Sabet v. City of Chi.

• Decision Date: 20 February 2020
• Docket Number: Case No. 16-cv-10783
• Parties: RAMTIN SABET, Plaintiff, v. THE CITY OF NORTH CHICAGO, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

RAMTIN SABET, Plaintiff, v. THE CITY OF NORTH CHICAGO, et al., Defendants.

Case No. 16-cv-10783

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION

February 20, 2020

Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Before the Court are Plaintiff's and Defendants' respective cross-motions for summary judgment. [57]; [64]. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' motion for summary judgment [64] is granted in part and denied in part, and Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment [57] is denied. The case is set for further status on March 3, 2020 at 9:00 a.m.

I. Background

The Court takes the relevant facts from the parties' Local Rule 56.1 statements of undisputed material facts and supporting exhibits: [57-1]; [59]; [66]; [68]; [79]; [86]. The Court construes the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party on any given issue. The following facts are undisputed unless otherwise noted. "When we cite as undisputed a statement of fact that a party has attempted to dispute, it reflects our determination that the evidence cited in the response does not show that the fact is in genuine dispute." King v. Chapman, 2013 WL 6709623, at *3 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 16, 2013).

A. Parties and Overview

Plaintiff Ramtin Sabet ("Plaintiff") was a police officer with the North Chicago Police Department (NCPD) from 2007 through 2017. [79 at 2, ¶ 3.] He also had a side job selling firearms. See [Id. at 10, ¶ 23]. He immigrated to the United States from Iran in 1997, and is now an American citizen. [Id. at 1, ¶ 1.] He is also a practicing Muslim. [79 at 1, ¶ 2.] Plaintiff's race is white. [86 at 2, ¶ 3.] Plaintiff worked the late ("third") shift for the NCPD, which ran from 9:30 p.m. until either 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. [Id. at 3, ¶ 9.] He claims that he was subject to persistent harassment on account of his religion and national origin for his entire tenure at the police department. See [79 at 3, ¶ 6.]

Defendant James Jackson ("Jackson") was the chief of police for the NCPD from October 16, 2012 through April 30, 2016, when he retired. [86 at 2, ¶ 5.] Defendant Richard Wilson took over as chief of police on May 1, 2016. [Id. at 2-3, ¶ 7.] Prior to that, he was the deputy chief of police for the NCPD (at least beginning in September 2013). [Id. at 2, ¶ 5.] There were at least two layers of supervision between the deputy chief and officers such as Plaintiff: officers reported directly to sergeants, and sergeants were below lieutenants. See [79 at 5, ¶¶ 10-11.] Defendants argue that any harassment is aberrational given that the NCPD has adopted an anti-harassment policy and conducts diversity and inclusion training at least once a year. [86 at 3, ¶ 8]; [68-7]; [68-1 at 31-32.] The chief of police underwent additional diversity training quarterly. [68-16, 11.]

Unrelated to the central allegations of discrimination at issue in this lawsuit, Plaintiff had a professional rivalry with Sergeant Hartmann going back to 2009, when Hartmann tried to elicit support in an internal political debate and Plaintiff refused to side with him. [79 at 18, ¶ 44.] Since then, Plaintiff has always refused to side with Hartmann on internal matters. [Id.] Eventually, Sergeant Hartmann was promoted over Plaintiff, because Hartmann passed the sergeant exam whereas Plaintiff failed. [86 at 15, ¶ 43.] Officers Friel and Farrell, two of Plaintiff's primary adversaries on the third shift, were mentees of Hartmann. [Id. at 18-19, ¶ 45.] Officers sometimes refused to respond to Plaintiff's calls for backup. [79 at 19, ¶ 46]; [59-4 at 9]. It is unclear whetherthe back-up problems are a manifestation of discrimination or an extension of the political rivalry with Hartmann. See [59-4 at 9]; [79 at 19, ¶ 46.]

The parties agree on the outline of what precipitated this lawsuit. On January 5, 2016, Plaintiff complained to his supervisor, Sergeant Val Nash (Nash) about harassment (discussed more below). [86 at 4, ¶ 13.] Plaintiff then implored his third shift colleagues to stop making derogatory comments. [Id. at 4-5, ¶¶ 13-14.] In response to his complaint, Jackson and Wilson initiated some sort of investigation into harassment on the third shift, though the parties dispute the scope and purpose of the investigation. [Id. at 5-6, ¶ 16.] Pursuant to this investigation, Plaintiff was interviewed in February 2016. [Id. at 6, ¶ 17]; [79 at 20, ¶ 48.] On April 20, 2016, Plaintiff filed an EEOC Charge of Discrimination alleging discrimination based on national origin and religion. [86 at 6-7, ¶ 18.] Two days later, the initial investigation completed, concluding that there was harassment on the shift, but that Plaintiff may not have been entirely forthcoming in the interview. [Id. at 8-9, ¶ 24.] In response to the investigation, Wilson asked the NCPD to investigate whether Plaintiff was untruthful in the interview. [Id. at 9, ¶ 25.] On November 2, 2016, Wilson placed Plaintiff on paid, administrative leave pending the investigation. [Id. at 12, ¶ 34.] On February 9, 2017, Plaintiff was fired; Defendants claim it is because he was not truthful during the investigation and another subsequent investigation. [Id. at 15, ¶ 42.] Plaintiff was hired as an officer for the Oakwood Hills Police Department. [79 at 26, ¶ 62.] Plaintiff was not decertified from testifying in court. [Id.]; [59-3 at 35].

