Easley v. University of Michigan Bd. of Regents
| Citation | 853 F.2d 1351 |
| Decision Date | 11 August 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-1483,86-1483 |
| Parties | 48 Ed. Law Rep. 399 Kendrix M. EASLEY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN BOARD OF REGENTS; Terry Sandalow, individually and as Dean of Law School; et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) |
Kendrix M. Easley argued, Detroit, Mich., pro se.
Doris M. Harker (argued), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., for defendants-appellees.
Before MERRITT and RYAN, Circuit Judges, and PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff-appellant Kendrix M. Easley appeals from several adverse rulings by United States District Court Judge John Feikens in this action brought under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1981, 1982, and 1983 against various officials of the University of Michigan Law School. Although the appellant has raised a host of assignments of error, the only issue having arguable merit is whether Judge Feikens abused his discretion in denying Easley's motion to disqualify the Judge under 28 U.S.C. Secs. 144 and 455 based upon Judge Feikens' affiliations with the Law School during times material to Easley's lawsuit, 632 F.Supp. 1539.
Easley properly raised the issue of Judge Feikens' impartiality during proceedings before the district court. Easley sought Judge Feikens' recusal based upon his associations with the Law School and its faculty and "his well-publicized Negrophobia." In addition, Easley filed an "Emergency Motion" before this court alleging that Judge Feikens has additional affiliations with the University of Michigan which Easley previously failed to assert. We find some of these asserted grounds for disqualification to be patently meritless. Others require explication.
Accordingly, in order to afford Judge Feikens an opportunity to address any potentially troublesome affiliations raised by Easley below and on appeal, and, if such affiliations are established, to determine whether, as a consequence thereof, Judge Feikens' impartiality in this case might reasonably be questioned, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 455(a) and (b)(1), we retain jurisdiction and remand the case for an evidentiary hearing. The limited purposes of the hearing will be: (1) to enlarge the record regarding the nature of Judge Feikens' associations with the Law School, its faculty, and its administrators; (2) to determine whether Judge Feikens acquired actual or constructive extra-judicial knowledge of matters material to this controversy through such associations; and (3) to determine whether any associations Judge Feikens may have had with the Law School are such that the Judge's "impartiality might reasonably be questioned."
I.
Easley, a former student at the University of Michigan Law School, brought suit against several University officials seeking equitable and legal relief. Easley, who was enrolled at the Law School from 1979 until he was suspended for plagiarism in August of 1983, claimed that Law School officials wrongfully deprived him of a J.D. degree. Easley sought damages and an injunction ordering the University to award him a J.D. degree.
The spiral of events culminating in this action began during the 1979 fall academic term during which Easley was enrolled in Professor Martin's introductory civil procedure course. Professor Martin's one semester section was worth five credit hours. The University also offered civil procedure sections worth six credit hours, but the six credit sections met for two consecutive semesters, each worth three credit hours. Easley did not take the final examination in Professor Martin's class as scheduled in December of 1979. He received permission from Associate Dean Eklund to take the examination in January 1980, but again delayed taking the test.
In 1981, toward the end of the fall term, Easley was informed by Dean Eklund and Kris Munroe, the Law School's recorder, that his civil procedure course work was incomplete. The examination was again rescheduled and again postponed at Easley's request. Easley eventually took the examination in March of 1982 and received a passing score. He now claims that shortly thereafter, in April of 1982, Munroe notified him of his passing score, and that both Munroe and Dean Eklund told him that he had earned six credit hours.
In accordance with standard Law School procedure, Munroe did not enter Easley's grade into the Law School's computer, which generates student transcripts, until June 22, the end of the semester. Munroe's entries, however, erroneously indicated that Easley had enrolled in a six credit civil procedure section rather than Professor Martin's five credit section. While conducting a routine degree audit, Dean Eklund and Munroe discovered the error and corrected Easley's record to reflect the fact that he had earned only five civil procedure credits. On July 16, 1982, Eklund informed Easley that he had erroneously been awarded an extra credit hour and that he had actually earned only 80 credits, one credit shy of the number required for graduates entering in Easley's class. Although Dean Eklund had limited discretion to determine the number of credit hours a student could receive for an independent study course, she had no authority to alter the number of credit hours given for established courses like civil procedure.
