Catinella v. Cnty. of Cook, 16-2278

• Decision Date: 31 January 2018
• Docket Number: No. 16-2278,16-2278
• Citation: 881 F.3d 514
• Parties: Michael CATINELLA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. COUNTY OF COOK, ILLINOIS, and Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

881 F.3d 514

Michael CATINELLA, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.COUNTY OF COOK, ILLINOIS, and Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 16-2278

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued May 18, 2017

Decided January 31, 2018

Anthony J. Peraica, Attorney, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Colleen B. Cavanaugh, Chaka M. Patterson, Attorneys, OFFICE OF THE COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before Bauer, Easterbrook, and Sykes, Circuit Judges.

Sykes, Circuit Judge.

Michael Catinella sued Cook County and its Department of Transportation for firing him under false pretenses in violation of his rights under the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and federal statutory provisions. The circumstances surrounding this event are filled with intrigue. The complaint describes a public-bidding process gone awry, an investigation to cover it up, coworkers who were jealous of Catinella’s promotion, a confiscated knife, false reports to police that Catinella threatened to "shoot up the workplace," and an arrest on a charge of disorderly conduct—all leading up to the abrupt termination of his employment with the County. What the complaint does not show, however, is how this whirlwind of alleged unfairness violates any federal constitutional or statutory provision. After giving Catinella two chances to plead a plausible claim for relief, the district judge dismissed the case with prejudice.

We affirm. To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must include "enough details about the subject-matter of the case to present a story that holds together." Swanson v. Citibank, N.A. , 614 F.3d 400, 404 (7th Cir. 2010). Catinella certainly spins an elaborate story, but it doesn’t cohere around any plausible constitutional or statutory violation. The judge was right to dismiss the case.

I. Background

The amended complaint is the operative pleading, so we take the following factual account from that document. The picture it paints is disjointed and murky at best. We add the usual caution that these are just allegations.

Catinella worked for the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways from January 1994 to March 2013. He was well regarded by his peers and supervisors—so much so that in 2009 the Department promoted him from machinist to a supervisory position. Before January 2013 Catinella was never disciplined.

In August 2012 Cook County conducted a round of bidding to award a fuel-pump contract. After bidding closed and the winner was announced, a losing bidder complained and tried to make a second bid. The complaint does not provide any additional information about the fuel-pump contract, the bidding process, the reason for the losing bidder’s complaint, or how Catinella fits into the story. All it tells us is that in mid-August investigators from the Office of the Independent Inspector General met with Catinella and his attorney regarding an investigation into the bidding process. Investigators asked Catinella to sign two documents relating to the probe but he refused. They warned Catinella that he could lose his job if he did not sign the documents, but he again refused. The complaint does not describe the contents of the documents or provide any further details about the investigation.

In the middle of this interview, investigators suddenly asked Catinella if he was carrying a weapon. Catinella admitted that he had a small knife that he used in his work as a machinist. At the investigators’ request, Catinella handed the knife over to his lawyer. The investigators did not confiscate it, nor was Catinella subject to further inquiry or discipline at that time.

Nothing untoward happened for the next four months. Then on January 24, 2013, five of Catinella’s coworkers filed a grievance complaining that Catinella was getting extra work privileges: a car, a cell phone, significant overtime, and a higher-rated position for longer than 180 days. Although five employees joined the complaint, only one of them actually signed the grievance.

On February 2 Catinella was told that he was being placed on emergency leave with pay pending an investigation. Two days later he received a letter informing him that he was placed on emergency suspension as a result of unspecified "major causes" under the Cook County personnel rules.

