Barnett v. Housing Authority of City of Atlanta

• Decision Date: 27 June 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-8166,82-8166
• Citation: 707 F.2d 1571
• Parties: Robert BARNETT, Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. The HOUSING AUTHORITY OF the CITY OF ATLANTA, Defendant-Appellant, Mrs. Dorothy L. Kelly, et al., Defendants-Appellants, Cross-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1571

707 F.2d 1571

Robert BARNETT, Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. The HOUSING AUTHORITY OF the CITY OF ATLANTA, Defendant-Appellant, Mrs. Dorothy L. Kelly, et al., Defendants-Appellants, Cross-Appellees.

No. 82-8166.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

June 27, 1983.

Lenwood A. Jackson, Richard A. Grigsby, D.W. Latimore, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., for defendant-appellant.

Frank J. Beltran, John F. Pendergast, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., for Barnett.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Before KRAVITCH, HENDERSON and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.

ALBERT J. HENDERSON, Circuit Judge:

The appellee and cross-appellant, Robert Barnett, brought this action under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 against his former employer the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA or Authority) and three officials of that agency, Dorothy Kelly, Samuel Friedman and Tyrone Hinton. Barnett, who was dismissed from his position as Director of the Redevelopment Division of the Authority, alleged that the defendants deprived him of due process by discharging him without cause and without a post-termination hearing. During the trial, the district court directed a verdict exonerating the three officials from liability in their individual capacities. After the jury answered eleven special interrogatories in favor of the plaintiff, the trial court entered a judgment awarding Barnett $75,000.00 in compensatory relief and $100,000.00 in punitive damages. AHA appeals that judgment, and the plaintiff cross-appeals the directed verdict for the individual defendants.

I. The Controversy

The events that precipitated the present action began in the spring of 1980. At that time, Barnett had been employed in various positions at AHA for approximately fourteen years. In preparation for the disposition of a tract of land, commonly referred to as Vine City, AHA began evaluating the bids submitted by various developers interested in the project. The Board of Commissioners of AHA (Board), contrary to its usual practice, instructed the Redevelopment Division not to recommend a specific bidder. Instead, Barnett, in his capacity as Director of that Division, formulated a comprehensive set of criteria for ranking the merits of the various plans proposed by the interested developers. Officials of both the Barnett then presented the results of his staff's evaluation to the Board of Commissioners. Only two voting Commissioners attended that meeting on June 13, 1980. Two weeks later, on June 26, 1980, the Board met to award the Vine City project. With three of the Board's five voting members present, the Board by a 2-0 vote selected Noragem, Inc. as the developer (Kelley, the Chairman of the Board, did not customarily vote except in the event of a tie). The company chosen was ranked fourth out of seven developers according to the criteria applied by the Redevelopment Division.

Authority and the city government, including the Executive Director of AHA, Tyrone Hinton, praised the evaluation scheme prepared by Barnett and his staff. The unique approach taken toward this particular project was purportedly a response to the intense community and developer interest in the Vine City selection.

Almost immediately, controversy erupted over the Board's selection. Those companies passed over in the bidding process questioned the Board's objectivity in choosing Noragem, citing the fact that a former employee of AHA owned a controlling interest in the company. Fulfilling his responsibility, Barnett informed an official with the city government of the Board's selection. That official warned Barnett that the city would require an extensive justification of the choice, because the company had been rated less desirable than three other bidders. Barnett then met with his staff to consider their course of action, since they felt that Noragem was unqualified to undertake the project and that the company's proposal was deficient in several respects. According to Barnett, he and his staff were concerned that the Board did not understand the inadequacy of the Noragem bid, especially since most of the Commissioners had not attended the meeting at which the redevelopment staff explained their evaluation. Believing it to be their obligation to alert the Board to the grounds for criticism of the selection, they prepared a memorandum detailing the problems with the accepted plan. Under Barnett's direction, the memorandum was mailed to the Commissioners and a copy was hand-delivered to Hinton on June 27, 1980.

