Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Machiavelli Farrakhan Siberius v. American Public University System, Inc., et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 19-7400 · judgment May 6, 2020


Certiorari denied · June 21, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

  1. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has entered a decision in conflict with the decision of another United States court of appeals on the same important matter, such as Schumann v. Collier Anesthesia, P.A., Case No: 2:12-cv347-FtM-29CM (M.D. Fla. Oct. 27, 2016) and disagreed with a historical case of the Fourth Circuit, Reich v. Shiloh True Light Church of Christ, 895 F.Supp. 799, 819 (W.D.N.C. 1995). “At what point does a student become an ‘employee’ for an employer, due to the various types of abuses and exploitation of a free labor system, in an education program?”

  2. The District Judge had considered a federal question in a way that conflicts with other federal district decisions, like Winfield v. Babylon Beauty Sch. of Smithtown Inc., 89 F. Supp. 3d 556 (E.D.N.Y. 2015) and Marshall v. Baptist Hospital, Inc., 473 F. Supp. 465 (M.D. Tenn. 1979), and further conflicts with the “FLSA” 29 U.S. Code § 213(a)(1), 29 CFR § 541.303(c), 29 CFR § 541.602(1); and this conflict transitions to state laws, such as California Education Code, Section 44462, and W.Va. Code §18A3-2, and this further moves into a parallel to modern violations of the Thirteenth Amendment by not defining “an employer employee relationship between the plaintiff and either Pressley Ridge or the WVDE.” Should student-teachers and teacher candidates be denied payment under all circumstances, denied employee status at a school, due to student status at a separate school or university?

  3. Was the Fourteenth Amendment “Due Process Clause,” “Equal Protection Clause,” and Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution breached by the defendants, in the fashion that Mr. Siberius was terminated from a student-teaching position at Pressley Ridge at White Oak, for reporting child abuse, in accordance with state laws, contracts, freedom of speech, and scope of duty as a studentteacher?

  4. In accordance with Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 25(d) and Fed.Rule App.Proc. 43 and Robinson v. Integrative Detention Health Services, No. 3:12-CV-20, (M.D. Ga. Mar. 28, 2014), Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 365 U.S. 715 (1961): can a corporation headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania be responsible for acting “under color of law” in the State of West Virginia?

  5. A state agency waived its Eleventh Amendment “immunity” by voluntarily appearing in federal court. In Hafer v. Melo et al., 502 U.S. 21, 112 S. Ct. 358 (1991) the Court held that state officials “acting in their official capacities” are outside the class of “persons” subject to liability under § 1983 was reversed, and in Biggs v. Meadows, 66 F.3d 56 (4th Cir. 1995) that specifies the importance of the substance of a complaint rather than the named individuals, to sue individuals in official capacity and individual capacity, leaving the Courts to decide. See Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 165-166 (1985). To what extent has the Courts erred in applying Will v. Michigan Dept, of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71 (1989), given other ruhngs, and the specific context of the plaintiffs circumstance for civil action?

  6. Can a school board be sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Machiavelli Farrakhan Siberius

For respondent
James Victor Flanagan
Pullin Fowler Flanagan Brown & Poe, PLLC

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Linked docket
20A152

Proceedings

  1. Sep 10 2021
    Rehearing DENIED.
  2. Aug 19 2021
    DISTRIBUTED.
  3. Jul 16 2021
    Petition for Rehearing filed.
  4. Jun 21 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  5. Jun 01 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/17/2021.
  6. May 18 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent American Public University System, Inc. to respond filed.
  7. May 14 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent West Virginia Department of Education to respond filed.
  8. May 12 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent Pressley Ridge to respond filed.
  9. Mar 29 2021
    Application (20A152) denied by The Chief Justice.
  10. Feb 25 2021
    Application (20A152) to file petition for a writ of certiorari n excess of word limits, submitted to The Chief Justice.
  11. Feb 25 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 27, 2021)