Johnson v. Rogers, s. 79-1441
| Decision Date | 07 May 1980 |
| Docket Number | 79-1457,Nos. 79-1441,s. 79-1441 |
| Citation | 621 F.2d 300 |
| Parties | Ruth JOHNSON, Appellee, v. John ROGERS, Appellant, County of Meeker of the State of Minnesota, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Ronald C. Anderson, Hulstrand, Anderson, Larson & Boylan, Willmar, Minn., for Rogers.
W. B. Haas, Hutchinson, Minn., for Johnson.
Before HEANEY and HENLEY, Circuit Judges, and SCHATZ, * District Judge.
In this civil rights action, 1 the defendant below, Sheriff John Rogers of Meeker County, Minnesota, was found liable by a jury for the damages suffered by the plaintiff, Ruth Johnson, in connection with her termination from employment as a deputy sheriff. Sheriff Rogers appeals from the judgment entered on the verdict, and Ms. Johnson cross-appeals from a remittitur ordered by the district court. 2 For reasons stated below, we affirm on both the appeal and cross-appeal.
During the spring and summer of 1974, the Meeker County Sheriff's Office experienced a number of security problems involving the disappearance of various records and personnel files. The plaintiff was a deputy sheriff at this time assigned as a radio dispatcher. Sheriff Rogers became increasingly concerned about office security and, in an effort to discover who was involved in these incidents, began making unannounced visits to check on the office at various times. On November 3, 1974, the sheriff went out of town, but instructed his assistant, Mary Kalkbrenner, to hide herself in the record-keeping office that night and the early morning of November 4, where she could tape record the activities taking place in the adjacent dispatcher's office.
On November 4, the plaintiff worked the 12 a. m. to 8 a. m. shift. At approximately 1 a. m., two city policemen arrived at the sheriff's office on police business. After completing their official business, the officers went to the locked door of the record-keeping office, where Ms. Kalkbrenner was secreted, and one of the officers attempted to show the other how to spring a lock with a credit card. The door to the record-keeping office would not open, however, and Ms. Kalkbrenner recorded only some muffled voices and rattling noises. The plaintiff ended her shift later that morning. She did not report any unusual occurrences in the log book.
Sheriff Rogers was informed of these events by Ms. Kalkbrenner on the afternoon of November 4. The sheriff testified that he was upset by what he heard, but took no action until the morning of November 5, when he called the plaintiff to his office. Also present at this meeting was the chief deputy and the union steward. After advising the plaintiff of her legal rights, the sheriff questioned her about the November 4 incident. The sheriff repeatedly told the plaintiff that he "knew all about what went on," referred to the incident as an "attempted break-in," and questioned the plaintiff about other suspected record-taking incidents. The plaintiff denied that any wrongdoing had taken place on November 4, or that she had any knowledge of other incidents. Later that day, the sheriff gave the plaintiff a termination notice. Although the plaintiff's union contract called for a suspension before final termination, this procedure was not followed.
That night, the eve of the sheriff's re-election to office, the sheriff disclosed to the news media that there had been "an attempted illegal entry" by two city policemen, that a sheriff's office dispatcher was present at the time, and that the dispatcher had been terminated from employment. The release did not mention any names, but it was general knowledge in the community that the termination referred to the plaintiff.
The two police officers involved in the incident and the plaintiff commenced libel actions in state court, which culminated in a determination by the Minnesota Supreme Court on August 12, 1977, that the sheriff's disclosures to the news media did not as a matter of law, show malice. Because no malice was established, the plaintiff was not allowed to recover in that action. Hiram v. Rogers, 257 N.W.2d 563 (Minn.1977).
Simultaneously with the commencement of the state court action, the plaintiff commenced this action against Sheriff Rogers and the County of Meeker. Sheriff Rogers filed a cross-claim against the county seeking indemnity or contribution. Before trial, the plaintiff settled with the county for $7,500 pursuant to a "Pierringer release." 3 The plaintiff's claim against the county was accordingly dismissed and the district court also dismissed the sheriff's cross-claim against the county on the grounds, first, that the cross-claim was untimely filed and, second, that "the so-called Pierringer release takes the county out of the case." The case was submitted to the jury on the theory that the plaintiff's termination from employment by the sheriff amounted to a deprivation of liberty without due process of law. The jury found for the plaintiff and awarded her damages of $15,000. The district court denied a motion by the sheriff for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, but granted the sheriff's motion for a new trial unless the plaintiff agreed to remit $7,500 of the $15,000 award. The plaintiff consented to the remittitur and this appeal and cross-appeal followed.
