Wiggins v. New Mexico State Supreme Court Clerk, 79-2104

• Decision Date: 24 November 1981
• Docket Number: No. 79-2104,79-2104
• Citation: 664 F.2d 812
• Parties: Edwin Dean WIGGINS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW MEXICO STATE SUPREME COURT CLERK, First Judicial District Court of New Mexico, and Felix Rodriguez, former Warden of the New Mexico Penitentiary, each as individuals and in their official capacities, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 812

664 F.2d 812

Edwin Dean WIGGINS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW MEXICO STATE SUPREME COURT CLERK, First Judicial

District Court of New Mexico, and Felix Rodriguez, former

Warden of the New Mexico Penitentiary, each as individuals

and in their official capacities, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 79-2104.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 1, 1981.

Decided Nov. 24, 1981.

Stephen M. Duncan and H. Jeffrey Bayless of Morrison & Foerster, Denver, Colo., for plaintiff-appellant.

Jeff Bingaman, Atty. Gen., and Frank A. Murray, Asst. Atty. Gen., of the State of N. M., Santa Fe, N. M., for defendants-appellees.

Before McWILLIAMS, BARRETT and SEYMOUR, Circuit Judges.

BARRETT, Circuit Judge.

This appeal involves a challenge by Edwin Dean Wiggins (Wiggins), an inmate of the New Mexico State Penitentiary, to the District Court's dismissal of his 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 complaint against various New Mexico officials as frivolous and without merit. Wiggins alleged that he was improperly denied state habeas corpus relief; denied his prisoner status rights-privileges; and that he was wrongfully disciplined by state prison authorities without any due process proceedings. Wiggins sought monetary damages.

A review of pertinent facts should aid in placing the case in focus.

The record before us does not reflect the nature of the charges for which Wiggins was incarcerated in September, 1972, following New Mexico state court conviction. We learn, however, that he was yet incarcerated pursuant to such sentence on October 4, 1979.

In March of 1973, Wiggins was placed on a "meritorious good time" status which would permit him to accrue "good time credits" toward the reduction of his prison term. In September of 1974, Wiggins was transferred from the penitentiary proper to the prison honor farm at Las Lunas, New Mexico, where he was able to earn additional good time credits and also participate in a broad range of rehabilitation programs. These programs, in Wiggins' case, involved his enrollment at the University of New Mexico for the Spring semester of 1975, as well as his performance of tutoring services as a special aide. The "school release program" in which Wiggins was allowed to participate permitted him to travel from Las Lunas to the University of New Mexico campus. It appears that he may have been granted permission to travel off of the campus when required to do so for purposes of the work release program.

On or about March 22, 1975, the director of the honor farm received a phone call inquiring about Wiggins' presence at the University of Albuquerque. A cursory check failed to elicit an explanation of Wiggins' activities and, apparently, his whereabouts. Thereafter, Wiggins was detained and returned to the penitentiary, where he was placed in administrative segregation in a cellblock housing inmates requiring special control or protection. Wiggins remained there for fourteen days without being confronted with any charges or without official explanation or inquiry. Wiggins was thereafter summarily deprived of all privileges he had been accorded at the honor farm, taken off of meritorious good time, deprived of honor status, and removed from school and work release programs. His educational and work-study grants were declared forfeited, and Wiggins' tentative release date was extended for seven years. These actions were taken without resort to established and prescribed administrative procedures.

The above facts and conclusions are derived from a memorandum opinion filed by Honorable E. L. Mechem, United States District Judge, District of New Mexico, who granted Wiggins federal habeas corpus relief when he ordered that Wiggins be returned to the honor farm and restored to the status quo ante. (R., Vol. I, pp. 7-11). The Court there specifically found that Wiggins had been deprived of his constitutional due process rights by virtue of the failure of the prison officials to follow their own regulations and procedures, the consequences of which increased the duration of his confinement and had direct and negative impact upon Wiggins' chances for parole. See Wiggins v. Rodriguez, Unpublished No. 75-334-M (D.C.N.M., February 13, 1976).

This, then, was the setting when Wiggins initiated his 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 complaints.

I.

Following the grant of federal habeas corpus relief, supra, Wiggins filed the first of two 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 complaints in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, both of which were heard by Honorable Santiago E. Campos, United States District Judge for the District of New Mexico.

