Gray v. Laws

• Citation: 51 F.3d 426
• Decision Date: 24 April 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-1608,94-1608
• Parties: John D. GRAY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Tony LAWS, individually and officially as an Orange County Health Department employee; Dan Reimer, individually and officially as Orange County Health Director; Orange County Health Department; Orange County, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

Page 426

51 F.3d 426

John D. GRAY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Tony LAWS, individually and officially as an Orange County Health Department employee; Dan Reimer, individually and officially as Orange County Health Director; Orange County Health Department; Orange County, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 94-1608.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Dec. 7, 1994.

Decided April 10, 1995.

As Amended April 24, 1995.

ARGUED: Monroe Jackson Nichols, Crisp, Davis, Page, Currin & Nichols, L.L.P., Raleigh, NC, for appellant. James Redfern Morgan, Jr., Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, P.L.L.C., Winston-Salem, NC, for appellees. ON BRIEF: Robert H. Sasser, III, Womble, Carlye, Sandridge & Rice, P.L.L.C., Winston-Salem, NC; Geoffrey E. Gledhill, Coleman, Gledhill & Hargrove, Hillsborough, NC, for appellees.

Before HALL and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges, and CURRIE, United States District Judge for the District of South Carolina, sitting by designation.

Affirmed in part and vacated and remanded in part, by published opinion. Judge LUTTIG wrote the opinion, in which Judge HALL and Judge CURRIE joined.

OPINION

LUTTIG, Circuit Judge:

Appellant, John Gray, brought this suit after being discharged from his position as a sanitarian for the Orange County Health Department (OCHD) in Orange County, North Carolina. Gray claims that his discharge violated his Due Process and First Amendment rights under the Federal Constitution and rights secured to him under the North Carolina Constitution and common law. The district court dismissed the claims against defendants Tony Laws and Dan Reimer in their official capacity, finding those claims barred from federal court review by the Eleventh Amendment. The district court also dismissed all claims against OCHD and Orange County. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Laws and Reimer on plaintiff's claims against these defendants in their individual capacity.

We vacate the district court's Eleventh Amendment determinations and, with the exception of the due process claims, reinstate all of plaintiff's claims against Reimer and Laws in their official capacity and against OCHD and the county. We also vacate the district court's entry of summary judgment against Reimer and Laws on the First Amendment claim. We affirm summary judgment in favor of defendants in their individual capacity on all other counts, and we affirm all of the district court's judgments with respect to Gray's due process claims.

I.

John Gray served as a sanitarian for OCHD for eighteen years. In May 1990, Dan Reimer, OCHD's director, discharged Gray from his duties. Reimer contends that he dismissed Gray because of improper sexual remarks Gray allegedly made to two women while conducting sanitation inspections of facilities in Orange County. Gray contends that Reimer and Tony Laws, Gray's immediate supervisor, fired Gray in retaliation for reporting to superiors allegations of mismanagement and arbitrary and capricious enforcement of sanitation laws by defendant Laws.

Laws and Reimer learned of the alleged sexual remarks in January 1990. After learning of the allegations, Reimer instructed Laws to conduct a preliminary investigation into the two reported incidents. Laws and Reimer interviewed the two women who complained about Gray's conduct, and on February 5, 1990, Reimer placed Gray on compulsory leave of absence with pay pending further investigation of the charges. Following Gray's suspension, the Orange County attorney, Geoff Gledhill, joined the investigation. Gledhill interviewed the complainants and witnesses to the alleged remarks and provided Reimer with a report outlining all of the interviews.

At the conclusion of the formal investigation, Reimer sent Gray a memorandum dated April 10, 1990, which detailed the specific allegations against Gray and which apprised Gray of his right to respond at a pre-dismissal conference. After receiving the memorandum, Gray's attorney took several depositions to prepare for the conference. Gray also testified in his own defense at the pre-dismissal conference. Reimer officially dismissed Gray after the conference, citing the complaints of sexual remarks as the ground for dismissal.