On June 18, 1982, prior to receiving Dean Eklund's notice, Easley approached Professor St. Antoine in an effort to improve his final exam grade of "D" in Professor St. Antoine's course in employment discrimination. Professor St. Antoine reread Easley's examination and raised the grade to a "D+." Easley again asked Professor St. Antoine to raise his grade and, after a heated exchange, Professor St. Antoine asked Easley to leave his office. While returning Easley's exam to the file, Professor St. Antoine observed markings on the examination blue book cover that led him to conclude that "[p]lainly there had been a substitution of blue books." Thereafter, on July 15, 1982, St. Antoine charged Easley with cheating. On November 23, 1982, Easley was found innocent of the charges in proceedings before a Law School tribunal chaired by Professor Donald H. Regan.
Before his November hearing on the cheating charge, Easley purportedly presented a paper to Professor Westen as a pretext in order to talk with a faculty member about the cheating accusation. Professor Westen thought he recognized much of the paper's text from an uncited law review article. Professor Westen thereafter charged Easley with plagiarism. Easley was found guilty in August of 1983 after an April 22, 1983, trial before another Law School tribunal, chaired by the late Professor Wade McCree, a former judge of this court. Easley was thereafter suspended for one year from completing the work necessary to earn the one credit needed for his degree.
Easley now claims that University officials asked him to leave an April 11, 1983 hearing at the Law School on the plagiarism charge. In addition, according to Easley, these officials removed exculpatory personal papers and documents from his briefcase in his absence. The only named defendant who was present at the conference is Professor Pooley, Chairman of the Law School's Committee on Professional Responsibility. Easley, however, has not accused Professor Pooley of conducting the alleged search and has been unwilling to state which, if any, documents were taken from his briefcase.
Rather than wait out his one-year suspension, Easley filed this action on November 21, 1984, asserting the following eight claims against the University and various Law School officials:
Count I: The University of Michigan lacks jurisdiction and authority to rescind a degree.
Count II: A violation of procedural due process and rights secured by the fourth amendment.
Count III: A violation of substantive due process.
Count IV: Race discrimination.
Count V: A violation of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, Michigan Complied Laws Annotated (MCLA) Sec. 37.2101, et seq.
Count VI: Breach of contract.
Count VII: Negligence.
Count VIII: Intentional interference with contractual relations.
II.
On March 28, 1985, defendants responded to Easley's complaint by filing a motion to dismiss. Easley in turn filed an answer and a motion to disqualify Judge Feikens under 28 U.S.C. Secs. 144 and 455. 1 Easley sought Judge Feikens' recusal based upon (1) his associations with the University of Michigan Law School, and (2) "his well publicized Negrophobia [as] evidenced by numerous articles questioning the competency of Negros/Blacks." Easley claimed that the Judge was biased because he was a 1941 graduate of the Law School and because he was acquainted with several Law School professors and administrators. Easley's claim of racial bias was predicated upon statements attributed to Judge Feikens in two columns and an editorial printed in the Detroit Free Press in 1984. 2 Judge Feikens denied Easley's motion.
Easley subsequently amended his complaint and, on July 8, 1985, defendants renewed their motion to dismiss and filed an accompanying motion for summary judgment. The court held a hearing on defendants' motions on July 15. Easley appeared at the hearing through counsel and argued against defendants' motions without requesting an opportunity to give a written response. The court thereafter: (1) dismissed the Board of Regents in their official and individual capacities; (2) declined to exercise its discretion to hear the pendent state claims in Counts V, VI, VII, and VIII and dismissed them without prejudice; (3) dismissed Count I without prejudice because it alleged no federal jurisdictional basis; and (4) denied summary judgment and declined to dismiss Counts II, III, and IV. Easley v. University of Michigan Bd. of Regents, 619 F.Supp. 418 (E.D.Mich.1985).
The remaining claims, Counts II, III, and IV, were brought under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1981, 1982, and 1983. Easley first alleged that defendants deprived him of due process by "re...
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