
USCA1 Opinion

	




                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT                              _________________________          No. 96-1490                               JUAN A. BERDEC A-P REZ,                                 Plaintiff, Appellee,                                          v.                              JOS  ZAYAS-GREEN, ET AL.,                               Defendants, Appellants.                              _________________________                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT                           FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO                  [Hon. Carmen Consuelo Cerezo, U.S. District Judge]                                                ___________________                              _________________________                                        Before                                Selya, Circuit Judge,                                       _____________                            Bownes, Senior Circuit Judge,                                    ____________________                              and Stahl, Circuit Judge.                                         _____________                              _________________________               Jose  R.  Perez-Hernandez and  Pierluisi &  Mayol-Bianchi on               _________________________      __________________________          brief for appellants.               Ramonita Dieppa-Gonz lez  and  Puerto Rico  Legal  Services,               ________________________       _____________________________          Inc. on brief for appellee.          ____                              _________________________                                    April 16, 1997                              _________________________                    SELYA,  Circuit  Judge.    Plaintiff-appellee  Juan  A.                    SELYA,  Circuit  Judge.                            ______________          Berdec a-P rez, an accountant, has worked for the Municipality of          Barranquitas from 1978 to the present time.  In the November 1992          elections, the New Progressive Party seized the reins of power in          the municipal government.   Shortly thereafter, the plaintiff was          transferred  to  a different  post  (though  his salary  remained          intact).    In early  1994, however,  the plaintiff's  salary was          slashed  sharply.   After unsuccessfully  pursuing administrative          remedies, he invoked  42 U.S.C.    1983 (1994) and  sued two  top          municipal  officials.   He  alleged, inter  alia, that,  although                                               _____  ____          political affiliation  was not a  suitable criterion for  the job          that  he  held,  the  defendants  nonetheless  cut  his   pay  in          retaliation  for his  active  support of  the Popular  Democratic          Party.                    In  due   course,  the  defendants  moved   for  brevis                                                                     ______          disposition on the  ground that  they were  at least  qualifiedly          immune  from the plaintiff's suit  for damages.   On February 26,          1996,  the  district court  denied  their  motion in  a  cryptic,          single-sentence  order.    The  defendants  then  prosecuted this          interlocutory appeal.                    We need not tarry.   To the extent that  the appellants          claim  that  their actions  are  insulated  from First  Amendment          scrutiny   as  a  matter  of  law  because  a  reduction  in  the          plaintiff's salary was  necessitated by the Uniform  Compensation          Act,  P.R. Laws  Ann. tit.  3,    760 et  seq. (1988  Supp.), the                                                __  ____          regulations  thereunder, and  the  personnel regulations  of  the                                          2          Municipality of Barranquitas, they are wrong   and they are wrong          under federal law  that was clearly established  when they acted.          See, e.g.,  Rosario-Torres v. Hernandez-Colon, 889  F.2d 314, 318          ___  ____   ______________    _______________          (1st Cir. 1989) (en  banc); Santiago-Negron v. Castro-Davila, 865                                      _______________    _____________          F.2d 431, 433-34 (1st  Cir. 1989); Roure v. Hernandez  Colon, 824                                             _____    ________________          F.2d 139,  141-43 (1st Cir.  1987) (per curiam).   To  the extent          that the appellants claim  that their actions are  insulated from          First Amendment scrutiny as  a matter of fact because  their only          intention was to  obey the law,  the record presents an  issue of          fact as to their intent   an issue of the type that can no longer          be resolved on interlocutory  appeal.  See Johnson v.  Jones, 115                                                 ___ _______     _____          S. Ct.  2151, 2156 (1995);  Santiago-Mateo v.  Cordero, ___  F.3d                                      ______________     _______          ___,  ___ (1st Cir. 1997) [No. 96-1688,  slip op. at 3-5]; Stella                                                                     ______          v.  Kelley, 63  F.3d 71,  75 (1st  Cir. 1995).   Either  way, the              ______          instant appeal is an exercise in futility.1                    Appeal dismissed.                    Appeal dismissed.                    ________________                                        ____________________               1The lack of specific findings by the lower court, while not          fatal to its ruling on summary judgment, see Domegan v. Fair, 859                                                   ___ _______    ____          F.2d  1059, 1065-66  (1st Cir.  1988), complicates  the appellate          task.  Especially  in light of the  jurisdictional questions that          attend the  denial of summary judgment  motions raising qualified          immunity  defenses,  we  urge  the  district  courts,  either  by          rescripts or bench decisions, to give us some indication of their          reasoning.                                          3
