Sykes v. McDowell, 85-7262

• Citation: 786 F.2d 1098
• Decision Date: 15 April 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-7262,85-7262
• Parties: Terry SYKES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Roy McDOWELL, Individually & as Sheriff of Etowah County, Alabama, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit)

Page 1098

786 F.2d 1098

Terry SYKES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Roy McDOWELL, Individually & as Sheriff of Etowah County, Alabama, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 85-7262.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

April 15, 1986.

Hudson, Inzer, Suttle, Swann & Stivender, P.A., James S. Sledge, William D. Hudson, Gadsden, Ala., for defendant-appellant.

Donald R. Rhea, George C. Hawkins, Gadsden, Ala., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Before KRAVITCH and HATCHETT, Circuit Judges, and MORGAN, Senior Circuit Judge.

HATCHETT, Circuit Judge:

In this case, we affirm the award of damages to a deputy sheriff fired because of activities protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

I. FACTS

On October 1, 1977, the Etowah County Sheriff's Department employed Terry Sykes as a "road deputy." On August 30, 1980, Roy McDowell was appointed sheriff to fill a vacancy created by the death of the previous sheriff. In October, 1981, Sheriff McDowell called Sykes to his office and accused Sykes of publicly making derogatory remarks about him. In October, 1981, and in April, 1982, McDowell discussed with Sykes what McDowell saw as Sykes's lack of political support for McDowell. McDowell told Sykes that he should get on McDowell's side in the upcoming election. Sykes disclaimed any interest in political activity and told McDowell that he was not supporting anyone and would like to be left out of politics and simply to be a deputy sheriff. In the April, 1982, conversation, McDowell told Sykes that Sykes did not have any constitutional rights while he worked for McDowell. McDowell also told Sykes that "several of them" were going to be fired and Sykes "would be one of them" if he did not find new friends.

Sykes also had several conversations with Major Tinsley of the sheriff's office concerning his lack of support for McDowell. Major Tinsley accused Sykes of being a friend to Jack Partee and Harold Lockridge, employees with apparent intentions of running against McDowell. Major Tinsley also threatened to fire four or five persons, including Sykes. In June, 1982, Major Tinsley asked Sykes to sign a newspaper advertisement for McDowell's campaign. Sykes refused. When Sykes refused again the next day, Tinsley commented, "We've got some permanent openings in the jail."

In the middle of October, 1981, Sykes began receiving large amounts of jail duty. Sheriff's Department deputies considered jail duty to be punitive, or at least distasteful duty. Sheriff McDowell ordered Kirby Johnston, who is in charge of assignments to the jail, to assign Sykes to jail duty as much as possible. Sheriff McDowell's orders were "to keep him off the road, to keep him out of contact with people, that he might politic against [McDowell]." McDowell told Johnston that he suspected Sykes was for Jack Partee for sheriff.

On June 22, 1982, Johnston told Sykes to report to jail duty the next day on the first shift for an indefinite period of time. The general rule regarding jail duty was to rotate road deputies equally. Because he had performed large amounts of jail duty for the preceding several months, Sykes refused to report to the jail for duty.

On June 23, 1982, Sykes reported to work on the second shift. Major Tinsley ordered him to report to the jail for an indefinite period of time. Sykes replied that "until it was equally distributed among all the deputies in the department, instead of just a certain few," that he was not going to work at the jail. Major Tinsley then fired Sykes.

Sykes appealed his firing to the Etowah County Personnel Board (ECPB). The ECPB held that Sykes's dismissal was improper because Alabama law required the sheriff, rather than a subordinate officer, to fire a deputy. After receiving this decision from the ECPB, McDowell personally fired Sykes. Sykes appealed this firing to the ECPB. The ECPB again ruled in Sykes's favor, holding that McDowell was without authority to reopen the matter once the firing had initially been ruled improper.

McDowell filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the circuit court. The circuit court reversed the ECPB decision, holding that the sheriff could correct the procedural defect that rendered the first firing improper. Because the Board had earlier found sufficient grounds for the firing, the circuit court disposed of the case without remanding to the ECPB.

