Boreen v. Christensen
| Decision Date | 22 November 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-616,93-616 |
| Citation | 267 Mont. 405,884 P.2d 761 |
| Parties | Katharine S. BOREEN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. George CHRISTENSEN, a/k/a George P. Christensen, a/k/a "Chris" Christensen, and F. Guy Youngblood, acting individually and in the capacities of administrative officers of the Department of Military Affairs, State of Montana, Defendants and Respondents. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Peter Michael Meloy, Meloy & Morrison, Helena, for appellant.
Joseph P. Mazurek, Atty. Gen., James Scheier, Asst. Atty. Gen., Helena, for respondents.
Stanley T. Kaleczyc, Browning, Kaleczyc, Berry & Hoven, Helena, for amicus, Mont. League of Cities and Towns and Mont. Ass'n of Counties.
This is an appeal from an order of the First Judicial District Court, Lewis and Clark County, dismissing the complaint of plaintiff/appellant Katharine S. Boreen (Boreen) alleging constructive discharge from her employment and violations of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 (§ 1983) and 1988. We reverse and remand.
The sole issue on appeal is whether the District Court erred in dismissing Boreen's complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted because she did not have a property interest in her employment and, therefore, no due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Boreen's complaint alleges that she was employed by the Montana Department of Military Affairs until she was terminated on April 13, 1990. The complaint states that George Christensen (Christensen) and F. Guy Youngblood (Youngblood) "render[ed] her working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person under the circumstances would have no other choice but to resign." She further alleges that, by virtue of the personnel policies of the State of Montana, she could not be terminated (constructively discharged) without just cause, and that she had a property interest in her employment by reason of these policies.
Christensen and Youngblood were administrative officers at the Montana Department of Military Affairs who, according to Boreen, "acting as individuals, and acting under color of state law, in their capacities as administrative officers of the Department of Military Affairs" deprived her of her property interest in employment by constructively terminating her without due process of law. She sought an award of compensatory and general damages and attorney fees.
Boreen filed her complaint on April 5, 1993. On July 2, 1993, Youngblood filed a motion to dismiss the complaint and for a protective order. The District Court heard argument on the motion to dismiss and protective order and granted leave to file an amended complaint on July 7, 1993. On July 19, 1993, Youngblood filed an answer to the amended complaint, stating that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. He also filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint as well as a motion for summary judgment. Counsel for both parties argued the motion to dismiss and for summary judgment on August 26, 1993. On November 16, 1993, the District Court issued its order, granting the motion to dismiss, concluding that Boreen had no property interest in her state employment and therefore, had failed to state a claim under § 1983. This appeal followed.
Our standard of review of district court rulings on motions to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), M.R.Civ.P., is set forth in Willson v. Taylor (1981), 194 Mont. 123, 634 P.2d 1180:
A complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief. A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), M.R.Civ.P., has the effect of admitting all well-pleaded allegations in the complaint. In considering the motion, the complaint is construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and all allegations of fact contained therein are taken as true.
Willson, 634 P.2d at 1182. (Citations omitted.) The District Court's determination that Boreen's complaint failed to state a claim is a conclusion of law. Our standard of review of the trial court's conclusions of law is whether the tribunal's interpretation of the law is correct. Steer Inc. v. Department of Revenue (1990), 245 Mont. 470, 474-75, 803 P.2d 601, 603.
Boreen contends that the personnel policies of the State of Montana provide her with a property interest in continued employment of which she cannot be deprived without due process of law and which is sufficient to trigger the remedial protection of § 1983. Those personnel policies, found in Title 2, Chapter 21, sub-chapter 65 of the Administrative Rules of Montana (ARM) are set forth in pertinent part as Appendix A to this opinion.
The State counters that Boreen was an "at will" employee and that, pursuant to § 39-2-503, MCA, and applicable case law, she has no property interest in continued employment. The State further contends that the "just cause" provisions in its personnel policies on which Boreen bases her claim do not create a property interest in employment.
Boreen argues, and we agree, that the United States Supreme Court's decision in Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill (1985), 470 U.S. 532, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 84 L.Ed.2d 494, and other pertinent case law, should serve as our guide in deciding this issue of first impression--whether the "just cause" provisions of the administrative regulations which comprise the personnel policies of the State of Montana create a property interest in employment sufficient to trigger the due process protections afforded by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and the remedial protections afforded under § 1983.
Loudermill involved a security guard's challenge to his dismissal by the Cleveland Board of Education. On his job application Loudermill erroneously stated that he had never been convicted of a felony. Subsequently, on discovering that he had been convicted of grand larceny, the Board dismissed him for dishonesty in filling out his job application.
In his suit in federal district court, Loudermill claimed that his due process rights were violated because he was discharged without an opportunity to respond to the charges against him and to challenge his dismissal prior to his removal from his position. Under Ohio law, Loudermill was a "classified civil servant" subject to termination only for cause and with the right to obtain administrative review upon discharge from employment. Loudermill reached the United States Supreme Court with a companion case presenting the same issue involving Donnelly, a bus mechanic employed by the Parma Board of Education.
In reviewing the precedential underpinnings for its decision, the Loudermill Court set forth certain basic legal principles that govern the application of due process protection to employment termination cases:
Respondents' federal constitutional claim depends on their having had a property right in continued employment. Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 576-578 [92 S.Ct. 2701, 2708-10, 33 L.Ed.2d 548] (1972); Reagan v. United States, 182 U.S. 419, 425 [21 S.Ct. 842, 845, 45 L.Ed. 1162] (1901). If they did, the State could not deprive them of this property without due process. See Memphis Light, Gas & Water Div. v. Craft, 436 U.S. 1, 11-12 [98 S.Ct. 1554, 1561-62, 56 L.Ed.2d 30] (1978); Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565, 573-574 [95 S.Ct. 729, 735-36, 42 L.Ed.2d 725] (1975).
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...." Board of Regents v. Roth, supra, 408 U.S. at 577, 92 S.Ct. at 2709. See also Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693, 709 [96 S.Ct. 1155, 1164, 47 L.Ed.2d 405] (1976).
Loudermill, 470 U.S. at 538, 105 S.Ct. at 1491.
Concluding that the Ohio statute at issue created such a property interest, the court observed that Loudermill was a " 'classified civil service employe[e],' entitled to retain [his] positio[n] 'during good behavior and efficient service,' who could not be dismissed 'except ... for ... misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in office.' " (Citation omitted.) This statute, the court determined, supported the conclusion that Loudermill had a property interest in his continued employment by the school district.
Rejecting outright the position of the plurality in Arnett v. Kennedy (1974), 416 U.S. 134, 94 S.Ct. 1633, 40 L.Ed.2d 15, that the employee's property right is defined by, and conditioned on, the legislature's choice of procedures for its deprivation, the Loudermill court stated:
... the Due Process Clause provides that certain substantive rights--life, liberty, and property--cannot be deprived except pursuant to constitutionally adequate procedures. The categories of substance and procedure are distinct. Were the rule otherwise, the Clause would be reduced to a mere tautology. "Property" cannot be defined by the procedures provided for its deprivation any more than can life or liberty. The right to due process
Loudermill, 470 U.S. at 541, 105 S.Ct. at 1493. (Citation omitted.)
The court then proceeded to delineate what administrative process was due Loudermill according to the due process guarantees of the federal constitution and prior case law. The court concluded that due process simply required oral or written notice to the employee with an explanation of the...
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