Cotnoir v. University of Maine Systems, 94-1113
| Decision Date | 08 June 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-1113,94-1113 |
| Citation | 35 F.3d 6 |
| Parties | 94 Ed. Law Rep. 104 Russell COTNOIR, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNIVERSITY OF MAINE SYSTEMS and George Connick, et al., Defendants-Appellants. . Heard |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Paul W. Chaiken, Bangor, ME, with whom Brett D. Baber and Rudman & Winchell were on brief, for appellants.
Joseph M. Jabar, Waterville, ME, with whom John P. Jabar and Daviau, Jabar & Batten were on brief, for appellee.
Before TORRUELLA, Chief Judge, CAMPBELL, Senior Circuit Judge, and BOUDIN, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff-appellee Russell Cotnoir, a tenured professor at the University of Maine, Augusta ("UMA"), was accused of academic and administrative improprieties and was subsequently fired. Cotnoir then filed suit against the UMA and three university employees, Chancellor Robert Woodbury, President George Connick, and Provost Richard Randall ("the individual defendants"), pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, alleging, among other things, that the individual defendants denied Cotnoir procedural due process in connection with their decision to terminate his employment. The individual defendants moved for summary judgment, requesting that they be granted qualified immunity. The district court denied their motion and this interlocutory appeal followed. We find that at this juncture, the individual defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity with respect to Cotnoir's procedural due process claim, and therefore, we affirm.
When a defendant moves for summary judgment based on the doctrine of qualified immunity, the court must review the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Febus-Rodriguez v. Betancourt-Lebron, 14 F.3d 87, 89 (1st Cir.1994). The facts appearing from the summary judgment materials are as follows.
Cotnoir was a tenured professor at the UMA, and was also the Chairperson of the Business and Governmental Science Division ("BAGS"). On October 29, 1991, another professor at the UMA, Ronald Norton, sent a letter to the dean of students indicating that a BAGS student had received 56 credits without having attended classes. Norton's letter further indicated that this particular student was registered as a Maine resident, although he was living in Louisiana.
In response to the letter, Richard Randall, the Provost at the UMA, conducted an investigation. As part of this investigation, Randall interviewed Cotnoir, several of his colleagues, and other individuals with knowledge regarding the incident. On December 13, 1991, Randall completed his report, and gave it to George Connick, the President of the UMA. This report contained a summary of Randall's findings regarding this academic matter and included an explicit recommendation that Cotnoir be dismissed.
On December 16, 1991, Connick sent a letter to Cotnoir, which stated:
Provost Richard Randall has completed his report to me on the investigation of the academic issues raised by Professor Ronald Norton in his letter of October 29, 1991.
I wish to offer you the opportunity to meet with me so that you might further clarify your role in this series of events, prior to my determining what action to take. It is important that you understand that disciplinary action may result from my investigation of your participation in this serious academic matter.
If you would like to meet with me, please call Lisa Grundstrom-Whitney, Assistant to the President, immediately, so that an appointment can be arranged before the end of the day, Wednesday, December 18, 1991.
On December 17, 1991, Connick met with Cotnoir. During this meeting, Connick explained to Cotnoir that Randall had prepared a report of the investigation. Connick did not show Cotnoir the report, and Cotnoir apparently did not ask to see the report. Cotnoir did not make a statement, and Connick then proceeded to ask Cotnoir twelve questions about the BAGS student, which Cotnoir answered.
On December 27, 1991, Connick sent Cotnoir a letter informing him that his employment was terminated effective December 31, 1991. Cotnoir then filed a grievance regarding the termination. Connick appointed Sherri Stevens, Executive Director of Administrative Services, to be his designee, and impartially review the matter. Although Stevens never held a hearing, she met with Cotnoir and his faculty representative three times. On June 5, 1992, Stevens submitted a report to Connick concluding that the UMA had met its burden of proof that there was sufficient cause to terminate Cotnoir, and that the termination decision should not be reversed. Connick accepted her report. At this time, Stevens was also representing the UMA in opposing Cotnoir's request for unemployment benefits before Maine's Department of Labor, on the basis of Cotnoir's alleged misconduct.
On June 17, 1992, Cotnoir filed a grievance with Chancellor Woodbury. Woodbury appointed Samuel D'Amico, the Associate Vice Chancellor, to review Cotnoir's grievance. On July 13, 1992, D'Amico notified Cotnoir that his review was limited to a determination of whether proper procedures had been followed. D'Amico ultimately concluded that Cotnoir's termination was conducted in accordance with the grievance procedures set forth in the UMA's handbook for non-represented employees. D'Amico notified Cotnoir that he had a right to appeal to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees.
Cotnoir then waived his right to appeal to the Board of Trustees, and the UMA agreed to this waiver.
