Mitchell v. Fankhauser

• Decision Date: 14 July 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-5279.,03-5279.
• Citation: 375 F.3d 477
• Parties: LeCarthy MITCHELL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robin FANKHAUSER and The Board of Education of Fayette County, Kentucky, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 477

375 F.3d 477

LeCarthy MITCHELL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robin FANKHAUSER and The Board of Education of Fayette County, Kentucky, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 03-5279.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued April 29, 2004.

Decided and Filed July 14, 2004.

John M. West (briefed), Alice Margaret O'Brien (argued and briefed), Bredhoff &

Kaiser, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Robert L. Chenoweth (argued and briefed), Chenoweth Law Office, Frankfort, KY, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before GUY, GILMAN, and COOK, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

GILMAN, Circuit Judge.

After an abbreviated pre-termination hearing, LeCarthy Mitchell was fired from his job as a school custodian for allegedly stealing school property. No post-termination hearing was provided by the school district. Mitchell filed suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that the school superintendent and the school district violated his constitutional right to procedural due process. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. For the reasons set forth below, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual history

Mitchell worked for the Fayette County Public School (FCPS) District in Lexington, Kentucky from October of 1993 through August of 2001. His last assignment was as head custodian at Henry Clay High School. Mitchell's status as an employee with more than four years of continuous service with FCPS entitled him, under Kentucky law, to not be discharged except "for cause." Ky.Rev.Stat. 161.011(5). "For cause" includes "incompetency, neglect of duty, insubordination, inefficiency, misconduct, immorality, or other reasonable grounds which are specifically contained in board policy." Ky.Rev. Stat. 161.011(7). The statute also provides that "[l]ocal school boards shall develop and provide to all classified employees written policies which shall include ... [d]iscipline guidelines and procedures that satisfy due process requirements." Ky. Rev.Stat. 161.011(9)(c).

By letter dated August 15, 2001, FCPS superintendent Dr. Robin L. Fankhauser suspended Mitchell for fifteen days with pay. Fankhauser explained that her action was "based upon the fact that I have received allegations against you concerning theft of school property. The purpose of the suspension with pay is to allow me the opportunity to investigate the facts involved in these allegations." A "hand-delivered" designation is found at the top left-hand corner of the letter, and a form titled "Attempt to Serve" was introduced into evidence, suggesting that FCPS Law Enforcement Officer JD Jones attempted to deliver the letter at 6:15 p.m. on August 15. Whether Mitchell ever received the letter is not clear from the record.

Also introduced into evidence — over Mitchell's objection — is a FCPS Law Enforcement "investigative report" dated August 15, 2001, purporting to record an interview between Officer Jones and Mitchell. Mitchell is alleged to have "admitted taking a sewing-machine cabinet from Henry Clay High School to his home in Frankfort, Kentucky. He stated that he later put the cabinet in the dumpter [sic]. The cabinet has not been recovered."

On August 20, 2001, Mitchell was called in to meet with Fankhauser and various other FCPS officials. Mitchell was then informed of the allegations that had been made against him — by people who were not present at the meeting — to the effect that Mitchell had helped another custodian steal school property. At the meeting, Mitchell admitted only to having taken a sewing-machine cabinet home with him, but then returning it to the school.

Fankhauser notified Mitchell in a letter a few days after the meeting that she was terminating him based upon the fact that, in July of 2001, he had been "observed helping another custodian load several ladders, lumber, folding chairs, and sewing machines into his car." In a letter responding to his termination, Mitchell denied the allegations against him "either because they are untrue or because, to the extent any of the charges have a basis in fact, they do not warrant the extreme sanction of termination...." Mitchell also requested an opportunity "to challenge the charges in a due process hearing before a neutral finder of fact...." FCPS's general counsel denied Mitchell's request, explaining that the August 20, 2001 meeting served as Mitchell's due process hearing: "Dr. Fankhauser listened to all parties at the meeting and subsequently made the decision to terminate Mr. Mitchell[]...."

