Lockridge v. Bd. of Trustees, Univ. Of Ark.

• Decision Date: 14 January 2003
• Docket Number: No. 01-1472.,01-1472.
• Citation: 315 F.3d 1005
• Parties: Howard LOCKRIDGE, Appellee, v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS, a Public Body Corporate; Dr. B. Allan Sugg, in his official capacity as President of the University of Arkansas; Dr. Steven Jones, Chancellor, Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas, Appellants. State of Missouri; State of South Dakota, Amici on Behalf of Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

315 F.3d 1005

Howard LOCKRIDGE, Appellee, v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS, a Public Body Corporate; Dr. B. Allan Sugg, in his official capacity as President of the University of Arkansas; Dr. Steven Jones, Chancellor, Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas, Appellants.

State of Missouri; State of South Dakota, Amici on Behalf of Appellants.

No. 01-1472.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: October 9, 2002.

Filed: January 14, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Rhonda M. Thornton, argued, Little Rock, Arkansas, for appellant.

Melissa S. Woods, argued, New York, New York (John W. Walker, Shawn G. Childs, and Robert Pressman, on the brief), for appellee.

Before HANSEN, Chief Judge, and HEANEY, McMILLIAN, BOWMAN, WOLLMAN, LOKEN, MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, MURPHY, BYE, RILEY, MELLOY, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

Howard Lockridge brought race and sex discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e through 2000e-17), 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 based on the denial of equal protection, against the University of Arkansas's board of trustees, the university president in his official capacity, and the chancellor of Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (PCCUA), Dr. Steven Jones, in his official and individual capacities. (Because we have held that a claim alleging a violation of § 1981 may not be brought directly against a state actor, but must be brought under § 1983, see Artis v. Francis Howell North Band Booster Ass'n, 161 F.3d 1178, 1181 (8th Cir.1998), we liberally construe Mr. Lockridge's complaint as including claims for violations of the equal protection clause and § 1981 brought under § 1983.) In an order granting in part and denying in part the defendants' summary judgment motion, the district court denied Dr. Jones's request for qualified immunity. All of the defendants appeal.

Mr. Lockridge, who is black, alleged in his complaint that he was denied a promotion from his position as chair of the department of industrial technology to the position of dean of industrial technology and workforce development at PCCUA on account of his race and sex. The court granted summary judgment to all of the defendants with respect to Mr. Lockridge's sex discrimination claims, and held that neither Dr. Jones nor the university president could be individually liable under Title VII. The court ruled with respect to the remaining race discrimination claims that the defendants were not entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the merits and that Dr. Jones was not entitled to qualified immunity.

On appeal, Dr. Jones contends that he is entitled to qualified immunity because Mr. Lockridge did not apply for the promotion and told his supervisor that he was not going to apply. The other defendants argue that the claims against them may also be resolved in this appeal because the qualified immunity issue is intertwined with the merits of Mr. Lockridge's failure-to-promote claims against all of the defendants. In response, Mr. Lockridge argues that we do not have jurisdiction over the appeal. He also contends that he may prevail despite not having applied for the position because employees had previously been promoted to dean without filing applications and past practices indicated that filing an application would have been futile and that he would have applied if the application period had not been shorter than usual.

I.

Mr. Lockridge, as we have said, questions this court's jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal, and we first address our jurisdiction over the denial of qualified immunity to Dr. Jones. Such a ruling is immediately appealable if it "resolve[s] a dispute concerning an `abstract issu[e] of law' relating to qualified immunity ... typically, the issue whether the federal right allegedly infringed was `clearly established'" Behrens v. Pelletier, 516 U.S. 299, 313, 116 S.Ct. 834, 133 L.Ed.2d 773 (1996) (quoting Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 317, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995)). Although we may not review in an interlocutory appeal a district court's finding that certain facts are in dispute, see Thomas v. Talley, 251 F.3d 743, 746 (8th Cir.2001), we may determine whether all of the conduct that the district court "deemed sufficiently supported for purposes of summary judgment" violated the plaintiff's clearly established federal rights, see Behrens, 516 U.S. at 313, 116 S.Ct. 834; Heidemann v. Rother, 84 F.3d 1021, 1027 (8th Cir.1996).

