Ratliff v. Wellington Exempted Village Schools Bd. of Educ., 86-3204

Decision Date10 June 1987
Docket NumberNo. 86-3204,86-3204
Citation820 F.2d 792
Parties40 Ed. Law Rep. 84 Ayers RATLIFF, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. WELLINGTON EXEMPTED VILLAGE SCHOOLS BOARD OF EDUCATION; James W. McGlamery; Richard McKenzie; Ralph A. Hayes; Audrey Lance; Phyllis Mosher; Bernard Nirode; and Leslie Warrens, Defendants-Appellants.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Dennis M. O'Toole, argued, Michael J. Loughman, Warhola & O'Toole, Lorain, Ohio, for defendants-appellants.

James H. Banks, Columbus, Ohio, Nina M. Najjar, argued, J.C. Ratliffe (Local Counsel), Marion, Ohio, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before MARTIN and MILBURN, Circuit Judges; and BROWN, Senior Circuit Judge.

BAILEY BROWN, Senior Circuit Judge.

Defendants-Appellants Wellington Exempted Village Schools Board of Education (the Board) and Dr. James McGlamery (the Superintendent), the superintendent of the Wellington Exempted Village Schools, appeal the order of the district court denying their motion for a judgment notwithstanding the jury verdict against them in this unconstitutional discharge action. Appellants maintain that the evidence fails to support the jury's finding that they declined to renew the employment contract of plaintiff-appellee Ayers Ratliff (Ratliff) in retaliation for Ratliff's exercise of his first amendment rights. Appellants also contend that the district court plainly erred in the jury instruction on compensatory damages. For the following reasons, we affirm the district court's order denying appellants' motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, but we vacate the awards of compensatory damages against the Board and the Superintendent and remand the case to the district court for a new trial on compensatory damages.

Ratliff was a middle school principal in the Wellington Village Schools system from 1980 through 1984. At a public meeting in September 1982, Ratliff spoke before the Board on the dire condition of the schools due to the lack of adequate financial support and apparently expressed concern about the lack of trust between the teachers and the Board. Eighteen months later, on March 13, 1984, the Board, acting on the Superintendent's recommendation, voted not to renew Ratliff's employment contract.

On November 14, 1984, Ratliff filed this suit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 against the Board, and against the Board's members, the Board's Treasurer and the Superintendent in their official and individual capacities, alleging, inter alia, that the Board failed to renew his employment contract in unlawful retaliation for his September 1982 speech. 1 A jury trial occurred in early December 1985. Prior to submission of the case to the jury, the district court granted a directed verdict as to the Treasurer in both his official and individual capacities and as to the Superintendent and the Board members in their individual capacities. With regard to damages, the district court instructed the jury to consider, among other things, two kinds of compensatory damages--for mental anguish and for harm to Ratliff's first amendment rights. With respect to the latter, the district court stated, in pertinent part:

[Y]ou must award Ratliff damages for the violation of his constitutionally protected rights.... [J]ust because these rights are not capable of precise evaluation does not mean that an appropriate monetary amount should not be awarded.

The precise value you place upon the constitutional rights which were denied to plaintiff is within your discretion. You may want to consider the importance of the right to free speech in our system of government, the role which these rights have played in the history of our republic, and the significance of the rights in the context of the activities which the plaintiff was engaged in at the time of the violation of the rights.

Appellants did not object to the above instruction. The jury returned a verdict against the Board for $100,000 in compensatory damages and against the Superintendent for $50,000 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages.

The Board and the Superintendent then filed motions for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, a new trial and a remittitur of damages. The district court denied the first two motions; but the court granted the third with respect to the punitive damages assessed against the Superintendent, which the court remitted. 2 The district court also ordered payment of $75,537.72 in back pay.

On appeal appellants first argue that the district court should have granted their motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict because the evidence presented at trial did not permit a reasonable conclusion that Ratliff's September 1982 speech played a determinative role in the decision not to renew Ratliff's employment contract. The argument is without merit.

