Littlejohn v. Rose

• Decision Date: 16 July 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-5063,84-5063
• Citation: 768 F.2d 765
• Parties: 38 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 677, 38 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 35,525, 26 Ed. Law Rep. 955 Linda LITTLEJOHN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jack ROSE, Individually and as Superintendent of the Calloway County Schools; and the Board of Education of Calloway County, Kentucky, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 765

768 F.2d 765

38 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 677,

38 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 35,525, 26 Ed. Law Rep. 955

Linda LITTLEJOHN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jack ROSE, Individually and as Superintendent of the

Calloway County Schools; and the Board of

Education of Calloway County, Kentucky,

Defendants-Appellees.

No. 84-5063.

United States Court of Appeals,

Sixth Circuit.

Argued Jan. 8, 1985.

Decided July 16, 1985.

Jennifer B. Coffman, Brooks, Coffman & Fitzpatrick, Lexington, Ky., Joy L. Koletsky (argued), Nat. Educ. Ass'n, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellant.

Thomas L. Osborne, Osborne, Deatherage & Fletcher, Paducah, Ky., Donald A. Jones (argued), Murray, Ky., for defendants-appellees.

Before KEITH, JONES and KRUPANSKY, Circuit Judges.

KEITH, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment by the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky granting appellees' motion for a directed verdict in this suit alleging violation of appellant's constitutional rights of privacy and liberty in contravention of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. ¹ For the reasons stated below, we reverse the ruling of the district court.

FACTS

Appellant Linda Littlejohn was a non-tenured teacher in the Calloway County school system. Appellant was originally hired as a substitute teacher and librarian, and held a teaching certificate that qualified her to teach all subjects in elementary grades 1 through 8. In the 1980-81 and 1981-82 school years, Littlejohn was employed as a full-time fifth grade teacher.

According to her principal, Bobby Allen, Littlejohn was an "excellent" teacher. She had good evaluations for the two years she taught. In addition to her teaching duties, she served on behalf of her school as chairperson for the Southern Association Accreditation and Kentucky Accreditation programs. According to Allen, these activities required "a lot of perseverance and a lot of ability to get along with others."

Under Kentucky law, non-tenured teachers are automatically rehired for the following school year unless they receive written notice to the contrary by April 30. The Calloway County School System could not definitely determine its hiring needs for the next school year by April 30. Therefore, in order to avoid automatic renewal, each April the Calloway County school system would notify the non-tenured teachers that their contracts would not be renewed. During the summer, the superintendent would recommend the appropriate number of non-tenured teachers for rehire.

In April 1982, Littlejohn and other non-tenured teachers received written notice that their contracts would not be renewed for the 1982-83 school year. Subsequently, Littlejohn and her husband of nine years separated, and were eventually divorced in July 1982.

During the summer of 1982, defendant Jack Rose, Superintendent of the Calloway County Schools, began making recommendations for the reemployment of the non-tenured teachers for the 1982-83 school year. Despite Principal Allen's decision to strongly recommend Littlejohn for rehire, Rose determined not to do so. Allen and School Board member Charles Red testified that Rose told them his determination was based upon Littlejohn's involvement in divorce proceedings. Because Rose failed to recommend her, Littlejohn was not rehired. Appellant subsequently initiated this action in federal district court.

Appellant contended that the failure of the superintendent to recommend the renewal of her teaching contract was based upon the status of her marital relationship, specifically, her impending divorce, in violation of her constitutional rights of privacy and liberty. The suit, based on 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, sought reinstatement, back pay, and other damages and relief.

The district court acknowledged that "[t]here was evidence at the trial that the reason given by defendant for plaintiff's non-renewal was the fact that she was involved in the dissolution of her marriage." Littlejohn v. Rose, No. C82-0217-P(B), slip op. at 2 (W.D.Ky. Dec. 12, 1983). Nevertheless, the court directed a verdict in favor of the defendants. The court gave two reasons for its ruling. First, it said that "[p]laintiff cannot establish any fundamental right to employment by the Board, and, absent this right ... plaintiff has failed to sustain her burden." Id. at 3. Second, the court ruled that even assuming Littlejohn stated a viable constitutional claim, defendant Rose was entitled to qualified immunity because Littlejohn failed "to establish that defendant's actions were prompted by impermissible motivation or in disregard of plaintiff's clearly established rights." Id. The district court ruled that each reason alone would justify dismissal.

DISCUSSION

A.

