Hogan v. City of El Dorado
| Decision Date | 29 September 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-CV-1084.,04-CV-1084. |
| Citation | 455 F.Supp.2d 876 |
| Parties | Darlene HOGAN, Plaintiff v. CITY OF EL DORADO, a subordinate political entity in the State of Arkansas; Bobby Beard, Mayor of the City of El Dorado, in his official and individual capacities; Floyd McAdoo, Fire Chief, El Dorado Fire Department, City of El Dorado, in his official and individual capacities; Robert McDaniel, Assistant Fire Chief, El Dorado Fire Department, City of El Dorado, in his official and individual capacities; Kenneth King, Assistant Fire Chief, El Dorado Fire Department, City of El Dorado, in his official and individual capacities; and various John Does of the City of El Dorado and the El Dorado Fire Department, policy makers, supervisors, agents, and/or employees, in their individual and official capacities, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Arkansas |
William C. Plouffe, Jr., Attorney at Law, El Dorado, AR, for Plaintiff.
Jeannette Denham, Arkansas Municipal League, North Little Rock, AR, for Defendants.
Before the Court is a Motion for Summary Judgment filed on behalf of the Defendants, City of El Dorado, Bobby Beard, Floyd McAdoo, Robert McDaniel and Kenneth King. (Doc. No. 44). Plaintiff, Darlene Hogan, has filed a response to the motion. (Doc. No. 48). The matter is ripe for consideration.
The Plaintiff, Darlene Hogan, filed this action against the City of El Dorado, Arkansas and various city officials pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1988, the American's with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 701 et seq. and 791 et seq., Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., Arkansas Code Annotated §§ 16-123-105 through 108, and Article II, §§ 3, 18, and 29 of the Arkansas State Constitution. She alleges that the Defendants violated her constitutional rights under both state and federal law and discriminated against her on the basis of gender, disability and retaliation. The Defendants have filed for summary judgment on all claims. Hogan has responded and requests a stay of consideration of all issues except the question of qualified immunity.
At Defendants' request, the Court limited discovery in this case to the issue of qualified immunity. In light of this limitation, consideration of any other issues other than qualified immunity would be highly prejudicial to the Plaintiff. Therefore,, all other issues raised by the Defendants in their summary judgment motion will be denied at this time, subject to refiling after discovery on those issue has been conducted. Accordingly, qualified immunity is the only appropriate issue before the Court and will be the only issue considered by the Court at this time.
Darlene Hogan worked as a firefighter for the El Dorado, Arkansas, Fire Department. In 1999, Assistant Chief McDaniel began sexually harassing Hogan. The harassment took the form of sexual remarks, sexual advances, sexual touching and sexual grouping. She informally spoke to a number of supervisors about the harassment but did not make a formal written complaint as required by the department's personnel manual. Eventually, Hogan informed Chief McAdoo, in writing, that McDaniel and she had worked out their problems and that she did not wish to file a complaint against him.
Starting in 2001, Hogan began to have health problems which caused confusion, dizziness and insomnia. She reported these problems to Chief McAdoo. In March 2003, Hogan was diagnosed with profound hypoglycemia.
During this time, Hogan was late for work several times. Between October 2002 and April 2003, Hogan was late for work four times. In April 2003, Hogan was brought before the Efficiency Board of the El Dorado Fire Department. The board found that she had violated the department's rules regarding timely reporting for duty and she was disciplined two weeks off without pay. Hogan was also counseled that her discipline would be progressive if she continued to violate these rules. Hogan did not appeal this decision.
In November 2003, Hogan was again brought before the Efficiency Board for tardiness. The Board again found that Hogan had violated the department's rules regarding timely reporting for duty. It recommended that Hogan's discipline be either thirty (30) days off without pay or one demotion in rank. Hogan was demoted in rank from lieutenant to firefighter. She appealed this decision to the Civil Service Commission. On December 8, 2003, the Commission upheld the Board's decision and demoted Hogan to firefighter.
On May 4, 2004, Hogan filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") alleging discrimination based upon sex, disability and retaliation. On August 4, 2004, Hogan, filed this action against the City of El Dorado and various city officials, in both their official and individual capacities. In her complaint, Hogan alleges that she was subjected to a hostile work environment as a result of being sexually harassed by Assistant Chief McDaniel. She claims that she reported the harassment to Chief McAdoo who did nothing to stop it. Hogan claims that her discipline before the Efficiency Board was in retaliation of her reporting the sexual harassment by McDaniel. Hogan also claims that she had a medical disability which she was reported to Chief McAdoo. She claims that her disability was not considered by the Efficiency Board in their discipline of her. Hogan also claims that she was subjected to disparate treatment. Hogan claims that individual Defendants, Bobby Beard (the mayor of City of El Dorado, Arkansas), Floyd McAdoo (Fire Chief), Robert McDaniel (Assistant Fire Chief) and Kenneth King (Assistant Fire Chief), discriminated against her and violated her Constitutional rights under the Ninth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process and equal protection clauses. Defendants argue that summary judgment should be granted in their favor on Plaintiffs claims against them in their individual capacities on the basis that these claims are barred by qualified immunity.
Summary Judgment is proper if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(b). The Court views the evidence and the inferences which may be reasonably drawn from the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Enterprise Bank v. Magna Bank, 92 F.3d 743, 747 (8th Cir.1996); see also Adkison v. G.D. Searle & Co., 971 F.2d 132, 134 (8th Cir.1992). The moving party bears the burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Enterprise Bank v. Magna Bank, 92 F.3d 743, 747 (8th Cir.1996); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The nonmoving party must demonstrate the existence of specific facts that create a genuine issue for trial; mere allegations or denials are not enough. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2514, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Krenik v. County of Le Sueur, 47 F.3d 953, 957 (8th Cir.1995). Summary judgment is to be granted only where the evidence is such that no reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party. See Liberty Lobby,, 477 U.S. at 250, 106 S.Ct. at 2511.
Hogan has brought this § 1983 suit against Mayor Beard, Chief McAdoo, Assistant Chief McDaniel- and Assistant Chief King in their individual capacity. These Defendants contend that they are entitled to qualified immunity. Under qualified immunity, state actors are protected from civil liability when their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. Kuha v. City of Minnetonka, 365 F.3d 590, 601 (8th Cir.2004)(quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)). At the summary judgment phase, the qualified immunity inquiry is a three-step process. The first question is whether the plaintiff has asserted a violation of a constitutional or statutory right. If so, the next question is whether or not the right asserted was clearly established at the time of the violation. And finally the question is, whether, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, there are genuine issues of material fact as to whether a reasonable official would have known that the alleged action violated that right. Hunter v. Namanny, 219 F.3d 825, 829 (8th Cir.2000).
First, the Court must decide if the facts alleged, taken in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff, demonstrate a violation of a federal constitution or statutory right. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 200, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). If they do not, then summary judgment in favor of the Defendants is appropriate. Therefore, the Court will first determine if Hogan has been discriminated against by the individual Defendants in this case in order to determine if her constitutional or statutory rights have been violated.
Hogan claims that Defendant Robert McDaniel sexually harassed her by creating a hostile work environment. To establish a cause of action for hostile work environment sexual harassment, Hogan must prove: 1) she belongs to a protected group; 2) she was sexually harassed; 3) the conduct was based on Hogan's gender; 4) the conduct was unwelcome; and 5) the harassment affected a term, condition, or privilege of Hogan's employment. Moring v. Ark. Dep't of Corr., 243 F.3d 452, 455 (8th Cir.2001)(quoting Scusa v. Nestle USA Co., 181 F.3d 958, 965 (8th Cir.1999). Harassment affects a term,...
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