The issue raised by a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict is whether there is sufficient evidence to raise a question of fact for the jury. In determining whether the evidence is sufficient, the trial court may neither weigh the evidence, pass on the credibility of witnesses nor substitute its judgment for that of the jury. Rather, the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion is made, drawing from that evidence all reasonable inferences in his favor. If, after thus viewing the evidence, the trial court is of the opinion that it points so strongly in favor of the movant that reasonable minds could not come to a different conclusion, then the motion should be granted. An appellate court when reviewing the trial court's decision is bound by the same standard. Morelock v. NCR Corp, 586 F.2d 1096, 1104-05 (6th Cir.1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 906, 99 S.Ct. 1995, 60 L.Ed.2d 375 (1979).

Applying that standard to the evidence presented here, the district court's denial of appellants' motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict clearly must be affirmed. The parties agree that under Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977), if a public employee alleges that his employer took adverse action against him in retaliation for his exercise of first amendment rights, the following analytical approach must be applied:

(1) The threshhold question is whether the plaintiff's conduct deserves constitutional protection.

(2) If the court finds that an employee's conduct was protected by the first amendment, the finder of fact must determine whether the action taken was because he engaged in the protected conduct. The employee's protected conduct must be a "substantial factor" or a "motivating factor" in the employer's decision.

(3) Once the employee meets this burden, the burden shifts to the employer to prove that the action the employee is complaining about would have taken place absent the protected conduct.

See, e.g., Reichert v. Draud, 701 F.2d 1168, 1170 (6th Cir.1983); Hilderbrand v. Board of Trustees, 662 F.2d 439, 442-43 (6th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 910, 102 S.Ct. 1760, 72 L.Ed.2d 168 (1982). The parties also agree that the district court correctly held that Ratliff's conduct--the September 1982 speech before the Board--deserves constitutional protection. The bone of contention, therefore, concerns whether the evidence presented at trial, viewed in a light most favorable to Ratliff, permitted the jury reasonably to conclude that retaliation for Ratliff's speech was a motivating factor in the Board's decision not to renew Ratliff's employment contract and that the decision would not have been made absent Ratliff's speech.

In support of their position, appellants point out that several Board members testified unequivocally that Ratliff's speech played no part in their decision not to renew Ratliff's employment contract. Appellants also note that the Superintendent, who strongly recommended Ratliff's nonrenewal, testified that he was only a tangential consultant with the school system at the time of Ratliff's speech, he was never made aware of Ratliff's speech, and he decided to recommend nonrenewal without regard to Ratliff's speech. Appellants further observe that a host of written evaluations and memos indicate the substandard quality of Ratliff's job performance.

On the other hand, Ratliff points out that, according to his own testimony, that of his vice-principal, and that of Dr. McGlamery's predecessor as superintendent, for several years prior to Ratliff's fateful speech all concerned considered him a fine principal; but after the speech, criticism from the Superintendent began to rain down relentlessly in torrents. In fact, Ratliff testified that just prior to his September 1982 speech the Board spent four hours privately pleading with him to withdraw the resignation that he had tendered in August. Ratliff also testified that shortly after his speech, on several separate occasions, individual Board members and the Superintendent made thinly veiled threats against his job security.

The evidence contrasting the Board's pre-speech and post-speech attitudes towards Ratliff, combined with the evidence of post-speech vindictiveness verbally communicated by key players, clearly suffices to permit a reasonable inference that the speech motivated the Board not to renew Ratliff's employment contract. It is true that most of the evidence supporting Ratliff's claim comes from Ratliff himself. Nevertheless, it is the jury's province, not ours, to assess Ratliff's credibility. Indeed, we must view Ratliff's testimony, as well as that of the other witnesses, in a light most favorable to Ratliff. So viewed, the evidence provides an ample basis for a rational conclusion that Ratliff lost his position because of the September 1982 speech, not because of poor work performance. Consequently, we AFFIRM the district court's denial of appellants' motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

Appellants next argue that under Memphis...

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