Bisconte v. Sandia National Laboratories ( 2022 )

Appellate Case: 21-2133 Document: 010110732250 Date Filed: 08/31/2022 Page: 1
FILED
United States Court of Appeals
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT August 31, 2022
_________________________________
Christopher M. Wolpert
Clerk of Court
JEANIE BISCONTE,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v. No. 21-2133
(D.C. No. 1:21-CV-00462-KWR-KK)
SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES; (D.N.M.)
JOHN MOUNHO, in his individual and
official capacity; EDWARD SAUCIER, in
his individual and official capacity,
Defendants - Appellees.
_________________________________
ORDER AND JUDGMENT*
_________________________________
Before PHILLIPS, MORITZ, and EID, Circuit Judges.
_________________________________
Jeanie Bisconte brought state-law claims for discrimination and retaliation
against her former employer, Sandia National Laboratories, and two of her managers,
John Mounho and Edward Saucier.1 The district court first determined that it could
exercise federal subject-matter jurisdiction over those claims because they arose from
events that occurred on a federal enclave. But as a result, the district court also
granted summary judgment for Sandia under the federal-enclave doctrine because
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines
of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. But it may be cited for its
persuasive value. See Fed. R. App. P. 32.1(a); 10th Cir. R. 32.1(A).
1
We refer to these three defendants collectively as “Sandia.”
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Bisconte’s claims derived from state law adopted after the enclave’s creation.
Bisconte appeals the jurisdictional ruling and the disposition of her claims in the
judgment. We affirm for the reasons below.
Background
Bisconte worked for Sandia, a national science and engineering laboratory, for
over a decade as a software systems engineer. Sandia operates predominately on the
Kirtland Air Force Base, a federal enclave acquired by the United States from New
Mexico in 1954.2 Sandia also maintains facilities at the Innovation Parkway Office
Center, which is located outside the enclave. Under the terms of a telecommute
agreement, Bisconte worked remotely at all times relevant to this suit, performing her
duties either from her home or the Innovation Parkway Office Center.
During the initial years of her employment, Bisconte alleges that she
“advanced greatly in role and responsibility” and received two promotions. App. 15.
Bisconte asserts that shortly after her second promotion, however, Sandia began
discriminating against her in various ways. According to Bisconte, she first raised
concerns with her then-manager and with human resources that she was underpaid
relative to her male peers, but human resources denied her request for a salary
increase. Three years later, Bisconte filed another complaint with human resources,
this time alleging that Mounho, her manager at the time, harassed and discriminated
2
As explained more fully later, a federal enclave is property that a state has
ceded to the federal government and that is subject to Congress’s “exclusive
legislative authority.” Allison v. Boeing Laser Tech. Servs., 689 F.3d 1234, 1237
(10th Cir. 2012).
2
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against her; she also generally asserted that Sandia failed to pay and promote women
on par with men. Bisconte later filed multiple complaints, both internally and with
New Mexico state agencies, alleging gender discrimination, disability discrimination,
and retaliation.
While these complaints were pending, Bisconte met with a medical case
manager on the base about her disability. According to the case manager’s affidavit,
Bisconte informed the case manager that she was unable to work because of her
disability and thus “requested that she be separated from Sandia.” Id. at 34. The case
manager reported that during the meeting, Bisconte requested disability benefits
before separation, and Sandia approved her request later that day. After about eight
months on leave with disability benefits, Bisconte was formally separated from the
company.3
Bisconte then sued Sandia in state court, bringing state-law claims for
violation of the New Mexico Human Rights Act, violation of the New Mexico Fair
Pay for Women Act, and breach of implied contract. Sandia removed the case to
federal court, alleging that Bisconte’s claims were subject to federal subject-matter
jurisdiction because they arose from events that occurred on a federal enclave
(Kirtland Air Force Base). Repeating its assertion that federal-enclave jurisdiction
applied, Sandia then moved to dismiss Bisconte’s state-law claims as barred by the
3
The parties dispute whether Bisconte was terminated at this point or merely
removed from payroll after exhausting her disability benefits. Because this dispute is
not relevant to our disposition, we need not resolve it.
3
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federal-enclave doctrine. See Allison, 689 F.3d at 1237 (explaining that this doctrine
generally bars claims (1) arising from events on federal enclave and (2) based on
state law adopted after enclave’s creation). Bisconte responded by moving to remand
and by opposing Sandia’s motion to dismiss, arguing in both filings that the district
court lacked federal-enclave jurisdiction because she worked outside the base.
