this case is whether under Alabama law the due process claims are part of the...