Clark v. Township of Falls
| Decision Date | 22 November 1989 |
| Docket Number | 89-1227,89-1228,Nos. 89-1226,s. 89-1226 |
| Citation | 890 F.2d 611 |
| Parties | David CLARK v. TOWNSHIP OF FALLS and James Kettler, individually and as Chief of Police of the Township of Falls and Charles Chimera, individually and as former Supervisor, Chairman of the Board of the Township of Falls, and August Baur, individually and as Township Manager of the Township of Falls. Appeal of Charles CHIMERA. David CLARK v. TOWNSHIP OF FALLS and James Kettler, individually and as Chief of Police of the Township of Falls and Charles Chimera, individually and as former Supervisor, Chairman of the Board of the Township of Falls, and August Baur, individually and as Township Manager of the Township of Falls. Appeal of TOWNSHIP OF FALLS and James Kettler. David CLARK, Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. TOWNSHIP OF FALLS and James Kettler, individually and as Chief of Police of the Township of Falls and Charles Chimera, individually and as former Supervisor, Chairman of the Board of the Township of Falls, and August Baur, individually and as Township Manager of the Township of Falls. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Joseph M. Fioravanti, Edward T. Lawlor, Jr. (Argued), Curran, Winning & Fioravanti, P.C., Media, Pa., for appellant/cross-appellee, Charles Chimera.
Kenneth L. Oliver, Jr. (Argued), Obermayer, Rebmann, Maxwell & Hippel, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellant/cross-appellee, Township of Falls.
Thomas W. Jennings, Thomas H. Kohn (Argued), Sagot & Jennings, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellant/cross-appellee, James Kettler.
Robert O. Baldi (Argued), Baldi & Cepparulo, P.C., New Hope, Pa., for appellee/cross-appellant, David Clark.
Before GIBBONS, Chief Judge, and SLOVITER and GREENBERG, Circuit Judges.
This appeal marks the latest skirmish in a regrettable and unseemly decade-long battle between appellee David Clark, on one hand, and one faction of supervisors and other officials in the Township of Falls, Pennsylvania, on the other hand. Over the years Clark, a lieutenant in the township police department, and appellants, the Township, Chief of Police James Kettler, and Charles Chimera, a former member of the Township's Board of Supervisors, have disagreed, often vehemently and vociferously, on the governance of the Township and of the police department and on Clark's role in the police department.
Clark brought this suit on May 3, 1988 under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 contending that defendants had taken actions against him that violated his rights under the United States Constitution and state law. At the close of trial, the jury found that the Township and Chimera had violated Clark's First Amendment rights, that the Township had deprived Clark of a property interest in his employment, that the Township, Chimera, and Chief Kettler had deprived him of a liberty interest in his reputation, that all three had also deprived him of procedural due process, and that Chimera and Kettler had intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon him. The jury awarded Clark compensatory damages against the Township in the amount of $50,000 and against Kettler and Chimera in the amount of $10,000 each, and punitive damages against Kettler and Chimera in the amounts of $10,000 and $30,000 respectively. 1 At the close of Clark's case defendants moved for a directed verdict and, after the verdict was rendered, moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial. The motions were denied. Defendants then filed a timely notice of appeal.
Defendants have raised myriad contentions on appeal. The most compelling is that the relevant evidence before the jury did not support the jury's findings of liability. In addition, Clark has brought a cross-appeal from the district court's orders denying his motions to amend his complaint.
In reviewing the jury's verdict we must consider the evidence adduced at trial in the light most favorable to Clark, as the verdict winner. See Hahn v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 625 F.2d 1095, 1099 (3d Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 981, 101 S.Ct. 1516, 67 L.Ed.2d 816 (1981). However, for the purpose of determining whether there was evidence before the jury to support its findings, we can rely only on relevant evidence. In this connection, we note that Clark has not appealed the district court's ruling, made on defendants' pretrial motion for summary judgment, that the Pennsylvania two-year statute of limitations applicable to section 1983 claims barred Clark from basing his claims on acts that occurred prior to May 3, 1986.
