Wilbesan Charter Sch. v. School Bd of Hillsborough
| Decision Date | 15 August 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 8:05 CV 2341 T 27TBM.,8:05 CV 2341 T 27TBM. |
| Citation | 447 F.Supp.2d 1292 |
| Parties | WILBESAN CHARTER SCHOOL, INC. and Mary White, Plaintiffs, v. SCHOOL BOARD OF HILLSBOOUGH COUNTY, Florida,<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida |
Mary White, Tampa, FL, pro se.
Sacha Dyson, Thomas M. Gonzalez, Thompson, Sizemore & Gonzalez, P.A., Tampa, FL, for Defendant.
BEFORE THE COURT is the Report and Recommendation ("R & R") submitted by Magistrate Judge Thomas B. McCoun (Dkt.32) recommending that Defendant's motion to dismiss (Dkt.17) be granted in part and denied in part and that Plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction (Dkt.14) be denied. Plaintiffs Wilbesan Charter School, Inc. ("WCS") and Mary White have filed objections to the R & R (Dkt.35). Defendant Hillsborough County School Board has filed a partial objection to the R & R (Dkt.36) and filed a response to Plaintiffs' objections (Dkt.40). After careful consideration of the R & R in conjunction with an independent examination of the motions and memoranda of law filed by the parties, this Court concludes that the R & R should be modified in part and otherwise confirmed and approved in all respects.
The District Court is required to "make a de novo determination of those portions of the magistrate's report or . . . recommendation to which objection is made." 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). The District Court may "accept, reject or modify in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the magistrate." 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(c).
WCS objects to the Magistrate Judge's recommendation that its procedural due process claim should be dismissed.2 The Magistrate Judge correctly concluded that to prevail on a procedural due process claim, WCS must allege (1) a deprivation of a constitutionally-protected liberty or property interest, (2) state action, and (3) a constitutionally-inadequate process. See Arrington v. Helms, 438 F.3d 1336, 1347 (11th Cir.2006) (quotations omitted).
WCS's objection, which consists mostly of argument on the merits of its purported claim, fails to demonstrate that it sufficiently pled a cause of action for procedural due process in the Amended Complaint. Viewing the allegations of the Amended Complaint in the light most favorable to WCS, WCS has not alleged a constitutionally protected liberty or property interest, nor has it alleged a constitutionally inadequate process. WCS's arguments regarding the merits of its purported claim do not remedy its failure to adequately plead the claim within the Amended Complaint. The Magistrate Judge correctly concluded that WCS failed to state a claim for procedural due process. Accordingly, Plaintiff's objection in this regard is overruled.3
Defendant objects to the Magistrate Judge's finding that WCS sufficiently pled a cause of action for violation of the equal protection clause. Defendant also contends the Magistrate Judge should have considered whether the Court should abstain from exercising jurisdiction over WCS's equal protection claim.
Defendant objects to the Magistrate Judge's finding that WCS adequately set forth a claim of selective enforcement in violation of the equal protection clause. To prevail on an equal protection claim of selective enforcement, WCS must demonstrate that (1) it was singled out for prosecution while others similarly situated were not prosecuted, and (2) the Defendant's enforcement of the law against it was invidious or in bad faith. See Lanier v. City of Newton, Ala., 842 F.2d 253, 256 (11th Cir.1988).
The Magistrate Judge correctly concluded that under Rule 8's liberal pleading standard, WCS has sufficiently set forth the elements of its claim for selective enforcement. WCS alleges that it was similarly situated to white-operated charter schools having fire code and safety violations and that Defendant treated WCS differently by subjecting it to more stringent enforcement standards. (Dkt.12, ¶¶ 4-6, 12, 18-36, 58, 59). Viewing these allegations in the light most favorable to WCS, they are likewise sufficient to demonstrate Defendant's disparate enforcement was based on race and invidious or in bad faith. (Dkt.12, ¶¶ 12-14, 19-20, 34). This Court agrees with the Magistrate Judge's conclusion that the issue of whether the comparator schools are truly similarly situated is better resolved on motion for summary judgment. Defendant's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim therefore, is unpersuasive. In this regard, Defendant's objection is overruled.