Before filing his federal claims, Gray challenged his dismissal under state law by filing a petition with the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings. A state administrative law judge (ALJ) concluded that Gray had been discharged without just cause but that Gray's procedural rights had not been violated. The ALJ determined that the complainants' allegations were "suspect" because both complainants had "on going confrontations" with Mr. Laws, as a result of sanctions he recommended against them for sanitary code violations. J.A. at 576. Even accepting the complaints as true, the ALJ did not find just cause for termination, because there were no allegations that Gray had used his position of authority over the complainants to gain sexual favors. J.A. at 577. The ALJ found that, at worst, Gray's alleged statements "indicat[ed] a lapse of judgment," which did not "justif[y] the termination of a career employee with an otherwise satisfactory record of employment." J.A. at 577. The State Personnel Commission adopted the ALJ's decision and recommended that Gray be reinstated at OCHD with back pay and attorney's fees. Reimer, who under North Carolina law has the discretion to reject the State Personnel Commission's recommendation, decided not to reinstate Gray and, on March 13, 1992, affirmed his initial discharge decision. Gray then appealed Reimer's final decision in state court, where the trial judge adopted the Personnel Commission's recommendation and ordered reinstatement, back pay, and attorney's fees. OCHD has appealed this decision.

In addition to his challenge under state law, Gray filed the federal claims at issue in this case. He sued Orange County, OCHD, and Reimer and Laws, both in their individual and official capacity, alleging violations of his federal constitutional rights to free speech and due process under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, violation of state constitutional rights, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy. He also charged Reimer and Orange County with negligent retention of Laws under state law.

The parties agree that the district court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction all claims against Reimer and Laws in their official capacity, and none of these claims are pending in the State of North Carolina. The district court held that in making employment decisions, local health department officials in North Carolina act on behalf of the state rather than the county, and therefore that suit against these state officials in their official capacity is barred from federal court review by the Eleventh Amendment. The court below also dismissed all claims against Orange County and OCHD, holding that Orange County could not be liable for the actions of state officers and that OCHD was not an entity capable of being sued under North Carolina law. Finally, the court granted summary judgment in favor of Reimer and Laws on all claims against them in their individual capacity.

Gray appeals the district court's determination in all respects. He maintains that OCHD is not a state agency but rather a county agency capable of being sued in federal court under section 1983. He argues further that as officers of a county agency, Reimer and Laws are county officials also suable in federal court. And because Reimer and Laws are county officials, Gray contends that the county may be held liable for their actions. Finally, Gray challenges the entry of summary judgment against him on the remainder of his claims against Reimer and Laws individually.

II.

We first address the district court's conclusion that Reimer and Laws, as officers of OCHD, are entitled to Eleventh Amendment protection in suits against them in their official capacity.

A.

The Eleventh Amendment provides that "[t]he Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State." U.S. Const. amend. XI. Although by its terms the Amendment applies only to suits brought against a state by "Citizens of another State," it is well established that "an unconsenting State is immune from suits brought in federal courts by her own citizens as well as by citizens of another State." Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 663, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1355, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974). This immunity extends as well to state agencies and other government entities properly characterized as "arm[s] of the State." Mt. Healthy City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 280, 97 S.Ct. 568, 572, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977); see also Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Auth. v. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., --- U.S. ----, ----, 113 S.Ct. 684, 688, 121 L.Ed.2d 605 (1993) ("[A] State and its 'arms' are, in effect, immune from suit in federal court."). Like the state itself, state officers acting in their official capacity are also entitled to Eleventh Amendment protection, because "a suit against a state official in his or her official capacity is not a suit against the official but rather is a suit against the official's office," and "[a]s such, it is no different from a suit against the State itself." Will v. Michigan Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 2312, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989) (citations omitted). ¹

While states, state entities, and state officials are protected by the Eleventh Amendment, the Amendment erects no jurisdictional bar to suits against local governmental entities. See id. at 70, 109 S.Ct. at 2312 ("States are protected by the Eleventh Amendment while municipalities are not."); Lake Country Estates, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 440 U.S. 391, 401, 99 S.Ct. 1171, 1177, 59 L.Ed.2d 401 (1979) ("[T]he Court has...