Bumstead v. Jasper County

• Decision Date: 03 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 1:94-CV-632.,1:94-CV-632.
• Parties: Paul Richard BUMSTEAD et al. v. JASPER COUNTY et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Texas

931 F. Supp. 1323

Paul Richard BUMSTEAD et al. v. JASPER COUNTY et al.

No. 1:94-CV-632.

United States District Court, E.D. Texas, Beaumont Division.

July 3, 1996.

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Patrick J. Gilpin, Patrick Gilpin & Associates, Houston, TX, for Richard Victor Bumstead, Paul C. Few, Jr.

Frank David Calvert, Benckenstein & Oxford, Beaumont, TX, for Jasper County, Roscoe Davis.

MEMORANDUM RE: DEFENDANTS' SEPTEMBER 25, 1995 MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND JANUARY 25, 1996 SUPPLEMENTAL MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

HINES, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiffs Richard Victor Bumstead and Paul C. Few, Jr. bring this employment discrimination suit against Jasper County, Texas and Roscoe Davis, Sheriff of Jasper County.

All parties consented to proceed before a United States magistrate judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636. The case is referred to the undersigned to conduct all proceedings and order entry of judgment.¹

I. Nature of the Case

Plaintiffs allege wrongful termination from public employment as Jasper County, Texas sheriff's deputies in February 1993 as a result of their age and, in Mr. Bumstead's case, also as a result of a physical disability. Both plaintiffs sue Jasper County and Roscoe Davis under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for deprivation of a state-created property interest without due process of law. Both plaintiffs sue Jasper County under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. Finally, plaintiff Richard Victor Bumstead sues Jasper County under provisions of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794 et seq.

II. The Motion for Summary Judgment

Defendants filed an initial and supplemental motion for summary judgment. Initially, defendants claimed that plaintiffs did not possess a property interest in continued employment as a result of the longstanding Texas common law presumption of at-will employment. Therefore, plaintiff failed to state a cause of action cognizable under § 1983. Moreover, defendant Roscoe Davis claimed protection in any event by the doctrine of qualified immunity. Defendant Jasper County further asserted that no cognizable cause of action exists under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act because plaintiffs were terminated for a nondiscriminatory, nonpretextual reason: inability to fulfill job duties. Finally, defendant Jasper County asserted that plaintiff Bumstead failed to establish that his employer viewed him as having an impairment substantially limiting his ability to engage in the major life activity of employment.

Plaintiffs responded that provisions in their employment manual created a property interest in continued employment with the county and that they were deprived of that right without procedural due process when they were summarily terminated in violation of clearly established law.² Plaintiffs further contended that the evidence introduced on their age discrimination claim is sufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact and therefore the claim is not amenable to disposition via a motion for summary judgment. Finally, plaintiff Bumstead argued that he has stated a prima facie discrimination claim under the Rehabilitation Act.

Defendants thereafter, and prior to ruling from the court on the first motion for summary judgment, filed a supplemental motion for summary judgment.³ Defendants now argue that Texas law specifies that sheriff's deputies serve at the pleasure of the sheriff and that the sheriff's authority to appoint and dismiss employees cannot be contracted away. Plaintiffs response to the supplemental motion argues that the general at-will rule for sheriff's deputies is subject to modification when an employee handbook is in effect.

III. Summary Judgment Standards

Summary judgment should be granted only when the record reflects that "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." FED.R.Civ.P. 56(c). In deciding a motion for summary judgment the court must first consult the applicable substantive law to determine what facts and issues are material. King v. Chide, 974 F.2d 653 (5th Cir.1992). The movant bears the initial burden of demonstrating that there is no genuine issue of material fact for trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Duffy v. Leading Edge Prods., 44 F.3d 308 (5th Cir.1995); Galindo v. Precision American Corp., 754 F.2d 1212 (5th Cir. 1985). "If the moving party meets this burden, the non-moving party who will have the burden of proof at trial must come forward with summary judgment evidence establishing the existence of a genuine issue; that evidence must be such that if introduced at trial it would suffice to prevent a directed verdict against the nonmovant." Duffy, 44 F.3d at 312; see also Hanks v. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp., 953 F.2d 996 (5th Cir.1992). Summary judgment is a final adjudication on the merits, and must be employed by courts with caution.

