Chesser v. Sparks

• Decision Date: 18 April 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-14594,99-14594
• Citation: 248 F.3d 1117
• Parties: (11th Cir. 2001) ANGIE CHESSER, a.k.a. Angie Kimball, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. AMOS SPARKS, individually and in his official capacity as Haralson County Commissioner, Defendant-Appellant
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1117

248 F.3d 1117 (11th Cir. 2001)

ANGIE CHESSER, a.k.a. Angie Kimball, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. AMOS SPARKS, individually and in his official capacity as Haralson County Commissioner, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 99-14594

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

April 18, 20001

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

D.C. Docket No. 99-00023-CV-JTC-3

Before TJOFLAT, HULL and PROPST^*, Circuit Judges.

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

The sole issue in this interlocutory appeal is whether the defendant county Commissioner, who is being sued for money damages in his individual capacity under 42 U.S.C. 1983, is entitled to qualified immunity with respect to the plaintiff's claims that he terminated her employment in violation of her First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of association. The district court denied the Commissioner's motion to dismiss, holding that the plaintiff's complaint alleged facts sufficient to defeat the defense of qualified immunity. We reverse.

I.

A.

According to the allegations of her complaint, plaintiff Angie Chesser began working in the clerk's office in Haralson County, Georgia, in 1985. At the time of her discharge in February 1997, she held the position of Assistant County Clerk. Her responsibilities included the preparation of the payroll for the County's several departments, including the sheriff's office.

Haralson County is governed by a one-person commission. In the November 1996 general election, defendant Amos Sparks was elected Commissioner and Chesser's then-husband, Ronnie Kimball, was elected Sheriff; both took office on January 1, 1997. Sparks and Kimball were political enemies. So, in an effort to avoid what might appear to be a conflict of interest, Chesser arranged for a co-worker to prepare the payroll for the sheriff's department.

On February 6, 1997, Sparks issued a memorandum to all county departments which stated that, due to budget concerns, overtime would not be reimbursed in the form of wages. Notwithstanding this instruction, overtime wages were paid to sheriff's department employees. Calling her attention to his memorandum, Sparks asked Chesser why overtime had been paid. After disclaiming knowledge of the memorandum, Chesser said that the County's failure to compensate overtime in the form of wages would violate the Fair Labor Standards Act.¹ Sparks terminated Chesser's employment on February 20, 1997;² his stated reason for the termination was that she was insubordinate and demonstrated a "lack of cooperation."

B.

Chesser responded to her discharge by filing a two count complaint in the Northern District of Georgia against Haralson County and Sparks, in both his official and individual capacities. Count One, brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), alleged that her discharge constituted retaliatory conduct proscribed by the FLSA.³ Count Two, brought under 42 U.S.C. 1983,⁴ alleged that Sparks's termination of Chesser's employment infringed her First Amendment rights of free speech and of freedom of association (her marriage to the Sheriff).⁵

Both defendants moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, contending that neither count stated a claim for relief. Sparks, in addition, contended that he was entitled to qualified immunity on the Count Two claims asserted against him in his individual capacity. The district court granted the defendants' motions as to Count One, but denied them as to Count Two. The court also found the allegations of the complaint sufficient to overcome Sparks's qualified immunity defense. The court stated that it would reconsider the defense if Sparks moved for summary judgment following the completion of discovery. After the court made these rulings, Sparks lodged this appeal.

II.

A.

We have jurisdiction to review the denial of the defense of qualified immunity pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1291. See Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S. Ct. 2806, 2817, 86 L. Ed. 2d 411 (1985). While qualified immunity is typically addressed at the summary judgment stage of the case, the defense may be raised and considered on a motion to dismiss; the motion will be granted if the "complaint fails to allege the violation of a clearly established constitutional right." Williams v. Ala. State Univ., 102 F.3d 1179, 1182 (11th Cir. 1997). Whether the complaint alleges such a violation is a question of law which we review de novo, accepting the facts alleged in the complaint as true and drawing all reasonable inferences therefrom in the plaintiff's favor. Id.

B.

