Pucci v. Nineteenth Dist. Court

• Decision Date: 16 December 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08-2017,08-2017
• Citation: 628 F.3d 752
• Parties: Julie PUCCI, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NINETEENTH DISTRICT COURT, for the City of Dearborn; Chief Judge Mark W. Somers, in his official and individual capacities, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

628 F.3d 752

Julie PUCCI, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.NINETEENTH DISTRICT COURT, for the City of Dearborn; Chief Judge Mark W. Somers, in his official and individual capacities, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 08-2017.

United States Court of Appeals,Sixth Circuit.

Argued: Oct. 16, 2009.

Decided and Filed: Dec. 16, 2010.

ARGUED: Margaret A. Nelson, Office of the Michigan Attorney General, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellants. Joel B. Sklar, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Karen K. Kuchek, Office of the Michigan Attorney General, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellants. Joel B. Sklar, Sanford Plotkin, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

Before: BATCHELDER, Chief Judge; GIBBONS, Circuit Judge; MALONEY, Chief District Judge.^*

OPINION

JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge.

This case involves the termination of plaintiff Julie Pucci from her administrative position in the Nineteenth District Court, a court within Michigan's state judicial system. Pucci has brought suit against both the court and Mark Somers, the court's chief judge at the time of Pucci's termination. Pucci claims that she was terminated in retaliation for her complaints to state court officials about Somers's use of religious language from the bench, in violation of her right to free speech. She also alleges her termination violated her right to due process because she had a property interest in continued court employment. The district court granted in part and denied in part the defendants' motion for summary judgment. The defendants now appeal, claiming they are entitled to sovereign immunity and that Pucci has no due process claim because she had no constitutionally cognizable interest in her continued employment. Somers also appeals on the ground that he is entitled to qualified immunity.

For reasons set forth below, we find that both defendants are entitled to immunity under the Eleventh Amendment, and we therefore reverse the district court's denial of summary judgment as to the Nineteenth District Court and Somers in his official capacity. We also find Somers is not entitled to qualified immunity with respect to Pucci's free speech and due process claims, and we therefore affirm the district court's denial of qualified immunity to Somers in his personal capacity.

I.

The Michigan Supreme Court oversees administration of Michigan's courts, and the chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court serves as the head of the state judiciary. Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 600.152, 600.219. The Michigan Supreme Court issues rules, administrative orders, and a code of judicial conduct that affects all Michigan judges. The Supreme Court Administrative Office oversees the administration of Michigan's courts, including the Michigan unitary district court, of whichthe Nineteenth District Court is one division.

The Nineteenth District Court is a "third class" district court consisting of three judges and serving Dearborn, Michigan. Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.8121(4). The City of Dearborn is the court's local funding unit and "is responsible for maintaining, financing and operating the district court." Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.8103(3). Although the court constitutes its own administrative unit, the Michigan Supreme Court has supervisory authority over the court. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.8101(1) ("The state is divided into judicial districts of the district court each of which is an administrative unit subject to the superintending control of the supreme court."). The chief district judge, who is appointed for two-year terms by the Michigan Supreme Court, has the authority to perform all administrative duties, including hiring and firing court employees. See Mich. Ct. R. 8.110(B), 8.110(C)(3).

Julie Pucci began working at the Nineteenth District Court as a court typist in 1991. She was promoted to probation officer in 1991, judicial aide in 1992, clerk of the court in 1994, and assistant court administrator in 1995. The last position was reclassified in 1998 as "deputy court administrator," and Pucci held this position until she was terminated in 2006. While deputy court administrator, Pucci became romantically involved with Judge William Hultgren, a district judge on the Nineteenth District Court. The relationship began in 2001, and the two eventually began living together. The relationship apparently did not factor into the court's operations until the appellant, Mark Somers, was elected district judge.