On Sykes's appeal contesting the jurisdiction of the circuit court, the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed the circuit court's exercise of jurisdiction. The Alabama Supreme Court denied Sykes's petition for writ of certiorari.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

While the state appeals were pending, Sykes filed this action in the district court claiming a violation of his first amendment rights of freedom of speech and association. The court submitted the case to the jury with special interrogatories. ¹ The jury returned a $99,054.93 verdict for Sykes as compensatory damages. This compensatory damage award included $60,000 for emotional distress, awarded against McDowell in his official capacity. The jury also awarded $15,000 to Sykes in punitive damages against McDowell in his individual capacity. Thus, the jury's total damages awarded to Sykes were $114,054.93. The district court also ordered Sykes reinstated and awarded him attorney's fees.

III. CONTENTIONS

McDowell argues that this case should have been dismissed at the pleading stage on the basis of res judicata. If the suit properly survived the bar of res judicata, then McDowell argues that it should not have been submitted to the jury; submission to the jury of Interrogatory 1 indicates that the district court did not determine that Sykes had alleged a first amendment protected activity. McDowell argues that because Sykes disavowed interest in supporting anyone politically, he did not engage in protected activity. Additionally, McDowell contends that the damages award was excessive.

We must decide four issues in this appeal. First, under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1738, did the adjudication in the Alabama state court system of the procedural issue of Sheriff McDowell's authority to fire Sykes bar litigation in federal district court of the merits of the firing?

Second, was the district court's submission to the jury of the question whether Sykes engaged in first amendment protected speech error?

Third, assuming the district court independently analyzed the legal status of Sykes's speech, did the court err in concluding that Sykes engaged in first amendment protected speech?

Fourth, were the punitive damages awarded by the jury excessive?

IV. RES JUDICATA

McDowell contends, because Sykes litigated in the Alabama courts, Title 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1738 precludes Sykes from bringing this suit. Under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1738, federal courts are required to give full faith and credit to judicial proceedings in the state courts. Section 1983, Title 42 U.S.C. claims are subject to the same rules of preclusion as any other claims. Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 97-98, 101 S.Ct. 411, 416-17, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980). This court has held that a prior state court affirmance of a state administrative ruling is entitled to res judicata and collateral estoppel effect in a subsequent federal civil rights action, if the party litigated the claim in the prior state court proceedings. Casines v. Murchek, 766 F.2d 1494, 1499 n. 9 (11th Cir.1985); Gorin v. Osborne, 756 F.2d 834 (11th Cir.1985).

The preclusive effect that the district court must accord depends on what preclusive effect Alabama law would accord the state court proceedings, and on whether Sykes litigated the constitutional issues surrounding his dismissal within the meaning of Casines. To determine these questions, we must decide what issues were litigated in the Alabama state courts. ²

After McDowell's personal firing of Sykes, the ECPB held that the sheriff lacked authority to cure an invalid firing. McDowell filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the circuit court, which held that the ECPB erred in concluding that Alabama law prevented the sheriff from curing a procedural defect in an earlier firing. The circuit court deferred to the ECPB's original determination that Sykes's conduct justified his dismissal. Sykes made an oral motion to intervene in McDowell's appeal to the circuit court. McDowell concedes that the appeals courts, which upheld the circuit court, only adjudicated the procedural question raised by Sykes: whether the writ of certiorari was an available remedy.

McDowell argues that under Alabama law, Sykes is barred from further litigation about his firing. McDowell cites Dominex Inc. v. Key, 456 So.2d 1047 (Ala.1984); Brooks v. Peoples National Bank in Huntsville, 414 So.2d 917 (Ala.1982); and ABC Truck Lines v. Kenemer, 247 Ala. 543, 25 So.2d 511 (1946) for the proposition that under Alabama law, res judicata applies to issues that could have been litigated.

Under Alabama law, a circuit court may review whether evidence supports the factual findings of a personnel review board and whether the board has made errors of law. See Phelps v. Public Commission, 46 Ala.App. 13, 237 So.2d 499 (1970); Baker v. Denniston-Boykin Co., 245 Ala. 407, 17 So.2d 148 (1944). Sykes therefore could have appealed the ECPB's adverse ruling to the circuit court raising his constitutional objections to his firing. The ruling of the ECPB, however, was favorable to Sykes on a threshold issue: whether McDowell could cure the procedural defect. Sykes's participation in the case at the circuit court was limited to urging the court to affirm the ECPB's procedural disposition. The final order of the circuit court reflects that the case before it was one of procedure. The court recites that the board had earlier "determined that the conduct of Terry Sykes constituted grounds for discharge" but does not make a finding that the grounds for the firing were proper. In...