Rodriguez v. City of Doral

• Decision Date: 19 July 2017
• Docket Number: No. 15-11595,15-11595
• Citation: 863 F.3d 1343
• Parties: Anthony RODRIGUEZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF DORAL, Juan Carlos Bermudez, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

863 F.3d 1343

Anthony RODRIGUEZ, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.CITY OF DORAL, Juan Carlos Bermudez, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 15-11595

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

July 19, 2017

Martin Eric Leach, Michael B. Feiler, Feiler & Leach, PL, 901 PONCE DE LEON BLVD PH, CORAL GABLES, FL 33134-3009, for Appellant

Michael R. Piper, Christopher J. Stearns, Johnson Anselmo Murdoch Burke Piper & Hochman, PA, 2455 E SUNRISE BLVD STE 1000, FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33304, for Defendant-Appellee CITY OF DORA

Harriet R. Lewis, Gary Keith Oldehoff, Lewis Stroud & Deutsch, PL, 1900 GLADES RD STE 251, BOCA RATON, FL 33431, for Defendant-Appellee JUAN CARLOS BERMUDEZ

Before JORDAN, ROSENBAUM, and SILER,^* Circuit Judges.

ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge:

"A wise man once said a true history of the world is a history of great conversations in elegant rooms."¹ Whether or not that may be accurate, a true history of the United States would be incomplete without a history of great political conversations, wherever they might have occurred. And great political conversations could not exist in the absence of the First Amendment. So the First Amendment generally prohibits government retaliation against a person for exercising his rights to free speech and association, including supporting the political party and candidates of his choice.

In this case, Plaintiff-Appellant Anthony Rodriguez, who was employed as a police officer with Defendant-Appellee City of Doral, alleges that Doral and its mayor, Defendant-Appellee Juan Carlos Bermudez, arranged for Rodriguez's termination because Rodriguez dared to support Bermudez's purported political enemy, City of Doral Councilwoman Sandra Ruiz. Based on this contention, Rodriguez filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming violation of his First Amendment rights.

Though the district court concluded that Rodriguez had engaged in protected activity, it nonetheless granted summary judgment for Doral and Bermudez. In the district court's view, Rodriguez had not suffered an adverse employment action because he had voluntarily left his position with Doral when he agreed to resign instead of being fired.

Though we agree with much of the district court's analysis, we ultimately conclude that Rodriguez did not voluntarily leave his employment with Doral but rather was effectively terminated. For this reason, we now reverse the entry of summary judgment for Defendants and remand for further proceedings.

I.²

A. The City of Doral

The City of Doral is situated in Miami–Dade County and lies one mile from Miami International Airport. https://www.cityofdoral.com/about/ (last visited June 20, 2017). A relative newcomer to independent city status, Doral was incorporated as a municipality in 2003.

In 2007, Doral decided to create its own police department. Towards this end, it hired Ricardo Gomez as its first chief of police. Gomez served as the chief during the events that occurred in this case.

In order to gear up to become operational, the Doral Police Department needed to hire officers for its police force. So in January 2008, Doral offered and Plaintiff-Appellant Anthony Rodriguez accepted a position with Doral's Police Department. During his tenure with Doral, Rodriguez served as a detective.

At first, things at the Doral Police Department went along uneventfully for Rodriguez. But at some point during his service with Doral, Rodriguez began having difficulties with Gomez—difficulties that Rodriguez attributes to retaliation against Rodriguez for exercising his First Amendment rights.

B. The Political Backdrop

Before discussing the nature of Rodriguez's problems with Gomez, we pause to provide some background on the alleged intrigue surrounding Doral's local politics and Rodriguez's involvement in them. Rodriguez first met Sandra Ruiz when he was employed as a police officer for the City of Hialeah. At the time, Ruiz was a member of the Doral City Council, and she encouraged Rodriguez to apply for employment with Doral. Before applying, though, Rodriguez decided to spend some time learning about how things operated in the City of Doral, so he began attending Doral City Council meetings. Over time, he developed a friendship with Ruiz and would walk in public with her to her office.

During this period, Defendant-Appellee Juan Carlos Bermudez served as Doral's mayor. Rodriguez asserts that Bermudez and Ruiz were "political enemies." In support of this contention, Rodriguez notes that Ruiz is a Democrat, while Bermudez is a Republican. And when Ruiz ran for election to the State house and later for the Doral City Council, Bermudez supported her opponent on both occasions.

