Green v. St. Louis Housing Authority, 89-1945EM

• Decision Date: 07 August 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89-1945EM,89-1945EM
• Citation: 911 F.2d 65
• Parties: 117 Lab.Cas. P 56,450 Percy GREEN, II, Appellant, v. ST. LOUIS HOUSING AUTHORITY; Michael Jones, ind. and in his official capacity and Executive Director of St. Louis Housing Authority; C.W. Gates, Chairman; Rev. Richard J. Quirk, Vice Chairman; Marie W. Fowler, Treasurer; Bishop Samuel A. Layne; John C. Frisella, Each and individually and in his or her representative capacity elected members of the Board of Commissioners, St. Louis Housing Authority, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 65

911 F.2d 65

117 Lab.Cas. P 56,450

Percy GREEN, II, Appellant, v. ST. LOUIS HOUSING AUTHORITY; Michael Jones, ind. and in his official capacity and Executive Director of St. Louis Housing Authority; C.W. Gates, Chairman; Rev. Richard J Quirk, Vice Chairman; Marie W. Fowler, Treasurer; Bishop Samuel A. Layne; John C. Frisella, Each and individually and in his or her representative capacity elected members of the Board of Commissioners, St. Louis Housing Authority, Appellees.

No. 89-1945EM.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted March 14, 1990.

Decided Aug. 7, 1990.

Robert J. Reinhold, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant.

Darold Crotzer, Jr., St. Louis, Mo., for City.

Schoemehl and Elkin Kistner, St. Louis, Mo., for other appellees.

Before JOHN R. GIBSON and MAGILL, Circuit Judges, and BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge.

MAGILL, Circuit Judge.

Michael Jones, the executive director of the St. Louis Housing Authority (HA), terminated Percy Green, II, an at-will employee, ¹ from his position as general housing manager, allegedly due to Green's unsatisfactory work performance. Green alleged that the defendants falsely, maliciously, and in bad faith accused him of unsatisfactory performance as a pretext for discharging him for his refusal to support the mayor's 1985 campaign for reelection.

Following his dismissal, Green requested a grievance hearing. The HA grievance committee reviewed his complaint and voted not to sustain his dismissal. After reviewing the committee's recommendation, however, Jones concluded his initial decision was correct and advised Green he could appeal his termination decision to the HA Board of Commissioners (Board). The Board subsequently rejected Green's appeal, voting to affirm the dismissal. Green then brought suit under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1983, 1985, and 1986 against St. Louis and HA, and in their individual and official capacities, Jones, the mayor of St. Louis, and HA Board members, alleging that they not only violated his constitutional right to freedom of association but infringed his liberty and property rights without due process.

The district court ² dismissed Green's claims against St. Louis and the mayor in his official capacity on the ground that HA was not an agency or department of St. Louis. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the mayor in his individual capacity because of Green's failure to oppose the mayor's motion for summary judgment with specific facts demonstrating any genuine issue of material fact as to Green's allegations that the mayor played a role in his discharge.

The district court also granted summary judgment in favor of the remaining defendants on Green's claims that they abridged: (1) his liberty interest by falsely, maliciously, and in bad faith accusing him of unsatisfactory job performance as general housing manager; (2) his first amendment rights, as applied to the states through the fourteenth amendment, by dismissing him for his political activities; and (3) his property interest arising out of his employment with HA by terminating him without due process. Finally, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on Green's claim that the Missouri Administrative Procedures Act (MAPA) provides for judicial review of his termination. On appeal, Green argues that the district court erred in disposing of his claims. After a thorough review of the record, we reject Green's arguments and affirm the district court.

I.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c) provides that summary judgment shall be entered if the "pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is not a genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." In deciding whether to grant a motion for summary judgment, the district court must view the evidence in favor of the party opposing the motion and give him the benefit of all reasonable inferences. Kegel v. Runnels, 793 F.2d 924, 926 (8th Cir.1986). However, parties opposing a summary judgment motion may not rest merely upon the allegations in their pleadings. Buford v. Tremayne, 747 F.2d 445, 447 (8th Cir.1984). The opposing parties must resist the motion by setting forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue of material fact for trial. Id. (citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e) and Burst v. Adolph Coors Co., 650 F.2d 930, 932 (8th Cir.1981)). In examining the district court's opinion, it is clear that the court correctly stated and applied these summary judgment principles. We reject Green's arguments to the contrary.

