Brennan v. Norton
| Decision Date | 05 December 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-1898.,No. 01-1740.,No. 01-1648.,01-1648.,01-1740.,01-1898. |
| Parties | William J. BRENNAN v. William NORTON, individually and as Chief of the Teaneck Fire Department; John Bauer, individually and as Deputy Chief of the Teaneck Fire Department; Joseph Palazzola, individually and as Deputy Chief of the Teaneck Fire Department; Robert O'Neill, individually and as Captain of the Teaneck Fire Department; Gary Saage, individually and as Town Manager of the Township of Teaneck; Township of Teaneck, a Municipal Corporation Gary Saage; Township of Teaneck, Appellants in 01-1648 & 01-1898 William J. Brennan, Appellant in 01-1740. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
David Lew (Argued), Jeffrey M. Daitz, Peckar & Abramson, P.C., River Edge, NJ, for Appellants/Cross-Appellees Gary Saage & Township of Teaneck.
Jonathan I. Nirenberg, Elizabeth Watson Gramigna (Argued), Neil H. Deutsch, Deutsch Resnick & Green, Hackensack, NJ, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant William J. Brennan.
Before: McKEE and FUENTES, Circuit Judges, and POGUE, International Trade Judge.*
William J. Brennan, a firefighter employed by the Township of Teaneck, New Jersey Fire Department, filed this § 1983 action alleging that the Township of Teaneck, the Township Manager, and various supervisory members of the Teaneck Fire Department engaged in a campaign of harassment and retaliation against him in violation of his First Amendment right of expression after he spoke out on certain matters of public concern. Brennan's complaint also asserted a number of state law claims including a retaliation claim under New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act ("CEPA"), N.J. Stat. Ann. § 34:19-2. Cross-motions for summary judgment were filed, and the district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on all of the state law claims, but Brennan's § 1983 claim proceeded to trial.
The jury returned a verdict in Brennan's favor on the § 1983 claim and awarded him compensatory damages against all of the defendants, and punitive damages against the individual defendants. Brennan's victory was short lived, however, because the district court subsequently granted judgment as a matter of law to all of the individual defendants except the Township Manager. The court granted the Township Manager's motion for judgment as a matter of law only as to the award of punitive damages. This appeal and cross-appeal followed after the district court denied additional post verdict motions. For the reasons that follow, we will affirm in part and reverse in part.1
Brennan began working as a firefighter for the Teaneck Fire Department on April 19, 1993, and soon became active in Local 42 of the Firemen's Mutual Benevolent Association ("FMBA"), the firefighters' union. He was elected Secretary of the FMBA in November of 1993, and in 1994 he was elected to a one-year term as the FMBA's President. He was not reelected in 1995.
Gary Saage was Teaneck's Township Manager during the period relevant to this suit. As Township Manager, Saage's responsibilities included making promotions within the Fire Department and appointing the Fire Chief.
William Norton was a Captain in the Fire Department in the summer of 1994, but Saage promoted Norton to Fire Chief after Norton served only a brief tenure as Deputy Chief. As Chief, Norton was responsible for the efficient operation of the Department and generally in charge of extinguishing and preventing fires. He also had general responsibility for hazardous materials in the Township. Norton was also responsible for insuring the Fire Department's enforcement of laws and ordinances pertaining to extinguishing and preventing fires.
Brennan claims that he was an advocate for firefighters and fire safety. In July 1994, he openly opposed the Township's decision to close two of four fire stations because he believed that the closures would endanger the public. Brennan claimed that Teaneck's Township Council decided to close the stations pursuant to Saage's recommendation. Brennan's opposition included erecting signs, arranging for public announcements, distributing leaflets and expressing opposition in an interview he gave to a local reporter. Although there is some dispute about the relative roles Brennan and other firefighters played in opposing the closings, it is undisputed that Chief Norton, Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Palazzola and Captain Robert O'Neill, also openly opposed the fire station closings along with many rank-and-file firefighters. However, Brennan claims that his was the most vocal and prominent opposition and that his superiors, including Saage and Norton, were aware of it. Although both stations were closed despite opposition, they both reopened in July 1994, apparently in response to significant public pressure.