Decisions Regarding Appellant's Employment Based on Marital

Status Violate Her Constitutional Right to Privacy:

Ms. Littlejohn's tenure with the school system was too short to establish a property right in the absence of a contract, thus only the infringement on appellant's constitutional right to privacy will be addressed. Decisions of the Supreme Court have firmly established that "matters relating to marriage [and] family relationships" involve privacy rights that are constitutionally protected against unwarranted governmental interference. E.g., Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 152-53, 93 S.Ct. 705, 726, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973). The Court has "routinely categorized [these matters] as among the personal decisions protected by the right to privacy [and, in addition] has long recognized that freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life is one of the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 384-85, 98 S.Ct. 673, 680, 54 L.Ed.2d 618 (1978) (citing Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur, 414 U.S. 632, 639-40, 94 S.Ct. 791, 796, 39 L.Ed.2d 52 (1974); see also Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 486, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 1682, 14 L.Ed.2d 510 (1965); Carey v. Population Services International, 431 U.S. 678, 684-85, 97 S.Ct. 2010, 2015-16, 52 L.Ed.2d 675 (1971). The Supreme Court has established broad protection for matters relating to the marital relationship including the availability of due process in seeking adjustments to the marital relationship. Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371, 91 S.Ct. 780, 28 L.Ed.2d 113 (1971). Given the "associational interests that surround the establishment and dissolution of [the marital] relationship", such "adjustments" as divorce and separation are naturally included within the umbrella of protection accorded to the right of privacy. See Zablocki, 434 U.S. at 385, 98 S.Ct. at 680; U.S. v. Kras, 409 U.S. 434, 444, 93 S.Ct. 631, 637, 34 L.Ed.2d 626 (1975). In Carey v. Population Services International, 431 U.S. at 684-85, 97 S.Ct. at 2015-16, the Supreme Court clearly held that decisions regarding marital status are protected by the constitutional right to privacy:

Although "[t]he Constitution does not explicitly mention any right of privacy," the Court has recognized that one aspect of the "liberty" protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is "a right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy." Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 152 [93 S.Ct. 705, 726, 35 L.Ed.2d 147] (1973). This right of personal privacy includes "the interest in independence in making certain kinds of important decisions." Whalen v. Roe, 429 U.S. 589, 599-600 [97 S.Ct. 869, 876, 51 L.Ed.2d 64] (1977). While the outer limits of this aspect of privacy have not been marked by the Court, it is clear that among the decisions that an individual may make without unjustified government interference are personal decisions "relating to marriage," Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 12 [87 S.Ct. 1817, 1823, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010] (1967); procreation, Skinner v. Oklahoma ex rel. Williamson, 316 U.S. 535, 541-42 [62 S.Ct. 1110, 1113, 86 L.Ed. 1655] (1942); contraception, Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. at 453-454 [92 S.Ct. 1029 at 1038, 31 L.Ed.2d 349 (1972) ]; ... and family relationships. Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 166, 64 S.Ct. 438, 442, 88 L.Ed. 645 (1944) ...

The district court acknowledged that matters relating to the marital relationship are entitled to special constitutional protection. Littlejohn v. Rose, No. C82-0217-P(B), slip op. at 3 (W.D.Ky. Dec. 12, 1983). Moreover, the Court observed that "[w]ere this an instance in which plaintiff had been discharged from her employment by reason of her domestic difficulties [the court] would have no hesitancy in holding that plaintiff had articulated a justiciable claim". Id. The court also stated that Littlejohn was not discharged from employment during the term of her contract, but rather her one year employment contract was not renewed after it had expired, and thus plaintiff had no constitutionally protected property right to employment. For this reason the district court concluded that Littlejohn did "not establish a fundamental right to employment by the Board," and therefore she did not articulate a viable constitutional claim. Id. We do not agree.

The fundamental right violated here is Ms. Littlejohn's right to privacy regarding her marital status. After analyzing Supreme Court rulings, the district court concluded that the right to privacy is only recognized when certain fundamental rights such as liberty or property rights are also affected. Littlejohn v. Rose, No. C82-0217-P(B), slip opinion at 3 (W.D.Ky. Dec. 12, 1983) (citing Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693, 713, 96 S.Ct. 1155, 1166, 47 L.Ed.2d 405 (1976)); Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. at 152-53, 93 S.Ct. at 726 (1973). The district court is incorrect. Upon closer examination it is clear that the ruling in Paul v. Davis did not constrain the holding in Roe v. Wade. Roe clearly established the existence of a constitutionally protected right to privacy which includes matters relating to procreation and marriage. As the Court stated in Paul:

In Roe the Court...