O'CONNOR v. Mazzullo

• Decision Date: 26 April 1982
• Docket Number: No. 81 Civ. 1624 (ADS).,81 Civ. 1624 (ADS).
• Citation: 536 F. Supp. 641
• Parties: Antoinette O'CONNOR, Gary Chadwick, Joanne Chadwick and Mary Schlich, Plaintiffs, v. Anthony MAZZULLO, individually and as Superintendent of Schools for the Garrison Union Free School District; Edward Vrooman, individually and as Vice-President of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; Nor Preusser, individually and as a member of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; Edward Ricca, individually and as a member of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; John Gardner, individually and as a member of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; Janet Spalding, individually and as a member of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; Wilhemina Roda, individually and as a member of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; and Garrison Union Free School District, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

536 F. Supp. 641

Antoinette O'CONNOR, Gary Chadwick, Joanne Chadwick and Mary Schlich, Plaintiffs, v. Anthony MAZZULLO, individually and as Superintendent of Schools for the Garrison Union Free School District; Edward Vrooman, individually and as Vice-President of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; Nor Preusser, individually and as a member of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; Edward Ricca, individually and as a member of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; John Gardner, individually and as a member of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; Janet Spalding, individually and as a member of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; Wilhemina Roda, individually and as a member of the Board of Education of the Garrison Union Free School District; and Garrison Union Free School District, Defendants.

No. 81 Civ. 1624 (ADS).

United States District Court, S. D. New York.

April 13, 1982.

As Amended April 26, 1982.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Hall, Clifton & Schwartz, New York City, for plaintiffs; Arthur Z. Schwartz, New York City, of counsel.

Winer, Neuburger, & Sive, P. C., New York City, for defendants; Daniel Riesel, Eric Bregman, Lawrence R. Sandak, Jay S. Blumenkopf, New York City, of counsel.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SOFAER, District Judge:

Plaintiffs are three teachers and a former nurse-teacher in the Garrison Union Free School District ("District") who claim that the District took various forms of adverse action against them because they had actively supported one of two rival unions seeking to represent the District's employees. Defendants have moved for summary judgment on various grounds. After arguing the present motion, the parties informed the Court that they had settled the claims of plaintiffs Gary and Joanne Chadwick, which are causes of action 1, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, and 13 of the complaint. With respect to the remaining causes of action and plaintiffs, the following discussion disposes of the motion and of most of the litigation.

Plaintiffs' Second, Sixth, Eighth, and Ninth causes of action in the present complaint allege that defendants' actions were unconstitutional because improperly motivated. These causes of action largely replicate an improper practice charge that plaintiffs filed with the Public Employment Practices and Representation Board of New York State ("PERB"). In response to that charge, defendants admitted that the adverse actions were taken but denied that they were motivated either by bias against unions in general or by bias against the particular union that plaintiffs supported. A PERB Hearing Officer conducted a five-day hearing at which the parties had full due process rights, including legal representation and an opportunity to examine and cross-examine witnesses. At the hearing's conclusion, the Hearing Officer made findings of fact about defendants' motivation in taking action against plaintiffs; in particular, he found that defendants were not motivated by anti-union bias. Motion for Summary Judgment, Ex. D. Plaintiffs challenged some of the findings on appeal to PERB, which dismissed all the exceptions and affirmed the decision.

Defendants now contend that plaintiffs are collaterally estopped in this proceeding from relitigating the facts relevant to defendants' alleged anti-union bias. This contention is correct but too limited. Collateral estoppel binds defendants as well as plaintiffs, because both were parties to the earlier adjudication. See Montana v. United States, 440 U.S. 147, 153, 99 S.Ct. 970, 973, 59 L.Ed.2d 210 (1979). Moreover, the doctrine here bars relitigation of the findings on defendants' motivation generally; it is not restricted to the finding that anti-union bias did not motivate the challenged adverse actions. All the facts relevant to defendant's motivation were fully and fairly litigated in a trial-type hearing before a competent and impartial state-agency tribunal. A PERB determination cannot be collaterally attacked in the New York courts, though it may be subject to limited judicial review, and is treated as final by New York law. See Taylor v. New York City Transit Authority, 309 F.Supp. 785, 792 (E.D.N.Y.), aff'd, 433 F.2d 665 (2d Cir. 1970); Incorporated Village of Lynbrook v. New York State Public Employment Relations Board, 48 N.Y.2d 398, 423 N.Y.S.2d 466, 399 N.E.2d 55 (1979); N.Y. Civ.Serv.Law § 213 (McKinney 1973). All the findings about defendants' motivation, moreover, were necessary to the PERB determination, because the issue was whether defendants had acted in order to interfere with or penalize the exercise of the right to support union activity. In these circumstances, collateral estoppel should bar relitigation of the facts determined in the PERB proceeding, even though this action presents constitutional challenges and even though the state tribunal is an administrative agency rather than a court. Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 101 S.Ct. 411, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980); United States v. Utah Construction & Mining Co., 384 U.S. 394, 421-22, 86 S.Ct. 1545, 1559-60, 16 L.Ed.2d 642 (1966); Winters v. Lavine, 574 F.2d 46, 54-60 (2d Cir. 1978); Mitchell v. National Broadcasting Co., 553 F.2d 265, 268-69 (2d Cir. 1977); Gear v. City of Des Moines, 514 F.Supp. 1218 (S.D.Iowa 1981); Moore v. Bonner, 526 F.Supp. 143, 150 (D.S.C.1981); Taylor v. New York City Transit Authority, supra, 309 F.Supp. at 791-92.

