Mason v. County of Delaware

• Decision Date: 23 September 1971
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 71-1640.
• Citation: 331 F. Supp. 1010
• Parties: Robert J. MASON et al., Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF DELAWARE, Defendant, and Harry A. McNichol et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

331 F. Supp. 1010

Robert J. MASON et al., Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF DELAWARE, Defendant, and Harry A. McNichol et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 71-1640.

United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania.

September 23, 1971.

John M. Gallagher, Jr., Jack Brian, Richard Brian, DiSanti & Hamilton, Upper Darby, Pa., for plaintiffs.

Guy G. deFuria, Edward H. P. Fronefield, Fronefield, deFuria & Petrikin, Chester, Pa., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

VANARTSDALEN, District Judge.

Plaintiffs are former County employees, hired "at will" as juvenile detention officers, who claim they were discharged in violation of their constitutional rights. As public employees, hired at will, they assert that they were entitled, under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, to a notice with a specification of reasons for discharge, and a "minimal due process" hearing to refute or answer such reasons, prior to being discharged. Plaintiffs' cause of action is based on the "Civil Rights Act", Title 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 (1970); and this Court's jurisdiction is founded on Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343(3)-(4) (1962).

The facts are not in dispute so far as the present issues are concerned. Seven former employees of the juvenile probation department of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, seek in this action to obtain a mandatory injunction to be reinstated and to be awarded compensatory damages. The defendants are the County of Delaware, the County Commissioners, and the County Judges, all of whom are alleged to be the statutory employers of plaintiffs. A hearing was held on a motion for a preliminary injunction, and after hearing, filing of briefs and oral argument, the motion was denied. There are pending motions to dismiss and for summary judgment for lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a cause of action.

Each of the plaintiffs testified during the preliminary injunction hearing. From the pleadings and the testimony taken at the hearing, the following facts are established: —

1. Plaintiffs were all employees of Delaware County. They worked in the juvenile detention center. One plaintiff was a supervisor of juvenile detention officers; one was a supervisor of juvenile matrons; one was a juvenile matron; the remaining four were juvenile detention officers. Their respective salaries ranged from a low of $6,031 annually for the juvenile matron to a high of $7,042 for the supervisor of juvenile detention officers. The supervisor of juvenile matrons had been employed by the County since June of 1960. The juvenile matron had been so employed since 1951. All other plaintiffs had been County employees for less than three years.

2. On May 20, 1971, a letter sent over the signature of the Chief Juvenile Probation Officer to each plaintiff stated, inter alia: "Upon the directive of the President Judge and with the concurrence of the Chairman of the County Commissioners, you are hereby dismissed for cause at once from your position. * * *"

3. On May 22, 1971, the plaintiffs wrote a letter to the President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County requesting a hearing relative to their dismissal. The letter further stated that: "It is our profound contention that our termination for cause or causes unknown is inconsistent with fair employment practices." The letter requested a meeting of all concerned to discuss the reasons for the County's action and to affford plaintiffs an opportunity to respond to charges of which they claimed to be totally unknowledgeable. The request was denied by the President Judge by letter of May 25, 1971.

4. Plaintiffs have received no official explanation for their discharge other than the letter of dismissal, dated May 20, 1971.

5. Most of the discharged employees failed to report for work on a given date shortly before they were discharged, and most of them telephoned the night before saying they were sick. One of the supervisors at the juvenile detention center told one or more of the plaintiffs that the reason for the discharges was for failure to follow regulations.

6. Plaintiffs were all hired "at will." There were no written contracts of employment. No plaintiff had any statutory tenure, civil service or similar job protection status. No plaintiff belonged to any labor union in respect to his or her county employment.

7. Plaintiffs had various backgrounds and skills prior to being employed by the County. There were no special skills, qualifications or requirements specified by the employer during the periods when any of the individual plaintiffs were employed, although several plaintiffs had prior experience in juvenile, child welfare, and/or social work.

8. Subsequent to discharge, several plaintiffs obtained other employment, some in entirely unrelated occupations. No plaintiff has claimed total inability to obtain other employment by reason of his or her discharge, but most, if not all have experienced some difficulty in obtaining work, and all preferred their former employment with the County.

9. Plaintiffs have sought no other judicial or administrative remedy than the written request to the President Judge of Delaware County for a meeting and the present action.

10. The defendants, or one or more of them, are the statutory employer of plaintiffs.

There are two distinct but interrelated issues before the Court. The first issue is whether this Court has jurisdiction. The second issue is whether plaintiffs have stated a cause of action. The substantive "cause of action statute" is Title 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 (1970) which provides as follows:

"Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress."

Original jurisdiction over Civil Rights actions is conferred upon the United States District Courts under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343. Plaintiffs assert jurisdiction of this Court under subsections 3 and 4 of 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343 (1962), which provide:

"(3) To redress the deprivation, under color of any State law, statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage, of any right, privilege or immunity secured by the Constitution of the United States or by any Act of Congress providing for equal rights of citizens or of all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States.

"(4) To recover damages or to secure equitable or other relief under any Act of Congress providing for protection of civil rights, including the right to vote."

Plaintiffs claim that the right sought to be redressed is the right to procedural due process guaranteed by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (Paragraph 1 of the Complaint). Although no case has flatly enunciated the doctrine that all public employees, regardless of the terms or type of employment, are constitutionally entitled in every instance to a statement of reasons and a hearing at the administrative level before being discharged, there is considerable lack of unanimity among the circuits as to the circumstances under which prior notice, statement of reasons, and a hearing are imperative. On the factual situation involved in the present case, there apparently is no controlling decision by the United States Supreme Court or the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Second Circuit in the case of Tichon v. Harder, 438 F.2d 1396 (2nd Cir. 1971), dismissed an action on jurisdictional grounds so closely analogous to the present case that if decided by this circuit, it would be determinative of the issues. Although factually distinguishable in several aspects from the present case, the legal issues are identical. Plaintiff was a college graduate with a major in social work. The State hired her as a child welfare caseworker for a statutorily, mandated six month probationary period. At the end of the six month period, her employment was terminated because one of her superiors gave her an unsatisfactory rating in one of several categories. Plaintiff was not advised until a few days before termination of employment that she was being considered for termination. Although given a copy of the report, which stated reasons for her discharge, she was afforded no hearing or opportunity to explain the unsatisfactory grading by her superior. Her action under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 and 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343(3) asserted a lack of procedural due process because she did not receive notice, a hearing, or any opportunity to refute allegations of unsatisfactory work. The complaint was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

In Tichon the Court distinguishes between personal liberties and purely property rights, holding that the former are cognizable under the jurisdiction conferred by 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343, while the latter are not. Id. at 1400. In reaching its decision, the Court restricted the dictum in an earlier case of Eisen v. Eastman, 421 F.2d 560, 565 (2nd Cir. 1969), that the "personal liberty to pursue a calling of one's choice" is a basis for jurisdiction, and held that the Court would have jurisdiction only if the impact of the discharge from employment was such as would effectively deprive one of his livelihood. Tichon at 1402. The Court concluded that even though plaintiff was a highly and specially trained social worker, and intended social work to be her life's career, her loss of the job involved no deprivation of a personal liberty and was, therefore, not properly subject to the jurisdiction conferred upon district courts by Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343.

The doctrine that only personal liberties and not property rights are the basis for jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343 (3) — (and presumedly also 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343(4...