Bracey v. Board of Educ. of City of Bridgeport

Citation368 F.3d 108
Decision Date11 May 2004
Docket NumberDocket No. 03-7094.
PartiesGregory BRACEY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF CITY OF BRIDGEPORT, Stamford Board of Education, Starlett Wilder, Maria Torrado-Lyons, Defendants, New Haven Board of Education, Defendant-Appellant.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

Earl I. Williams, New Haven, CT, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Before: CARDAMONE, SACK, and JOHN R. GIBSON,* Circuit Judges.

SACK, Circuit Judge.

Following a jury trial in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Gerard L. Goettel, Judge), in which the jury awarded plaintiff-appellee Gregory Bracey $250,000 in compensatory damages on his claim of retaliatory discharge, and the judgment of the district court entered thereon, the defendant-appellant New Haven Board of Education (the "Board") moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and moved for judgment as a matter of law, a new trial, or, alternatively, relief from judgment. The district court denied the Board's motions. Because we agree with the Board that the evidence did not support the compensatory damages award, we vacate the award and remand to the district court for further proceedings. We affirm the judgment of the district court in all other respects.

BACKGROUND

The trial record discloses the following largely undisputed facts. From November 1996 through December 1997, Bracey was a school teacher at the Urban Youth Middle School ("Urban"), a public school for "special needs" students in New Haven, Connecticut. During his first year at Urban, Bracey received positive evaluations; he was given no reprimands.

In 1997, Urban instituted a "behavior modification program" called Area Cooperative Educational Services ("ACES") that incorporated so-called crisis management techniques and permitted school personnel to use physical force to restrain children who the teachers perceived to be acting aggressively or violently. Bracey, several other teachers, and the school's social worker objected to the program, giving rise to conflict between them and the school administration.

On two occasions, Bracey interceded to stop what he viewed as physical abuse of students. The first incident took place in September 1997, when, according to ACES employee Larry Cates, a student at Urban named David was "angry and out of control." Oct. 9, 2002, Trial Tr., at 8. David's classroom had been "torn apart." Id. As part of the ACES program, Cates physically removed David from the classroom and brought him to a closed and windowless "time-out room" to allow him to calm down. When Cates and another ACES employee got David into the room, they performed a "two-person takedown," pinning David to the floor. Id. at 8, 11.

At the end of the school day, David complained to Bracey, his former teacher, that he, David, was having difficulty breathing. Without first informing or obtaining permission from his superiors, Bracey drove David and his mother to a local hospital, where Bracey reported the incident to a social worker, as he thought he was required to do by law. He then drove David and his mother to a police station so that they could report the incident.

When Bracey arrived for work at Urban the next morning, he was reprimanded by Urban's principal, Dorinda Sizemore, for failing to tell her in advance of his trip to the hospital and the police station. A similar reprimand was delivered in writing by Sizemore to Bracey shortly thereafter.

Some three months later, in December of that year, Bracey objected to the physical removal and subsequent "takedown" of another student who, according to Sizemore, had become "belligerent" while in the cafeteria. Oct. 8, 2002, Trial Tr., at 71. An ACES employee physically picked up the student and carried him out of the cafeteria. The employee then put his knee in the student's back, incapacitating him. Bracey confronted the employee, challenging the propriety of his actions. For this, Bracey was given another disciplinary warning and was suspended for one day.

Following these incidents, Bracey and other Urban personnel complained to the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (the "DCF") about what they considered to be harsh treatment of the Urban students, prompting the DCF to interview the personnel involved.1

In January 1998, Sizemore recommended to Dr. Reginald Mayo, the New Haven Superintendent of Schools, that Bracey be suspended without pay and transferred to another school and that his contract as a teacher not be renewed. Sizemore explained at trial that she made these recommendations because Bracey "hindered the program" and "undermin[ed]" her authority with his report to the DCF. Oct. 8, 2002, Trial Tr., at 80, 81. Bracey was subsequently transferred to another school. Based on Sizemore's recommendation to Dr. Mayo and Dr. Mayo's recommendation to the Board, Bracey's employment by the Board as a teacher ended in June 1998. Sizemore testified that the fact that Bracey had reported the use of force to the DCF played a "great role" in her decision to recommend that his contract not be renewed. Oct. 8, 2002, Trial Tr., at 82.

