McGee v. South Pemiscot School Dist. R-V
| Decision Date | 11 August 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-1984,R-V,82-1984 |
| Citation | 712 F.2d 339 |
| Parties | 12 Ed. Law Rep. 644 John McGEE, Appellant, v. SOUTH PEMISCOT SCHOOL DISTRICT, a political subdivision; Gary Bruton, individually; and Mitchell Fisher, individually, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Joy L. Koletsky, Nat. Educ. Ass'n, Julia Penny Clark, Bredhoff & Kaiser, Washington, D.C., David G. Beeson, Buerkle, Lowes, Beeson & Ludwig, Jackson, Mo., for appellant John McGee.
James E. Reeves, Ward & Reeves, Caruthersville, Mo., for appellees.
Before ARNOLD and BENNETT, * Circuit Judges, and HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge.
John McGee, a school teacher, brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 after he lost his job. He claimed that his employer, the South Pemiscot School District, fired him because he had written a letter to the editor. A jury found that McGee's First Amendment rights had been violated and awarded him $10,000 against the School District and two board members, Mitchell Fisher and Gary Bruton. The District Court, however, granted defendants' motions for a judgment non obstante veredicto and a conditional new trial. McGee v. South Pemiscot School District R-V, 545 F.Supp. 171 (E.D.Mo.1982). The District Court held that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that the school board's failure to renew McGee's contract was motivated by conduct protected by the First Amendment. It also held that there was insufficient evidence to support an award of damages and that the school board, since the vote on the motion to rehire McGee was a three-to-three tie, had committed no act for which it could be held liable. We disagree with each of these holdings and therefore reverse and remand for entry of judgment on the jury's verdict and for further proceedings with respect to equitable relief and attorney's fees.
McGee started teaching at South Pemiscot in 1977. Beginning in 1978 he coached junior and senior high school track. As late as March 1980, a month before his contract came up for renewal, there was every indication that he would be teaching at South Pemiscot the following school year. 1 He had received a satisfactory evaluation, and the principal had recommended that his contract be renewed. He was assigned classes, and it was understood that he was to coach senior-high track. Three of the six board members publicly praised or supported McGee. Mitchell Fisher commended McGee's coaching abilities during a school-board meeting. June Jones wrote a letter to the newspaper praising McGee and noting how popular he was among students and parents. On March 21 Gary Bruton told Robbie Sue Tennyson, the editor of the local newspaper, that he supported McGee.
A divided school board decided to discontinue junior-high track in March 1980. This decision sparked a public controversy. Parents circulated petitions asking the board to reinstate the track program. The board refused. The fate of the track program became an issue in the campaign for school board. On March 20 The Steele Enterprise, the only newspaper in South Pemiscot County, published a letter to the editor signed by three of the six board members--Bruton, Fisher, and Jack Harris. 2 In it they attempted to justify the board's decision to discontinue the track program and claimed that McGee had recommended that they do so. On March 27, four days before the school-board election, the paper published a letter from McGee. He denied recommending that junior-high track be discontinued and stated his reasons for supporting junior-high track.
On April 3, shortly after the election, McGee's contract came up for renewal before the board. He needed a majority vote. The board voted 3-3, and the motion to renew McGee's contract failed. Bruton, Fisher, and Harris voted against renewal.
McGee commenced this suit on October 2, 1981, and the case was tried before a jury. Conflicting evidence was given as to why McGee's contract was not renewed. Ms. Tennyson testified that Bruton complained to her about McGee's letter immediately after it was published and that in a conversation shortly after the nonrenewal Bruton said that McGee was fired for having written the letter (Tr. 79-80). McGee testified that Bruton told him that he voted against him because the letter showed disloyalty to the board and made the board look bad (Tr. 118). Another witness testified that Fisher said he wanted to fire McGee for having written the letter (Tr. 24). McGee testified that School Superintendent Billy Gene Lewis told him that writing the letter was an act of disloyalty and warranted his dismissal (Tr. 125). After McGee was fired, Lewis told the remaining coaches not to discuss school problems in public.
Fisher, Bruton, and Harris testified that they voted against renewing McGee's contract because he could not follow "rules and regulations." They cited his inability to work with the athletic director, his inability to keep a tidy classroom, and his having bought track uniforms without asking the proper authorities. McGee paid for these uniforms with his own money. The other three board members, who had voted in McGee's favor, testified that if they had the opportunity to vote again they would vote against him. They also made the general assertion that McGee could not follow orders. The principal also recanted his recommendation for renewal, and the superintendent, athletic director, and a former board member testified that McGee couldn't work well within the school's bureaucracy.