Addressing the motion to remand first, the district court agreed with Sandia
that federal-enclave jurisdiction was proper because Sandia’s acts giving rise to
Bisconte’s claims occurred on the base. When denying Bisconte’s remand motion,
the district court also converted Sandia’s motion to dismiss into one for summary
judgment—because the parties’ briefing cited evidence outside the complaint—and
allowed the parties to submit additional materials on the federal-enclave issue.4
Based on these new materials, the district court issued a summary-judgment order
reconsidering whether federal-enclave jurisdiction existed. After concluding that it
did, the district court held that Bisconte’s state-law claims were barred by the
federal-enclave doctrine because they were based on state-law causes of action
recognized after the enclave’s creation. The district court therefore granted summary
judgment for Sandia and dismissed Bisconte’s claims with prejudice. Bisconte
appeals.
4
The district court did not convert the remainder of Sandia’s motion to
dismiss, which asserted alternative reasons for dismissal, into a motion for summary
judgment. And given its ultimate ruling on the federal-enclave issue, the district court
did not reach these alternative arguments.
4
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Analysis
Bisconte raises two issues on appeal. First, she challenges the district court’s
conclusion that her claims arose on the base and therefore triggered federal-enclave
jurisdiction. Second, she argues that even if the district court properly asserted
jurisdiction over her claims, it improperly disposed of those claims in the judgment.
We consider those issues in turn.
I. Federal-Enclave Jurisdiction
Whether Bisconte’s claims arose on the base is a jurisdictional issue.5 See Bd.
of Cnty. Comm’rs v. Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc., 25 F.4th 1238, 1271 (10th Cir.
2022) (“State-law ‘actions which arise from incidents occurring in federal enclaves
may be removed to federal district court as a part of federal[-]question jurisdiction.”’
(quoting Akin v. Ashland Chem. Co., 156 F.3d 1030, 1034 (10th Cir. 1998))), petition
for cert. filed (U.S. June 8, 2022) (No. 21-1550). We review that issue de novo. Id. at
1250. To the extent Bisconte’s argument on this jurisdictional issue requires us to
assess the district court’s summary-judgment decision, we also review that decision
de novo. See Edmonds-Radford v. Sw. Airlines Co., 17 F.4th 975, 984 (10th Cir.
5
We note that the district court addressed this jurisdictional issue twice, first
in the order denying remand and then again in the summary-judgment order after
Bisconte submitted additional materials on the issue. Although the district court did
not explicitly state that it was reconsidering the earlier jurisdictional ruling in its
summary-judgment order, the substance of the district court’s analysis shows that it
did just that—it assessed whether Bisconte’s claims arose on the base, which is the
focus of the parties’ dispute on appeal. Thus, we treat the issue before us as
jurisdictional, even though it comes to us in an appeal from a summary-judgment
order.
5
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2021). “Summary judgment is only appropriate ‘if the movant shows that there is no
genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a
matter of law.”’ Id. (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)).
The jurisdictional issue at the heart of this appeal derives from the
Constitution’s Enclave Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 17, which “empowers
Congress to exclusively regulate properties acquired from state governments.”
Allison, 689 F.3d at 1236. Given this exclusive authority, these properties—known as
federal enclaves—are typically governed by federal law. Id. State law adopted before
the enclave’s creation also remains in force; but subject to certain exceptions not
relevant here, state law adopted after the enclave’s creation does not. Id. at 1236–37.
In line with these principles, federal courts have jurisdiction to adjudicate claims that
arise from incidents occurring on federal enclaves: this is known as federal-enclave
jurisdiction. See Suncor, 25 F.4th at 1271; City of Honolulu v. Sunoco LP, 39 F.4th
1101, 1111 (9th Cir. 2022) (explaining that federal-enclave jurisdiction exists when
alleged injury “occurred on” or “stemmed from conduct on” enclave). And under
such jurisdiction, any claims based on state-law causes of action recognized after the
enclave’s creation are typically barred: this is known as the federal-enclave doctrine.
Allison, 689 F.3d at 1235.
Here, Bisconte does not dispute that Kirtland Air Force Base is a federal
enclave and that the state laws underlying Bisconte’s claims were not adopted until
after Congress acquired the base in 1954—that is, she does not dispute that the
6
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federal-enclave doctrine would bar her claims. Instead, she argues only that her
claims did not arise on the base, such that federal-enclave jurisdiction does not exist.
We recently considered and clarified the standard for whether a claim arose on
a federal enclave in Suncor, 25 F.4th 1238. There, the plaintiffs asserted state-law
claims against several fossil-fuel companies for their role in causing climate change.
