Richmond Black Police Officers Ass'n v. City of Richmond

386 F. Supp. 151, 12 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 435, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1296, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5751, 10 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 10,268
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedNovember 18, 1974
DocketCiv. A. 74-0267-R
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 386 F. Supp. 151 (Richmond Black Police Officers Ass'n v. City of Richmond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richmond Black Police Officers Ass'n v. City of Richmond, 386 F. Supp. 151, 12 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 435, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1296, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5751, 10 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 10,268 (E.D. Va. 1974).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

WARRINER, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court pursuant to defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint on grounds which present three issues to this Court for resolution. Initially the defendants contend that this Court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter of this suit; a civil rights action brought under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983 and 1988 and the corresponding jurisdictional statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) and (4). The second contention is that the named plaintiffs, both individually and as representatives of the proposed class, lack proper standing to maintain this action. Thirdly, the defendants maintain that plaintiffs should be denied the right to proceed as a class action or, in the alternative, that the proposed class be constituted in conformity with Rule 23 of the Fed.R.Civ.P. The Court’s resolution of the last two issues is necessarily interrelated and will be treated accordingly.

The defendants’ first ground for dismissal is based upon the contention that the named defendants are not amenable to suit, either individually or in their official capacity, in actions brought under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983 and 1988 for equitable and declaratory relief. 1 In support thereof defendants rely upon Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961) and City of Kenosha v. Bruno, 412 U.S. 507, 93 S.Ct. 2222, 37 L.Ed.2d 109 (1970), together, as standing for the proposition that the City of Richmond is not a “person” within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and therefore is not susceptible to suit under that statute or 28 U.S.C. § 1343, the corresponding jurisdictional statute. The de *153 fendants argue further that the defendants City Manager, Director of Public Safety, and Chief of Police are likewise immune from suit in their official capacities because, as municipal officials, they necessarily come under the penumbra protection afforded the City of Richmond by Kenosha; and, additionally, they are individually immune from suit because of the long standing common law immunity protecting persons carrying out their discretionary functions in public office. Contrawise, plaintiffs rely upon Monroe, supra as standing for the proposition that, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, municipal corporations may be susceptible to suit for injunctive and declaratory relief. Similarly, plaintiffs rely upon Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974) as .dictating that in order to determine if there is, or is not, any validity to the asserted defense of common law immunity protecting the individual defendants there .must be further fact finding. For the. following reasons this Court must grant the defendants’ motion to dismiss with respect to the City of Richmond and deny the same with respect to the City Manager, the Chief of Police, and the Director of Public Safety.

In Monroe v. Pape, supra, the Supreme Court held that a municipal corporation is not a “person” as contemplated under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in actions where damages are sought. In City of Kenosha v. Bruno, supra the Court, upon examination of Monroe, concluded as follows:

We find nothing in the legislative history discussed in Monroe, or in the language actually used by congress to suggest that the generic word “person” in [42 U.S.C.] § 1983 was intended to have a bifurcated application to municipal corporations depending on the nature of relief sought against them. Since, as the Court held in Monroe, “Congress did not undertake to bring municipal corporations within the ambit of” § 1983, [id], at 187, [81 S.Ct. at 484,] they are outside of its ambit for purposes of equitable relief as well as for damages. City of Kenosha, 412 U.S. at 513, 93 S.Ct. at 2226.

In sum, a city is not a “person” under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 where equitable relief is sought, any more than it is where damages are sought. 2 Accordingly, this action must be dismissed with respect to the defendant City of Richmond.

While it would appear that a suit against the named City officials is essentially a suit against the City, and therefore barred by the doctrine of Monroe and City of Kenosha, such is not the law. The Court in Monroe held that municipal officials aré susceptible to suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for damage actions even though the municipality itself is immune. In City of Kenosha the Court neither included nor excluded municipal officials from the immunity granted to the municipality in actions for equitable relief arising under 42 U. S.C. § 1983. Absent an express statement by the Supreme Court of inclusion or exclusion, this Court is bound by the decision of Harper v. Kloster, 486 F.2d 1134 (4th Cir. 1973) holding that jurisdiction under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 does attach in suits for equitable relief against municipal officials in their official capacity. Accordingly, the defendants’ motion on this ground to dismiss the complaint as against the City Manager, the Director of Public Safety, and the Chief of Police in their official capacities is not well founded. 3

*154 Finally, defendants argue that the recognized common law immunity protecting persons carrying out their discretionary functions in public offices forbids any suit against the City Manager, the Director of Public Safety, and the Chief of Police.

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386 F. Supp. 151, 12 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 435, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1296, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5751, 10 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 10,268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richmond-black-police-officers-assn-v-city-of-richmond-vaed-1974.