Hill v. Florida Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services

715 F. Supp. 346, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7982, 51 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 39,321, 51 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 114
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJuly 11, 1989
DocketNo. 89-0027-CIV-T-17-(A)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 715 F. Supp. 346 (Hill v. Florida Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Hill v. Florida Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services, 715 F. Supp. 346, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7982, 51 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 39,321, 51 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 114 (M.D. Fla. 1989).

Opinion

ORDER ON MOTION TO DISMISS

KOVACHEVICH, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on Defendant’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R. Civ.P. 12(b)(6), and Plaintiff's response thereto.

A complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that Plaintiff can prove no set of facts that would entitle him to relief. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). A trial court, in ruling on a motion to dismiss, is required to view the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. [347]*347Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974).

I.

This case involves the scope of the Eleventh Amendment’s prohibition of suits by individuals against any of the fifty states in federal Court, as well as the extent to which Florida has waived its Sovereign Immunity by virtue of § 768.28, Florida Statutes, or otherwise.

Because this Court finds that Plaintiffs suit against the State of Florida is barred by the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that Florida has not waived its Sovereign Immunity from suit in federal court, Defendants’ motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is granted insofar as the complaint against the State. The claim against Patricia S. Bailey individually stands. The Court’s reasoning is set forth more fully below.

II.

Plaintiff Gail B. Hill (“Hill”) filed this action against the State of Florida, Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (“the State”) and Patricia S. Bailey (“Bailey”) seeking damages for violation of 29 U.S.C. § 794. The gravamen of Hill’s complaint is that she was the victim of wrongful discrimination, directed at her because of her mental illness. This invidious discrimination in direct violation of Federal law cost Hill her job and almost her life: jobless and severely depressed she attempted suicide.

Accepting Hill’s allegations as true, which this Court must, Plaintiff can prove no set of facts entitling her to relief. The Eleventh Amendment clearly proscribes this sort of action unless and until the State expressly waives its Sovereign Immunity. Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon, 473 U.S. 234, 105 S.Ct. 3142, 87 L.Ed.2d 171 (1985).

The test for determining whether a State has waived its immunity from federal-court jurisdiction is a stringent one. Although a State’s general waiver of sovereign immunity may subject it to a suit in state court, it is not enough to waive the immunity guaranteed by the Eleventh Amendment. Florida Dept. of Health v. Florida Nursing Home Assn., 450 U.S. 147, 150 [101 S.Ct. 1032, 1034, 67 L.Ed.2d 132] (1981). As we explained just last Term, “a State’s constitutional interest in immunity encompasses not merely whether it may be sued, but where it may be sued.” Penhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89 [104 S.Ct. 900, 79 L.Ed.2d 67] (1984). Thus, in order for a state statute or constitutional provision to constitute waiver of Eleventh Amendment immunity, it must specify the State’s intention to subject itself to suit in federal court.

Atascadero, supra, 473 U.S. at 241, 105 S.Ct. at 3146-47 [Emphasis original].

Florida has not expressly waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity. And it has not merely been silent on the question, leaving the issue open to debate. Rather, the legislature adopted § 768.28(16), which states in pertinent part:

No provision of this section ... shall be construed to waive the immunity of the State or any of its agencies from suit in Federal Court, as such immunity is guaranteed by the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, unless such waiver is explicitly and definitely stated to be a waiver of the immunity. ...

The State’s agreeing to be bound by federal law cannot be construed to be a waiver of its immunity to suit in federal court, as Hill suggests. “It denigrates the judges who serve on the state courts to suggest that they will not enforce the supreme law of the land.” Atascadero, supra at 239, n. 2, 105 S.Ct. at 3146, n. 2.

Nor has Congress, in enacting the Rehabilitation Act, manifested a clear intent to abrogate the Eleventh Amendment bar to suits against states in federal court. Atascadero, 473 U.S. 234, 105 S.Ct. 3142.

Hill’s contention that the Eleventh Amendment is not applicable to situations such as this where the suit is one by a citizen of the defendant state, not a foreign state, is squarely at odds with the law. [348]*348The most cursory examination of cases cited to this Court reveals that the Eleventh Amendment bars a suit against a state by one of its own citizens as well as a suit brought by a citizen of a foreign state. This question is well settled, supported by a hundred years of case law. Hans v. Louisiana 134 U.S. 1, 10 S.Ct. 504, 38 L.Ed. 842 (1890); North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 10 S.Ct. 509, 33 L.Ed. 849 (1890); Fitts v. McGhee, 172 U.S. 516, 19 S.Ct. 269, 43 L.Ed. 535 (1899); Bell v. Mississippi, 177 U.S. 693, 20 S.Ct. 1031, 44 L.Ed. 945 (1900); Smith v. Reeves, 178 U.S. 436, 20 S.Ct. 919, 44 L.Ed. 1140 (1900); Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52. L.Ed. 714 (1907); Palmer v. Ohio, 248 U.S. 32, 39 S.Ct. 16, 63 L.Ed. 108 (1918); Duhne v. New Jersey, 251 U.S. 311, 40 S.Ct. 154, 64 L.Ed. 280 (1920); Ex parte New York, 256 U.S. 490, 41 S.Ct. 588, 65 L.Ed. 1057 (1921); Missouri v. Fiske, 290 U.S. 18, 54 S.Ct. 18, 78 L.Ed. 145 (1933); Great Northern Life Insurance Co. v. Read, 322 U.S. 47, 64 S.Ct. 873, 88 L.Ed. 1121 (1944); Ford Motor Co. v. Dept. of Treasury of Indiana, 323 U.S. 459, 65 S.Ct. 347, 89 L.Ed. 389 (1945); Georgia Railroad & Banking Co. v. Redwine, 342 U.S. 299, 72 S.Ct. 321, 96 L.Ed. 335 (1952); Parden v. Terminal Railway of Alabama Docks Dept.,

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Hill v. STATE OF FLA. DHRS
715 F. Supp. 346 (M.D. Florida, 1989)

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715 F. Supp. 346, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7982, 51 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 39,321, 51 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-florida-department-of-health-rehabilitative-services-flmd-1989.