Miguel A. Figueroa-Rodriguez v. Jorge L. Aquino, Etc.

863 F.2d 1037, 1988 U.S. App. LEXIS 16627, 1988 WL 130205
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedDecember 9, 1988
Docket87-1512
StatusPublished
Cited by64 cases

This text of 863 F.2d 1037 (Miguel A. Figueroa-Rodriguez v. Jorge L. Aquino, Etc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miguel A. Figueroa-Rodriguez v. Jorge L. Aquino, Etc., 863 F.2d 1037, 1988 U.S. App. LEXIS 16627, 1988 WL 130205 (1st Cir. 1988).

Opinions

LEVIN H. CAMPBELL, Chief Judge.

The plaintiff, Miguel A. Figueroa-Rodriguez, brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1982) against defendants, the Puerto Rico Commercial Development Company (“CDC” or “Company”), Jorge L. Aquino, a former Executive Director of the CDC, and Atilano Cordero Badillo, Puerto Rico’s Secretary of Commerce and the President of the CDC.1 Figueroa claimed, inter alia, that Aquino violated his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments when he dismissed Figueroa from his position as Assistant Director of Administration of the CDC. Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980); Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976). See generally Jimenez Fuentes v. Torres Gaztambide, 807 F.2d 236 (1st Cir.1986) (en banc). Seeking damages and reinstatement to his former position, Figueroa alleged he was terminated because he is an active member of the Partido Nuevo Progresista (“PNP”) which lost Puerto Rico’s 1984 gubernatorial election to the Partido Popular Democráti-co (“PPD”).

Defendants moved for summary judgment both on the merits of plaintiff’s claim under current legal standards and on the issue of whether Aquino was shielded from damages liability by the doctrine of qualified immunity. The district court denied this motion. The case was tried to a jury, and at the conclusion of Figueroa’s case Aquino moved for a directed verdict, again claiming the protection of qualified immunity. The district court denied this motion. The jury rendered a verdict for Figueroa, awarding him $25,000 in compensatory damages. In the judgment thereafter entered, the district court not only awarded this sum to Figueroa against Aquino but also ordered the CDC and its current Executive Director to reinstate Figueroa to his former position, and ordered them and Aquino to reimburse Figueroa for back pay. Aquino moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, asking the district court to reconsider its denial of qualified immunity in light of this court’s recent decision in Mendez-Palou v. Rohena-Betancourt, 813 F.2d 1255 (1st Cir.1987). Defendants also asked the court under Fed.R. Civ.P. 59(e) to amend its judgment, arguing that the CDC is immune from the award of back pay under the Eleventh Amendment and, in the alternative, that the back pay award should be reduced by Figueroa’s interim earnings. The district court denied both motions without giving reasons. Defendants now appeal from the denial of their post-trial motions.2 We conclude that Aquino was entitled to qualified immunity and hence strike the $25,000 in compensatory damages. We also remand to the district court for further proceedings regarding the award of back pay.

I. QUALIFIED IMMUNITY

The following facts are not in dispute. Figueroa was appointed as the Assistant Director of Administration of the CDC in [1040]*10401977. He occupied that position until January 1985 when he was fired by defendant Aquino. Figueroa is an active member of the PNP, and his political affiliation was a well-known fact in the Company. After eight consecutive years in power the PNP lost the general elections to the PPD in November 1984. The new Secretary of Commerce, Atilano Cordero, appointed Aquino, with the consent of the Governor of Puerto Rico, to the position of Executive Director of the CDC. Aquino is a member of the PPD. Shortly after assuming the position of Executive Director in January 1985 Aquino fired Figueroa and appointed a member of the PPD to replace him. It is undisputed that Aquino fired Figueroa because of the latter’s political affiliation. At trial, the only real issue regarding the merits of Figueroa’s claim to have been unconstitutionally discharged was whether party affiliation was an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the position of Assistant Director of Administration. See Branti, 445 U.S. at 518, 100 S.Ct. at 1294-95. The jury, in arriving at a general verdict for plaintiff, necessarily found that, under the law current at the time of trial, party affiliation was not an appropriate requirement for this position.3

