Hohmeier v. Leyden Community High Schools Dist. 212

• Decision Date: 02 March 1992
• Docket Number: No. 90-3373,90-3373
• Citation: 954 F.2d 461
• Parties: 72 Ed. Law Rep. 532 Rita A. HOHMEIER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LEYDEN COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOLS DISTRICT 212, Charles Thompson, individually and as Principal of West Leyden High School, Ruth Schwartz, individually and as an employee or agent of Leyden High Schools, and Linda Worner, individually and as an employee or agent of Leyden High Schools, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 461

954 F.2d 461

72 Ed. Law Rep. 532

Rita A. HOHMEIER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LEYDEN COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOLS DISTRICT 212, Charles Thompson, individually and as Principal of West Leyden High School, Ruth Schwartz, individually and as an employee or agent of Leyden High Schools, and Linda Worner, individually and as an employee or agent of Leyden High Schools Defendants-Appellees.

No. 90-3373.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Sept. 24, 1991.

Decided Jan. 22, 1992.

Rehearing Denied March 2, 1992.

Donald S. Rothschild (argued), Rothschild & Associates, Oak Park, Ill., Elmer Gertz, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.

Michael J. Duggan (argued), J. Todd Faulkner, Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellees.

Before CUDAHY and MANION, Circuit Judges, and ESCHBACH, Senior Circuit Judge.

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge.

Appellant Rita Hohmeier brought this suit against Leyden Community High Schools District 212 and various school administrators under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 after she was fired from her job at West Leyden High School. Hohmeier alleged that her discharge was irrational and arbitrary, in violation of her right to both procedural and substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants, and Hohmeier appeals. 748 F.Supp. 657 (1990). Although we have difficulty with some of the district court's reasoning, we agree with the result and affirm the grant of summary judgment.

I.

On November 6, 1987, Rita Hohmeier was fired from her job as secretary of the English and Social Studies departments of West Leyden High School, where she had been employed for just over eight years. At the time she was informed of her termination, Hohmeier was given a seven-page memorandum detailing the reasons for her discharge and a copy of Leyden Board of Education Policy 4223, entitled "Termination of Employment." Policy 4223 provides, in relevant part: "The Official Supervisor may recommend that an Instructional/supervisory supportive staff employee's employment be terminated for proper cause." Short App. at 4. Policy 4223 also states that "[a]ll cases of discharge shall be subject to the regular established grievance procedure, Policy 4222, which allows for appeals to the Board of Education." Id. Hohmeier had never seen Policy 4223 before her termination meeting; in fact, the parties agree that the defendants had purposefully concealed its existence from school district employees.

Shortly after this meeting, Hohmeier requested a copy of Policy 4222, the grievance procedure referenced in Policy 4223. Pursuant to that procedure, Hohmeier presented her grievance to, successively, the principal of West Leyden High School, the District 212 business manager, the District 212 Superintendant of Schools and the Board of Education of District 212. Her termination was upheld at each step.

Having failed to obtain satisfaction under the District 212 grievance procedures, Hohmeier then filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Hohmeier alleged that Policy 4223 conferred upon her a property interest in continued employment requiring "good cause" for discharge. She claimed that the defendants' arbitrary and irrational termination of her employment had deprived her of that property interest in violation of her rights to both procedural and substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants. The court found, first, that Hohmeier had failed to demonstrate that she had a property interest in her employment that was protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The court noted that, for purposes of due process claims, " '[p]roperty interests are, of course, created by state law.' " 748 F.Supp. at 660 (quoting Lohorn v. Michal, 913 F.2d 327, 335 (7th Cir.1990)). In this case, the court held, the relevant "state law" is state common law defining when an employee handbook creates an enforceable contract right to continued employment. Specifically, the court relied on the decision of the Illinois Supreme Court in Duldulao v. St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital Center, 115 Ill.2d 482, 106 Ill.Dec. 8, 505 N.E.2d 314 (1986), which held that "an employee handbook or other policy statement creates enforceable contractual rights if the traditional requirements for contract formation are present." Id. at 318. The court concluded that the facts alleged by Hohmeier could not fulfill those requirements and that therefore Policy 4223 did not give Hohmeier a property right in continued employment.

