Palka v. City of Chicago

• Decision Date: 18 October 2011
• Docket Number: Nos. 09–2042,09–3796.,s. 09–2042
• Citation: 662 F.3d 428,94 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44303
• Parties: Peter J. PALKA, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. CITY OF CHICAGO and Matthew Tobias, Defendants–Appellees.Peter J. Palka and Tadeusz Palka, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. City of Chicago and Cook County Sheriff's Department, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

662 F.3d 428

94 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,303

Peter J. PALKA, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.CITY OF CHICAGO and Matthew Tobias, Defendants–Appellees.Peter J. Palka and Tadeusz Palka, Plaintiffs–Appellants,

v.City of Chicago and Cook County Sheriff's Department, Defendants–Appellees.

Nos. 09–2042

09–3796.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Dec. 7, 2010.Decided Oct. 18, 2011.

L. Steven Platt (argued), Attorney, Clark Hill, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs–Appellants.

Mara S. Georges, Attorney, Office of the Corporation Counsel, Appeals Division, Chicago, IL, Ruth F. Masters (argued), Attorney, Oak Park, IL, for Defendants–Appellees in No. 09–2042.

Mara S. Georges, Attorney, Office of the Corporation Counsel, Appeals Division, Patricia M. Fallon (argued), Office of the Cook County State's Attorney, Chicago, IL, Ruth F. Masters (argued), Attorney, Oak Park, IL, for Defendants–Appellees in No. 09–3796.

Before RIPPLE, KANNE, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

SYKES, Circuit Judge.

In 2007 Peter Palka was dismissed as a probationary police officer in the officer-training program at the Chicago Police Academy. He claims he was fired because of his Polish ethnicity. The City says he was terminated because he violated departmental rules and repeatedly flunked the firearms exam. Peter's father, Tadeusz Palka, a Cook County Deputy Sheriff, contacted Matthew Tobias, Peter's supervisor at the Chicago Police Academy, and tried to get his son reinstated. That effort failed.

Peter's dismissal from the Academy set off a strange series of events. After Tobias rebuffed the elder Palka's plea for his son's reinstatement, an unidentified caller with an Eastern European accent placed an odd phone call to the school Tobias's children attended, asking suspicious and disturbing questions about the children. Tobias suspected that Tadeusz was the caller, and at his request the Cook County Sheriff began a formal investigation. A disciplinary hearing was scheduled, but Tadeusz took early retirement just before it was held. He then sued Cook County and its Sheriff, the City of Chicago, and numerous city and county employees asserting various constitutional claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. We affirmed the dismissal of that suit. See Palka v. Shelton, 623 F.3d 447 (7th Cir.2010) (“ Palka I ”).

Litigation by the Palkas proliferated, however. While Palka I was pending in the district court, Peter filed a § 1983 suit against the City of Chicago and Tobias. Later, Peter and Tadeusz together filed suit against the City and County alleging employment discrimination in violation of Title VII. Peter's § 1983 suit was largely resolved in favor of the defendants; the district court granted summary judgment for the City and entered several rulings narrowly circumscribing the remaining claim against Tobias. In response Peter moved to voluntarily dismiss his claim against Tobias. That motion was granted, and Peter appealed. In the joint Title VII case, the district court applied res judicata and dismissed the claims of both plaintiffs. The Palkas appealed. We consolidated the two appeals and now affirm the judgments in both cases.

I. Background

Much of the factual background is outlined in our decision in Palka I. We restate only the facts necessary to an understanding of the issues in the present appeals.

A. Peter's Termination and Tadeusz's § 1983 Suit

On February 1, 2007, Peter Palka was terminated from his position as a probationary police officer in the officer-training program at the Chicago Police Academy. Matthew Tobias, the Assistant Deputy Superintendent of the Academy, recommended the termination to those higher up in the chain of command: Ellen Scrivner, the Deputy Superintendent of the Bureau of Administrative Services, and Bradford Woods, the Personnel Division Commander. Tobias told his superiors that Peter had violated departmental rules against lying, evasion, and deceit when he revealed confidential information to another recruit during a training exercise designed to test officers' responses to harsh interrogations. Tobias's recommendation was also based on Peter's repeated inability to pass the firearms qualifying test, which was perhaps attributable to his (admitted) failure to read the department's firearms manual (another rules violation). Peter maintains that he was fired because of his Polish national origin.

