Garrett v. Barnes, 91-1505

• Decision Date: 08 April 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-1505,91-1505
• Citation: 961 F.2d 629
• Parties: Paul GARRETT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Thomas V. BARNES, individually and as Mayor of the City of Gary, Indiana, and the City of Gary, Indiana, an Indiana municipal corporation, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 629

961 F.2d 629

Paul GARRETT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Thomas V. BARNES, individually and as Mayor of the City of Gary, Indiana, and the City of Gary, Indiana, an Indiana municipal corporation Defendants-Appellees.

No. 91-1505.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Nov. 4, 1991.

Decided April 8, 1992.

Robert G. Berger, Highland, Ind. (argued), for plaintiff-appellant.

Gilbert King, Jr., Corp. Counsel (argued), Office of Corp. Counsel, MacArthur Drake (argued), Gary, Ind., for defendants-appellees.

Before MANION and KANNE, Circuit Judges, and WILL, Senior District Judge. ^*

WILL, Senior District Judge.

Paul Garrett sued Mayor Barnes and the City of Gary under § 1983, charging that he had been fired because of his political affiliation with the previous mayor in violation of his first amendment rights. At the close of evidence in the third trial (two earlier mistrials had resulted from hung juries), the district court granted the defendants' motion for a directed verdict. This appeal followed.

I. Facts

On review of a directed verdict we examine the facts, and all inferences that they reasonably support, in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, in this case Garrett.

Garrett was hired by the city of Gary in 1981 as a grants coordinator. At that time Richard Hatcher was mayor of Gary. Garrett's job was to prepare and revise grant applications, identify funds, and develop a system for reporting and coordinating grants submitted by various departments, as well as to perform any other duties assigned to him. Garrett was assigned research projects as well as grants work, and in 1984 when the Department of Research Monitoring and Analysis was created Garrett was assigned to that department. At this point he used the title "Research Analyst" and a job review from 1985 used this title ("grants coordinator/research analyst"), although his title was not formally changed.

When Garrett was hired he had not been active in politics, but he later became a precinct captain for the Democratic Party in his district. He was also a member of the Young Democrats, where he met Mr. Barnes' son. Garrett testified that he visited Barnes' home in the early 1980's when Barnes was running for re-election for Assessor. Garrett and Barnes were also members of the same fraternity.

In 1987 Garrett was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for councilman from his district (all Gary officials are Democrats). In the same election Barnes challenged Hatcher for the Democratic nomination for mayor. Mayor Hatcher endorsed Garrett for the councilman nomination. Although he does not remember whether he did so publicly, the jury could certainly infer that the endorsement was made public somehow, and that Barnes knew of it, although he testified at trial that he did not remember it. Garrett, in turn, endorsed Mayor Hatcher for re-election. The jury could also infer that Barnes was aware of this endorsement, although he testified that he did not recall it. Despite these mutual endorsements, both candidates lost. Mayor Barnes beat Hatcher for the Democratic nomination for mayor, and won the general election that fall. Garrett came in second in his council race.

During the campaign, Barnes sent a letter to all city employees, including Garrett. In addition to a general campaign pitch, the letter acknowledged everyone's concerns about jobs, and, citing Elrod v. Burns, informed all employees that they could not be fired for political reasons as long as they were performing satisfactorily. Following the primary, Barnes sent letters to all the candidates--one for the winners, one for the losers. Garrett received such a letter, telling him he ran a good campaign, he shouldn't lose heart, and so on.

Barnes testified that he sent these letters to everyone, and he did not have any other personal communication with Garrett during this period. Barnes said that he was not aware of the endorsements or Garrett's political associations. Barnes also testified that he campaigned actively, meeting most politically active people.