Returning to Rodriguez, after Rodriguez began to work for Doral, his friendship with Ruiz grew into a political affinity for her as well. As a result, Rodriguez volunteered his time for Ruiz and attended public and private gatherings with her or for her. He also educated her about issues of importance to law-enforcement officers and prepared her to speak informedly about law-enforcement matters at City Council meetings. Rodriguez did these things because he knew that Ruiz intended to run for mayor at some point, and he wanted to support her in that endeavor.

C. The Alleged Plan to Target Rodriguez

Not everyone appreciated Rodriguez's relationship with Ruiz. In fact, Rodriguez points to several pieces of evidence to show that Bermudez had a problem with Rodriguez because of Rodriguez's association with Ruiz.

First, Doral's city manager, Sergio Purrinos, informed Rodriguez that Bermudez had told Purrinos not to hire Rodriguez because Bermudez "did not want ... Ruiz having a friend in the police department."

Second, Doral Police Department Commander James Montgomery attested that he overheard a conversation between Bermudez and Gomez in which Bermudez said in a "very loud, very angry tone" that Gomez "needed to deal with this ‘asshole Tony,’ " or Bermudez would. When Montgomery asked Gomez about the conversation, Gomez said, "The Mayor wants me to get rid of somebody." So Montgomery asked Gomez whether grounds existed to terminate the employee, and Gomez responded, "Well it doesn't matter; I'll take care of the situation." In a different conversation between Montgomery and Gomez, Gomez told Montgomery that Bermudez and Gomez believed that Rodriguez "was passing information to a city council member." Based on these discussions, Montgomery warned Rodriguez that "he was being targeted."

Third, Rodriguez relies on information that Clemente Vera, a friend of Bermudez's, had given him. Vera told Rodriguez that Bermudez advised that he was "giving Tony a hard time because he's associated with Sandra Ruiz."

Fourth, Rodriguez recalled a conversation he had with Gomez during which Gomez referred to himself as "an evil person and that [Rodriguez] did not want to see the evil side of him." During this same discussion, Rodriguez said, Gomez warned Rodriguez, "It's your responsibility to be loyal to me and the mayor, and no one else." In addition, Gomez explained that Gomez did not want Rodriguez fired, but Bermudez did.

Fifth, Doral Police Department Lieutenant Alfaro opined to Rodriguez that "the targeting" was "because of [Rodriguez's] association with Sandra Ruiz."

And sixth, Doral Councilman Pete Cabrera advised Rodriguez of a conversation he had heard between Gomez and Bermudez. According to Cabrera's deposition testimony, the conversation occurred in July 2008, after Bermudez picked up Cabrera in his car. As Cabrera entered the car, he heard Bermudez having "a very loud, hostile phone conversation" with someone. Since Cabrera caught only the end of it, he asked Bermudez what the call was about. Bermudez explained that he was speaking with Gomez about Rodriguez, whom Bermudez described as "[Ruiz's] spy in the police department and ... the one that gets her all her information."

But Bermudez had a plan for dealing with the situation, Cabrera testified. He instructed Gomez that "[Gomez] better put an F ending to [Rodriguez] or [Bermudez] w[ould]." Then Bermudez continued, characterizing Ruiz as "an evil person" and vowing that if she ran for a higher office, "he would make it his personal mission in life to destroy her."

D. The Alleged Targeting of Rodriguez

As proof that the "targeting" was not just talk, Rodriguez relies on four incidents where he alleges he was, in fact, "targeted."

The first two incidents involve investigations that resulted in what Rodriguez describes as bogus disciplinary action against him. Of these, the first concerned Rodriguez's alleged unauthorized use of his police vehicle for personal business on the way home from work. At Gomez's direction, Rodriguez's direct supervisor, Sergeant George Gulla, investigated the incident to determine whether Rodriguez had violated City policy. Gulla determined that Gomez had authorized Rodriguez to stop at a fitness center on his way home and that Rodriguez had complied with Department policy by locking his weapons and other valuables in his police vehicle while he worked out.

Gomez did not agree with Gulla's conclusion. So he instructed Gulla to change the outcome of the report to find that Rodriguez had violated City policy. Against his will, Gulla did so. Rodriguez received written counseling as a result of the incident.

In his capacity as the Internal Affairs investigator, Gulla also conducted the second investigation. Rodriguez was accused of having used "improper procedure" by interfering with a Miami-Dade Police investigation. But after a "complete investigation," Gulla concluded that insufficient evidence existed to sustain the allegations against Rodriguez. So Gulla prepared a report to this effect and sent it to Gomez. But once again, Gomez took issue with Gulla's report and ordered Gulla to reverse his findings and find Rodriguez "guilty of some policy violation." And once again, against his will, Gulla did so.

The third alleged targeting incident concerned Rodriguez's December 2008 performance evaluation. Gulla...