Casiano-Montañez v. State Insurance Fund Corp.

852 F. Supp. 2d 177, 2012 WL 1118417, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41379
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedMarch 5, 2012
DocketCivil No. 11-1002 (DRD)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 852 F. Supp. 2d 177 (Casiano-Montañez v. State Insurance Fund Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Casiano-Montañez v. State Insurance Fund Corp., 852 F. Supp. 2d 177, 2012 WL 1118417, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41379 (prd 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

DANIEL R. DOMÍNGUEZ, District Judge.

Pending before the Court is Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) filed on May 9, 2011 (Docket No. 10), and Supplemental Motion to Dismiss filed on October 13, 2011 (Docket No. 22).

Plaintiffs seek injunctive and equitable relief under Sections 1983 and 1988 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988, for allegedly being victims of political discrimination, for violations of their due process rights secured under the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States of America, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and for violations of Articles 1802 and 1803 of the Puerto Rico Civil Code, 31 L.P.R.A. §§ 5141 and 5142.

In their motion to dismiss, Defendants contend that Plaintiffs’ complaint fails to allege specific acts necessary to sustain a claim for political discrimination pursuant to the applicable pleading standards of Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). In Defendants’ supplemental motion to dismiss, Defendants request this Court’s abstention under Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971) as Plaintiffs all filed voluntarily administrative appeals before the Board of Appeals of the State Insurance Fund Corporation (“Board”) which are currently pending before the Board.

For the reasons set forth below, the Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED based on the supplemented motion. Consequently, the instant case is hereby DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE based on the [179]*179Younger abstention, as further explained herein.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs were all employees of the State Insurance Fund Corporation (“Corporation”), offering medical and/or non-medical services at various locations operated and/or administered by the Corporation throughout Puerto Rico.1 On January of 2010, Plaintiffs received letters of intent from the Corporation notifying them individually of their dismissal (in the case of Plaintiffs Casiano and Soto) and of the demotion of their most recent promotion and reinstatement to the former position held (in the case of the remaining ten (10) Plaintiffs, to wit: Reyes-Vargas, TorresGonzález, Reyes-Ramos, Espino, TorresEscribano, Custodio, Villegas, Rosa, Otero and Santiago) (“Employment Actions”). The reason stated in the letters of intent for the Employment Actions was that their current positions at the Corporation were declared null2 as a result of an audit of personnel transactions made in the period of 2001 thru 2008. The Employment Actions were confirmed and became effective between March 31, 2010 and August 18, 2010. (Docket No. 1).

Thereafter, Plaintiffs requested informal administrative hearings to challenge the Employment Actions taken by the Corporation. The Corporation upheld the nullity of Plaintiffs’ appointments and the Employment Actions taken against Plaintiffs.

As a result, Plaintiffs all voluntarily filed administrative appeals before the Board to challenge the Corporation’s determination of nullity of their positions and the Employment Actions. Those appeals are currently pending resolution. The Board has not issued to this date a final resolution on any of the appeals.

On January 4, 2011, before having any final adjudication of their administrative appeals, Plaintiffs filed a complaint in this Court stating, in general, that the Employment Actions taken by the Corporation were based on political discrimination because Plaintiffs were all known activists and sympathizers of the Popular Democratic Party (“PPD,” for its Spanish acronym) and Defendants were all affiliated with the New Progressive Party (“PNP,” for its Spanish acronym). (Docket No. 1). The Defendants are: (1) the Corporation; (2) Zoimé Alvarez Rubio, her husband, José Ignacio Cobián, and the Conjugal Partnership Composed by both individuals (co-defendant Zoimé Alvarez Rubio is sued in her official capacity as Administrator of the Corporation, and in her individual capacity); (3) Saul Rivera Rivera, his wife, Jane Doe, and the Conjugal Partnership Composed by both individuals (co-defendant Saúl Rivera Rivera is sued in his official capacity as Associate Director of the Human Resources Office of the Corporation, and in his individual capacity); (4) Jorge Garcia Ortiz, his wife, X, and the Conjugal Partnership Composed by both individuals (co-defendant Jorge García Or[180]*180tiz is sued in his official capacity as Executive Director of the Industrial Hospital of the Corporation, and in his individual capacity); and (5) Ernesto Santiago Sayas, his wife, Y, and the Conjugal Partnership Composed by both individuals (co-defendant Ernesto Santiago Sayas is sued in his official capacity as Administrator of the Industrial Hospital of the Corporation, and in his individual capacity).

On May 9, 2011, Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss alleging that Plaintiffs’ complaint: (1) includes unsupported conclusory statements of the causes of action claimed therein; (2) does not allege specific acts necessary to prove a prima facie case of political discrimination, specifically that Plaintiffs failed to allege that each of the Defendants had specific knowledge of each Plaintiffs’ political affiliation, or that Defendants had opposing affiliations to those of Plaintiffs;3 and (3) does not state factual allegations to distinguish the equal protection claim from their political discrimination claims.

On May 26, 2011, Plaintiffs filed their opposition to Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Docket No. 14) re-alleging the charges included in the complaint. Specifically, Plaintiffs argue that Defendants “were fully aware” of Plaintiffs’ political affiliation with the PPD because “knowledge of political affiliation is commonplace within the walls of the SFXC” (Docket No. 14, pages 6 and 7) (emphasis in original), without offering factual information or actual details as to how Defendants came about such knowledge, particularly when Plaintiffs’ were working at nine different locations throughout Puerto Rico.4 (Docket No. 1).

On October 13, 2011, Defendants filed a supplemental motion to dismiss (Docket No. 22) requesting that this Court dismisses the instant action under the Younger abstention doctrine because there are pending state administrative proceedings before the Board concerning the issues and the parties of the instant complaint. (Docket Nos. 22 and 22-1). Defendants further contend that the Court should apply the same standard and analysis of Dávila Feliciano v. Puerto Rico State Insurance Fund, 818 F.Supp.2d 482 (D.P.R.2011) because, as was the situation in Davila Feliciano, Plaintiffs’ administrative appeals are currently pending resolution before the Board.

On November 4, 2011, Plaintiffs filed their opposition to the supplemental motion to dismiss (Docket No.

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Related

González Segarra v. Corporación del Fondo del Seguro del Estado
188 P.R. 252 (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, 2013)
Casiano-Montanez v. State Insurance Fund Corp.
707 F.3d 124 (First Circuit, 2013)

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Bluebook (online)
852 F. Supp. 2d 177, 2012 WL 1118417, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41379, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/casiano-montanez-v-state-insurance-fund-corp-prd-2012.