A.

Green's claims against St. Louis and the mayor in his official capacity were predicated entirely on the existence of an agency relationship between the city and HA, and the mayor's alleged substantive control over HA. The district court dismissed Green's claims against both parties after concluding that, under Missouri law, HA is not an agency or department of the city and the mayor exercises no substantive control over HA. "We defer to the state law rulings of federal district courts which sit in the state whose law is controlling. We may refuse to follow the federal district court ruling only if we find that it is ' "fundamentally deficient in analysis, without a reasonable basis, or contrary to reported state-court opinion." ' " Perkins v. General Motors, 911 F.2d 22, 29 (8th Cir.1990) (quoting Pony Exp. Cab & Bus., Inc. v. Ward, 841 F.2d 207, 209 (8th Cir.1988) (per curiam), quoting Economy Fire & Cas. Co. v. Tri-State Ins. Co., 827 F.2d 373, 375 (8th Cir.1987)). Because we do not find any of these conditions to exist, we defer to the district court's holding that HA is not an agency or department of St. Louis under Missouri law and that the mayor exercises no substantive control over HA. See State ex rel. City of St. Louis v. Ryan, 776 S.W.2d 13, 16 (Mo. banc 1989) (neither mayor nor any city official can exercise substantive control over the manner in which HA performs its statutorily mandated duties; HA, a municipal corporation independent from St. Louis, is a political subdivision of Missouri). We therefore affirm the district court's dismissal of Green's claims against St. Louis and the mayor in his official capacity.

The district court also granted summary judgment in favor of the mayor in his individual capacity because Green failed to present specific facts showing that there was a genuine issue of fact for trial. After reviewing the record, we find ourselves in agreement with the district court. Green did little more than attempt to rest upon the allegations in his pleadings. We can find no instance where Green pointed to facts which supported his contention that the mayor even knew Green had been discharged or that the mayor had any involvement in the alleged "purge" of HA employees. Merely because Jones and the mayor once played basketball together and served together in college student government was not enough as a matter of law for Green to successfully oppose the motion for summary judgment. ³ We therefore affirm the district court's order granting the mayor's motion for summary judgment in his individual capacity.

B.

Green also claims that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the remaining defendants based upon its conclusion that Green's allegations were insufficient. Green alleged that Jones falsely, maliciously, and in bad faith accused him of unsatisfactory performance in connection with his duties as a housing manager, and maligned his character by way of false and malicious statements to the mayor and members of the Board. Despite his allegations that defendants maligned his character, Green could not identify any such instances during the course of discovery, choosing instead to rely merely upon the general allegations in his pleadings. In fact, responding to questions about the alleged stigmatizing statements, Green testified in his deposition that: (1) Jones' statement that Green's job performance was unsatisfactory was not true; (2) the statement was conveyed to him and the HA Board members; and (3) other than this statement he was unaware of any other specific statements made by Jones concerning him that he believed to be untrue.

A public employee is deprived of his liberty interest in connection with a discharge only when it occurs under circumstances which impose upon the employee a stigma or other disability foreclosing his freedom to take advantage of other employment opportunities. See Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 573, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2707, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). The charges leveled must injure the employee's good name, reputation, honor or integrity. Doe v. United States Dep't of Justice, 753 F.2d 1092, 1105, 1111 (D.C.Cir.1985). Falsely charging an employee with unsatisfactory job performance when terminating him does not infringe his liberty interest, Harrison v. Bowen, 815 F.2d 1505, 1518 (D.C.Cir.1987), because it does not

carry with it the sort of opprobrium sufficient to constitute a deprivation of liberty [even when conveyed to third parties].... [W]e must discriminate between a dismissal "for dishonesty, for having committed a serious felony, for manifest racism, for serious mental illness, or for lack of 'intellectual ability, as distinguished from [ ] performance....' " The former characteristics imply an inherent or at least a persistent personal condition, which both the general public and a potential future employer are likely to want to avoid. Inadequate job performance, in contrast, suggests a situational rather than an intrinsic difficulty; as part of one's biography it invites inquiry, not prejudgment.

Id. (citations omitted); see also Bailey v. Kirk, 777 F.2d 567, 572-73 (10th Cir.1985) (failure to conduct investigation of police officer to satisfaction of supervisor not sufficient stigma; does not call into question plaintiff's...