Id. at 1248. The companies argued that these claims qualified for federal jurisdiction
because the plaintiffs alleged that the companies’ worldwide fossil-fuel business
caused environmental damage over a large geographic area, including property within
a federal enclave. Id. at 1271. We rejected this “all-encompassing theory,” explaining
that federal-enclave jurisdiction generally requires that “‘all pertinent events’” take
place on a federal enclave.6 Id. at 1271–72 (quoting Rosseter v. Indus. Light & Magic,
No. C 08-04545, 2009 WL 210452, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 27, 2009)).
Without the benefit of our recent authority, the district court relied on several
district-court opinions to conclude that the relevant inquiry is either the place where
the harm occurred or, in employment cases, “the place where the adverse
employment decisions were made.” App. 124. Under either approach, the district
court reasoned, Bisconte’s state-law claims arose on the enclave. Specifically, the
6
In Suncor, we also cited authority for the proposition that federal-enclave
jurisdiction is proper when “all or most” of the pertinent events occurred on the
enclave. 25 F.4th at 1272 (quoting Mayor of Balt. v. BP, P.L.C., 388 F. Supp. 3d 538,
565 (D. Md. 2019), aff’d, 952 F.3d 452 (4th Cir. 2020), rev’d on other grounds, 141
S. Ct. 1532 (2021)). Here, we need not decide whether federal-enclave jurisdiction is
also proper if “most” pertinent events occur on an enclave because we ultimately
resolve this appeal based on the all-pertinent-events standard.
7
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district court concluded that the alleged harm occurred on the federal enclave because
Bisconte submitted her request for disability leave on the base, the computer servers
hosting Bisconte’s remote work were located on the base, and Bisconte was either
terminated or resigned during a meeting on the base. And the district court concluded
that all relevant decision- and policy-making occurred on the base.
Resisting this conclusion on appeal, Bisconte contends that the location of
decision-making is only one factor to consider and urges this court to look to the
place where she experienced the alleged harm—which she contends took place
outside the enclave given that she worked exclusively off base.7 Bisconte also points
to evidence that she signed a document terminating her security clearance off the
base. Sandia, on the other hand, argues that the key inquiry is the location of
decision-making and maintains that the district court correctly concluded that
Sandia’s key decisions and administration of relevant policies occurred on the base.
7
In support, Bisconte relies on a New Mexico choice-of-law doctrine, lex loci
delicti commissi—in English, “[t]he law of the place where the tort or other wrong
was committed.” Lex loci delicti, Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019). In the tort-
law context, this doctrine looks to the place where the wrong occurred, which is the
“location of the last act necessary to complete the injury.” Torres v. New Mexico, 894
P.2d 386, 390 (N.M. 1995) (quoting Wittkowski v. New Mexico, 710 P.2d 93, 95
(N.M. Ct. App. 1985)). We question whether it is appropriate to apply a state choice-
of-law doctrine in this context, especially given that the federal-enclave doctrine
itself operates as a choice-of-law doctrine. Allison, 689 F.3d at 1235 (“Federal[-]
enclave doctrine operates as a choice[-]of[-]law doctrine that dictates which law
applies to causes of action arising on [federal enclaves].”). In any event, we need not
decide the relevancy of state choice-of-law doctrines in the federal-enclave context
because, as we will explain, our recent precedent provides sufficient guidance to
resolve this appeal.
8
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We need not delve too deeply into the nuances of this dispute because it is
clear from our review of the record that all pertinent events occurred on the Kirtland
Air Force Base. See Suncor, 25 F.4th at 1271. And here, in this employment case, the
pertinent events are Sandia’s alleged acts of misconduct that gave rise to Bisconte’s
claims. See Allison, 689 F.3d at 1235 (noting that plaintiff’s employment retaliation
claims “arose from conduct on Kirtland Air Force Base” (emphasis added)); Sunoco,
39 F.4th at 1111 (explaining that federal-enclave jurisdiction exists when plaintiff’s
alleged injury “occurred on” or “stemmed from conduct on a federal enclave”
(emphasis added)). Specifically, Bisconte’s complaint confirms that the alleged
misconduct that gave rise to her injury is Sandia’s failure to pay and promote women
on par with men, retaliation for reporting misconduct, discrimination and termination
based on gender and disability, and breach of internal policies designed to protect
employees from discrimination and retaliation. As the district court determined, these
alleged acts of misconduct occurred on a federal enclave because they involved
actions taken, decisions made, and policies developed by Sandia’s managers and
executives who worked on the Kirtland Air Force Base.8
We emphasize that our inquiry centers on the location of all pertinent events.
