Bricker v. Rockwell International Corp.

22 F.3d 871, 1993 WL 632025
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided October 25, 1993·No. No. 91-36153·Published·Cited by 51 cases

Opinion

Opinion by Judge CANBY.

ORDER

The opinion filed October 25, 1993 is amended by inserting the following passage at p. 879, immediately before the section heading entitled “Nondelegation Doctrine”:

The panel has voted to deny the petition for rehearing and to reject the suggestion for a rehearing en banc.

The full court has been advised of the suggestion for an en banc rehearing, and no judge of the court has requested a vote on the suggestion for rehearing en banc. Fed. RApp.P. 35(b).

The petition for rehearing is denied and the suggestion for a rehearing en banc is rejected.

OPINION

CANBY, Circuit Judge:

Edwin and Cynthia Bricker appeal the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the defendants in the Brickers’ action alleging violations of their federal constitutional rights and various tort claims under Washington state law. We review de novo, Saul v. United States, 928 F.2d 829, 832 (9th Cir.1991), and we affirm.

I. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In August 1990, Edwin Bricker and his wife Cynthia filed this action against Rockwell Hanford Operations, a division of Rockwell International Corporation (“Rockwell”), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and Westinghouse Hanford Company (‘Westinghouse”). The Brickers’ complaint alleged violations of their First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights, and several pendent state law claims. These claims stemmed from Edwin Bricker’s employment at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation (“Hanford”), located in Washington State. Hanford is owned by the United States, but is managed by private corporations pursuant to a contract with the Department of Energy (“DOE”). Hanford therefore is known as a government-owned, contractor-operated (“GOCO”) nuclear facility. Rockwell operated certain portions of Hanford from July 1977 through June 28, 1987; Westinghouse became the management contractor on June 29, 1987. Bricker was employed at Hanford from July 1977 through August 1979, when [873]*873he left to attend college. Brieker returned to work at Hanford in February 1983 and remained an employee there until November 1991.

The Briekers’ complaint alleged that, while Edwin Brieker was employed at Hanford, he became aware of safety, health, and environmental problems at the facility. He voiced his concerns about these matters to his supervisors, officials of Rockwell and Westinghouse, members of Congress, and the news media. The complaint further alleged that, in retaliation for his “whistleblowing” activities, Rockwell and Westinghouse subjected Brieker to various forms of harassment, thereby violating Bricker’s federal constitutional rights and committing various state law torts. The Briekers’ constitutional claims were predicated on the Supreme Court’s decision in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971).

In April 1991, Rockwell and Westinghouse filed a motion to dismiss the Briekers’ constitutional claims for failure to state a claim1 and asserted that there were “special factors” that precluded the judicial creation of a Bivens remedy. The district court granted the defendants’ motion and dismissed the Briekers’ constitutional claims with prejudice. Because the dismissal of the federal claims eliminated the independent basis for subject matter jurisdiction, the court also dismissed the Briekers’ pendent state claims without prejudice. This appeal followed.2

II. LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Whether a Bivens remedy can be implied for “whistleblowers” employed at GOCO nuclear facilities is a question of first impression in this circuit. Our analysis of this issue, however, is guided by the Supreme Court’s articulation of the factors that courts must consider when determining whether to create a Bivens remedy. In Bivens, the Supreme Court held that the victim of a Fourth Amendment violation committed by federal officers acting under color of then-authority could bring an action under federal law for money damages against the officers. 403 U.S. at 389, 91 S.Ct. at 2001. The Bivens Court observed that “[t]he present case involves no special factors counselling hesitation in the absence of affirmative action by Congress.” Id. at 396, 91 S.Ct. at 2004-2005. The Supreme Court subsequently has allowed “Bivens actions” for money damages against federal officers who violate the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, Davis v. Passman, 442 U.S. 228, 99 S.Ct. 2264, 60 L.Ed.2d 846 (1979), and the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment, Carlson v. Green, 446 U.S. 14, 100 S.Ct. 1468, 64 L.Ed.2d 15 (1980). “In each of these cases, as in Bivens itself, the Court found that there were no ‘special factors counselling hesitation in the absence of affirmative action by Congress,’ no explicit statutory prohibition against the relief sought, and no exclusive statutory alternative remedy.” Schweiker v. Chilicky, 487 U.S. 412, 421, 108 S.Ct. 2460, 2467, 101 L.Ed.2d 370 (1988) (citations omitted).

More recently, the Court has “responded cautiously to suggestions that Bivens reme[874]*874dies be extended into new contexts.” Schweiker, 487 U.S. at 421, 108 S.Ct. at 2467. In Chappell v. Wallace, 462 U.S. 296, 103 S.Ct. 2362, 76 L.Ed.2d 586 (1983), the Court refused to create a Bivens action for enlisted military personnel who alleged that they had been injured by the unconstitutional actions of their superior officers. Similarly, in Bush v. Lucas, 462 U.S. 367, 103 S.Ct. 2404, 76 L.Ed.2d 648 (1983), the Court unanimously refused to create a Bivens remedy for a federal employee who alleged that his supervisor had improperly disciplined him for exercising his First Amendment rights. In reaching this decision, the Court assumed that a First Amendment violation had occurred and acknowledged that “existing remedies do not provide complete relief for the plaintiff.” 462 U.S. at 388, 103 S.Ct. at 2416. The Court justified its refusal by explaining that Congress was in a better position to balance the competing policy concerns of “governmental efficiency and the rights of employees.” Id. at 389, 103 S.Ct. at 2417.

In Schweiker v. Chilicky, the Court refused to create a Bivens remedy for persons who were improperly denied Social Security disability benefits, allegedly as a result of due process violations by the federal officials who administered the program. 487 U.S. at 414, 108 S.Ct. at 2463. The Supreme Court acknowledged that “exactly as in Bush,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Bricker v. Rockwell International Corp., 22 F.3d 871, 1993 WL 632025 (9th Cir. 1993).

22 F.3d 871 (Bricker v. Rockwell International Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Sanderlin v. City of San Jose
N.D. California, 2025
Wilkins v. State of California
N.D. California, 2022
(PC) Gradford v. Velasco
E.D. California, 2022
(PC) Cruz v. Baker
E.D. California, 2022
(PC) Bradford v. Ceballos
E.D. California, 2021
Reed v. Paramo
S.D. California, 2021
In re Lisa Golden
S.D. California, 2020
Golden v. Kipperman
S.D. California, 2020
In Re: Golden
S.D. California, 2020
Golden v. Rogers
S.D. California, 2020
Kipperman v. Golden
S.D. California, 2020
Golden v. Mann
S.D. California, 2020
In Re: Lisa Kaye Golden
S.D. California, 2020
(PC) Smith v. Insurer of CDC
E.D. California, 2020
Outley v. Penzone
D. Arizona, 2020
Korslund v. DynCorp Tri-Cities Services, Inc.
121 Wash. App. 295 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2004)