Horvath v. Westport Library Ass'n

362 F.3d 147, 2004 WL 574993
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMarch 11, 2004
DocketDocket No. 02-9326
StatusPublished
Cited by61 cases

This text of 362 F.3d 147 (Horvath v. Westport Library Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Horvath v. Westport Library Ass'n, 362 F.3d 147, 2004 WL 574993 (2d Cir. 2004).

Opinion

POOLER, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Ilona Horvath’s complaint asserts claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. A Report and Recommendation, dated September 16, 2002, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut (Smith, Magistrate Judge) recommended that the defendants be granted summary judgment on both of these claims. The Report and Recommendation was adopted in an Order, dated October 3, 2002 (Squatrito, J.). On this appeal, Horvath only challenges the grant of summary judgment as to her Section 1983 claim.

BACKGROUND

Horvath began working for the West-port Library Association (“the Library”), located in Westport, Connecticut (“the Town”), in October 1989 as a “business manager assistant.” She was discharged on December 29, 2000. The Library contends that Horvath was terminated because of her resistance to the implementation of new payroll technology and because of general incompetence.

Horvath’s Section 1983 claim is based upon her contention that the Library violated her right to due process by not affording her notice and an opportunity to be heard prior to termination. The district court, however, rejected Horvath’s Section 1983 claim because the Library was not a state actor, and was therefore not charged with affording its employees due process before terminating them. Because Horvath has dropped her ADEA claim, the only facts germane to this appeal are those that are relevant to the Library’s status as a state actor.

We note at the outset that both parties rely heavily upon factual findings contained in two written decisions of the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations (“the Board”), one from 1977 and one from 1989, issued in cases in which the Library was a party. Both of these cases involved disputes between the Library and the labor union representing its staff members regarding whether the Library was a “municipal employer” within the meaning of Connecticut law. The Library states in its brief on this appeal that these factual findings are “consistent with the Library’s current status,” except to the extent set forth in an affidavit filed in the district court by the Library’s current Director.

We emphasize, however, that, although both the 1977 and 1989 Board opinions concluded that the Library was not a “municipal employer” under Connecticut law, these conclusions are clearly irrelevant to our consideration of whether Horvath should have been afforded the due process [149]*149protections available to public employees under federal law. As the magistrate judge correctly noted, the Library “cannot transform the legal conclusions reached in 1977 and 1989 into facts by reiterating them ... as if they were facts.” Thus, while the paucity of the record gives us no alternative to relying upon the factual findings set forth in the Board decisions, we emphasize that our legal conclusions regarding Horvath’s Section 1988 claim are independently derived.

The 1977 Board decision contains the following factual findings that we believe are relevant to the instant appeal:

1.The Westport Library Association is a non-stock corporation created by a special act of the [Connecticut] General Assembly in 1907 with the right to acquire, hold, and manage such property as may be necessary for establishing and maintaining a public library in the Town of Westport, and to “make such by-laws, rules, and regulations ... as it shall deem best for the management of the property and affairs of said Association.”
* * * * * *
8. Under the Library by-laws the Library director is appointed by its board of trustees and has charge of the administration of its affairs under the direction and review of a board of trustees. This includes the responsibility for the care of the building and equipment; the hiring, disciplining, and promotion of employees, and the supervision of their duties; responsibility for the service to the public and the operation of the library under the financial conditions set forth in the budget.
i'fi * # * * *
5.One half of the trustees of [the] Library are designated by the Town.
6.[The] Library has some income from investments, gifts, and fines and rentals, but the bulk of its annual income comes from an appropriation from the general funds of the Town. The operating budget for 1976-7 was $545,210 of which the Town appropriation was $489,345.
* * * * *
12. None of the current trustees of [the] Library is an employee or official of the Town.

The 1989 Board decision contains the following additional relevant findings of fact: ,

2. The Library is governed by a Board of Trustees composed of 14 voting members.
3. Seven (7) members of the Library’s Board of Trustees are appointed by the Representative Town Meeting of the Town of Westport.... The other seven (7) Trustees are appointed by the Board of Trustees themselves.
sfc % ifc # ‡ ❖
4.. None of the current seven (7) Trustees who were appointed by the Representative Town Meeting are elected or appointed officials of the Town of Westport.
5. The Director of the Library is appointed by the full Board of Trustees. The Director is responsible for hiring the Library’s Department Heads who in turn hire the members of the staff.
6. The operations of the Westport Public Library are funded by a budget (1988-89) that is composed of (1) grants from the Town of Westport, (2) gifts, (3) investments, (4) fines, and (5) rentals. 88% of the budget is composed of grants from the Town of Westport.
7. The Library’s budget process entails creation of a preliminary budget request by the Library staff which is [150]*150presented to the Board of Trustees for their approval. If approved, the Library staff and Board of Trustees present the budget request to and participate in meetings with the Town’s Board of Finance. The Town’s Board of Finance ultimately recommends a budget to the Representative Town Meeting for final approval. The final budget allocation is in a lump sum and is without restriction as to expenditure by the Library.

As already noted, the 1977 and 1989 Board decisions have been supplemented by an affidavit of the Library’s current Director. The affidavit contains the following information concerning the Library’s budget:

The Library’s budget for FY 2000-2001 was $3,187,644 with 86.5% of $2,777,494 coming from the Town of Westport. The remainder of the Library’s funding comes from private fundraising, fines, late fees and profits derived from a café, which it owns and runs on premises.

In her own affidavit, Horvath discloses that she, along with the rest of the Library’s staff, is a member of a union which is only identified in the record as the Brotherhood of Municipal Employees (“the Union”).

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Bluebook (online)
362 F.3d 147, 2004 WL 574993, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horvath-v-westport-library-assn-ca2-2004.