Around this same time, an investigator with the Cook County Bureau of Administration alerted the Cook County Sheriff’s Department that Catinella may be a threat to the workplace. On February 5 the investigator brought four witnesses to the department to give statements regarding an alleged threat by Catinella to "shoot up the workplace." The witnesses gave inconsistent accounts about what happened. Some of their stories were based on third-party accounts, and some were not even physically present at the location where Catinella worked and couldn’t have witnessed any alleged threat. Another employee, Gary Roden, contradicted the statements of the four witnesses; Roden stated that he had "never seen [Catinella] make any alleged threat at all relevant times." The Sheriff’s Department contacted Catinella and asked him to turn himself in. He complied the following day and was charged with disorderly conduct and released on bond.

On February 8 the Inspector General’s Office issued a summary report finding that Catinella possessed a weapon while at work in violation of Cook County personnel rules and the Illinois Criminal Code. Catinella’s complaint vaguely alleges that the report was procedurally irregular. He alleges that Cook County rules and procedures require a hearing and any disciplinary action within 30 days of an alleged infraction. The knife incident occurred approximately six months earlier.

On February 22 the Department of Transportation notified Catinella that a predisciplinary meeting would be held on February 28. At the meeting Catinella was not allowed to confront any complaining witnesses; the Inspector General’s Office did not produce the knife or any other physical evidence; Catinella was not allowed to question any of the investigators; and he did not have legal representation. On March 5, 2013, Cook County fired Catinella for possessing a weapon and making a threat of violence in the workplace.

Two days later the Inspector General’s Office interviewed another employee on suspicion of possessing a knife for work purposes. A knife was confiscated, but the employee never faced a disciplinary hearing or suffered disciplinary action for possessing it.

At the end of March, Catinella filed a grievance alleging that he was fired without justification. The grievance was denied three times. (The redundancy is not explained.) On October 4 the disorderly conduct charge was dropped when the complaining witnesses did not appear.

In early 2015 Catinella filed suit against Cook County and its Department of Transportation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging violations of procedural and substantive due process. He also alleged a confusing race-based retaliation claim under 42 U.S.C §§ 1981 and 1983, the latter apparently based on an equal-protection theory. The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. The judge granted the motion and dismissed the complaint, but she gave Catinella an opportunity to amend it.

In due course, Catinella tried again. The defendants moved to dismiss the amended complaint for again failing to state any plausible claim for relief. The judge granted the motion and dismissed the case with prejudice. Catinella appealed.

II. Discussion

To avoid dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a complaint must contain "factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." McCauley v. City of Chicago , 671 F.3d 611, 615 (7th Cir. 2011) (quoting Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) ). At a minimum the complaint "must give enough details about the subject-matter of the case to present a story that holds together." Swanson , 614 F.3d at 404. " ‘[L]egal conclusions can provide the framework of a complaint’ so long as they are ‘supported by factual allegations.’ "

Engel v. Buchan , 710 F.3d 698, 709 (7th Cir. 2013) (quoting Iqbal , 556 U.S. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937 ). We review the judge’s dismissal order de novo. Adams v. City of Indianapolis , 742 F.3d 720, 727 (7th Cir. 2014).

Catinella alleges that Cook County and its Department of Transportation deprived him of property without due process of law, violated his right to substantive due process, and retaliated against him in violation of §§ 1981 and 1983. His complaint does not, however, plausibly allege a factual basis for any of these claimed constitutional or statutory violations.

A. Procedural Due Process

The Fourteenth Amendment forbids state and local governments from depriving "any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1. Catinella’s due-process claim rests on an alleged deprivation of a property—i.e., his job. To state a due-process claim of this type, the complaint must plausibly allege that the plaintiff was deprived of a cognizable property interest. Forgue v. City of Chicago , 873 F.3d 962, 969 (7th Cir. 2017).

"Property interests are not created by the Constitution, ‘they are created and their dimensions are defined by existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state law.’ " Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill , 470 U.S. 532, 538, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 84 L.Ed.2d 494 (1985) (quoting Bd. of Regents of State Colls. v. Roth , 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972) ). Under Illinois law a public employee has a protected property interest in his job only if continued employment is guaranteed by "a specific ordinance, state law, contract or understanding limiting the ability of the state or state...