The court also rejected Hohmeier's substantive due process claim. The court found that "[t]he Seventh Circuit has acknowledged that 'a substantive due process claim can be brought in the context of property interests.' " 748 F.Supp. at 661 (quoting New Burnham Prairie Homes, Inc. v. Burnham, 910 F.2d 1474, 1480 (7th Cir.1990)). The court also noted, however, that Seventh Circuit precedent requires a plaintiff making such a claim to allege " 'either a separate constitutional violation or the inadequacy of state law remedies.' " Id. (quoting New Burnham Prairie Homes, 910 F.2d at 1481). The court found that Hohmeier's complaint failed to fulfill this requirement.

We review de novo the district court's grant of summary judgment. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2513, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Summary judgment is appropriate only if, drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, we conclude that there exists no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. New Burnham Prairie Homes, 910 F.2d at 1477.

II.

Hohmeier argues that the district court erred in concluding that she did not have a protectable property interest in continued employment absent proper cause for termination. First, Hohmeier contends that the court's reliance on state contract law as the only way to establish a property interest in continued employment was inappropriate in this case. She argues that because Policy 4223 is not a rule issued by a private employer, but one promulgated by a public body pursuant to its statutory rule-making authority, it may create property entitlements without regard to considerations of contract law. Second, Hohmeier claims that even if the contract requirements of Duldulao are the only way to establish a property interest in continued employment she has fulfilled those requirements.

A. District Court's Exclusive Reliance on State Contract Law

In Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972), the Supreme Court stated:

Property interests, of course, are not created by the Constitution. Rather, they are created and their dimensions are defined by existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state law--rules or understandings that secure certain benefits and that support claims of entitlement to those benefits.

Id. at 577, 92 S.Ct. at 2709. Illinois state law imposes on public school boards such as Leyden a "duty" to "adopt and enforce all necessary rules for the management and government of the public schools of their district." Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 122 § 10-20.5 (1989). Chapter 122 further provides that "[r]ules adopted by the school board shall be filed for public inspection in the administrative office of the district." Id. We agree with Hohmeier that because Policy 4223 was promulgated by the Leyden School Board, a state entity, pursuant to its statutory rule-making authority, it constitutes an "existing rule ... that stems from ... state law." Therefore, contrary to the holding of the district court, the Leyden School Board policy could create a property entitlement in Hohmeier without regard to the "traditional requirements of contract formation" set forth in Duldulao. We conclude, however, that Policy 4223 does not in fact create such an entitlement because it does not impose a binding obligation on the school board to terminate employees only for cause.

The Illinois Supreme Court has made clear that a state statute or regulation may create a property entitlement in continued employment without creating a contractual right to that benefit. In Fumarolo v. Chicago Board of Education, 142 Ill.2d 54, 153 Ill.Dec. 177, 566 N.E.2d 1283 (1990), the Court found that neither the Chicago Board of Education's policy manual nor the statute pursuant to which the manual had been issued created enforceable contract rights in tenured teachers to continued employment. The Court also held, however, that the same policy manual and statute did create a property interest in continued employment:

[T]here is no doubt that the State law and the reiteration of State law made by the board through guidelines and oral representations created a legitimate expectation of continued employment during good behavior and competent conduct, thereby creating a "property" interest in continued employment. Plaintiffs were, therefore, entitled to due process before their permanent tenure was reduced to employment under four-year renewable contracts.

Id. 153 Ill.Dec. at 201, 566 N.E.2d at 1307. ¹ The Court's discussion of plaintiffs' claims to a property entitlement created by state statute contains no reference whatsoever to Duldulao, although the Court explicitly dealt with Duldulao in addressing plaintiffs' contractual argument.

A municipal ordinance also may create a property entitlement without regard to state contract law. In Domiano v. River Grove, 904 F.2d 1142 (7th Cir.1990), this Court found that the River Grove fire chief had a property interest in his employment by virtue of a particular municipal ordinance. We stated that "[a] village ordinance, like a state statute or constitutional provision, may create a protectable property interest in employment." Id. at 1148 (emphasis added); see also Lewis v. Hayes, 152 Ill.App.3d 1020, 106 Ill.Dec. 102, 505 N.E.2d 408 (...