See Suncor, 25 F.4th at 1271. Thus, we do not consider minor facts that are tangential
to Bisconte’s claims, such as the location of computer servers, the location where
8
Although the district court did not have the benefit of Suncor, the district
court’s analysis shows that it considered the location of all pertinent events—that is,
the location where Sandia’s alleged acts of misconduct giving rise to Bisconte’s
claims occurred.
9
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Bisconte surrendered her security clearance, or the location of any other stray event.
Simply put, these facts are not pertinent because they do not relate to conduct that
gave rise to Bisconte’s employment-law claims. See Allison, 689 F.3d at 1235. Nor is
it pertinent that Bisconte experienced her injury outside the base. Rather, the
pertinent event here is the conduct from which those injuries allegedly stemmed—
conduct that occurred on the base. See id.; Sunoco, 39 F.4th at 1111. For these
reasons, we hold that the district court properly exercised federal-enclave jurisdiction
over Bisconte’s state-law claims. And because those claims undisputedly depend on
state law adopted after the enclave’s formation, the federal-enclave doctrine bars
them.9 See Allison, 689 F.3d at 1235.
II. Disposition of Bisconte’s Claims
Bisconte next argues that the district court erred by not expressly limiting its
judgment to her state-law claims. Bisconte acknowledges that the district court’s
summary-judgment order includes such a limitation, but she contends that the
accompanying judgment does not similarly limit the scope of dismissal. Specifically,
Bisconte observes that the judgment dismisses “all claims” against Sandia, and she
9
In her reply brief, Bisconte notes that Sandia cites New Mexico law in its
policies and procedures, which she asserts should foreclose application of the federal-
enclave doctrine. Bisconte waived this argument by failing to raise it in her opening
brief. See Singh v. Cordle, 936 F.3d 1022, 1041 n.6 (10th Cir. 2019). Even if we
considered this argument, however, we would not deem it relevant to our analysis for
the reasons explained above.
10
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asserts that such broad language bars her from asserting potentially viable federal
claims in the future. App. 131.
This argument is unpersuasive. As Bisconte herself observes, the district
court’s opinion expressly limits dismissal to her state-law claims, and the judgment
merely effects such disposition. Indeed, the judgment specifically references the
district court’s opinion and limits disposition to all claims asserted in “this action.”
Id. Because Bisconte asserted only state-law claims in this action, which were the
only claims addressed in the district court’s decision, the judgment does not dispose
of unasserted federal claims.10 Thus, we see no error in the district court’s
judgment.11
Relatedly, and as a final matter, Bisconte maintains that the district court’s
failure to limit the judgment to her state-law claims may prevent her from asserting
federal claims in the future on the grounds of issue or claim preclusion. But to the
extent Bisconte seeks a decision from this court as to whether issue or claim
preclusion would bar her potential federal claims, that question is not ripe for review
because it is contingent on Bisconte asserting federal claims in the future and a court
10
Because Bisconte’s argument fails on the merits, we need not address
Sandia’s alternative argument that Bisconte waived this argument by not raising it in
the district court.
11
In her opening brief, Bisconte also argued that dismissal with prejudice
violated her due-process and equal-protection rights. But in her reply brief, she
conceded that this argument “is not properly before the [c]ourt for appeal.” Rep. Br.
6. We therefore treat this issue as abandoned and do not address it. See Helm v.
Kansas, 656 F.3d 1277, 1287 n.8 (10th Cir. 2011) (refusing to consider claim that
party abandoned on appeal).
11
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dismissing them on preclusion grounds. See Wyoming v. Zinke, 871 F.3d 1133, 1142
(10th Cir. 2017) (“A claim is not ripe for adjudication if it rests upon contingent
future events that may not occur as anticipated, or indeed may not occur at all.”
(quoting Farrell-Cooper Mining Co. v. U.S. Dep’t of Interior, 728 F.3d 1229, 1238
(10th Cir. 2013))).
Conclusion
Because all pertinent events giving rise to Bisconte’s state-law claims occurred
on the Kirtland Air Force Base, the district court properly exercised federal-enclave
jurisdiction. And because those claims rely on state law adopted after the enclave was
created, they are barred by the federal-enclave doctrine. For this reason, we affirm
the district court’s decision granting summary judgment to Sandia. We also conclude
that the district court properly disposed of Bisconte’s state-law claims.
Entered for the Court
Nancy L. Moritz
Circuit Judge
12