Qualified immunity protects government actors performing discretionary functions from being sued in their individual capacities. Williams, 102 F.3d at 1182; Lassiter v. Ala. A & M Univ., Bd. of Trustees, 28 F.3d 1146, 1149 (11th Cir. 1994) (en banc). The doctrine shields government officials from liability to the extent that "their conduct does not violate clearly established . . . constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 817-18, 102 S. Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L. Ed. 2d 396 (1982). The doctrine protects government officials from always "err[ing] on the side of caution" by shielding them both from liability "and the other burdens of litigation, including discovery." Lassiter, 28 F.3d at 1149.

Evaluating the defense of qualified immunity involves a two step inquiry: first, whether the defendant's conduct violated a clearly established constitutional right; and, second, whether a reasonable government official would have been aware of that fact. See Tindal v. Montgomery County Comm'n, 32 F.3d 1535, 1539 (11th Cir. 1994). This two-step inquiry is designed to "provide[] ample protection to all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law." Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S. Ct. 1092, 1096, 89 L. Ed. 2d 271 (1986).

A constitutional right is clearly established if controlling precedent has recognized the right in a "concrete and factually defined context." Lassiter, 28 F.3d at 1149; see also Post v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 7 F.3d 1552, 1557 (11th Cir. 1993) ("If case law, in factual terms, has not staked out a bright line, qualified immunity almost always protects the defendant."). A plaintiff cannot avoid the qualified immunity defense "by referring to general rules and to the violation of abstract `rights.'" Lassiter, 28 F.3d at 1150. If the constitutional right has been clearly established, the plaintiff must demonstrate that a reasonable government actor would have known that what he was doing infringed that right. See Williams, 102 F.3d at 1182. With this two step inquiry in mind, we turn to the question of whether Sparks's decision to terminate Chesser's employment violated either of the First Amendment rights involved here - freedom of speech or freedom of association - in such a manner that a reasonable government official would have known.

III.

A.

"It is axiomatic that `[a] state may not demote or discharge a public employee in retaliation for protected speech.'" Tindal v. Montgomery County Comm'n, 32 F.3d 1535, 1539 (11th Cir. 1994) (quoting Morgan v. Ford, 6 F.3d 750, 753-54 (11th Cir. 1993)); see Rankin v. McPherson, 483 U.S. 378, 383, 107 S. Ct. 2891, 2896, 97 L. Ed. 2d 315 (1987). A public employee's right to freedom of speech, however, is not absolute. Bryson v. City of Waycross, 888 F.2d 1562, 1565 (11th Cir. 1989). To determine whether a state actor has retaliated against an employee because of the employee's protected speech, we have used a four-pronged test based on the Supreme Court's decision in Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S. Ct. 1731, 20 L. Ed. 2d 811 (1968). See Rice-Lamar v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 232 F.3d 836, 841 (11th Cir. 2000).

First, we consider whether the employee's speech is "`fairly characterized as constituting speech on a matter of public concern.'" Bryson, 888 F.2d at 1565 (quoting Rankin, 483 U.S. at 384, 107 S. Ct. at 2896-97). If it is, we apply the Pickering balancing test, which weighs the employee's free speech interest against "the interest of the state, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs." Pickering, 391 U.S. at 568, 88 S. Ct. at 1734-35. If the employee's interests outweigh those of the state as an employer, we turn to the third prong: whether the speech "played a `substantial part' in the government's decision to discharge the employee." Fikes v. City of Daphne, 79 F.3d 1079, 1084 (11th Cir. 1996). If it did, we must address the fourth prong, which is whether the government has shown by a preponderance of the evidence that it would have discharged the employee regardless of the protected conduct. Id. at 1085.

1.

Speech addresses a matter of public concern, and thus establishes Pickering's first prong, if it relates "to any matter of political, social, or other concern to the community." Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 146, 103 S. Ct. 1684, 1690, 75 L. Ed. 2d 708 (1983). In making this determination, we examine the content, form, and context of the employee's speech. Bryson, 888 F.2d at 1565.

The speech at issue here is Chesser's statement to Sparks that the County's failure to pay wages for overtime would violate the FLSA. In focusing on the content, form, and context of the speech, we consider whether the employee is speaking as a citizen on behalf of the public or "as an employee upon matters only of personal interest." Connick, 461 U.S. at 147, 103 S. Ct. at 1690. Chesser's statement may not have been "only of personal interest," id., but she was certainly speaking as an employee when, as Assistant County Clerk in charge of payroll, she told Sparks, in his capacity as County Commissioner, that the County could not lawfully refuse to pay overtime wages. Chesser cites no case,...