Adams v. Sewell
| Citation | 946 F.2d 757 |
| Decision Date | 04 November 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-3645,90-3645 |
| Parties | 57 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 433, 57 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,084, 34 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 390 James L. ADAMS, II, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Thomas R. SEWELL, et al., Defendants, Board of County Commissioners of Orange County, Florida, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) |
G. Yates Rumbley, Orlando, Fla., for defendant-appellant.
William D. Rowland, Winter Park, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Before KRAVITCH and BIRCH, Circuit Judges, and DYER, Senior Circuit Judge.
Appellee James Adams sued the Board of County Commissioners of Orange County, Florida (the "County"), and several individual County officials, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 after his County employment was terminated following an investigation into charges that Adams sexually harassed a probationary employee in his department. Adams claimed, among other things, that the County's investigation violated his constitutional rights to substantive and procedural due process of law. At trial, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida directed a verdict on all claims in favor of the individual defendants. The jury ultimately awarded Adams $314,167 in damages on his due process claims against the County, and the County has appealed that award to this court. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM the jury verdict in this case.
Adams was employed in the County's Environmental Protection Department (the "Department") from 1972 through January, 1987. Adams had risen to the position of Environmental Coordinator by August of 1986, when he hired Linda Mingarelli as a chemist in the Department. Adams was one of Mingarelli's supervisors once she began working in the Department.
In December, 1986, Adams complained about Mingarelli's job performance to John Bateman, the Department manager. Mingarelli was still considered a probationary employee at that time. Adams expressed concern that Mingarelli failed to follow established procedures for laboratory analysis and quality control before signing off on numerous reports that allegedly contained serious errors. Bateman's secretary overheard this conversation and told Mingarelli, who responded that Adams was angry because she had resisted his persistent social advances on several occasions. Bateman's secretary informed Bateman of Mingarelli's accusations, and Bateman met with both Adams and Mingarelli to discuss the situation on December 9, 1986. After several heated conversations, Bateman told both parties that he would postpone resolution of the matter until after the holidays to reduce the emotional intensity of the dispute. R5-312.
On December 18, 1986, Bateman told Adams that Thomas Sewell, the County Administrator, wanted them to attend a meeting at his office the next day. Bateman did not discuss the agenda for the meeting. When they arrived at Sewell's office, Adams was informed for the first time that two anonymous phone callers had accused him of sexually harassing Mingarelli. Id. at 311. An Assistant County Administrator, Jean Bennett, had already interviewed Mingarelli with respect to the charges. Adams was asked to respond orally to the accusations against him; he denied the harassment charge and discussed the errors he had found in Mingarelli's laboratory records. Adams was then asked if he had ever had a sexual relationship with a County employee, and he admitted to an extended relationship with a female chemist approximately six years earlier. R8-982.
At the close of the meeting, Sewell ordered that Adams be placed on paid personal leave until the County completed its inquiry into the matter. Adams was told not to speak with any member of the Department during the pendency of the investigation. Immediately after the meeting, Bateman and Robert Baker, the County Personnel Director, offered Adams an opportunity to resign without further investigation. Baker told Adams that employees who are accused of sexual harassment rarely win, but Adams refused to resign. R5-325-26.
The County disclosed the results of its investigation in a letter to Adams dated December 29, 1986. The letter stated that Plaintiff's Exhibit ("PX") 22. Adams was given until 3 p.m. on Monday, January 5, 1987, the first working day after the holidays, to rebut the unspecified charges against him or "offer an acceptable resignation." Id.
Adams's attorney responded to the County's letter on December 30, 1986. The response affirmed that Adams would not resign, and requested copies of certain records in the County's possession that were relevant to the dispute. The County did not provide the requested copies, but subsequently compiled sworn statements from several County employees who had been interviewed during its investigation. A copy of those statements was included in the County's written report on the investigation, which was mailed to Adams with a cover letter dated January 15, 1987. The cover letter informed Adams that his employment was terminated effective January 16, 1987; the County report alleged evidence of insubordination, improper management of and retaliation against subordinate employees, and abuse of authority. Defendants' Exhibit ("DX") 34.
On January 26, 1987, Adams initiated Step I of the County's three-step administrative grievance procedure by submitting a written complaint to his Department manager, and Bateman rejected Adams's claims on February 2. The second step of the process offered Adams a chance to present his grievance in a personal meeting with the division director, John McGarry. The Step II meeting was held on February 12, 1987, and Adams's attorney began informal settlement negotiations with the County Attorney, John Gehrig, after the meeting. The County grievance proceedings were postponed for several months while the parties attempted to settle the case, and McGarry never prepared a record of the Step II meeting. Finally, in June, 1987, Adams threatened to restart the grievance process unless his settlement demands were met. At that time, the County asserted that a settlement agreement was already in place and the matter was closed.
In September, 1987, Adams sought reinstatement to his former job by filing a petition for writ of mandamus in the Circuit Court in and for Orange County, Florida (the "state court"). The County asserted that Adams had agreed to a binding settlement, and the state court held a hearing on October 13, 1988, to decide whether the parties had settled the dispute. See PX 57. The County Attorney, John Gehrig, was the County's only witness at the hearing. The state court did not grant Adams's request for reinstatement, but found that the matter was not settled and that the parties had abandoned the County's grievance process by mutual consent during settlement negotiations. The court issued a writ of mandamus for another Step II meeting between Adams and the new division director, to be followed by a formal Step III hearing if Adams so requested.
After the state court hearing, Adams and his attorney were permitted to review Mingarelli's laboratory records and reports for the first time since the start of the grievance process. The review took place in Gehrig's office, but the county attorney refused to permit copying or removal of the records from his office. The second Step II meeting was held on November 4, 1988, and Adams's termination was upheld shortly thereafter. Adams then requested a Step III hearing before the County's Grievance Adjustment Board.
The Step III hearing was postponed twice, and Adams filed his complaint in federal district court on January 18, 1989, before the Step III hearing actually occurred. Adams alleges that the County insisted upon completion of the Step III hearing, although this case was pending at that time. The Step III hearing occurred on February 8, 1989, and the termination was affirmed by the County's Grievance Adjustment Board. Adams filed two appeals in the Florida state courts: the first sought review of the state court decision to deny his request for reinstatement, and the second appealed the results of the Step III hearing. 1
The trial of this case in the district court began on April 11, 1990, and the jury returned a verdict for Adams against the County on April 20, 1990. Among other things, Adams contended at trial that the entire administrative process, including the Step III hearing, was a sham, and that the results of the County's investigation did not justify the decision to terminate his employment. The jury found that the County violated Adams's right to procedural due process of law in connection with his termination, and also that the County's decision to terminate was arbitrary, capricious, and pretextual in light of the stated reasons for the decision. The County has appealed the jury verdict to this court.
The County first contends that this action is barred by res judicata, because Adams allegedly was afforded a full and fair opportunity to litigate his federal claims in the state court when he filed his petition for writ of mandamus. The Supreme Court has held that "issues actually litigated in a state-court proceeding are entitled to the same preclusive effect in a subsequent federal § 1983 suit as they enjoy in the courts of the State where the judgment was rendered." Migra v. Warren City School Dist. Bd. of Educ., 465 U.S. 75, 83, 104 S.Ct. 892, 897, 79 L.Ed.2d 56 (1984). In Migra, the preclusive effect was explicitly extended to bar federal claims that "a § 1983 litigant could have raised but did not raise in the...
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