Atcherson v. Siebenmann

• Decision Date: 07 September 1978
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 76-33-D.
• Parties: Esther ATCHERSON, Plaintiff, v. Hon. Judge John SIEBENMANN, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Iowa

458 F. Supp. 526

Esther ATCHERSON, Plaintiff, v. Hon. Judge John SIEBENMANN, Defendant.

Civ. No. 76-33-D.

United States District Court, S. D. Iowa, Davenport Division.

September 7, 1978.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Gordon E. Allen, Director, Civil Liberties Union, Des Moines, Iowa, for plaintiff.

Stephen C. Robinson, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Des Moines, Iowa, for defendant.

ORDER

STUART, Chief Judge.

Magistrate Longstaff's Memorandum Opinion filed in the above-entitled action on September 1, 1978 is before the Court for review. The Court finds that said opinion was rendered after a full trial before the Magistrate with the consent of the parties under a stipulation executed January 13, 1978. The Court has examined said opinion for manifest error and has found none. However the Court has some concern with the use of the term "ministerial". The Court therefore amends the Magistrate's Memorandum Opinion and Order as follows:

1. The last complete sentence on page 534 of the Memorandum Opinion is stricken and the following sentence is inserted in lieu thereof:

Such absolute immunity, however, extends only to judicial actions and does not include nonjudicial activities.

The citations which follow shall remain.

2. The word "ministerial" in the first line of the second complete paragraph on page 535 is stricken and the word "nonjudicial" is inserted in lieu thereof.

Therefore, the Court adopts the Magistrate's Memorandum Opinion as herein amended as that of the Court and hereby authorizes and directs the Clerk of the Court to enter judgment pursuant thereto.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

R. E. LONGSTAFF, United States Magistrate.

Plaintiff, Esther Atcherson, a former deputy probation officer with the Johnson County, Iowa, Juvenile Probation Office, brought this action pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1871, Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging deprivation of certain constitutional rights arising under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment. Jurisdiction of this Court is premised upon Title 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343. Specifically, Plaintiff contends that because of the exercise of her First Amendment right of free speech, her employment was terminated by the Defendant in his exercise of authority under Section 231.8 Iowa Code (1975).

On January 13, 1978 the parties to the above-entitled action consented to trial of the case to the undersigned United States Magistrate. Trial was held on July 17 and 18, 1978. Mr. Gordon E. Allen, Legal Director, Iowa Civil Liberties Union, appeared for the Plaintiff. Mr. Stephen C. Robinson, Special Assistant Attorney General, State of Iowa, appeared for the Defendant. Pursuant to the Court's direction, written final arguments were filed on August 1, 1978.¹

Findings of Fact

Plaintiff, Esther Atcherson, is a resident of Johnson County in the State of Iowa. On October 1, 1967, she became a deputy probation officer with the Johnson County Juvenile Probation Office. Initially, Plaintiff was a half-time employee. She later was promoted to three-quarter time and was employed on a full-time basis for 17 months prior to May 5, 1975, at which time Plaintiff submitted a letter of resignation.

Defendant, Hon. Judge John Siebenmann, assumed his duties as an elected Municipal Court Judge on January 1, 1972 in and for Linn County. On September 1, 1973 he was appointed by the Chief Judge of the District to serve as the full-time Juvenile Court Judge for the Sixth Judicial District of Iowa, including Jones, Linn, Johnson, Benton, Iowa and Tama Counties. In August of 1977 Judge Siebenmann was transferred back to Cedar Rapids to serve in Linn County Court where his present assignment is rotational from small claims, simple misdemeanors and traffic cases. The Defendant was at all times material hereto the Juvenile Court Judge for Johnson County. In that capacity, Defendant was the hiring and firing authority over the Juvenile Probation Officers and also possessed the authority to set salaries, pursuant to Section 231.8 Iowa Code (1975), which reads in pertinent part: ". . . All probation officers so appointed shall serve at the pleasure of the juvenile court judge or judges."² Judge Siebenmann was thereby vested with the final administrative authority over the Probation Office. The Chief Probation Officer, H. A. Wickes, reported to the Judge on a regular basis.

The Johnson County Probation Office, during the time at issue, consisted of the Chief Probation Officer, Mr. Wickes, two Deputy Probation Officers, Jerry Smithey and the Plaintiff, and a secretary, Ruth Steele. Members of the staff reported to Mr. Wickes who then reported directly to Judge Siebenmann.