Following his termination, Cotnoir filed this action, alleging claims under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, as well as pendent state claims. The claim which underlies this appeal is that Woodbury, Connick, and Randall, violated Cotnoir's right to procedural due process in conjunction with their decision to terminate his employment. The individual defendants moved for summary judgment. In this motion, they claimed, in part, that they were entitled to qualified immunity with respect to Cotnoir's procedural due process claim. Magistrate Judge Beaulieu issued a recommended decision denying the individual defendants' summary judgment motion on the issue of qualified immunity. The district court (Brody, J.), then adopted the Magistrate Judge's recommended decision. This interlocutory appeal followed.
At the outset, we will discuss the scope of this appeal. "[A] district court's denial of a claim of qualified immunity, to the extent that it turns on an issue of law, is an appealable 'final decision' within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291...." Febus-Rodriguez, 14 F.3d at 90 (quoting Fonte v. Collins, 898 F.2d 284, 285 (1st Cir.1990)) (other citations omitted). On appeal, Cotnoir suggests that in addition to affirming the district court's denial of qualified immunity below, we should also decree that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on his Sec. 1983 procedural due process claim. Cotnoir contends that he is entitled to such a judgment because the record is clear regarding the events which occurred with respect to his termination. We decline Cotnoir's invitation, and adhere to our "well-established practice of limiting our interlocutory review to the issue of qualified immunity," even when the merits of the case are "inexorably intertwined" with the qualified immunity issue. Newman v. Massachusetts, 884 F.2d 19, 22 (1st Cir.1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1078, 110 S.Ct. 1132, 107 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1990) (citations omitted).
"Where a qualified immunity defense is advanced by pretrial motion, 'normal summary judgment standards' control." Amsden v. Moran, 904 F.2d 748, 752 (1st Cir.1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1041, 111 S.Ct. 713, 112 L.Ed.2d 702 (1991) (citations omitted). A motion for summary judgment must be granted if:
[T]he pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.
Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). In this context, we will examine the record and "draw all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most hospitable to the party opposing the motion." Amsden, 904 F.2d at 752 (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2514, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)) (other citation omitted). Because the individual defendants' summary judgment motion rested on the legal question of whether they are entitled to qualified immunity on the basis of facts which must, by definition, be undisputed, appellate review of the district court's order is plenary. See Amsden, 904 F.2d at 752. We will therefore delve into the record to determine whether a genuine issue of material fact exists with respect to the individual defendants' claim that they are entitled to qualified immunity. Unwin v. Campbell, 863 F.2d 124, 132 (1st Cir.1988). 1
Qualified immunity shields government officials performing discretionary functions from civil damages "insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982); Hoffman v. Reali, 973 F.2d 980, 985 (1st Cir.1992); Amsden, 904 F.2d at 751.
On a motion for summary judgment, "the relevant question is whether a reasonable official could have believed his actions were lawful in light of clearly established law and the information the official possessed at the time of his allegedly unlawful conduct."
Febus-Rodriguez, 14 F.3d at 91 (quoting McBride v. Taylor, 924 F.2d 386, 389 (1st Cir.1991)) (other citations omitted). Thus, the central issue with respect to qualified immunity is not whether a defendant actually violated a plaintiff's rights. Rather, the inquiry focuses on the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Gomes v. University of Maine System, No. CIV.03-123-B-W.
...clear such that a reasonable official would have understood that the actions he took violated that right." Cotnoir v. Univ. of Maine Sys., 35 F.3d 6, 10 (1st Cir.1994). 57. The Defendants do not dispute that a contract exists between the University and its students. Gomes 304 F.Supp.2d at 5......
-
Board of Community College Trustees for Baltimore County-Essex Community College v. Adams
...59 F.3d at 458-61 (citations omitted). In McDaniels, the court held that the process afforded was sufficient. In Cotnoir v. University of Maine Sys., 35 F.3d 6 (1st Cir.1994), also a section 1983 suit, the court affirmed that Cotnoir's due process rights had been violated. In Cotnoir, the i......
-
Hall-Brewster v. Bos. Police Dep't
...was not given notice of all the charges against him and the possible consequences of the charges. See Cotnoir v. University of Me. Sys., 35 F.3d 6, 11 (1st Cir. 1994) (officials must provide notice of both charges and proposed action, in order to provide "meaningful opportunity to invoke th......
-
White v. Busboom
...Dept. of Public Institutions, 7 Neb.App. 585, 584 N.W.2d 485 (1998), overruled, Scott , supra note 10.28 See Cotnoir v. University of Maine Systems, 35 F.3d 6 (1st Cir. 1994) ; Abraham v. Pekarski, 728 F.2d 167 (3d Cir. 1984) ; and Schultz v. Baumgart, 738 F.2d 231 (7th Cir. 1984).29 Scott ......
-
Gorham v. Androscoggin County: a Step in the Right Direction Toward Equal Enforcement of Federal Civil Rights Claims in Maine State Courts
...(1985). 39. Id. at 542 (internal quotations omitted). 40. Id. at 543 (citations omitted). 41. See Cotnoir v. University of Maine Systems, 35 F.3d 6, 12-13 (1st Cir. 1994). 42. Id. at 12. 43. Id. at 13 (citation omitted). 44. 451 U.S. 527 (1981). 45. If the governmental conduct causing the d......