Plunk v. Chester Twp.
| Decision Date | 26 September 2022 |
| Docket Number | 1:21-cv-1557 |
| Parties | MITCHELL PLUNK, Plaintiff, v. CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio |
OPINION & ORDER [RESOLVING DOC. 13]
In this civil rights action, Plaintiff Mitchell Plunk, a firefighter and paramedic, sues his former employer, Defendant Chester Township. He alleges that Defendant fired him without giving him sufficient opportunity to contest the firing.
With this decision the Court considers Chester Township's argument that Ohio law required its paramedic service work under a medical director. And it considers Chester Township's argument that the responsible non-employee medical director refused to allow Paramedic Plunk's continued employment after Plunk conducted a court-directed blood draw.
While acting as a Township-employed paramedic, Plaintiff Plunk performed an evidentiary blood draw on a DUI suspect. Because Township paramedics did not usually do blood draws, the Township and its privately employed medical director fired Plunk. The medical director pulled Plunk's permission to practice as a paramedic. The Township then fired Plunk because he needed some medical director's permission to do his job.
Before ending Plaintiff's long-held employment, Defendant gave Plunk a hearing. The hearing did not let Plaintiff challenge the medical director's decision.
Plaintiff now argues that this hearing did not afford due process. Defendant disagrees and moves for summary judgment. Because Defendant Chester Township and the medical director acted in concert to remove Plaintiff Plunk without giving Plunk an opportunity to challenge their decision's basis, the Court DENIES Defendant's motion.
Plaintiff Mitchell Plunk worked as a Firefighter/Paramedic for Defendant Chester Township for nearly a decade before the Township fired him in 2020.
In the mid-1980s, before pursuing emergency medical training, Plaintiff Plunk trained as a volunteer firefighter.[1] He volunteered for Russell Township from 1983 to 1988 before leaving to pursue an automotive-sales career.[2]
In 2002, Plunk returned to part-time firefighting.[3] He obtained his firefighter and emergency-medical-technician certifications from a local community college.[4] Russell Township hired him as a part-time paid firefighter in 2003.[5]
After the 2008 financial crisis, Plunk's automotive business was failing.[6] He switched to firefighting full time.[7] He graduated from paramedic school in 2010 and started working for his hometown, Chester Township.[8] And he continued to work part time for Russell Township.[9] Apart from a six-month injured period, Plunk consistently met his continuing-education requirements for both townships.[10] By the time Defendant Chester Township fired him in 2020, Plunk had obtained seven professional licenses: “Firefighter/Paramedic, Fire Safety Inspector, Fire Officer 1 and 2, Fire Operations, Drivers Instructor, Hazmat Tech, and Fire Officer Investigation.”[11]
Ohio law requires EMS employees operate under a physician's authorization.[12] In response to this Ohio requirement, each emergency-medical-service employer appoints a medical director physician.[13] Although medical directors do not work directly for the township emergency medical services, medical directors give broad supervision of supervised EMS departments under their license. Medical directors also need approve EMS employees permitted to operate under their medical license.[14]
Defendant Chester Township appointed Dr. Donald Spaner as its medical director.[15]University Hospitals' EMS Training & Disaster Preparedness Institute employs Dr. Spaner as its president.[16] The University Hospital Institute supplies medical direction without charge to dozens of Ohio municipalities' EMS organizations.[17] Spaner acts as the medical director for many unrelated EMS organizations. The Township does not employ Dr. Spaner or pay him.[18] Ohio law requires a medical director's approval and requires added paramedic training before paramedics perform evidentiary blood draws.[19] Dr. Spaner has not allowed any paramedic working under his license to do evidentiary blood draws.[20]
Dr. Spaner evaluates the medical care that paramedics working under his license provide by reviewing their patient care reports, called “run sheets.”