Soon after Peter was terminated from the Academy, his father, Tadeusz Palka, then a Cook County Deputy Sheriff, contacted Tobias and argued for his son's reinstatement. Tobias refused, noting in particular Peter's failure to read the firearms manual. Two months later, in May 2007, an unidentified male called the school Tobias's children attended and asked suspicious questions about the children under the guise of being a “friend” who wanted to send flowers to the children for their birthdays. The school receptionist contacted Tobias about the strange call and told him that the caller had an Eastern European accent. Tobias suspected that Tadeusz was the caller and asked a colleague to investigate it. The colleague traced the call to a county building where Tadeusz sometimes worked.

Armed with this information, Tobias filed a complaint with the Sheriff's Department's Office of Internal Affairs and accused Tadeusz of placing the call. A formal investigation ensued, and Tadeusz was placed on paid suspension. In due course Internal Affairs filed a charge with the Sheriff's Department's Merit Board recommending that Tadeusz be terminated. Just prior to the Merit Board hearing, at the suggestion of his supervisor, Tadeusz took early retirement. In Palka I he claimed that he was wrongfully induced to take early retirement in violation of his constitutional rights.

In that lawsuit—the first in this series—Tadeusz asserted claims under § 1983 against the County, the Sheriff, the City and a number of city and county law-enforcement officers in their individual capacities, based on allegations that they violated his substantive and procedural due-process rights and his right to occupational liberty. Palka I, 623 F.3d at 451. The complaint also included Monell claims against the City and County. The district court dismissed for failure to state a claim under any of these legal theories, and we affirmed. Id. at 453–55.

B. Peter's § 1983 Suit

Shortly after Tadeusz filed his complaint in Palka I, Peter filed a similar suit under § 1983 against the City and Tobias in his individual capacity. Peter alleged that Tobias had discriminated against him on the basis of his Polish ethnicity. He claimed that ethnic animus was the real reason for Tobias's recommendation that he be dismissed from the Academy and that the claimed performance problems were only pretext. Among other remedies, Peter sought reinstatement and back pay.

The defendants moved for summary judgment. The district court granted the motion, but only in part. The court held that factual disputes about Tobias's reasons for terminating Peter precluded summary judgment on the claim against Tobias. But the court held that even if Peter could prove Tobias had a discriminatory motive for firing him, the City could not be held liable because Peter failed to adduce any evidence that Tobias was a municipal policymaker with final authority or that the City maintained a policy or custom of discrimination, as required for municipal liability under Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 691, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). Accordingly, the court entered summary judgment for the City; the claim against Tobias was allowed to proceed.

The parties thereafter consented to the jurisdiction of a magistrate judge, see 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1), who narrowed the scope of the relief available on the remaining claim. The magistrate judge held that Peter could not seek reinstatement as a remedy because Tobias was sued in his individual capacity and as such lacked authority to reinstate. Following this ruling, Peter moved for voluntary dismissal under Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The magistrate judge thought dismissal without prejudice at that late stage of the proceedings might prejudice Tobias and sought to clarify the terms of the dismissal. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(2) (“[A]n action may be dismissed at the plaintiff's request only by court order, on terms that the court considers proper.”). The judge said she would allow the voluntary dismissal of the claim against Tobias but would enter a final judgment dismissing the claims against the City with prejudice. Peter was given the opportunity to object to these terms but did not. The judge then dismissed the claims against the City with prejudice, dismissed the claim against Tobias without prejudice, and terminated the case. Peter appealed.

C. The Title VII Suit by Father and Son

While both § 1983 suits were proceeding in the district court, Tadeusz and Peter were pursuing administrative remedies before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in anticipation of filing Title VII claims against their former employers. In February 2009 each received a right-to-sue letter. By this time the district court had already dismissed Tadeusz's § 1983 case, and his appeal was in its early stages. Peter's § 1983 case, meanwhile, was still pending in the district court, although the court had entered summary judgment for the City.

On April 17, 2009, the Palkas jointly filed a third suit against the City and County alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq.¹ The complaint alleged the same basic facts as the individual § 1983 suits. The case was functionally two Title VII lawsuits, one by each Palka against his former municipal employer. The complaint sought “declaratory, injunctive and other equitable relief from discrimination in employment.”

The City and County eventually moved to dismiss on the basis of res judicata, and the district court granted the motions. The court...