Miller v. Clinton County

• Citation: 544 F.3d 542
• Decision Date: 01 October 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-2105.,07-2105.
• Parties: Rita MILLER v. CLINTON COUNTY; Honorable Richard Saxton Honorable Richard N. Saxton, Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)

544 F.3d 542

Rita MILLER v. CLINTON COUNTY; Honorable Richard Saxton Honorable Richard N. Saxton, Appellant.

No. 07-2105.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued May 13, 2008.

Opinion filed: October 1, 2008.

A. Taylor Williams, Esq. (Argued), Administrative Office of PA Courts, Philadelphia, PA, for Appellant Honorable Richard N. Saxton.

Joseph P. Green, Esq. (Argued), Lee, Green, & Reiter, Inc., Bellefonte, PA, for Appellee Clinton County.

Joseph F. Orso, III, Esq. (Argued), Casale & Bonner, Williamsport, PA, for Appellee Rita Miller.

Before: McKEE, ROTH, Circuit Judges, and PADOVA, District Court Judge.^*

OPINION

McKEE, Circuit Judge.

Rita Miller, a former employee of the Clinton County Probation office, brought this civil rights action against the President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, Richard Saxton, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Miller's complaint asserts that Judge Saxton terminated her employment in violation of her First Amendment right to free speech, and her Fourteenth Amendment right to due process.¹

Judge Saxton moved to dismiss Miller's complaint for failure to state a claim pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Alternatively, he claimed that he was entitled to qualified immunity even if Miller's complaint stated a cause of action. He also moved for a more definite statement pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(e) in order to resolve any issue of fact that may have precluded a grant of qualified immunity. The district court denied Judge Saxton's motion to dismiss as well as his Rule 12(e) motion for a more definite statement and this appeal followed. For the following reasons, we will reverse.

I. Factual Background

Miller was employed as an Adult Probation Officer by the Clinton County Probation Office. The Probation Office's employees had a collective bargaining agreement with the County. According to Miller, one of her supervisors was ineffective and unprofessional. The supervisor allegedly referred to probationers as "scum," and openly stated that they did not deserve the money that the Probation Office spent on them.

On January 22, 2006, Miller wrote a letter to Judge Saxton expressing her dissatisfaction with the Probation Office. The letter was very short. In the letter, Miller stated:

[T]he reason I am writing to you now is that I can no longer work under the stressful conditions which must endure since Mrs. Foresman has become my supervisor. I have tolerated intimidation and hostility from Mr. Rosamilia numerous times throughout my employment with the county. I know that you are friends with both of them and you may not appreciate my candor but I believe that the time has come to explain my position to the court.

Miller also complained that Supervisor Foresman asked her to identify probationers whose restitution payments were in arrears, and she complained about Foresman suspending her because her clients were delinquent in those payments. She claimed that there was a difference in philosophy between herself and Foresman. According to the letter, that difference was that Miller "believes in rehabilitation for most clients, [whereas Foresman] believes [the clients] are scum and no money should be wasted on them.

Judge Saxton fired Miller immediately after receiving her letter. Soon thereafter, Miller brought this suit under § 1983. She alleged a constitutionally protected property interest in her continued employment, and claimed that the failure to provide her with adequate notice and opportunity to respond was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of due process. She also asserted that her expression was protected under the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech and that she had been improperly terminated for exercising her right to free speech.

As we noted at the outset, Judge Saxton moved to dismiss Miller's claims under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). He also claimed immunity from suit. For reasons that are not at all apparent on this record, Miller did not attach her letter to her complaint. However, Judge Saxton appended it to his motion to dismiss and asked the court to convert that motion to a motion for summary judgment in the alternative. In addition, he asked the court to require Miller to provide a more definitive statement of the basis for her claim pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(e), if his motion to dismiss or for summary judgment was denied.