The trial court did permit testimony concerning events prior to May 3, 1986 to be admitted into evidence in order to show context, motive, and pattern. In determining whether there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict, however, we must focus on conduct that took place from May 3, 1986, the beginning of the applicable statute of limitations period.
The Township of Falls is a second class Pennsylvania township governed by a five member Board of Supervisors. Daily business is handled by a township manager who is appointed by the Board. Chimera was a supervisor from January 1976 until December 1987. He was Chairman of the Board of Supervisors several times, the last being from January 1986 until December 1987. Traditionally, the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors often makes decisions and issues directions individually. Kettler is Chief of Police of the Township of Falls. He has held that position since 1978, except that he was suspended in August 1985, discharged in November 1985, and then reinstated by a state court in March 1986.
There was evidence at trial that in 1981 Clark filed a prior civil rights action against the Township and Kettler, that the action against the Township was dismissed but that in 1983 Clark received a jury award of compensatory and punitive damages against Kettler which the parties thereafter settled, that Chimera was furious, and that, unknown to Clark, Chimera threatened to get even with him.
According to Clark's testimony, after his first lawsuit he was subjected to a series of harassing actions and unjustified public intimations of wrongdoing and even accusations. For example, shortly after the settlement with Kettler, a document critical of Clark was distributed throughout the Township and there was testimony that Chimera oversaw production of the document. That document, captioned The Blue Code of Silence, charged that Clark engaged in various instances of police misconduct. Clark rebutted each charge point by point at trial.
In 1983, it was discovered that $2,500 was missing from police funds. As part of an investigation by an independent investigator, Clark was required to submit to a polygraph test in 1984. Subsequently, a newspaper article reported that all employees presently working at the Township had been cleared.
In the spring of 1985, Clark, who was then acting police chief because Kettler was away, compiled a list of police equipment and supplies needed by the police department which was submitted to the Supervisors with the approval of Chief Kettler. Thereafter, Clark was investigated by the District Attorney. He was also required to appear before a grand jury in the summer or fall of 1985 because some of the equipment ordered consisted of a parabolic microphone and another secret listening device which may have been illegal. At the direction of his attorney who believed Clark was being set up, Clark pleaded the Fifth Amendment before the grand jury; thereafter numerous articles appeared in the newspapers reporting his use of the Fifth Amendment.
In December 1985, Clark was called to a meeting of the Board and as he entered Chimera "gave [him] the Nazi salute and yelled Seig Heil like the Nazi storm troopers." App. at 217. Clark immediately left the meeting.
In January 1986, after two candidates for supervisor allied with Chimera were elected to the Board, Chimera moved to demote Clark and several other police officers. When another supervisor accused Chimera of maintaining a "hit list", Chimera retorted that he had a hit list and that he would show how it could be used. At its February meeting, the Board voted to demote the officers Chimera had suggested, except that Clark was not demoted after another supervisor warned the Board they might be sued by Clark again.
In the summer of 1986, the Bucks County District Attorney, at the request of the two new supervisors aligned with Chimera, convened a grand jury to investigate whether anonymous campaign literature disparaging the two supervisors had been distributed in violation of state law during their election campaign in 1985. Clark, who was subpoenaed, told the grand jury that allegations that he had helped produce the literature with others at his home were patently false because he and his wife were separated at that time and he lived elsewhere.
Although Clark received a letter from the District Attorney "some months later saying [Clark] didn't do it," App. at 224, the issue emerged again in late 1987, when Officer Wayne Cloud gave a statement to Lieutenant John Rendeiro accusing Clark, inter alia, of having been involved in the production of illegal campaign literature. Rendeiro gave the statement to Chief Kettler, and Cloud's statement was sent to the District Attorney's office. The portion of the statement relating to campaign literature was anonymously placed in the office mailbox of Supervisor Gowton, who was allied with Chimera and who displayed the pages to the press and the public during the recess of a January 1988 township meeting.
At the same meeting, District Justice Vislosky stated that she believed that Clark was being investigated by the Township. The Board went into executive session and announced through the Township Solicitor that the matter had been referred to the District Attorney's office and that Clark was under an...
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