Coughlin v. Lee

• Decision Date: 12 November 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-3442,90-3442
• Citation: 946 F.2d 1152
• Parties: Maureen E. COUGHLIN and Frank S. Mistretta, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Harry LEE a/k/a Jefferson Parish Sheriff, Defendant-Appellee. Summary Calendar.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 1152

946 F.2d 1152

21 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1321

Maureen E. COUGHLIN and Frank S. Mistretta, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Harry LEE a/k/a Jefferson Parish Sheriff, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 90-3442

Summary Calendar.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Nov. 12, 1991.

Mark M. Gonzalez and Lawrence B. Jones, Scheuermann & Jones, New Orleans, La., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Daniel R. Martiny, Lee, Martiny & Caracci, Metairie, La., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Before CLARK, Chief Judge, WILLIAMS, and BARKSDALE, Circuit Judges.

CLARK, Chief Judge:

Two police deputies contended in the trial court that they were impermissibly discharged by the parish sheriff in retaliation for their exercise of free speech and political association. Because their speech did not address a matter of public concern, we affirm the district court's directed verdict against their claim for violation of freedom of speech. Because the district court's discovery rulings cut off the development of the deputies' freedom of association claim, we remand for reconsideration of those rulings and that claim.

I.

Defendant Harry Lee became sheriff of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana in 1980. During the early 1980's he established a program known as "Operation Wake-Up," designed to discourage local high school children from becoming involved in criminal activities. The program consisted of bringing inmates with long criminal histories from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center to local high schools where, handcuffed, shackled, and escorted by armed prison guards, they would describe their own involvement in crime to the students and strongly urge them not to engage in drug use, shoplifting, and other criminal activities.

The program had a very positive effect on the students, prompting Lee in July 1984 to write letters of appreciation to the inmate participants, including Joseph Kenneth France, a career criminal who had participated enthusiastically in Operation Wake-Up. Several years later, after his release from prison, France set up an ostensible counselling service for troubled teenagers called "Operation Wake-Up, Inc.," which he used to lure teenagers whom he then molested sexually. To assist in gaining the confidence of the teenagers and their parents, France displayed the framed letter from Lee on the wall of his Operation Wake-Up, Inc. office.

On October 27, 1987, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office (JPSO), having developed evidence of the true nature of France's activities, executed a search warrant on Operation Wake-Up, Inc. The commendation letter from Lee was seized along with other evidence and taken to JPSO's Investigation Bureau.

Deputies Frank Mistretta and Maureen Coughlin, who were assigned to the Personal Violence Section of JPSO, participated in the execution of the search warrant, although neither was the officer-in-charge of the France investigation. Mistretta had worked at JPSO for eighteen years, Coughlin for seven. Both supported Sheriff Lee's political opponent, Art Lentini, in the upcoming November 1987 election. Mistretta actively campaigned for Lentini, distributing yard signs, bumper stickers, and campaign stickers; Coughlin did not support Lentini overtly. The day after the execution of the search warrant, Rick Walther, the plaintiffs' former supervisor, now an officer in the Kenner Police Department and a vocal supporter of Lentini, contacted the plaintiffs. He asked Coughlin to deliver a copy of the commendation letter to him; she did so. Mistretta provided Walther with the names of the juvenile victims of France's operation. On October 29th, a local television station aired a copy of the commendation letter and the names of the alleged victims; portions of the letter also appeared in the local newspaper. The media suggested that Sheriff Lee had either endorsed France's Operation Wake-Up, Inc. or personally recommended France's counselling services to parents of troubled teenagers.

Despite this negative publicity, Lee was re-elected in November 1987. JPSO thereafter investigated the release of the letter and victims' names. The reproduction of the letter received by the television station was marked by a crack in the glass covering the letter caused when it was dropped during storage of the seized evidence, clearly indicating that the letter had been copied after its seizure as evidence by JPSO. JPSO therefore questioned and performed polygraph tests on all employees assigned to the Personal Violence Section. Mistretta and Coughlin first denied their involvement in releasing the evidence, but later admitted their actions. Both deputies conceded that they knew their actions violated a JPSO policy against releasing evidence or names of victims related to an on-going investigation. On December 14th, Lee terminated both deputies' employment; the official reason given for their terminations was gross misconduct in knowingly violating JPSO policy.