The first complaint, filed June 21, 1979, named as defendant "New Mexico Supreme Court Clerk-Rose Marie Aiderette." The predicate of this complaint was that inasmuch as federal habeas corpus relief had been granted, the action of the New Mexico Supreme Court in denying Wiggins state habeas corpus relief on identical claims constituted a violation of Wiggins' fifth and fourteenth amendment rights, entitling him to $1,000.00 as forfeiture damages for wrongful denial of such relief pursuant to N.M.Stat.Ann. § 44-1-8, which provides:

If any officer herein authorized to grant writs of habeas corpus willfully refuses to grant such writ when legally applied for, he shall forfeit for any such offense, to the party aggrieved, one thousand dollars (($1,000)). (Emphasis supplied).

The record indicates that prior to the commencement of the aforesaid federal habeas corpus proceeding, Wiggins had filed habeas corpus actions in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico and in the New Mexico Supreme Court. Those courts, unlike the federal district court, denied Wiggins any habeas corpus relief.

Wiggins' § 1983 claim for relief (he obtained all other practical relief in his federal habeas corpus proceeding) is the $1,000.00 damage award sought pursuant to N.M.Stat.Ann. § 44-1-8, supra. In Judge Campos' order dismissing Wiggins' complaint, sua sponte, as frivolous and without merit under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1915(d), the Court observed that any right Wiggins may have under the subject state statute constitutes a state cause of action for alleged violation of a state statute, and that, as such, Wiggins does not have a civil rights action in federal court. Further, however, the Court found/concluded:

Even if this court had subject matter jurisdiction, relief would not be granted. Plaintiff has incorrectly named the Clerk of the Supreme Court as defendant. The proper defendant appears to be the New Mexico Supreme Court and as such they are cloaked with absolute immunity while exercising their official functions and duties. Dow (sic) v. McMillan, 412 U.S. 306 (93 S.Ct. 2018, 36 L.Ed.2d 912) (1972); Smith v. Losee, 485 F.2d 334 (10th Cir. 1973).

(R., Vol. I, p. 29).

We agree. When Wiggins refiled the action some three months later, his complaint designated and named, as parties defendants the New Mexico Supreme Court and the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico, the clerks of both courts, and Felix Rodriguez, former warden of the New Mexico penitentiary, each as individuals and in their official capacities. Three days later, on September 27, 1979, the District Court entered its memorandum opinion and order, sua sponte, again dismissing Wiggins' complaint as frivolous and without merit, pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. § 1915(d). The Court again applied the same rationale of immunity as that set forth above in relation to the members of the New Mexico state courts and the named clerks. We agree.

The test of legal frivolity is whether a plaintiff can make a rational argument on the law and facts in support of his claims. Bennett v. Passic, 545 F.2d 1260 (10th Cir. 1976).

Insofar as the clerks of the respective courts are concerned, it is obvious that they do not grant writs of habeas corpus. Courts alone are so authorized and empowered. Furthermore, we fully agree with this language contained in Blouin v. Dembitz, 367 F.Supp. 415 (S.D.N.Y.1973), aff'd, 489 F.2d 488 (2d Cir. 1973):

Statutes and ruling case law protecting state judges in the discharge of their functions may not be circumvented or vitiated, by pretending to maintain this suit also against their "clerks, servants and agents" for no court can discharge its judicial duties without the aid of clerks, servants and agents.

367 F.Supp. at p. 422.

It is well settled that judges have absolute immunity from liability for damages for acts committed within the apparent scope of their judicial duties. Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, 98 S.Ct. 1099, 55 L.Ed.2d 331 (1978), reh. denied, 436 U.S. 951, 98 S.Ct. 2862, 56 L.Ed.2d 795 (1978); Doe v. McMillan, 412 U.S. 306, 93 S.Ct. 2018, 36 L.Ed.2d 912 (1972); Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 18 L.Ed.2d 288 (1967); Smith v. Losee, 485 F.2d 334 (10th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 908, 94 S.Ct. 2604, 41 L.Ed.2d 212 (1974).

Thus, we affirm the District Court's dismissal of Wiggins' complaint directed to the members of the named New Mexico state courts and the respective clerks of those courts.

We turn now to the query whether the District Court's dismissal of the § 1983 complaint as to Felix Rodriguez must be reversed and set aside. We conclude that the dismissal of the complaint as to Rodriguez is supported by the record. We do so fully cognizant of the commands of Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972), i. e., that pro se civil rights complaints of prisoners seeking damages for claimed injuries and deprivation of rights while incarcerated are to be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.

The District Court dismissed the Wiggins claim against former warden Felix Rodriguez on this basis:

Plaintiff's second claim must also fail. This claim has also been previously presented to this Court. However, only habeas corpus relief was sought. Edwin Dean Wiggins v. Felix Rodriguez, United States District Court No. 75-334-M...