Buckner v. City of Highland Park

• Decision Date: 10 April 1990
• Docket Number: 88-1649 and 89-1550,Nos. 88-1404,s. 88-1404
• Citation: 901 F.2d 491
• Parties: Ray C. BUCKNER, Plaintiff-Appellee, (88-1404/1649), Cross-Appellant, (89-1550), v. CITY OF HIGHLAND PARK; Highland Park Police Department; Robert Blackwell; Terry Ford, Chief of Police; John Holloway, Lieutenant, Jointly and Severally, Defendants-Appellants (88-1404/1649), Cross-Appellees (89-1550).
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 491

901 F.2d 491

Ray C. BUCKNER, Plaintiff-Appellee, (88-1404/1649), Cross-Appellant, (89-1550), v. CITY OF HIGHLAND PARK; Highland Park Police Department;

Robert Blackwell; Terry Ford, Chief of Police; John

Holloway, Lieutenant, Jointly and Severally,

Defendants-Appellants (88-1404/1649), Cross-Appellees (89-1550).

Nos. 88-1404, 88-1649 and 89-1550.

United States Court of Appeals,

Sixth Circuit.

Argued March 5, 1990.

Decided April 10, 1990.

Gary A. Benjamin (argued), Schrauger & Dunn, Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff-appellee.

Richard L. Hurford, Steven H. Schwartz (argued), Dykema, Gossett, Spencer, Goodnow & Trigg, Detroit, Mich., for defendants-appellants.

Before MARTIN and BOGGS, Circuit Judges, and PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.

BOYCE F. MARTIN, Jr., Circuit Judge.

Ray C. Buckner was a detective in the Highland Park, Michigan Police Department. On November 6, 1984, Buckner went to the apartment of Letit Riley to investigate her complaint against an individual for shooting at her. Buckner told Ms. Riley that he had forgotten the proper witness form and that he would return the next day for her written statement.

On the evening of November 7, 1984, Buckner returned to Ms. Riley's apartment and gave her a witness complaint form. While Ms. Riley filled out the form, Buckner interrogated her about her sexual activities. He then grabbed her arm, rubbed one of her breasts, and pulled her head toward him. Ms. Riley demanded that he leave her apartment, but Buckner refused. During this incident, Riley received a phone call from Lawrence Bohler. Riley told Bohler to remain on the line, and she continued her efforts to make Buckner leave her apartment. Through the receiver, Bohler heard Riley and Buckner arguing while she told him to leave. Riley finally forced Buckner to leave and then informed Bohler about the incident. Bohler phoned the Highland Park Police Department and lodged a complaint regarding Buckner's conduct.

After receiving Bohler's complaint, Chief William Ford and the Lieutenant in Charge of Detectives, John Holloway, immediately went to Riley's apartment to investigate the allegations of Buckner's sexual misconduct. Riley and Bohler gave written statements to Chief Ford that night.

Early the next day, November 8, Buckner was contacted at his home by Officer Czarnecki, who told him about Ms. Riley's complaint. Buckner's first act, upon reporting to work that day, was to ask Officer Charles Brookman, the Chief Steward of Teamsters Local 129, which represented the Highland Park Officers, if he had heard anything regarding a complaint filed against him. Later that day, Buckner told Officer Larry Robinson that he had "messed with a woman" the night before and was in trouble. Later still, after learning that Chief Ford wished to discuss the complaint with him, Buckner fled to Henry Ford Hospital and claimed that he needed treatment for alcohol abuse. His medical records, however, show that he was never diagnosed as an alcoholic.

On the evening of November 8, Lt. Holloway went to the hospital to interview Buckner. Holloway was accompanied by a union representative, Officer Yopp, to ensure that Buckner's collective bargaining rights were protected. After meeting first with Yopp and then receiving a Miranda warning, Buckner was questioned by Holloway and shown Ms. Riley's written complaint. Buckner refused to comment on the allegations in the complaint. Holloway, under the prior instructions of Chief Ford, suspended Buckner with pay pending further investigation of the charges in the complaint.

Chief Ford then requested that the union's Chief Steward, Officer Charles Brookman, advise Buckner of the charges against him and obtain Buckner's account of the Riley incident. Chief Ford told Brookman that he intended to discipline Buckner. Brookman visited Buckner at the hospital, but Buckner refused to make any statement regarding the incident.

On November 15, 1984, following eight days of investigation and attempts to obtain a statement from Buckner, Chief Ford made a preliminary determination and recommended to Highland Park Mayor Robert Blackwell that Buckner be discharged. Mayor Blackwell approved the discharge. A copy of the discharge was given to Officer Brookman as Buckner's Union Representative.

Pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Highland Park and Teamsters Local 129, Buckner filed a written grievance on November 29, 1984 challenging his suspension and subsequent termination. In the grievance, Buckner generally denied the allegations in Chief Ford's recommendation letter and claimed that the City deprived him of procedural due process in the discharge.

On March 10, 1986, Buckner filed a lawsuit in Michigan state court alleging that his discharge violated his due process rights because no hearing was held prior to his termination and that the discharge violated the Michigan Civil Rights Act, M.C.L.A. Sec. 37.2101, et seq., because he is an alcoholic and was discharged because of that condition. The defendants removed this suit to federal district court. On May 26, 1987, the district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on the pendent Michigan Civil Rights Claim but denied the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment on the due process claim.

On June 26, 1987, the district court requested the parties to re-brief and re-argue their due process claims. On March 22, 1988, after considering the briefs and arguments, the district court awarded summary judgment to Buckner. 681 F.Supp. 1256. The district court found that Buckner had a property interest in his continued employment and that, despite the opportunities for Buckner to give his account of the incident, the pretermination procedures provided to Buckner insufficiently protected his due process rights under the requirements announced in Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 84 L.Ed.2d 494 (1985). The district court's judgment was based, in part, on Officer Brookman's affidavit which stated that he did not visit Buckner until after the termination. This affidavit later proved to be incorrect in terms of the dates involved. The judgment was also based on the district court's analysis of the process due to Buckner under M.C.L. Sec. 38.501, et seq., also known as Act 78. Act 78 provides that Michigan municipalities, which adopt Act 78 as part of their charter, must give employees covered under that act, such as police officers, a written statement of the charges against them and the reasons for the city's actions, an opportunity to answer those charges, and a subsequent public hearing, pending which the employees shall remain in office. See M.C.L. Sec. 38.514. After determining that Buckner's due process rights had been violated, the district court awarded Buckner back pay from November 16, 1984 under Duchesne v. Williams, 821 F.2d 1234 (6th Cir.1987), vacated and reversed, 849 F.2d 1004 (6th Cir.1988) (en banc ).

During the course of the district court proceedings, Buckner's grievance proceeded toward an arbitration hearing. In January 1988, the hearing was held and on April 29, 1988, the arbitrator denied Buckner's grievance, finding that the City had "just cause" to discharge him. Contrary to the district court, the arbitrator found that Buckner had notice of the accusations and evidence against him and an opportunity to respond, meeting the due process standards announced in Loudermill.

On March 31, 1988, the City filed, under the Eastern District of Michigan's local Rule 17(m), a motion asking the district court to reconsider the summary judgment. At the May 23, 1988 hearing on that motion, the City introduced a second affidavit by Officer Brookman, obtained only three days after the summary judgment ruling, indicating that Brookman visited Buckner prior to the termination. The City introduced evidence that Act 78 was not in effect in Highland Park at the time of the termination. The City also attempted to have the district court take notice of the arbitrator's decision. The court declined to reconsider its judgment, stating that Rule 17(m) requires a party to demonstrate both a palpable defect by which the court and the parties have been misled, and that a different disposition of the case must result from the correction of that defect. The court acknowledged that Act 78 did not apply to the case, but upheld its opinion that the City had failed to meet the Loudermill standards. The court also stated that while Brookman's second affidavit may have changed the chronology of his visit, it still established that Brookman visited Buckner as a union representative, not as an agent of the city. The court noted the contrary findings of the arbitration decision, but did not further reconsider its judgment in light of that finding.

Subsequently, the district court awarded attorney's fees to Buckner's counsel as the prevailing party in this civil rights case.

The City of Highland Park contends that the district court erred by granting summary judgment to Buckner on his due process claim in view of the standards enunciated in Loudermill. We engage in a de novo review of the district court's grant of summary judgment. Berlin v. Michigan Bell Tele. Co., 858 F.2d 1154, 1161 (6th Cir.1988). Hence, we determine, in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, whether any genuine issue of material fact existed in the record below and whether Buckner was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323-24, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Berlin, 858 F.2d at 1161; Hand v. Central Transport, 779 F.2d 8, 10 (6th Cir.1985). The City of Highland Park does not dispute that Buckner had a property interest in his continued employment. The only factual dispute concerned the evidence that Chief Ford sent Officer Brookman to visit Buckner before the termination and Officer Brookman's first affidavit which stated that he...