This appeal is not from the jury’s determination of the merits of Figueroa’s substantive claim — in particular, its implied conclusion that party affiliation was not an appropriate consideration for his position. Rather, the issue before us is whether the court below erred in denying Aquino’s claim that he enjoyed qualified immunity from damages.4 While the former would relate to whether Figueroa was protected from patronage dismissal under present law as construed by the court, the latter examines whether the law at the time of Figueroa’s dismissal was clearly established that he enjoyed such protection. We have recently discussed this critical distinction:

We emphasize at the outset ... that in deciding this qualified immunity issue, we do not resolve close questions of fact or law related to the merits of the plaintiffs claim in light of the law as it exists today. The applicable standards, as derived from the general rule enunciated in Mendez-Palou, reflect the state of the law in early 1985, when [PPD]-appointed officials actually implemented the employment decisions that have resulted in the flood of “patronage dismissal” cases from Puerto Rico. Being particularized reflections of the general state of the law at the time, they are useful only for the narrow purpose of determining what were not clearly “protected” governmental positions. In short, our task in disposing of the qualified immunity question is to ascertain “what a reasonable person would have known as to the state of the law” at the time of the alleged unlawful acts, “not what the actual answer is” in the particular case.

Rodriguez-Burgos v. Electric Energy Authority, 853 F.2d 31, 34 (1st Cir.1988) (citations omitted) (defendant entitled to summary judgment on qualified immunity from damages but not to summary judgment on merits of plaintiff’s claims for injunctive relief). See also Goyco de Maldonado v. Rivera, 849 F.2d 683, 686 (1st Cir.1988) (distinguishing between standard applied to review of preliminary injunction, qualified immunity, and merits).

By January 1985 it had, of course, been clearly established in decisions of the Supreme Court that a state employee could not be removed for partisan political reasons from a job as to which party affiliation was not an appropriate requirement for its effective performance. Branti, 445 [1041]*1041U.S. at 518, 100 S.Ct. at 1294-95. But the question of what government jobs appropriately included the ingredient of political affiliation was at that time a matter of considerable uncertainty, as the case law in this circuit since then well demonstrates.

The crux of the difficulty lay in determining those upper level management positions that a newly elected governor must constitutionally be allowed the option of filling with like-minded colleagues if meaning is to be given to the electoral mandate.

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

Related

Parente v. Lefebvre
122 F.4th 457 (First Circuit, 2024)
Ingram v. Shipman-Meyer
241 F. Supp. 3d 124 (District of Columbia, 2017)
Vázquez-Burgos v. Rodríguez-Pérez
111 F. Supp. 3d 135 (D. Puerto Rico, 2015)
Camacho-Morales v. Caldero
68 F. Supp. 3d 261 (D. Puerto Rico, 2014)
Ramos v. Department of Education
849 F. Supp. 2d 212 (D. Puerto Rico, 2012)
Alberti v. University of Puerto Rico
818 F. Supp. 2d 452 (D. Puerto Rico, 2011)
Mercado-Berrios v. Cancel-Alegria
611 F.3d 18 (First Circuit, 2010)
Tristani Ex Rel. Karnes v. Richman
609 F. Supp. 2d 423 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 2009)
Tardiff v. Knox County
598 F. Supp. 2d 115 (D. Maine, 2009)
Negrón-Almeda v. Santiago
528 F.3d 15 (First Circuit, 2008)
Orria-Medina v. Metropolitan Bus Authority
565 F. Supp. 2d 285 (D. Puerto Rico, 2007)
Pastrana Torres v. Zabala Carrión
376 F. Supp. 2d 209 (D. Puerto Rico, 2005)
Estate of Ungar Ex Rel. Strachman v. Palestinian Authority
304 F. Supp. 2d 232 (D. Rhode Island, 2004)
Maestas v. State of Colorado
351 F.3d 1001 (Tenth Circuit, 2003)
Rosario-Urdaz v. Rivera-Hernandez
350 F.3d 219 (First Circuit, 2003)
Gonzalez v. Foy
286 F. Supp. 2d 223 (D. Puerto Rico, 2003)
Dollinger v. State Insurance Fund
44 F. Supp. 2d 467 (N.D. New York, 1999)
Iberia Lineas Aereas De Espana v. Velez-Silva
59 F. Supp. 2d 266 (D. Puerto Rico, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
863 F.2d 1037, 1988 U.S. App. LEXIS 16627, 1988 WL 130205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miguel-a-figueroa-rodriguez-v-jorge-l-aquino-etc-ca1-1988.