On July 26, 1994, Brennan reported that he had sustained an on-the-job shoulder injury. Under the FMBA's collective bargaining agreement with the Township, Brennan had an absolute right to Injury on Duty ("IOD") leave with pay for thirty calendar days. That agreement also provided that the thirty day leave period could be extended up to a maximum of one year at the discretion of the Township. Brennan began intermittently using his thirty days of paid IOD leave on July 27 and had exhausted it by December 26, 1994.
Brennan claimed that in October 1994, he publicized that the Township was circumventing directives from the "Fire Sub-Code Official." That official is responsible for assuring compliance with fire codes applicable to building construction. According to Brennan, Saage attempted to ignore the Sub-Code Official's directives regarding fire sprinklers in the police station; Brennan openly opposed Saage's attempts to circumvent those directives.
That same month, Saage proposed replacing the Fire Sub-Code Official with a civilian instead of a firefighter. According to Brennan, the Fire Sub-Code Official had always been a uniformed member of Teaneck's Fire Department, and Saage's plan to change that was also opposed by the then FMBA President and Chief Norton. Brennan claimed that he openly challenged Saage's proposal and that the entire Fire Department opposed it.
Brennan's opposition included placing an advertisement in a local newspaper as well as appearing at a televised Township Council meeting to explain why a civilian should not have been selected for the job. On November 9, 1994, local newspapers interviewed Brennan, and he was thereafter featured in an article opposing Saage's proposal.
Brennan claimed that sometime in November, Deputy Chief John Bauer told Brennan that he was being transferred from Headquarters to Station 2 because Bauer was tired of hearing about employment issues and unfair labor practices. Station 2 allegedly had an older fire truck with a manual transmission. Brennan claimed that he was ordered to drive that truck and this aggravated a prior shoulder injury. He underwent surgery to correct the problem but claims that the surgery necessitated asking the Township Council to extend his IOD leave beyond the initial thirty day period. On January 3, 1995, the Township Council denied the request, and on January 17, after Brennan addressed the Township Council, the Council voted 4-2 against granting Brennan's request. Consequently, Brennan was automatically placed on workers' compensation. Brennan claims that this was the first time that a request for an IOD extension had ever been rejected.
In January of 1995, Brennan informed the Fire Department that it was legally required to supply firefighters with station work uniforms and bunker pants. According to Brennan, Deputy Chief Palazzola later told Lt. Schroeder, Brennan's then superior officer, that if Brennan didn't "knock it off" he was "going to transfer [Brennan] back to headquarters and make [Brennan's] life miserable." Brennan thereafter formally filed a complaint in response to this incident with the New Jersey Department of Labor. He claims that a subsequent compliance audit of the Fire Department cited the department with 200 regulatory violations.
On February 7, 1995, Brennan informed the Township Council of his job-related injury and that he had not been paid for five weeks. However, later that month, Brennan elected to return to work on light duty, even though he claimed that he was not required to do so.
On February 14, 1995, Brennan organized a public rally challenging the policy of removing firefighters from the payroll while on IOD leave, and he subsequently filed an unfair labor practice charge with the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission ("NJPERC") attacking that policy.
Brennan claimed that the harassment and retaliation intensified in February of 1995 and included an improper assignment to housewatch duty despite his light-duty employment status. According to Brennan, this violated applicable department regulations. Brennan was also listed as being Absent Without Leave ("AWOL") because he was unable to attend an evaluation with a worker's compensation doctor. Brennan claimed he was not afforded the opportunity to reschedule the evaluation and that Saage had Brennan's personal doctor disqualified as a treating physician, even though Chief Norton had referred Brennan to him. Brennan claimed that this caused him to lose his workers' compensation benefits.2
On May 30, 1995, Brennan filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NJPERC in which he alleged that the Township Council denied his request for extended IOD leave to retaliate for the unfair labor practice charge he had filed with the NJPERC regarding "outstationed" firefighters attending meetings at headquarters.
Brennan was denied holiday leave for Thanksgiving, 1995, and he claimed that Deputy Chief Bauer arbitrarily chose who would...
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