B. Procedural history

Mitchell brought suit against Fankhauser and FCPS pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Fankhauser and the Board violated Mitchell's right to the due process of law by refusing "to provide him with an evidentiary due process hearing upon the reasons" for his termination. After Fankhauser and FCPS answered, both sides moved for summary judgment.

Fankhauser and FCPS attached to their trial-court brief in support of summary judgment "seventeen pages detailing the factual allegations against" Mitchell. Mitchell moved to strike these documents on the basis that they were "offered only to influence the Court to make a decision on the underlying facts of the case and `are not of record before the Court.'" Denying Mitchell's motion, the district court reasoned that the attachments were "relevant to what if any investigation took place and ... what pre- or post-termination hearings actually were necessary to satisfy the requirements of due process." The district court denied Mitchell's motion for summary judgment and granted summary judgment to Fankhauser and FCPS on January 30, 2003. Mitchell filed a timely notice of appeal of the court's grant of summary judgment to Fankhauser and FCPS.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Standard of review

We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Therma-Scan, Inc. v. Thermoscan, Inc. 295 F.3d 623, 629 (6th Cir.2002). Summary judgment is proper where there exists no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). In considering a motion for summary judgment, the district court must construe all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). The central issue is "whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

B. Due process

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution "provides that certain substantive rights — life, liberty, and property — cannot be deprived except pursuant to constitutionally adequate procedures." Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 541, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 84 L.Ed.2d 494 (1985). This court undertakes a two-step analysis when considering claims for the violation of due process rights. Leary v. Daeschner, 228 F.3d 729, 741-42 (6th Cir.2000). The first step determines whether the plaintiff has a property interest entitled to due process protection. Id. at 741. Second, if the plaintiff has such a protected property interest, "this court must then determine what process is due." Id. at 742 (quotation marks and citation omitted). In the present case, Fankhauser and FCPS do not contest that Mitchell had a protected property interest in his employment. The only question on appeal, therefore, is whether Mitchell was afforded all of the process that he was due.

In the context of employment rights, the Supreme Court has explained that "the root requirement of the Due Process clause" is "that an individual be given the opportunity for a hearing before he is deprived of any significant property interest." Loudermill, 470 U.S. at 542, 105 S.Ct. 1487 (quotation marks and citation omitted) (emphasis in original). Acknowledging "the severity of depriving a person of the means of livelihood[,]" the Court has noted that "[w]hile a fired worker may find employment elsewhere, doing so will take some time and is likely to be burdened by the questionable circumstances under which he left his previous job." Id. at 543, 105 S.Ct. 1487.

Pre-termination hearings "need not be elaborate." Id. at 545, 105 S.Ct. 1487. "The tenured public employee is entitled to oral or written notice of the charges against him, an explanation of the employer's evidence, and an opportunity to present his side of the story." Id. at 546, 105 S.Ct. 1487. This "initial check against mistaken decisions" is all that is necessary where an employee is provided with a full post-termination hearing. Id. at 545, 105 S.Ct. 1487; Brickner v. Voinovich, 977 F.2d 235, 237 (6th Cir.1992) ("The Supreme Court has held that, depending on the circumstances, a pre-termination hearing, although necessary, may not need to be elaborate, as long as the plaintiff is entitled to a full hearing with the possibility of judicial review at the post-termination stage."). Post-termination hearings, on the other hand, "serve to ferret out bias, pretext, deception and corruption by the employer in discharging the employee." Duchesne v. Williams, 849 F.2d 1004, 1008 (6th Cir.1988).

This court addressed the interplay between pre- and post-termination procedures in Carter v. Western Reserve Psychiatric Habilitation Center, 767 F.2d 270 (6th Cir.1985) (per curiam). In Carter, several public employees brought suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging violations of their rights to the due process of law. One of the defendants, Paul Wade, argued that his constitutional right to due process had been violated when he was discharged by his employer without receiving a meaningful pre-termination or post-termination hearing. The district court had...