Opinion
Civil Action No. 09C-12-126 WCC.
Submitted: January 26, 2011.
Decided: April 29, 2011.
On Plaintiff's Second Motion to Amend the Complaint — DENIED.
Bartholomew J. Dalton, Esquire, Dalton Associates, P.A., Wilmington, DE.
Catherine Damavandi, Esquire, Department of Justice, Wilmington, DE.
James E. Drnec, Esquire, Balick Balick, LLC, Wilmington, DE.
Dear Counsel:
In reviewing the civil trial schedule for my next civil rotation, I noticed that the Court still has outstanding Mr. Dalton's request to amend his complaint to add the Department of Correction as a defendant for its alleged failure to provide adequate medical care to its inmates. The Plaintiff asserts this is a new theory of liability which would allow a Section 1983 claim to proceed in spite of the Court's earlier decision dismissing the Department of Correction from the litigation on the basis of sovereign immunity and the line of authority reflecting that a state or its agency is not a "person" under the provisions of Section 1983.
The Court has read all the cases cited by Mr. Dalton and finds that they do not change the opinion of the Court as expressed in its July 2010 decision. None of the cases cited involve a claim against the State nor do they undermine the United States Supreme Court decision in Will v. Michigan Dept. of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989) that clearly established that Congress did not attempt by the enactment of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to override or affect the State's sovereign immunity rights. The Plaintiff's argument is simply an attempt to place the State in the same litigation posture as a municipality or local governments. While the United States Supreme Court has allowed these governmental entities to be included within the class of persons subject to a Section 1983 claim, a similar conclusion has not been reached for state agencies. Therefore, the Court agrees with the State that the proposed amendments would be barred under the theory of sovereign immunity, and the Plaintiff's Second Motion to Amend the Complaint is hereby denied.
IT IS SO ORDERED.