Defendant Chester Township agreed to a collective-bargaining agreement with the Fire Fighters Association.[21] The collective-bargaining agreement prohibits the Township from firing the Association's members without just cause.[22] The collective-bargaining agreement also requires the Township “to adhere to the concept of progressive discipline except where the actions are of such a serious nature as to warrant termination.”[23]
On August 8, 2020, police, and fire-department units, including Plaintiff Plunk's EMT team, arrived at a one-car crash.[24] The driver refused medical treatment, so the EMT team left.[25]
After clearing the accident, Paramedic Plunk returned to the fire station. His team then completed two reports: a medical run sheet and a fire-incident report. Fire and paramedic employees complete the fire-incident report for all responded calls.[26] Police suspected the driver was intoxicated, but she refused field sobriety tests.[27] In the late August 8 or early August 9 hours, investigating officers asked for and received a court-approved search warrant authorizing a blood draw from the woman driver.[28] The investigating police officers called the Chester Township station house to seek assistance in carrying out the Court search warrant.[29]
As the most senior officer on duty, Plaintiff Plunk responded, went to the police station, and took the blood sample directed by the Court search warrant.[30] Plunk claims that he obtained the driver's verbal consent to the procedure.[31]
After completing the draw, Plunk returned to the station and completed a second fire-incident report.[32] He was unsure whether he should file a new medical run sheet or whether he should amend the team's run sheet from earlier, so he emailed his supervisor for guidance.[33] Because the Township started the disciplinary process before Plunk could file or amend his run sheet, no run sheet documented the blood draw.[34] Dr. Spaner later claimed that Plunk had not filed a run sheet to conceal the blood draw from his review.[35]
On August 10, Assistant Fire Chief Karen Moleterno, told Dr. Spaner that Plunk had conducted the search warrant blood draw but that the draw had not received prior approval.[36] Dr. Spaner then emailed Plaintiff's supervisor, Chief John Wargelin, and asked him to “take [Plaintiff] off line immediately.”[37] After that email, Chief Wargelin told Plaintiff he believed Plaintiff Plunk would be suspended for a week for withdrawing blood without the arrestee's consent.[38] The Township does not now claim that Plunk lacked consent.[39]
Plunk informed his Russell Township supervisor, Chief Frazier, that Defendant Chester Township would likely suspend him.[40] Chief Frazier said he would contact Russell's medical director, Dr. Sauto, to determine whether Plunk should report for his shifts at Russell Township while Chester Township considered suspending him.[41]
Plunk then tried to relay his conversation with Frazier to Chief Wargelin.[42]Apparently the two miscommunicated, and Chief Wargelin thought Plunk had claimed that Dr. Sauto had approved the blood draw.[43] Chief Wargelin relayed that claim to Dr. Spaner, who contacted Dr. Sauto.[44] Because Dr. Sauto denied authorizing the blood draw, Dr. Spaner believed that Plunk had lied to make the blood draw appear authorized.[45]
At some point, Assistant Chief Moleterno provided Dr. Spaner with 34 pages of emails between Dr. Spaner and Plaintiff's EMT team.[46] Some of Dr. Spaner's emails criticized Plaintiff's earlier medical care.[47] Dr. Spaner later admitted he may have misinterpreted the 34 pages of emails as 34 separate reprimands.[48] In the evening on August 10, Dr. Spaner and Chief Wargelin spoke on the phone.[49]During this conversation, Spaner apparently requested that Chester Township end Plaintiff's EMT work for performing the court-directed blood draw without prior approval from Spaner, lying about receiving Dr. Sauto's approval, and his disciplinary history.[50]
On August 11, Chief Wargelin called Plaintiff and asked him to resign.[51] The next day, Plaintiff called Chief Wargelin and informed him that he would not resign. Chief Wargelin then told Plaintiff he was fired.[52]
On August 17, Chief Wargelin and Assistant Chief Moleterno conducted a prediscipline hearing with Plaintiff Plunk and his Firefighters Association representative.[53] At the pre-discipline hearing, Chief Wargelin and Assistant Chief Moleterno gave Spaner's unwillingness to authorize Plunk to work under Spaner's certificate as the reason for the firing.[54]
On August 19, Dr. Spaner sent a letter to Chief Wargelin explaining his reasons for rescinding Plaintiff's permission to work under Spaner. The letter said that:
The pre-disciplinary hearing had not discussed any of these claims.[60]
A week after the pre-disciplinary hearing, Defendant Chester Township's Board...
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