Carmen Consuelo Cerezo — judge journal: record, career & affiliations — IJR

Carmen Consuelo Cerezo — judge journal: record, career & affiliations — IJR

Decision record

Full record (20) →

La Santa Lopez v. Consorcio Del Noreste
District Court, D. Puerto Rico · 2011-03-31
The case was a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit brought by a municipal consortium employee who claimed his employer retaliated against him after he reported alleged manipulation of program data to inflate compliance figures and secure additional federal Workforce Investment Act funds, asserting violations of his First Amendment free speech rights and Fifth Amendment due process rights, plus supplemental claims under Puerto Rico law. The district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the federal claims with prejudice. It held that the plaintiff's statements were made pursuant to his official duties as MIS director and interim director rather than as a private citizen, so they were not protected speech under Garcetti v. Ceballos, and that the due process allegations failed to identify any conscience-shocking conduct or protected liberty interest. The court then declined supplemental jurisdiction and dismissed the Puerto Rico claims without prejudice.
free speechcivil rightslabor & employment
MORALES-CRUZ v. University of Puerto Rico
District Court, D. Puerto Rico · 2011-03-31 · cited 1×
The case involved a former adjunct and assistant law professor at the University of Puerto Rico who sued the university and several officials under Title VII for sex discrimination and retaliation, and under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for due process violations, after her request for a one-year extension of her probationary period was denied. The plaintiff alleged that comments criticizing her handling of an incident between a male colleague and a pregnant student reflected gender stereotypes and that officials reversed a favorable recommendation after she complained of discrimination. The court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss, holding that the complaint failed to state plausible Title VII claims because the allegations did not show discrimination based on sex or protected activity and that the § 1983 claim failed because the plaintiff had not identified a protected liberty or property interest requiring due process protections. The court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining Puerto Rico law claims and dismissed them without prejudice.
civil rightslabor & employmentprocedure
CANMAN v. Bonilla
District Court, D. Puerto Rico · 2011-03-29 · cited 2×
Plaintiff Jenise Canman brought a Section 1983 equal protection claim against the Puerto Rico Real Estate Examining Board, its members, various state officials including former and current Secretaries of State, and Test Innovations Inc., alleging that she was disadvantaged and failed on her real estate licensing exam because she took it in English as a non-local New York native. She relied heavily on a prior similar case from two decades earlier but made no specific factual allegations of personal involvement by any current individual defendant in discriminatory conduct. The court granted the defendants' motions to dismiss, holding that the complaint failed to state a plausible claim under the Iqbal/Twombly standard, that many defendants lacked any connection to the events or were entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity in their official capacities, and that the prior litigation did not establish liability for the present defendants. State-law claims against Test Innovations were dismissed without prejudice for lack of supplemental jurisdiction.
civil rightsprocedure
Ortiz v. United Parcel Service, Inc.
District Court, D. Puerto Rico · 2010-07-16 · cited 2×
United States v. Nevarez-Ortega
District Court, D. Puerto Rico · 2010-04-23 · cited 1×
Penalbert-Rosa v. Fortuño-Burset
District Court, D. Puerto Rico · 2010-02-26