Application of collateral estoppel requires granting summary judgment to defendants on the Second and Eighth causes of action, which allege that defendants' actions were motivated by anti-union bias. Although plaintiffs now style their causes of action in constitutional terms, the underlying and controlling factual issue — whether defendants were motivated by anti-union bias — is identical to those fully litigated in the PERB proceeding. Plaintiffs there charged that defendants violated New York Civil Service Law § 209-a by taking adverse actions against plaintiffs in order to interfere with or penalize plaintiffs' exercise of their rights, under New York Civil Service Law § 202, to support or participate in union activities. That charge raises precisely the issue that plaintiffs now raise in alleging a first amendment violation based on anti-union motivation. Plaintiffs have submitted no affidavits or other evidence to suggest any ground other than anti-union bias for their first amendment claims, with the exceptions discussed below. The PERB finding that defendants were not motivated by anti-union bias therefore binds plaintiffs here. See Winters v. Lavine, supra, 574 F.2d 46; Mitchell v. National Broadcasting Co., supra, 553 F.2d 265; Taylor v. New York City Transit Authority, supra, 309 F.Supp. 785. To the extent that the Eighth cause of action alleges unconstitutional motivation of any other sort, the allegation is conclusively rebutted by the PERB finding that the decision not to hire plaintiff Schlich for the English teacher position was made "solely" on legitimate grounds and that there was no evidence that Schlich ever applied for a position as Emergency Medical Technician. See Defendants' Rule 9(g) statement, unrebutted by plaintiffs. For these reasons, all defendants are entitled to summary judgment on the Second and Eighth causes of action.

Defendants are likewise entitled to summary judgment on the Sixth cause of action. The PERB hearing officer found that plaintiff O'Connor's transfer was not motivated by anti-union bias or by any desire to retaliate for the exercise of first amendment rights. That finding binds plaintiff O'Connor here. That the hearing officer found an illegitimate reason for defendant Mazzullo's chastisement of O'Connor does not affect defendants' entitlement to summary judgment on the Sixth cause of action, which challenges only Mazzullo's transfer of O'Connor, not his reprimand of her. See Def. Motion for Summary Judgment, Ex. D at 13-14.

On the Ninth cause of action, all defendants except Mazzullo are entitled to summary judgment. Plaintiffs have submitted no affidavits or other evidence that even suggests that these defendants participated in the decisions challenged in the Ninth cause of action or that the challenged decisions were made pursuant to a school district policy. Moreover, those defendants cannot be held liable on a respondeat superior theory. See Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 691 (1978); Gorman v. Tilles, 79 Civ. 2251 (E.D.N.Y. 1980).

Mary Schlich claims in the Ninth cause of action that defendants refused to consider her for various available positions because of defendant Mazzullo's animus towards her. Mazzullo's motivation, as defendants urge in their motion for summary judgment, was fully considered by the PERB Hearing Officer. He specifically found that Mazzullo had admitted that "a factor in his decision not to consider Schlich was the fact that she had complained" to the school board and brought an improper practice charge at PERB. That the Hearing Officer properly found that Mazzullo had no bias against one union or the other, provides no basis for dismissing Schlich's present claim. The complaint alleges that Mazzullo acted "with malicious intent to retaliate" for Schlich's resort to "expression protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments," as well as "her association with G.E.A.," the union she favored. Her resort to PERB is itself an expression protected by the first amendment, which guarantees the right to seek redress of grievances in courts or in administrative agencies. U.S.Const. amend. I; California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited, 404 U.S. 508, 510, 92 S.Ct. 609, 611, 30 L.Ed.2d 642 (1972); cf. Edwards v. Habib, 397 F.2d 687, 690 (D.C.Cir.1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1016, 89 S.Ct. 618, 21 L.Ed.2d 560 (1969) (first amendment violated by state evicting tenant for...