The sheriff appeals from the judgment of the district court on the grounds that (1) the plaintiff was paid the total amount of her damages by virtue of the release entered into by the plaintiff with the County of Meeker; (2) the res judicata effect of the plaintiff's state court action barred this action; (3) the plaintiff failed, as a matter of law, to establish that a constitutional right was violated by the sheriff; and (4) the state court's determination of lack of malice on the part of the sheriff compelled a finding of good faith in this action as a matter of law.
The plaintiff cross-appeals on the basis that the district court abused its discretion in conditioning the denial of the motion for new trial on the plaintiff's assent to a remittitur of the damages.
The sheriff's first argument is that the plaintiff, by entering into a Pierringer release with the County of Meeker, has agreed to credit the amount received in settlement against any judgment obtained against the sheriff. In concrete terms, it is argued that the plaintiff may recover nothing from the sheriff because from the ultimate award of damages, $7,500, there must be deducted the amount of the settlement, $7,500. Otherwise the plaintiff will recover $15,000, when her damages were determined by the district court to have been only $7,500. The release in question, however, does not by its terms require the plaintiff to credit, under all circumstances, the amount received in settlement against whatever damages are determined in the trial of her suit. Rather, the plaintiff has agreed to credit and satisfy only "that portion of the total amount of her damages * * * which may hereafter be allocated in the trial or otherwise to causual (sic) acts or admissions (sic) on the part of the Defendant County of Meeker." 4
Since damages were not apportioned at trial, nor liability assessed against or allocated to the County, the release does not obligate the plaintiff to credit any of the settlement amount against the judgment obtained against the sheriff.
Nor is a different conclusion required because the settlement agreement in question may be denominated a Pierringer release. In Pierringer v. Hoger, 21 Wis.2d 182, 124 N.W.2d 106 (1963), the Wisconsin Supreme Court approved of a release in which the plaintiff agreed to satisfy a portion of the cause of action and reserve the balance against a non-settling defendant. Since in that action the plaintiff had agreed to satisfy such percentage of the total damages as had been caused by the settling defendant, the settling defendant was protected from any further liability to the plaintiff and also from any claims of contribution from the non-settling defendant. For the same reason, the non-settling defendant had no cause for complaint because he would be liable only for that portion of the damages attributable to his own actions. In Pierringer, therefore, it is apparent that an allocation of liability between the settling and non-settling defendants was contemplated, and that the plaintiff agreed to deduct from his ultimate award of damages only that amount which was attributable to the fault of the settling defendant. Since the Pierringer decision, in fact, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has continued to hold that the burden is on a non-settling defendant to establish his entitlement to a credit, and that where no evidence relative to the settling defendant's liability is introduced at trial, a non-settling defendant may not receive credit for a settlement entered into between the plaintiff and the settling defendant. Stanhope v. Brown County, 90 Wis.2d 823, 855, 280 N.W.2d 711, 725 (1979).
Although under the circumstances of this action the plaintiff is not obligated by the terms of the settlement agreement to credit or satisfy any portion of the judgment against the sheriff, it must still be determined whether as a matter of law or policy the plaintiff is nonetheless obligated to do so. A maxim of equity provides that ordinarily a plaintiff ought not recover more than the loss he has actually suffered. Snowden v. D. C. Transit System, Inc., 454 F.2d 1047, 1048 (D.C. Cir. 1971). Emphasizing this principle, some courts have suggested that in order to prevent a plaintiff from being unjustly enriched, a non-settling defendant should always be allowed a credit where the plaintiff has settled with less than all of those alleged to have been tortfeasors. 5
The Minnesota courts, however, have recognized exceptions to the above-stated rule. In Anunti v. Payette, 268 N.W.2d 52, 56 (Minn.1978), the Minnesota Supreme Court concluded that where a settling defendant...
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