Denius v. Dunlap

• Citation: 330 F.3d 919
• Decision Date: 30 May 2003
• Docket Number: No. 01-3575.,No. 02-1460.,No. 02-1398.,No. 01-3422.,01-3422.,01-3575.,02-1398.,02-1460.
• Parties: Ronald C. DENIUS, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. Wayne DUNLAP and Peter Thomas, Defendants-Appellants/Cross-Appellees, and Gary Sadler, Defendant-Cross-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

330 F.3d 919

Ronald C. DENIUS, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. Wayne DUNLAP and Peter Thomas, Defendants-Appellants/Cross-Appellees, and Gary Sadler, Defendant-Cross-Appellee.

No. 01-3422.

No. 01-3575.

No. 02-1398.

No. 02-1460.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued February 19, 2003.

Decided May 30, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

J. Brian Heller (argued), Mary L. Leahy, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Erik G. Light (argued), Office of Attorney General, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellants.

Before FLAUM, Chief Judge, and COFFEY and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

FLAUM, Chief Judge.

Ronald Denius claims that officials of Illinois's Lincoln Challenge Program ("LCP") violated his constitutional rights by requiring him to authorize the release of a broad range of personal information as a condition of continued employment. Initially, the district court granted summary judgment for the defendants on grounds of qualified immunity, but on appeal we reversed in part and remanded for further proceedings. Denius v. Dunlap, 209 F.3d 944 (7th Cir.2000) ("Denius I"). On remand, after a jury rendered a verdict for the defendants, the district court granted Denius's motion for judgment as a matter of law ("JMOL"), a ruling from which defendants now appeal. Denius cross-appeals, seeking additional damages and attorneys' fees. We affirm the judgment in all respects.

I. BACKGROUND

We assume familiarity with our earlier opinion and will repeat only those facts that are necessary for resolving the issues presently before us. The LCP is an eighteen-month program that uses military training methods to teach "life skills" and GED courses to teenage high school dropouts. Denius, a retired Air Force technical sergeant, began teaching at the LCP in March 1994. When his contract was due to expire in July 1996, defendant Wayne Dunlap, then Director of the LCP, offered him the opportunity for renewal provided that he sign an Authorization for Release of Personal Information ("First Authorization"), which required the disclosure of a broad range of personal information:

For the period of one year from the execution of this form, I ... do hereby authorize a review of and full disclosure of all records concerning myself to any duly authorized agent of the Lincoln's Challenge Program, whether said records are of a public, private or confidential nature.

The intent of this authorization is to give my consent for full and complete disclosure of records of educational institutions; financial or credit institutions, including records of loans, the records of commercial or retail credit agencies (including credit reports and/or ratings); and other financial statements and records wherever filed; records maintained by the National Personnel Records Center, the U.S. Veteran's Administration, and County, State or Federal Law Enforcement agencies; employment and pre-employment records, including background reports, efficiency ratings, complaints or grievances filed by or against me and the records and recollections of attorneys at law, or of other counsel, whether representing me or another person in any case, either criminal or civil, in which I presently have, or have had an interest.

Denius refused to sign the First Authorization, and Dunlap in turn refused to renew his teaching contract.

As a result Denius sued Dunlap under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming violations of his constitutional rights under the First, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The district court granted summary judgment for Dunlap on the ground that Denius did not have a clearly established constitutional right to refuse to sign the First Authorization and therefore Dunlap was protected by qualified immunity, but on appeal we reversed this ruling in part. We concluded that Denius did have a clearly established right in maintaining the confidentiality of his medical information, Denius I, 209 F.3d at 956-57, and noted that the record as it then stood did "not reveal whether the Authorization extends to medical records or communications as Denius alleges," id. at 956, n. 8. We therefore remanded the case for "this factual determination to be resolved by the district court." Id.