The Magistrate Judge concluded that Defendant's abstention argument need not be addressed because "there are no due process claims adequately alleged in the Amended Complaint and it appears undisputed that Plaintiff did not allege equal protection violations at any stage of the administrative review process and no such claim is presently before the Florida Second District Court of Appeal or any other state court." (Dkt.32, p. 14). Defendant objects to the Magistrate Judge's determination, pointing out that WCS raised an equal protection claim in its brief to the state appeals court. In addition, Defendant contends the Magistrate Judge failed to consider whether Plaintiff had an adequate opportunity to raise its federal constitutional claims.4
The doctrine of abstention "reflects the longstanding national public policy, based on principles of comity and federalism, of allowing state courts to try cases—already pending in state court— free from federal court interference." Butler v. The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission, 245 F.3d 1257, 1261 (11th Cir.2001) (citation omitted). Abstention "is an extraordinary and narrow exception to the duty of a district court to adjudicate a controversy properly before it." County of Allegheny v. Frank Mashuda Co., 360 U.S. 185, 188-89, 79 S.Ct. 1060, 3 L.Ed.2d 1163 (1959), rhrg. denied, 361 U.S. 855, 80 S.Ct. 41, 4 L.Ed.2d 93 (1959). The Supreme Court has stated that federal courts have a "virtually unflagging obligation .. . to exercise the jurisdiction given them." Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 817-18, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976). A federal district court may, however, decline to exercise jurisdiction where a parallel state court action exists. See Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Haydn, 675 F.2d 1169 (11th Cir.1982). Abstention is appropriate where (1) there are pending state proceedings, (2) the proceedings implicate important state interests, and (3) the proceedings provide an adequate opportunity for raising federal constitutional questions. See 31 Foster Children v. Bush, 329 F.3d 1255, 1274-75 (11th Cir. 2003).
It is undisputed that there is a related pending state proceeding, as WCS has sought judicial review of Defendant's decision to terminate WCS's charter status in the Florida Second District Court of Appeal.5 WCS requests that this Court find Defendant's termination unconstitutional and order Defendant to reinstate WCS as an operating charter and release all necessary funding. (Dkt.12). If this Court were to grant the relief WCS requests it would undeniably interfere with the state appellate court's review of Defendant's decision to terminate WCS as a charter school. See Bush, 329 F.3d at 1276 (). Moreover, this federal action implicates Defendant's right to govern the operation of its schools, a right recognized by courts as an important state interest. See Martinez v. Bynum, 461 U.S. 321, 329, 103 S.Ct. 1838, 75 L.Ed.2d 879 (1983) (). Accordingly, the first two abstention factors weigh in favor of abstention.
Whether this Court abstains from exercising jurisdiction over WCS's claim, therefore, turns on whether the state proceedings provide WCS with an adequate opportunity to raise its federal constitutional claim. "A federal court should assume that state procedures will afford an adequate remedy, in the absence of unambiguous authority to the contrary." Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco, Inc., 481 U.S. 1, 14-15, 107 S.Ct. 1519, 95 L.Ed.2d 1 (1987). WCS has the burden of establishing that the state proceedings do not provide an adequate remedy for its federal claim. Id.; Bush, 329 F.3d at 1279.
WCS contends that the state court action "is simply limited to the administrative review provided by the State Department of Education" and that the "appeal does not and cannot cover any of the Constitutional issues contained in the ... complaint." (Dkt.24, p. 9). However, as Defendant correctly points out, in its amended appellate brief filed in the state proceeding, WCS asserts that Defendant "made selective enforcement and unequal protection of the laws ... and treated Plaintiffs disparately ... which illegally deprived Plaintiffs of its [sic] liberty, property interests and procedural due process." (Dkt.36, Ex. A, p. 14). Arguably, WCS's equal protection claim is before the state appellate court. Nonetheless, whether WCS actually asserted its equal protection claim in the state proceeding is not determinative. A court may abstain where the plaintiff had an adequate opportunity to raise the federal claim, but failed to do so. See Pennzoil, 481 U.S. at 14, 107 S.Ct. 1519 () (citations and quotations omitted).
Plaintiff fails to demonstrate that it was prevented from...
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