Sindram v. Fox
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
Appellant Michael Sindram, proceeding pro se, appeals the order of the District Court dismissing his complaint with prejudice. For the following reasons, we will affirm.
On January 22, 2007, Sindram filed a complaint against Wendella P. Fox, Director of the United States Department of Education’s Philadelphia Office of Civil
In October 2007, the District Court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss with leave to amend certain claims.
Sindram filed a “motion for appropriate and adequate relief,” to which defendant filed a response, along with a renewed motion to dismiss. The District Court granted the motion to dismiss the remaining claims with prejudice by order entered March 3, 2009. Sindram timely appealed.
I.
Our review of the District Court’s orders is plenary. See Santiago v. GMAC Mortg. Group, Inc., 417 F.3d 384, 386 (3d Cir. 2005). “To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, — U.S. -, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Carp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). In deciding a motion to dismiss, a court must determine whether the complaint “pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id.
II.
A. FOIA Claim
The District Court dismissed Sin-dram’s FOIA claim because he filed his
B. 12 U.S.C. § 1981 Claim
Sindram argues that defendant’s failure to remedy the schools’ discriminatory acts violated § 1981. By its terms, § 1981 provides a private cause of action for discrimination by private actors and discrimination under color of state law. See § 1981(a), (c). Defendant, as an official of the Department of Education, was operating under color of federal law, and § 1981 does not protect against discrimination under color of federal law. See, e.g., Dotson v. Griesa, 398 F.3d 156, 162 (2d Cir. 2005); Davis-Warren Auctioneers v. FDIC, 215 F.3d 1159, 1161 (10th Cir. 2000); Davis v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, 204 F.3d 723, 725 (7th Cir. 2000); Lee v. Hughes, 145 F.3d 1272, 1277 (11th cir. 1998). Accordingly, the District Court properly concluded that Sindram failed to state a cognizable claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981.
C. Age Discrimination Act Claim
Sindram seeks damages and an injunction based upon defendant’s alleged violations of the ADA. The District Court concluded that the ADA does not permit a private cause of action against an employee of the Department of Education. Although we have not addressed the precise issue presented here in a precedential opinion, the two-step inquiry for determining whether a private right of action exists under a federal statute is clear; a court must ascertain “(1) whether Congress intended to create a personal right in the plaintiff; and (2) whether Congress intended to create a personal remedy for that plaintiff.” McGovern v. City of Phila., 554 F.3d 114, 116 (3d Cir. 2009); see also Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275, 286-87, 121 S.Ct. 1511, 149 L.Ed.2d 517 (2001) (if a statute does not display congressional intent to create a private remedy, courts may not create one). To determine Congress’s intent, we examine “the text and structure of the statute; the existence or nonexistence of a comprehensive remedial scheme elsewhere in the same statute; the statute’s legislative history; and Congress’s explicit creation of private rights in
The text of the ADA creates federal rights
III.
For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the District Court’s judgment.
. The District Court gave Sindram leave to amend his FOIA claim provided that he demonstrated or alleged in good faith that he had exhausted his appeals. The court also recognized that the OCR had released 170 pages of documents relating to its investigation and that Sindram should not amend if those pages satisfied his request.
. "[N]o person in the United State shall, on the basis of age, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under, any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” 42 U.S.C. § 6102.
. "Program or activity” is defined to include state and local governments and instrumen-talities, colleges, universities, and certain corporations. Federal employees and agencies are not included in the definition. See 42 U.S.C. § 6107(4).
.For the reasons the District Court provided in the orders filed on October 31, 2007 and August 5, 2008, Sindram's remaining constitutional claims and claims under the Rehabilitation Act and the FTCA properly were dismissed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Michael SINDRAM v. Wendella P. FOX
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published