In many instances, a Rule 56(c) motion for summary judgment functions like a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In other words, although the test for summary judgment as set forth above presents "an exacting standard," "summary judgment is appropriate where the only issue before the court is a pure question of law." Sheline v. Dun & Bradstreet Corp., 948 F.2d 174, 176 (5th Cir.1991); see also Neff v. American Dairy Queen Corp., 58 F.3d 1063, 1065 (5th Cir.1995) ("Consequently, we hold that because the disputed issue in this case is purely legal, it was appropriately resolved through summary judgment.").

Further, when a failure to state a claim-type defense is joined with the defense of qualified immunity in a motion for summary judgment, the proper procedure is for the court to first determine whether plaintiff has stated a claim.⁴

IV. The § 1983 Due Process Claim

A. Defense of Failure to State a Claim

1. Prerequisites for Cause of Action

To prevail under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Fourteenth Amendment, plaintiffs must show they enjoyed a state-created property interest in continued employment. Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 576-78, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2708-10, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). "Property interests ... are not created by the Constitution. Rather, they are created and their dimensions are defined by existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state law — rules or understandings that secure certain benefits and that support claims of entitlement to those benefits." Id. at 577, 92 S.Ct. at 2709; see also Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 602, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 2700, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972).

2. General At-Will Employment Rule in Texas and Its Exception

The general, longstanding rule in Texas is that a public employee may be terminated at any time, with or without good cause. See, e.g., Hicks v. Baylor Univ. Med. Ctr., 789 S.W.2d 299 (Tex.App. — Dallas 1990); United Transp. Union v. Brown, 694 S.W.2d 630 (Tex.App. — Texarkana 1985). The exception to this general rule is that a public employee may under certain circumstances acquire a property right in continued employment by virtue of the terms of an employee manual. To illustrate, if the manual contains a provision that termination will occur only for just cause and, further, will occur only after certain procedural steps are adhered to, that manual may be sufficient to create under Texas law a property right if the manual is contractual in nature and manifests a mutually binding agreement between employer and employee not subject to unilateral modification. See Garcia v. Reeves, 32 F.3d 200 (5th Cir.1994); Zimmerman v. H.E. Butt Grocery Co., 932 F.2d 469 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 984, 112 S.Ct. 591, 116 L.Ed.2d 615 (1991); Evans v. City of Dallas, 861 F.2d 846 (5th Cir.1988); Aiello v. United Air Lines, Inc., 818 F.2d 1196 (5th Cir.1987); Joachim v. AT & T Info. Sys., 793 F.2d 113 (5th Cir.1986).

3. Statutorily-Mandated At-Will Employment

At-will employment for most public employees in Texas is a matter of common law. For a few categories of employees, however, at-will employment is a matter of statute. The position of sheriff's deputy is one of those categories of employment for which there exists a separate statutory at-will provision. Section 85.003(c) of the Texas Local Government Code reads, in part, "A deputy serves at the pleasure of the sheriff." TEX.LOC.GOV'T CODE ANN. § 85.003(c) (Vernon 1988). Thus, sheriffs have "virtually unbridled" authority in making hiring and firing decisions, Irby v. Sullivan, 737 F.2d 1418, 1421 (5th Cir.1984), and "it follows that deputy sheriffs have no legal entitlement to their jobs as public employees; the sheriff may fire them for many reasons or for no articulable reason at all," Barrett v. Thomas, 649 F.2d 1193, 1199 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 925, 102 S.Ct. 1969, 72 L.Ed.2d 440 (1982). See also Senegal v. Jefferson County, 785 F.Supp. 86, 88 (E.D.Tex.1992), aff'd, 1 F.3d 1238 (5th Cir. 1993); Williams v. Bagley, 875 S.W.2d 808, 812 (Tex.App. — Beaumont 1994).

4. No Exception to At-Will Employment for Sheriff's Deputies

The real crux of the parties' dispute is whether the operation of the at-will rule of § 85.003(c) may be modified in a manner similar to the common law at-will rule for employees not subject to a statutorily mandated at-will status. Having examined the sparse case law on this subject and given due consideration to public policy considerations, the court is of the opinion that sheriffs are not free to alter § 85.003(c)'s at-will mandate so as to create property interests in continued employment.⁵

One older, but frequently cited case, Murray v. Harris, 112 S.W.2d 1091 (Tex.Civ. App. — Amarillo 1938, writ dism'd w.o.j.), is probably the clearest jural statement of a rule that a sheriff may not by contract alter the...