Here, Dr. Jones argues that the undisputed facts compel the conclusion that he did not violate Mr. Lockridge's clearly established federal rights. We conclude that we have jurisdiction over this "abstract issue of law." We conduct our review by accepting as true the facts that the district court specifically found were adequately supported, along with those facts that the district court "`likely assumed,'" see Behrens, 516 U.S. at 313, 116 S.Ct. 834 (quoting Johnson, 515 U.S. at 319, 115 S.Ct. 2151). Where the district court did not make a finding regarding a factual issue, we determine the facts that it "likely assumed," see id., by viewing the record favorably to the plaintiff as in any other summary judgment motion, see Heidemann, 84 F.3d at 1027 & n. 4.

II.

The threshold question in a qualified immunity case is whether "[t]aken in the light most favorable to the party asserting the injury," the evidence shows that the defendant's conduct violated a federal right at all. See Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). If the answer to this question is `no' then we need not inquire further to determine whether the right was clearly established. See id. Here Dr. Jones argues that the undisputed facts compel the conclusion that he did not violate Mr. Lockridge's federal rights, and that therefore the court need not inquire further and should grant him qualified immunity. We agree for the reasons that follow.

The facts that were found supported by the district court as well as those it "likely assumed," see Behrens, 516 U.S. at 313, 116 S.Ct. 834, indicate that in the spring of 1998 Dr. Jones appointed a search committee to seek applicants for the position of dean of industrial technology and workforce development. Although a PCCUA employee testified that notices of the opening were posted on college bulletin boards before April 21, Mr. Lockridge and others denied seeing these notices.

Mr. Lockridge testified at his deposition that he first learned that PCCUA was seeking applicants for the position on April 21, when he received a notice from Dr. Jones by electronic mail. This notice, which was sent to the entire PCCUA community, stated that at the recommendation of Linda Killion (Mr. Lockridge's supervisor) and others the division of business and technology, over which she was dean, was being restored to its dual components. The notice further stated that Ms. Killion was to become dean of the division of business and computer technology; that PCCUA was "currently advertising" for the dean of the other component, the division of industrial technology and workforce development; that copies of the job announcement had been posted on the campus; and that advertisements would run in statewide newspapers the following weekend.

Upon reading the notice, Mr. Lockridge became upset. He testified that in the past PCCUA had hired "all the other deans positions" and "most of the executive staff" from within the college community without advertising in outside publications; "very seldom" in PCCUA's history, he said, did it "go outside" to fill positions. He contended that this changed when he was the logical choice for the position within the PCCUA community, and that he should have been offered the position before outside applicants were sought. The day after he received the electronic mail, Mr. Lockridge went to Ms. Killion and asked her why she had not recommended him for the position. Ms. Killion did not respond to the question directly but asked him if he was going to apply for the job, and he said that he was not. According to Dr. Jones, Ms. Killion notified him that Mr. Lockridge stated that he was not going to apply.

Mr. Lockridge further testified that at some point after his conversation with Ms. Killion, he decided to apply for the job. He began preparing an application but did not notify anyone of his change of heart. In the meantime, the search committee recommended Tracy McGraw, a white male who was not a PCCUA employee, for the position, and Dr. Jones decided to hire him. On May 5, Dr. Jones told Mr. Lockridge that he was going to hire Mr. McGraw. At the time that he learned that the decision had been made, Mr. Lockridge had not applied, and he had thought that he still had time to do so because PCCUA usually took at least four weeks to fill a position.

In its order denying summary judgment in part, the district court found that fact questions remained regarding the "policy and practice followed at PCC[UA] as to promotions" and "whether certain positions" such as the department chair for which [Ms. Killion] (a white female) was selected "were announced as vacancies"; whether internal searches were conducted first before positions were advertised; whether everyone was required to apply for promotions; and what time period was usually allowed for applying for a position. The court denied Dr. Jones qualified immunity because "the fact questions surrounding the actual policy and practices regarding promotions and whether applications were always required" prevented it from determining whether he "violated a clearly established right in selecting a search committee."

We first determine whether Mr. Lockridge established a violation of a federal right at all. See Saucier, 533 U.S. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151. His claims against Dr. Jones are brought pursuant to § 1983,...