There was sketchy evidence of Garrett's job performance. His personnel file contained only two evaluations--from 1984 and 1985. These evaluations were good: he was given 94 and 96 points out of 100 possible. Ms. Nelson, the director of the Division of Community Services also testified as to Garrett's job performance. Garrett was not in her division, but he did do some research for her division, and worked on a few projects with her. She testified that the work she observed him do was satisfactory. The former deputy mayor, Mr. Holland, testified that when Garrett was hired he worked under his supervision, until Garrett's transfer to the research department in 1984 or 1985. Holland testified that Garrett was a satisfactory employee. The evidence at trial also showed that Garrett had produced only two grants during his entire period of employment totalling $11,000 in funds to the city. According to Barnes he was not aware that Garrett had brought in any grant money until the trial produced evidence of two grants. Garrett argues that Mayor Barnes did not know how many grants he generated until the trial.

After Barnes was elected and prior to taking office he prepared for the transition of administrations with the help of consultants. There were many studies done of the city administration and changes were suggested. Barnes was supposed to produce any recommendations made about the Department of Research and Monitoring where Garrett was employed, but he was unable to find any. Barnes testified that he did not preserve all of the papers from the transition.

Barnes testified that he decided to re-organize the Department of Research and Monitoring. There had been four positions, one of which was vacant. He said that he made the risk manager position full-time, and hired a professional for the position, dismissing a state representative who had worked in that position for 9 months per year, and canceling contracts with an outside group that was hired to perform the work that the previous office holder had been unqualified to do. The position of affirmative action officer was terminated and the duties transferred to another department. Barnes also testified that he decided to eliminate the grants coordinator position because he did not think any grants were being produced through that position, and that it would be more effective for each department to apply for its own grants (Tr. 377). Thus, a total of three people were terminated--two because their positions were eliminated, and one because of a change in the job requirements which he could not satisfy. There was no evidence about the political associations of the other two terminated employees. The position of director had been vacant, and the position of risk manager was changed. A third position was also created, although there was no testimony about what it was. Thus, in the year following Barnes' election, three people were hired in this department.

Barnes sent Garrett a letter dated December 29, 1987 informing him that the department was being restructured and his position was terminated effective January 1, 1988. Garrett received this letter on January 4, 1988. In the restructured department, Barnes hired three new employees to fill the changed positions. He testified that he knew two of the new employees, that they had worked with him previously, and that they had supported him in the mayoral primary. The third new employee was promoted from a previous position in the Hatcher administration.

Garrett's interpretation of this evidence is that Barnes fired him because he had supported Hatcher. Garrett suggests either that the re-organization did not even occur, or that it did, but was politically motivated. Barnes argues that he had legitimate reasons to re-organize the department and terminate Garrett, and denies any political motivation.

II. Standard of Review

Both directed verdicts and judgments notwithstanding the verdict are governed by FRCP 50 "Judgment as a Matter of Law," which states that:

If during a trial by jury a party has been fully heard with respect to an issue and there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to have found for that party with respect to that issue, the court may grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law against that party on any claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third party claim that cannot under the controlling law be maintained without a favorable finding on that issue.

This circuit has held that application of Rule 50 means that:

A judgment n.o.v. [or directed verdict] should be denied " 'where the evidence, along with the inferences to be reasonably drawn therefrom, when viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing such motion is such that reasonable men in a fair and impartial exercise of their judgment may reach different conclusions.' " [citations omitted] Implicit in this standard is a recognition that a jury verdict must be allowed to stand if it is supported by circumstantial evidence. A judgment n.o.v. [or directed verdict] is proper, however, if the verdict is supported only by "sheer speculation and conjecture." [citation omitted]

McClure v. Cywinski, 686 F.2d 541, 544 (7th Cir.1982). Another formulation is that:

[T]he trial judge must determine whether the party with the burden of proof has produced sufficient evidence upon which a jury could properly proceed to a verdict, and ... a mere scintilla of evidence will not suffice.

Richardson v. Indianapolis, 658 F.2d 494, 498 (7th Cir.1981), cert. den., 455 U.S. 945, 102 S.Ct. 1442, 71 L.Ed.2d 657 (1982). We review directed verdicts de novo. Hayes v. Otis Elevator Co., 946 F.2d 1272, 1275 (7th Cir.1991).

It was suggested at oral argument both that the two previous trials, in which a directed verdict was denied and the jury hung, weigh in favor of and that they weigh against the directed...