In December 1988, Coughlin and Mistretta filed suit in district court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that they had been impermissibly discharged in retaliation for their political activities and affiliations in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Upon recommendation by a magistrate, the district court limited discovery of JPSO's personnel files by the plaintiffs to evidence of the removal or disclosure of confidential materials from JPSO files or records. Discovery was further limited to files covering a period of roughly two years, from one year prior to Lee's re-election on November 21, 1987 to one year after the plaintiffs' termination date. The court's evidentiary rulings during trial paralleled these discovery limitations. After presentation of the plaintiffs' case, the district court granted a directed verdict in favor of the defendant, holding that the plaintiffs' speech did not address a matter of public concern, and therefore was not constitutionally protected.

II.

In reviewing a directed verdict, we must consider all the evidence in the light and with reasonable inferences most favorable to the party who opposed the motion. A verdict should be directed only if those facts and inferences point so strongly in favor of one party that reasonable people could not have reached a contrary conclusion. ¹

The district court found that the plaintiffs had presented no evidence to support their contention that their conduct was protected by the First Amendment. Because both parties' briefs indicate some confusion regarding the various tests and standards applicable in evaluating a First Amendment claim, we review that framework in greater detail than is strictly necessary to resolve plaintiffs' free speech claim.

As a threshold requirement, a public employee claiming violation of freedom of speech must show that his speech is entitled to judicial protection under the First Amendment. It is so entitled only if it addresses a matter of "public concern," which "must be determined by the content, form, and context of a given statement, as revealed by the whole record." ² This determination is a question of law to be resolved by the court. ³ If the speech does not address a matter of public concern, a court will not scrutinize the reasons motivating a discharge allegedly in retaliation for that speech. ⁴ If the speech at issue does address a matter of public concern, the court then engages in the so-called "Pickering/ Connick test," balancing "the interests of the [employee], as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern [against] the interest of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees." ⁵ The more central a matter of public concern is to the speech at issue, the stronger the employer's showing of counter-balancing governmental interests must be. ⁶ Only if the court finds that the employee's First Amendment rights outweigh the government's interest in the effective provision of public services does the fact-finder proceed to consider the separate issue of causation.

Mt. Healthy City School Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. Doyle ⁷ mandates that the employee must demonstrate that his protected conduct was a substantial motivating factor in his discharge. ⁸ The employer then has the burden of showing a legitimate reason for which it would have discharged the employee even in the absence of his protected conduct. ⁹ The employee can refute that showing by evidence that his employer's ostensible explanation for the discharge is merely pretextual. Plaintiffs' assertion that the Pickering/ Connick test modified the Mt. Healthy inquiry is therefore incorrect; the two tests address separate elements of a free speech claim.

The district court found it unnecessary to proceed farther than the first step of this analysis, holding that the plaintiffs' actions, intended solely to embarrass Sheriff Lee politically, did not address a matter of public concern. Coughlin and Mistretta contend, on the other hand, that politically motivated speech, by definition, involves a matter of public concern. Appellate courts review the question of whether speech addresses a matter of public concern de novo. ¹⁰ Issues rise to the level of public concern if an individual speaks primarily in his role as a citizen rather than as an employee, ¹¹ or if the information conveyed is of "relevance to the public's evaluation of the performance of governmental agencies." ¹² Had Coughlin or Mistretta alleged mismanagement or corruption as a result of Sheriff Lee's administration of JPSO, their expression--particularly within the context of public debate surrounding a contested election--might well have addressed a matter of public concern. We have previously found disclosure of misbehavior by public officials, especially concerning the operation of a police department, to implicate public concern. ¹³ Their own testimony shows, however, that...