Filed: Jul. 05, 2001
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 5 2001 TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER Clerk LONNIE LYNN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. No. 00-1173 (D.C. No. 98-D-1924) COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF (Colorado) INSTITUTIONS, DIVISION OF YOUTH SERVICES, Defendant-Appellee. ORDER AND JUDGMENT * Before SEYMOUR, MCKAY and BRORBY, Circuit Judges. Lonnie Lynn brought this action for money damages under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12111-12117 (ADA), agains
Summary: F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 5 2001 TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER Clerk LONNIE LYNN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. No. 00-1173 (D.C. No. 98-D-1924) COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF (Colorado) INSTITUTIONS, DIVISION OF YOUTH SERVICES, Defendant-Appellee. ORDER AND JUDGMENT * Before SEYMOUR, MCKAY and BRORBY, Circuit Judges. Lonnie Lynn brought this action for money damages under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12111-12117 (ADA), against..
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F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 5 2001
TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
LONNIE LYNN,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v. No. 00-1173
(D.C. No. 98-D-1924)
COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF (Colorado)
INSTITUTIONS, DIVISION OF
YOUTH SERVICES,
Defendant-Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before SEYMOUR, MCKAY and BRORBY, Circuit Judges.
Lonnie Lynn brought this action for money damages under the Americans
with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12111-12117 (ADA), against the Colorado
Department of Institutions, Division of Youth Services (Division), a division of
the Colorado State Government. Mr. Lynn’s complaint alleges that he began
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
working for the Division in 1979, that he became mentally disabled in 1993-94,
and that he requested reasonable accommodation but was deemed to have resigned
his position in 1994. The district court granted the Division’s motion for
summary judgment, ruling that Mr. Lynn’s action was barred by collateral
estoppel and that he did not have a disability. Mr. Lynn appealed. For the
reasons given below, we hold we lack jurisdiction to hear this appeal and dismiss
the action.
While Mr. Lynn’s appeal was pending, the Supreme Court decided Bd. of
Trustees v. Garrett,
121 S. Ct. 955 (2001), holding that suits against states for
money damages under the ADA are barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Garrett
effectively overrules this court’s decision to the contrary in Cisneros v. Wilson,
226 F.3d 1113, 1124 (10th Cir. 2000). Consequently, we issued an order
directing Mr. Lynn to show cause why this appeal should not be dismissed in light
of the decision in Garrett. We have considered the parties’ response to the show
cause order, and we conclude this action is barred by the Eleventh Amendment.
In his complaint, Mr. Lynn sought damages for “lost earnings and benefits,
emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of
life, injury to reputation, humiliation, embarrassment and medical and insurance
expenses and other damages in an amount subject to proof.” Aplt. App. at 10. In
addition, Mr. Lynn sought “injunctive relief to prevent the Division from further
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violations of his statutorily protected rights.”
Id. Mr. Lynn does not deny that his
claim for monetary relief is barred under Garrett, but he argues that his claim for
injunctive relief, in particular the equitable relief of reinstatement, still remains
available to him.
Mr. Lynn relies on a footnote in Garrett in which the Court observed that
its holding did not “mean that persons with disabilities have no federal recourse
against discrimination. Title I of the ADA still prescribes standards applicable to
the States. Those standards can be enforced . . . by private individuals in actions
for injunctive relief under Ex parte Young,
209 U.S. 123 (1908).” Garrett, 121 S.
Ct. at 968 n.9. Mr. Lynn contends that in light of this comment, his claim for the
equitable relief of reinstatement is not barred. As the Division points out,
however, the doctrine of Ex parte Young is not available to Mr. Lynn.
“Under the Ex parte Young legal fiction, when an official of a state agency
is sued in his official capacity for prospective equitable relief, he is generally not
regarded as ‘the state’ for purposes of the Eleventh Amendment and the case may
proceed in federal court.” ANR Pipeline Co. v. Lafaver,
150 F.3d 1178, 1188
(10th Cir. 1998) (emphasis added). The Ex parte Young exception is a narrow
one. Elephant Butte Irrigation Dist. v. Dep’t of Interior,
160 F.3d 602, 607 (10th
Cir. 1998). “[I]t ‘has no application against the States and their agencies, which
are barred regardless of the relief sought.’” Buchwald v. Univ. of N. M. Sch. of
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Med.,
159 F.3d 487, 496 (10th Cir. 1998) (emphasis added) (quoting Puerto Rico
Aqueduct v. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc.,
506 U.S. 139, 146 (1993)); see also Elephant
Butte, 160 F.3d at 607 (Ex parte Young doctrine applies only when “lawsuit
involves an action against state officials, not against the state”); ANR
Pipeline,
150 F.3d at 1187 (any form of relief against state agency, even solely prospective
injunctive relief, is barred).
Mr. Lynn has sued only the state agency with whom he was employed. He
did not name any state official in any capacity. Accordingly he may not proceed
under the Ex parte Young doctrine, even assuming that the equitable relief he now
seeks would otherwise be available.
The appeal is DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction. The judgment of the
district court is VACATED, and the matter is REMANDED with instructions to
dismiss the action, without prejudice, for lack of jurisdiction.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
Stephanie K. Seymour
Circuit Judge
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