Ramos-Pinero v. Commonweath of PR

SAYLOR, District Judge.

This appeal arises out of the tragic death of a fourteen-year-old boy who fell into an open manhole. The plaintiffs, mostly relatives of the boy, sought damages from various governmental and private defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state tort law. 1 The district court dismissed the federal law claims on grounds of Eleventh Amendment immunity and for failure to state a claim, and declined to exercise its jurisdiction over the state law claims. Because we find that (1) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (“Commonwealth”) and the Commonwealth Department of Transportation…