That same afternoon, a member of the press questioned Barnett about the selection of Noragem. He revealed little information, but did say that the company had not received the staff's highest ranking and referred him to the official evaluation, a matter of public record. Apparently, another staff member divulged the complete details of the memorandum and its delivery to the Board. In any event, within the next two days, articles appeared in the local newspapers revealing in some detail the Redevelopment Division's disagreement with the choice of Noragem and disclosing the fact that a memorandum expressing that view had been forwarded to the Commissioners. Needless to say, the publicity fueled the charges that the Board had awarded the Vine City bid on less than an objective basis. ¹

THE DISMISSAL

Two days after sending the memorandum, Barnett left for Washington, D.C. on a previously scheduled business trip. Hinton called him back to Atlanta on the next day. Upon his arrival, Barnett met with Hinton and members of the Redevelopment staff on the afternoon of July 1, 1980. At that meeting, the increasing public attention surrounding the Vine City decision was discussed. A staff person admitted that he had probably talked too freely with the press. Hinton then suggested that they develop a strategy for insuring the execution of the project despite the Board's controversial selection. At no time during the Two days later, Barnett received a notice of his termination in a letter from Hinton. The letter stated that the Board had accepted Hinton's recommendation to dismiss Barnett in a meeting held on June 30, 1980, the day before the conference at which Hinton had given no indication of his displeasure with Barnett's performance. In the letter, the Executive Director identified two reasons for the discharge: (1) insubordination in sending the memorandum directly to the Board without Hinton's prior approval, and (2) a lack of confidence in Barnett's judgment that had purportedly developed over a period of time. The notice suspended him from his duties and stated that the termination would become effective in two weeks. Finally, the letter reminded him of his rights under AHA's Personnel Policy ² to appeal the decision and to be represented by an attorney.

conference did Hinton express any disapproval of the memorandum or indicate that Barnett's job was in jeopardy. Nevertheless, very early the next morning, Hinton called Barnett at home and requested his immediate presence at the office. Sensing something amiss, he called a member of the law firm that represented AHA who informed him of his impending dismissal. In their meeting, Hinton gave Barnett the option of resigning or facing termination at 4:00 that afternoon. The claimed reason for the discharge was an alleged "irreparable breach" between Barnett and the Board caused by the memorandum. Barnett refused to resign, at least until he was afforded a detailed statement of the reasons for the decision.

THE ADMINISTRATIVE APPEAL

Barnett immediately hired an attorney and pursued his remedies outlined in the Personnel Policy. He initiated the administrative appeals process by filing within five days a written request to meet with his immediate supervisor. Hinton held the required meeting on July 28, 1980, a date later than that prescribed by the policy. During that conference, which was attended by attorneys for both parties, Barnett disputed the Executive Director's alleged reasons for the dismissal. According to the required procedures, Hinton had three working days in which to respond to Barnett's charges. Barnett acquiesced in an extension of that deadline giving the Authority until August 4, 1980 to answer. When Hinton failed to respond by the agreed upon date, Barnett began the next step of the process and submitted a written grievance to the Board. A week later, he finally received the response from Hinton. In that letter the Executive Director adhered to his original decision, and established August 14, 1980 as the final termination date (Hinton had earlier extended the original date). Soon afterward, the Board, including both Kelley and Friedman, formally voted to terminate Barnett.

Although the Personnel Policy required a decision from the Board within thirty days of the filing of the grievance, Barnett's attorney was not notified until September 26, 1980 that the Board had selected a hearing officer, a retired law professor. The letter suggested October 27 and 28, 1980 as possible dates for the hearing and recommended that the parties meet with the professor before that time to establish ground rules. Barnett's attorney prepared documents outlining the facts and issues pertinent to the dispute. Upon receiving those materials, the hearing officer contacted the attorney and informed him that he had not been officially retained. Thereafter, Barnett and his attorney learned that AHA's counsel had been waiting for confirmation from them after the previous letter before formalizing the hearing dates. Irritated by the further delay, Barnett's attorney requested provisional reinstatement pending the completion of the hearing process. AHA refused.

In mid-November, Barnett's counsel notified AHA of his intent to file a lawsuit on behalf of his client if a hearing was not arranged to resolve the conflict. Attorneys

representing AHA responded with the suggestion that the proceedings be held...