Following our decision in the interlocutory appeal, Denius was allowed to return to work at the LCP. Attached to his new contract, however, was another Authorization for Release of Personal Information ("Second Authorization"). The Second Authorization was similar to the First, but it omitted certain categories of information, such as financial records and attorneys' records, that Denius I found were constitutionally protected from compelled disclosure:

For the term of the attached contract, I... do hereby authorize a review of and full disclosure of all records concerning myself to any duly authorized agent of the Lincoln's Challenge Program, whether the said records are of a public, private or confidential nature.

The intent of this authorization is to give my consent for full and complete disclosure of records maintained by the National Personnel Records Center, the U.S. Veteran's Administration, and County, State or Federal Law Enforcement Agencies; and employment and pre-employment records, including information concerning resignation or termination from employment, background reports, efficiency ratings, and complaints or grievances filed by or against me.

Defendant Gary Sadler, who had succeeded Dunlap as Director, required LCP employees to sign the Second Authorization in order to remain employed with the program.

In June 2000 defendant Peter Thomas succeeded Sadler as LCP Director. When Denius complained to Thomas that he found the Second Authorization objectionable, Thomas replied that Denius did not have to sign it and that the entire form was being revised and would be sent to all employees when completed. Thomas then removed the Second Authorization from Denius's contract, and in August 2000 Denius returned to his teaching position. Since then, true to Thomas's word, neither the First nor the Second Authorization has been used by the LCP. Instead, the LCP began using a new release form ("Third Authorization"), which provided for a much more limited disclosure than the earlier two:

I ... do hereby authorize the Illinois State Police to release information relative to the existence or nonexistence of any criminal record which it might have concerning me to any Department of the State of Illinois solely to determine my suitability for employment or continued employment with the State of Illinois. I further authorize any agency which maintains records relating to me to provide same on request to the Illinois State Police for the purpose of this investigation.

LCP employees who had already signed the First or Second Authorization were never informed, however, that they could make retractions. The signed release forms remained in their personnel files.

Back before the district court, Denius amended his complaint to add Sadler and Thomas as defendants, the latter for purposes of equitable relief only. The district court dismissed Sadler from the case, ruling that his request that Denius sign the Second Authorization did not deter the exercise of any constitutional right. The remaining claims proceeded to trial, at the start of which Denius asked the court to take judicial notice that the National Personnel Records Center ("NPRC") and/or the Veteran's Administration ("VA") maintained medical records on retired military personnel. Denius based his request on information he said was taken from the official website of the National Archives and Records Administration. Initially, the court granted Denius's motion and took judicial notice that "military personnel health and medical records of veterans discharged from military service are stored at the [NPRC] or the Veteran's Administration." Later, however, the court withdrew this ruling after Denius testified that on April 30, 2001 (the day before trial), he went in person to the NPRC and obtained his medical records by providing his service dates and numbers. Because of this testimony, the court found that judicial notice was unnecessary.

At the close of evidence, both parties moved for JMOL. In support of his motion Denius argued that "the undisputed evidence shows that the National Personnel Records Center, in fact, had [his] medical records" and that "judicial notice could and should be taken of the fact that medical records are kept at the National Personnel Records Center from the Veteran's Administration." Defendants, on the other hand, claimed that they were entitled to JMOL because, among other things, Denius failed to prove that his medical records were at the NPRC from 1996 to 1997 — what would have been the effective period of the First Authorization had Denius signed it.

The court denied both parties' motions and submitted the case to the jury with the instruction that Denius had the burden of proving each of the following six facts:

(1) the First Authorization extended to medical records;

(2) Dunlap required Denius to sign the Authorization in order to continue teaching at the LCP;

(3) Denius refused to sign;

(4) Dunlap told Denius that his position at the LCP was terminated because he refused to sign;

(5) Denius suffered damages; and

(6) the termination for refusal to sign the Authorization was a proximate cause of Denius's damages.

During closing argument the defendants conceded that Denius had proved elements (2) through (4); the jury, however, apparently found that Denius had not proved at least one of the remaining three and thus rendered a verdict against him. The jury also returned a special verdict finding that the LCP was "likely in the future to require [Denius] to sign Authorizations for Release of Personal Information similar to [the First and Second Authorizations] as a condition of employment."

Following the verdict Denius renewed his motion for JMOL, and this time the...