Duffy v. Sarault
| Decision Date | 07 September 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-1099,89-1099 |
| Citation | 892 F.2d 139 |
| Parties | Vincent R. DUFFY, et al., Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. Brian J. SARAULT, etc., et al., Defendants, Appellees. . Heard |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Thomas J. Liguori, Jr., with whom Urso, Liguori and Urso, Westerly, R.I., was on brief, for plaintiffs, appellants.
Thomas J. McAndrew, Providence, R.I., for defendants, appellees.
Before BOWNES, Circuit Judge, and ALDRICH and GIBSON, * Senior Circuit Judges.
Appellants are two former classified employees of the City of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, whose positions were eliminated in a reorganization of city government in 1988. They argued at trial, and here on appeal, that the reorganization was a sham designed to oust them because of their political affiliation with the preceding mayor who was an adversary of the current Mayor of Pawtucket, an appellee. Appellants' claims are based under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and § 1985, the First Amendment, the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and Rhode Island state law. Their complaint named the current Mayor, certain members of his administration, and the Personnel Board of the City. After a bench trial, the district court entered judgment for the defendants on all counts. We now affirm.
The appellants, Vincent Duffy and Paul Breault, were political supporters of former Pawtucket Mayor Henry Kinch who served in that job from 1981 until 1987. Breault had been an advisor of Kinch's since 1969 and worked as a strategist in Kinch's mayoral campaigns. Kinch named Breault City Clerk in 1982, and Breault later became Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, a classified post. Breault served there until his termination in June, 1988. Duffy was not politically active in recent years, but was formerly a campaign chair and treasurer for Mayor Kinch. At the time of his termination, Duffy was the Assistant Director of Public Works and had been for some two and one-half years.
The Director of Public Works, after January 1988, was Eugene Jeffers, an appointee of the current Mayor, appellee Brian Sarault. Jeffers was the appellants' supervisor and delivered their notices of termination due to reorganization on June 14, 1988. Jeffers' boss, Mayor Sarault, had been an alderman during the Kinch administration and was a vocal opponent of Mayor Kinch. In 1985 Sarault unsuccessfully ran against Kinch in the Mayor's race. During his next term Mayor Kinch announced he would not contend in the following election. Thus, the door was open for Sarault who ran for, and won, the Mayor's seat.
There is no question that the Kinch and Sarault camps were at odds with one another. The record does not reflect what precisely were the sore points. It suffices to say, as the district court did, that the relationship of the parties was marked by considerable acrimony. The question which remains is whether that led to the appellants' unlawful termination under the Constitution or state law. The district court answered in the negative on all of the claims after hearing close evidence that supported both parties' cases, but which ultimately, according to the district court, weighed greater for the defendants-appellees. Because our decision is based on a careful review of the evidence, we fully set out the facts, quoting at length from the district court's opinion where pertinent. 1
The positions held by Breault and Duffy and eliminated by reorganization were, respectively, Director of Parks and Recreation and Assistant Director of Public Works.
Prior to the reorganization, the Department of Parks and Recreation contained two subdivisions, one having to do with recreational activities and the other having to do with maintenance of the City's parks and recreational facilities. There was a person in charge of each of these activities who reported to Mr. Breault. The reorganization eliminated the Director's position, but split the department into two sections, headed by a Superintendent of Parks and a Superintendent of Recreation. The result was that the same work was divided among the two superintendents and, indeed, after the reorganization the same work was performed by the same persons. Mr. Breault applied for several vacant positions, including the Superintendent of Recreation, Superintendent of Parks, [Supervisor] of Public Works Operations, and Assessor. He received no interview with respect to the Superintendent of Recreation's position; he had interviews with respect to the other positions but was not offered a slot. [Mr. Jeffers testified he chose a higher scoring candidate for the position of Superintendent of Parks]. Mr. Breault, as a Director, was at pay grade 15 for which he received $37,100 per year. The Superintendent of Park's position paid something more than $29,000 per year.