Given the size of the Johnson County Probation Office, it was operated on a generally informal basis. Wickes made case assignments, but from that point the deputies operated on their own. There were no written office guidelines until August 15, 1974.³

Plaintiff Atcherson was a well-qualified Probation Officer with a recognized dedication to her profession, and to the juveniles under her supervision. However, she possessed an aggressive personality that tended to promote friction in her dealings with other professional people involved in the care of the juveniles. This aggressiveness, although often well-intentioned and on behalf of juveniles under her supervision, created conflict between the Plaintiff and Mr. Wickes, the office of the County Attorney, and the Department of Social Services.

While the Plaintiff was decisive and tended to take charge, her immediate superior, Mr. Wickes was indecisive and tended to seek advice and counsel of Judge Siebenmann and others on the most routine matters. Wickes often complained to Judge Seibenmann that he had difficulty dealing with his deputy, Esther Atcherson. This difficulty was created both by the Plaintiff's aggressiveness and Mr. Wickes' weaknesses as an administrator and supervisor.

Defendant, Judge Siebenmann, met with Mr. Wickes each week to discuss Probation Office administrative and personnel problems. The meeting was usually a luncheon at which Wickes would report to Judge Siebenmann regarding the operation of the Probation Office. Wickes complained of difficulty with the Plaintiff at the initial meetings and continued to so complain throughout the time relevant to this case. Judge Siebenmann obtained nearly all of his information regarding the Plaintiff's performance from Wickes. The Judge made no independent investigation of any kind.⁴ Because his schedule was taken up with other matters, Judge Siebenmann relied completely on the reports of Wickes that Plaintiff Atcherson had refused Wickes' direct orders when she disagreed, that she kept poor records, that she had made an unauthorized trip to St. Louis, and that she was insubordinate. Those reports are not supported by the record in this case.

As well as these general allegations of misconduct by the Plaintiff, there were specific incidents set out as evidence of the Plaintiff's inappropriate behavior. Those incidents include deletion of a portion of a psychological report to the juvenile court, a memorandum written by the Plaintiff to the local Department of Social Services, and a letter written to an assistant county attorney.

In July of 1974 the Plaintiff submitted a report to the Court concerning a male juvenile in which the Plaintiff had deleted a portion of the psychological report. The juvenile court (a judge other than the Defendant) was disturbed about the deletion and found it to be highly improper to conceal some of the information in the psychological report from the counsel in the case. Plaintiff Atcherson had not previously edited such a report and, although she was not informed at the time it was improper procedure or disciplined in any way, she did not do so subsequently.

In her communication with other agencies dealing with juveniles, such as the Department of Social Services, the Plaintiff was often less than tactful in her observations and criticism. One particular memorandum the Plaintiff sent the Department of Social Services was characterized as insulting by Judge Siebenmann. The memorandum was a harsh criticism of the job a social worker was doing.⁵

On August 15, 1974, a memorandum on office policy was issued by the Chief Probation Officer, Wickes, after it was approved by the Defendant. That memorandum was issued in response to difficulties Wickes was having with his deputy, the Plaintiff. It was the first statement of office policy made in any written form. The memorandum addressed general operating procedures, scheduling of regular conferences on cases, and the channeling of all out-going materials through the Chief Probation Officer, Mr. Wickes. Item 10 in the memorandum stated "All interagency correspondence will be channelled across the desk of the CPO for notation with the exception of previously approved reports, etc." and was directly in response to the memorandum Plaintiff had sent to the Department of Social Services, discussed above.

Plaintiff complied with the directives of the August 15, 1974 memorandum in her future activities in the Probation Office. The only incident claimed as a reason for seeking the Plaintiff's resignation which occurred subsequent to the August 15, 1974 memorandum was a letter she wrote in reply to a letter from Assistant County Attorney Daniel Bray. In order to discuss that incident, the Court must trace some history of a girls' group home with which the Plaintiff was involved.

During the course of her employment Plaintiff prepared materials for application for federal funding of a girls' group home, which application was ultimately approved by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors and the Iowa Crime Commission. With funds from the grant, Johnson County purchased a residence to be used for the group home. The premises was a pre-existing halfway house which terminated its program,...