After Somers's election in 2003, the Nineteenth District Court comprised Judges Hultgren, Somers, and Richard Wygonik. The Michigan Supreme Court declined to appoint any of these three to the position of chief district judge and instead appointed Judge Leo Foran, a judge from a neighboring district court, to that post. Foran served as chief district judge from March 2005 until January 2006, when the Michigan Supreme Court appointed Somers chief district judge.¹

Initially, Pucci worked as deputy court administrator without incident and received good employment evaluations. In 2004, however, she lodged a complaint with her supervisor, the court administrator, regarding Somers's "practice of interjecting his personal religious beliefs into judicial proceedings and the business of the court." Pucci v. 19th Dist. Court, 565 F.Supp.2d 792, 797 (E.D.Mich.2008). She also complained to the regional court administrator and to the State Court Administrative Officer (SCAO), which oversees the administration of Michigan's courts. Pucci was not alone in complaining. Sharon Langen, the clerk of the court, also testified that she complained to the SCAO, and another court employee filed a complaint with the state judicial tenure commission. Foran stated that, during his brief ten-month tenure as chief district judge, he received upwards of fifteen complaints from local attorneys "about Judge Somers interjecting his religious beliefs from the bench or imposing sentences based on religion." Id. The record provides several examples:

Judge Somers used official court stationary on three separate occasions to send official correspondence affixing a quotefrom a biblical passage [;] ... [according to Foran,] a "Muslim boy got a stiffer sentence ... because of the fact that whatever offense he had, it happened during Ramadan [ ]"; [o]thers complained that Judge Somers lectured defendants about marijuana, declaring that it was the devil's weed or Satan's surge, and that he would ask litigants in court if they go to church.

Id. In response, the regional court administrator instructed Somers to stop using court stationary to send religious messages. Hultgren claims he told Somers that Pucci had complained about the religious statements in February 2005.

Meanwhile, Foran decided to reorganize the Nineteenth District Court's administrative structure. On March 30, 2005, he announced his intent to replace the retiring court administrator with Pucci and not fill the resulting absent deputy-court-administrator position. Foran explained, "[Pucci] was doing the job as court administrator anyway. She was accepted, highly regarded, and respected by any attorney that ever talked to me about her and highly respected and regarded in the community at large." Id. Somers objected to Pucci's planned promotion, arguing that her and Hultgren's relationship created "an inherent conflict." Id. at 798.

Somers then began to lobby for Pucci's termination as a court employee. On March 31, 2005, Somers wrote Foran about "pointed conversations" between Somers and Hultgren regarding Pucci's potential promotion. Somers stated that Hultgren believed his relationship with Pucci should not prevent his own appointment to chief judge or Pucci's planned promotion. Somers alleged, "Judge Hultgren has gone so far as to tell me that this is 'personal' to him, [and] that he will never support me for the chief judge position if I oppose Ms. Pucci's appointment to court administrator...." Id. Somers also suggested that the Michigan Supreme Court's anti-nepotism policy should apply to Pucci's court employment and "implore[d Foran] to prevail upon [Hultgren] and explain the impossibility of his position in this matter." Id. Foran declined, responding that he had "informed the control unit" that Pucci would succeed the outgoing court administrator. Id.

Somers again objected to Pucci's appointment on April 5, 2005. Writing to his fellow Nineteenth District Court judges, he argued that "without the courtesy of consultation or discussion, Ms. Pucci's appointment is presented as a fait accompli.... [T]he integrity of this court [is] at stake." Id. at 799. Somers warned he would "test[ ] the legality of this appointment under the Supreme Court's anti-nepotism policy ... and the Cannons [sic]." Id. Nine days later, he lodged a challenge with the regional court administrator, asking her to reverse Pucci's appointment. He then sent a letter to the state court administrator, Carl Gromek, seeking to rescind the appointment, remove Foran as chief judge, and amend the court's anti-nepotism policy to include "domestic partners." ²

Pucci was appointed interim court administrator on May 5, 2005. Soon thereafter, however, Gromek sent Foran a letter, which stated:

I referred this matter to the Court, and the Justices have concluded that Ms. Julie A. Pucci's romantic partnership with Judge Hultgren is a violation of thespirit of its antinepotism rule. While the Court is of the view that Ms. Pucci may remain employed with the 19th District Court in the capacity that predated her romantic relationship with Judge Hultgren, she cannot be advanced or otherwise be advantaged after the beginning of her romantic relationship with Judge Hultgren. Accordingly, Ms. Pucci will not succeed Doyne E. Jackson as Court Administrator.

Id. In light of the letter, Foran appointed Langen to court administrator and maintained Pucci as deputy court administrator. He did not fill the clerk of court position made vacant by Langen's elevation. This arrangement continued to Foran's satisfaction and without...