* * *
The requirements for the newly created position of Supervisor of Public Works Operations, which proximated the job responsibilities of Mr. Duffy's position as Assistant Director of Public Works, included a ten year experience requirement. Because Mr. Duffy did not have ten years experience he was not eligible for that position.
We elaborate on the controversy surrounding Duffy's job and his replacement. Duffy held a college degree in his job as assistant director, but, because the reorganized position of supervisor required only a high school diploma and ten years experience and because Mr. Duffy did not have the requisite ten years, he could not even apply for the job even though it paralleled his work as assistant director. In addition, appellants' brief suggests, and testimony supports the conclusion, that an ally of Jeffers' and Sarault's, Louis Simon, moved into Duffy's office and began to assume Duffy's tasks prior to the reorganization. In the end, it was Simon who got the job of Supervisor of Public Works Operations, a title which he apparently was given prior to the reorganization.
The reorganization plan went through several stages. First, a Management Task Force studied the City's operations [at the behest of Mayor Sarault who apparently did not at all follow their progress]. The committee was a volunteer effort of nine public spirited citizens, the majority of whom were selected by Mr. Baptista, the chairman of that advisory committee. His selections were made with assistance from the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Baptista testified that the Task Force had five meetings before June 9, 1988, that the Department of Public Works [appellants' department] was the subject of a lengthy discussion of one hour and a half on May 5, 1988, and that he met on May 5, 1988 with Mr. Jeffers, the Sarault administration's Director of the Department of Public Works. He relied on Mr. Jeffers and other people on the Management Task Force who had more experience. The Task Force prepared a preliminary report which suggested that certain positions be abolished, including the Assistant Director of Public Works [Duffy's job].
The reorganization was voted on June 13, 1988 by the Personnel Board of the City. There is no record of a consideration of reorganization by the Personnel Board from January 6, 1988 until the action taken on June 13, 1988. The Board is composed of five members, who After the reorganization's adoption fourteen people were notified of their termination. However, of the fourteen, two persons retired and only four others are no longer City employees, including the three persons who were Plaintiffs in this case and a part-time nurse who worked in the community medical services unit. The reorganization resulted in a savings of $123,000.
are appointed by the Mayor with the approval of the City Council. Two members were appointed by Mayor Sarault, two by former Mayor Kinch, and one by former Mayor Lynch. The Personnel Board was unanimous in adopting the reorganization which became effective July 1, 1988
The record does not reveal how much of a savings was had with respect to the jobs of Breault and Duffy alone, but it appears to have been none. Nevertheless the overhaul in the Department of Public Works was otherwise substantial. The department had 189 employees and the reorganization plan recommended abolishing thirteen positions and establishing seven others. The Director of Public Works, Jeffers, testified that the changes were long overdue and had nothing to do with the Kinch affiliations of Breault and Duffy.
The district court, however, did find that the political affiliations of the two "were substantial factors in the Defendants' decision to reorganize the Department of Public Works." Duffy, 702 F.Supp. at 391. We will come back to this finding in our discussion of the First Amendment infra.
Other relevant testimony credited by the district court was that of Robert Litchfield, who had dropped out of the case, and Councilman Doyle of Pawtucket.
Robert Litchfield, the former City Property Manager who had been a Plaintiff in this action, testified that Sarault's Administrative Assistant expressed surprise at Litchfield's surprise about the reorganization, stating "this happens to everybody in our business."
* * *
Councilman Doyle, a Kinch supporter, testified that he was president of the City Council from 1981 to 1987 during the Kinch administration. He had a discussion with Mr. Jeffers on election evening at an establishment called "Hooligan's" on Central Avenue in Pawtucket at which time Mr. Jeffers said something to the effect that things are going to be different "once we get rid of the Byners and the Breaults." Byner was then City Solicitor.
Appellants argue that the evidence as a whole demonstrates that they were fired for political reasons and the district court erred...
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