Citizens do not relinquish all of their First Amendment rights when they become public employees. Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968). The state, on the other hand, "has interests as an employer in regulating the speech of its employees that differ significantly from those it possesses in connection with regulation of the speech of the citizenry in general," and courts must "arrive at a balance between the interests of the teacher, as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interest of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees." Id. at 568, 88 S.Ct. at 1734. Each case turns on its facts, but Pickering's guidelines are fairly clear. As a general rule, a school board may not dismiss an employee for criticizing school policies that are of public interest unless the speech contains knowingly or recklessly false statements, undermines the ability of a teacher to function, or interferes with the operation of the school. Id. at 568-74, 88 S.Ct. at 1734-38.
Defendants contend that McGee's letter was not constitutionally protected because (1) it did not address a public issue, (2) it contained erroneous statements, and (3) it created disharmony between McGee and his immediate supervisors. Their argument is without merit. 3
The letter addressed the fate of junior-high track. That had certainly become a public issue. Members of the community circulated a petition asking that the school board reconsider its decision. Junior-high track had become a campaign issue during the school-board elections. Moreover, some members of the school board, including the individual defendants who lost before the jury, had made it a public issue by defending their decision in a letter written to the only newspaper in town.
The school board contends that the letter contained errors. That alone will not remove it from the protection of the First Amendment. The errors must have been knowingly or recklessly made. Pickering, supra, 391 U.S. at 574, 88 S.Ct. at 1737. The school board does not now contend that this is the case.
It was for the jury to decide whether the letter created disharmony between McGee and his immediate supervisors. The trial judge instructed the jury that its verdict had to be for the defendants if it believed that McGee's "exercise of free speech had a disruptive impact upon the employees of Defendant, South Pemiscot School District R-V" (Designated Record (D.R.) at 18). The jury obviously found that the letter did not have a disruptive impact, and there is sufficient evidence to support that view. The letter may have strained McGee's relationship with some of the board members, but they were not McGee's immediate supervisors, and McGee's relationship with them would not affect his ability to function as a teacher. Nor would it directly affect school operations. 4
It is not enough for a teacher to show that he or she was fired after engaging in constitutionally protected conduct. The plaintiff also bears the initial burden of showing that this conduct was a motivating factor in the board's decision not to rehire. The burden then shifts to the defendants. They must show by a preponderance of evidence that they would have reached the same decision in the absence of the protected conduct. Mount Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 287, 97 S.Ct. 568, 576, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977).
The District Court granted the school board's motion for a judgment n.o.v., holding that there was insufficient evidence for a jury to find that McGee passed the Mount Healthy test. If either Bruton or Fisher had voted in favor of McGee, the vote would have been 4-2, and McGee would have been rehired. The jury verdict must, therefore, stand if there is sufficient evidence that either school-board member voted against McGee in retaliation for his having written the letter.
The standards for granting a judgment n.o.v. are well settled. Both the trial court and this Court must (a) consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party, (b) assume that the jury resolved all conflicts of evidence in favor of that party, (c) assume as true all facts which that party's evidence tended to prove, (d) give that party the benefit...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hicks v. Brown Group, Inc., s. 88-2769
...the motion if in light of the above reasonable jurors could differ as to the conclusions that could be drawn from the evidence. 712 F.2d 339, 343 (8th Cir.1983) (McGee ). Applying these principles to the jury's finding of intentional discrimination, we hold that the district court did not e......
-
Hite v. Vermeer Mfg. Co., 4:03 CV 90174.
...to prevent a miscarriage of justice." Beckman v. Mayo Found., 804 F.2d 435, 439 (8th Cir.1986) (citing McGee v. South Pemiscot Sch. Dist. R-V, 712 F.2d 339, 344 (8th Cir.1983)). Since this country's inception, an individual's right to trial by jury, in both civil and criminal matters has be......
-
Pick v. City of Remsen, C13-4041-MWB
...the [substantial or motivating factor] element of a prima facie case of retaliation."); McGee v. South Pemiscot Sch. Dist. R-V, 712 F.2d 339, 343 (8th Cir. 1983) (suspicious sequence of events is one factor to consider in evaluating whether plaintiff's protected speech motivated adverse emp......
-
Heimlicher v. Steele, C05-4054-PAZ.
...of a jury ... [which] weighs the evidence and credibility of witnesses.'" White, 961 F.2d at 780 (quoting McGee v. S. Pemiscot Sch. Dist., 712 F.2d 339, 344 (8th Cir.1983)). "Instead, a district judge must carefully weigh and balance the evidence and articulate reasons supporting the judge'......