Pittman

FACTS

On March 30, 2005, plaintiff Helen Pittman, an African- American woman, filed a complaint in Multnomah County Circuit Court alleging employment discrimination on the basis of race and naming as defendants the State of Oregon Employment Department and Deborah Lincoln, Director of the Employment Department. Pittman brought her claim against the Employment Department under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and her claim against Lincoln under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In her complaint, Pittman alleged that the Employment Department was “an administrative agency and a subdivision of the State of Oregon that does business in Mutlnomah [sic] County.”

On April 12, 2005, defendants removed the case to federal court and then moved to dismiss the case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). In their motion to dismiss, defen- dants argued that there is no right of action to sue a state under either § 1981 or § 1983, and that a state, “regardless, is immune from such suits under the 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

On August 8, 2005, the district court issued an opinion and 1 Defendants further contended that Deborah Lincoln was not properly a party to the action because she had…