Dr. Mayo testified at trial that Bracey's complaints about students being improperly restrained and about the use of force to subdue the students were "part of" the reason he recommended to the defendant that it not renew Bracey's contract. Oct. 9, 2002, Trial Tr., at 99. Dr. Mayo also testified that he was "sure there was some discussion" with Sizemore before recommending Bracey's termination to the Board, id. at 98, and that the DCF investigation was brought to his attention "at some point," id. at 101.

More than a year later, Bracey applied to the Board of Education of the City of Bridgeport ("BECB") for a teaching position at a public school in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The BECB denied Bracey's application.

Bracey then brought this action in state court against the BECB alleging intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and race-based discrimination in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 in connection with its failure to hire him. BECB removed the action to federal court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a).2 Bracey then filed an amended complaint in federal court, adding claims against the Board and the Stamford Board of Education. After several further amendments of the complaint by Bracey and motions for summary judgment by various defendants, the substance of which is not material to this appeal, only state-law claims against the Board for retaliatory discharge and tortious interference remained. Bracey alleged in his final amended complaint that the Board violated a Connecticut statute, Conn. Gen.Stat. § 31-51q,3 by subjecting Bracey to retaliatory discipline and discharge because of his complaints regarding the treatment of David, in particular his report to the DCF. Bracey asserted that the subject of his complaint to the DCF was a matter of public concern. He further alleged that the Board had tortiously interfered with his right to contract.

The Board moved pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, noting that the remaining claims were state claims over which the court "should refrain from exercising its jurisdiction through the concept of pend[e]nt jurisdiction." Defendant's Second Motion to Dismiss Fourth Amended Complaint, Oct. 8, 2002. The motion was not filed until the second day of trial.4 The district court characterized the motion as having "a lot of merit to it." Oct. 9, 2002, Trial Tr., at 217. The court noted, however, that trial had by then begun. Using what the court referred to as its "discretion to decide the State Court issues even if the Federal ones were thrown out," id. at 218, the court concluded: "[The] jury's going to decide it." Id.

The district court dismissed the tortious interference claim as a matter of law at the close of Bracey's case-in-chief. Bracey does not contest this dismissal on appeal. His section 31-51q state-law claim, however, was submitted to the jury, which returned a verdict for Bracey for $250,000 in compensatory damages.

The Board then filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law for the first time, pursuant to Rule 50(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for a new trial, pursuant to Rule 59, or for relief from judgment, pursuant to Rule 60. The Board argued that the Rule 12(b)(1) motion should have been granted. With respect to the remaining portions of the motion, the Board contended that the evidence did not support the compensatory damages award and that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence.

The district court concluded that the Rule 12(b)(1) motion had been "filed only a few days before the trial began" and therefore was "not ripe for decision until the trial was in progress." Bracey v. Bd. of Educ., No. 3:00-CV-231 (GLG) (D.Conn. Dec. 17, 2002), at 3. With respect to the jury's damages award, the district court concluded that the jury had "sufficient basis" for it. Id. In response to the Board's motion for judgment as a matter of law, a new trial, or relief from judgment, the district court remarked, "[T]rial judges are continually cautioned by the Appellate Court not to take matters from the jury and not to overturn jury verdicts except in the most extreme circumstances." Id. While commenting that the "evidence in th [e] case was not strongly in Plaintiff's favor," the court said that the circumstances required for overturning the jury verdict "are not present here." Id. The district court thereupon denied the Board's motions.

The Board appeals the judgment of the district court on the ground that it did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the state-law claims on which the judgment was based. It also challenges the...

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