Montañez v. State Insurance Fund

91 F. Supp. 3d 291
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedMarch 17, 2015
DocketCivil No. 11-1002 (DRD)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 91 F. Supp. 3d 291 (Montañez v. State Insurance Fund) 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
Montañez v. State Insurance Fund, 91 F. Supp. 3d 291 (prd 2015).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

DANIEL R. DOMINGUEZ, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, who are twelve (12) dismissed or demoted employees of the State Insurance Fund (“SIF”), brought the instant action against the SIF and several of its officers. Plaintiffs’ allegations are, inter alia, based on alleged First Amendment Political Discrimination, Fifth and/or Fourteenth Amendment Due Process violations, and Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection transgressions. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiffs also seek relief under the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico law. See 31 L.P.R.A §§ 5141-42. Pending before the court is Defendants’ motion to dismiss the com[295]*295plaint “for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” See Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). For the reasons set forth below, the motion is hereby GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs, who are all members of the Popular Democratic Party (“PDP”), are twelve (12) dismissed or demoted employees of the SIF. The SIF is a public corporation that provides to all workers of Puer-to Rico compensation and health care for those employees injured during the course of their employment. Before their dismissal, between the years of 2001-2008, plaintiffs were appointed to various positions at the SIF through an internal job-posting procedure. After a subsequent audit, which was aimed at examining various personnel transactions, approximately two hundred and thirty-two (232) appointments were declared null, including the Plaintiffs’. They were informed of the SIF’s intention to dismiss or demote them from their career positions throughout a letter sent on January 8, 2010 that was signed by defendant Zoimé Alvarez Rubio, then the newly appointed administrator of SIF. Nevertheless, Plaintiffs claim that the basis for these dismissals is political retribution, and a systematic scheme to get rid of PDP sympathizers. They also allege that the' audits were performed as a pretext to justify the political motive behind the dismissals and the defendants’ unconstitutional and illegal actions. See Docket No. 1.

On March 5, 2012, the Court entered an Opinion and Order (Docket No. 30) dismissing the case based on Younger abstention. On February 7, 2013, the First Circuit Court reversed the order dismissing the Plaintiffs’ action and remanded the case with instructions to stay the proceedings pending the Puerto Rico Supreme Courts’ ruling in González Segarra v. CFSE, 188 D.P.R 252 (2013). See Docket No. 35. Given that Puerto Rico’s highest court had granted a petition to review a similar case also against the SIF, with similar legal claims, the First Circuit concluded that it was “preferable to allow the Commonwealth court to resolve the controlling issue of Puerto Rico law first.” Id. In making this pronouncement, the First Circuit recognized the possibility “that the plaintiffs’ political discrimination claim is not synonymous with their due process claim and, thus, will not necessarily be resolved by answering the unsettled state law question,” which was poised to be resolved in González Segarra. Id. at p. 11.

On March 19, 2013, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court issued its opinion on the González Segarra case, which holds that the appointments made through the internal job postings violated SIF’s rules and regulations and were contrary to the merit principle. Nevertheless, the court failed to address the Political Discrimination claims further than mentioning in passing that these were discussed by the Commonwealth’s Court of Appeals and during the administrative proceedings.

On April 24, 2014 Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 60) averring that Plaintiffs’ complaint fails to allege specific acts to sustain their Political Discrimination claims and is based on no more than mere conclusory statements. They also affirm that Plaintiffs fail at stating a veritable Due Process claim and neglect to offer factual allegations to distinguish their Equal Protection claims from their Political Discrimination claims. On May 25, 2014, Plaintiffs opposed said motion by arguing that they have complied with the required pleading standards. See Docket No. 73.

[296]*296Finally, on June 20, 2014, the defendants submitted an Informative Motion (Docket No. 79) asking the Court to acknowledge a First Circuit decision filed on June 19, 2014. See Reyes-Perez v. State Ins. Fund Corp., 755 F.3d 49 (1st Cir.2014). The Court agreed to consider the case before making a final determination on the motion to dismiss.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW FOR MOTIONS TO DISMISS

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) allows a defendant to seek the dismissal of a complaint “for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). A complaint dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) “is inappropriate if the complaint satisfies Rule 8(a)(2)’s requirement of a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Ocasio-Hernández v. Fortuño-Burset, 640 F.3d 1, 11 (1st Cir.2011). A short and plain statement is one that provides the defendant of fair notice regarding the claim and the “grounds upon which it rests.” Id. However, a “plaintiffs obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1965, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Therefore, “factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level,” thus requiring a plaintiff to present allegations that nudge their claims “across the line from conceivable to the plausible.” Id. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

Determining the plausibility of a claim is a “context specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). A claim is said to be plausible on its face when “the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Sepulveda-Villarini v. Dep’t of Educ. of Puerto Rico, 628 F.3d 25 (1st Cir.2010). Furthermore, the plausibility standard requires that a plaintiffs claim suggest “more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

An inquiry into plausibility requires a two-step process. Garcia-Catalán v. U.S., 734 F.3d 100 (1st Cir.2013).

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Bluebook (online)
91 F. Supp. 3d 291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montanez-v-state-insurance-fund-prd-2015.