The district court denied Judge Saxton's 12(b)(6) motion and refused to convert it to a summary judgment motion. The court concluded that Judge Saxton had not established that he was entitled to qualified immunity because the record did not support his claim that he had not violated Miller's clearly established constitutional rights. Although the court also ruled that the pleadings were insufficient to determine if Miller's termination was the result of retaliation for protected speech, the court refused to consider Miller's letter appended to Judge Saxton's motion to dismiss. The district court ruled that the letter did not sufficiently supplement the record to allow for summary judgment. The court also denied Judge Saxton's Rule 12(e) motion. Finally, the court concluded that Miller's due process claim could not be dismissed at the pleading stage because she alleged that the terms of her employment were governed by the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. This appeal followed.

II. Jurisdiction and Standard of Review

A denial of qualified immunity is a "final judgment" subject to immediate appeal within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Behrens v. Pelletier, 516 U.S. 299, 307, 116 S.Ct. 834, 133 L.Ed.2d 773 (1996). Thus, we have jurisdiction to review the district court's denial of Judge Saxton's motion to dismiss or for summary judgment. Our review is plenary. Doe v. Groody, 361 F.3d 232, 237 (3d Cir.2004).

III. Discussion

The doctrine of qualified immunity shields government officials performing discretionary functions "from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). Qualified immunity is not merely a defense, but is "an entitlement not to stand trial or face the other burdens of litigation." Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 200, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001) (citation omitted). Therefore, any claim of qualified immunity must be resolved at the earliest possible stage of litigation. Id. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151.

In Saucier, the Supreme Court made clear that claims for qualified immunity are to be evaluated using a two-step process. Id. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151. "First, [we] must decide whether the facts, taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, show a constitutional violation. If the plaintiff fails to make out a constitutional violation, the qualified immunity inquiry is at an end; the officer is entitled to immunity." Bennett v. Murphy, 274 F.3d 133, 136 (3d Cir.2002). "Once it is determined that evidence of a constitutional violation has been adduced, courts evaluating a qualified immunity claim move to the second step of the analysis to determine whether the constitutional right was clearly established." Id.

Based on our phased inquiry under Saucier, we conclude the district court erred in not dismissing Miller's complaint because her allegations do not establish either a violation of her right to free speech under the First Amendment, or a denial of due process. As the Court explained in Saucier, "[i]f no constitutional right would have been violated were the allegations established, there is no necessity for further inquiries concerning qualified immunity." 533 U.S. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151.

A. First Amendment Retaliation Claim

In Pickering v. Bd. of Educ., 391 U.S. 563, 570, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968), the Supreme Court first held that a public employee does not relinquish First Amendment rights to comment on matters of public interest by virtue of government employment. Thus, a public employer may not discharge an employee for a reason that infringes upon that employee's constitutionally protected interest in the freedom of speech. Rankin v. McPherson, 483 U.S. 378, 383, 107 S.Ct. 2891, 97 L.Ed.2d 315 (1987). Nevertheless, public employers are still employers, and they therefore have the same concern for efficiency and the need to review and evaluate employees as any other employer in order to ensure that the actions of employees do not interfere with the performance of public functions. Id. at 383-89, 107 S.Ct. 2891. On the other hand, the Court recognized that "the threat of dismissal from public employment is ... a potent means of inhibiting speech." Id. at 384, 107 S.Ct. 2891 (quoting Pickering, 391 U.S. at 574, 88 S.Ct. 1731).

Thus, in order to determine if a public employer's termination of an employee violates the constitutional guarantee of free speech, we must "balance between the interests of the [employee], as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interest of the [public employer], in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employee." Pickering, 391 U.S. at 568, 88 S.Ct. 1731; see also Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 140, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983).

That balance turns on a three-prong inquiry. Watters v. City of Philadelphia, 55 F.3d 886, 892 (3d Cir.1995). Accordingly, in order for Miller to establish an unconstitutional firing, she must establish that her speech was protected, and that it was a motivating factor in the alleged retaliatory dismissal. Id. (citations omitted). If she does so, Judge Saxton must then establish that he would have taken the same employment action "even in the absence of the protected conduct." Id. (citation omitted).

At this stage, we are only concerned with the first part of that inquiry —...