Plaintiff filed suit in November 2016. His operative complaint [17] lists ten counts against the city and individual defendants: religious discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000 et seq., (Count I) [17, ¶¶ 73-78]; national origin discrimination in violation of Title VII (Count II) [Id., ¶¶ 79-84]; retaliation in violation of TitleVII (Count III) [Id., ¶¶ 85-90]; failure to provide training opportunities in violation of Title VII (Count IV) [Id., ¶¶ 91-97]; a violation of his Fourteenth Amendment equal protection rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Count V) [Id., ¶¶ 98-106]; retaliation in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment pursuant to § 1983 (Count VI) [Id., ¶¶ 107-118]; municipal liability under Monell (Count VII) [Id., ¶¶ 119-130]; discrimination in violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act, 775 ILCS 5/1-101, et seq. (Count VIII) [Id., ¶¶ 131-34]; retaliation in violation of the Illinois Human Rights Act (Count IX) [Id., ¶¶ 135-139]; and common law retaliatory discharge (Count X) [Id., ¶¶ 140-51].

B. Details of the Harassment

Plaintiff claims that he has long suffered harassment at the NCPD. [79 at 3, ¶ 6.] He filed his first EEO complaint in 2012, but it went nowhere, in part because Jackson, then the chief of police, fell asleep during the EEO interview. [Id.] Plaintiff was issued a right to sue letter, but declined to do so at that time. [Id. at 3, ¶ 8.] Plaintiff highlights the following specific incidents¹ of alleged harassment that have happened since then:

• In 2013, some officers dismissed Plaintiff as a "falafel-head" and told him to, "[g]o eat your falafel and hummus." [Id. at 12-13, ¶ 30.]

• In 2013, possibly at the same time, Officer Sain asked Plaintiff if he was eating "camel balls." [Id.]

• In 2014, at a work training at the firing range, a group of officers, including Sergeant Marquardt, Sergeant Rivera, and Detective Mueller, called Plaintiff a "fucking terrorist" and repeatedly accused him of being a member of Al-Qaeda. [Id. at 7-8, ¶ 16.]

• In 2014, at the same firearms training, Sergeant Hartmann, Officer Bogdala, and Officer Wail repeatedly asked Plaintiff why he had moved to the United States. [Id. at 7-8, ¶ 16(d).]

• Also in 2014, perhaps at the same time, a group of officers exclaimed that Plaintiff "rides his goat to work" and wears a winter hat made of camel wool. [Id. at 13, ¶ 31.] They then repeatedly asked him why he had moved to the United States. [Id.]

• On May 18, 2015, an officer asked if Plaintiff ate "goat balls." [Id. at 14, ¶ 32.]

• On May 19, 2015, Officer Farrell asked if Plaintiff had ever eaten "camel balls." [Id. at 14, ¶ 33.]

• On June 17, 2015, Officer Friel exclaimed that Plaintiff should never have gotten an FBI permit to sell firearms. [Id. at 8, ¶ 17.]

• On June 24, 2015, Officers Friel and Farrell called Plaintiff a "goat-fucker" in front of their superior officers. [Id. at 14-15, ¶ 34.]

• On July 2, 2015, Officer Friel accused Plaintiff of working for ISIS. [Id. at 8, ¶ 18.]

• On the same day, Officer Farrell asked Plaintiff if he had ever eaten camel meat and whether it had made him smarter. [Id. at 15, ¶ 35.]

• On July 15, 2015, Detective Mueller accused Plaintiff of working for ISIS. [Id. at 8-9, ¶ 19.]

• On July 17, 2015, during the Islamic holiday of Ramadan, Officer Farrell complained that "Obama allowed Muslims to put a green light on the Empire State Building for Ramadan." When Plaintiff questioned him about why this was a problem, Farrell responded that all Muslims kill Christians and provoke violence. [Id. at 9, ¶ 20.]

• On the same day, Officer Farrell opined to Plaintiff that "Iran should be nuked and wiped off the map." [Id. at 15, ¶ 36.]

• On the same day, Officer Farrell yelled "underjayee" at Plaintiff during the entirety of their shift because he had heard another Muslim person say it. [Id. at 9, ¶ 21.]

• On August 21, 2015, Officer Malak said that Plaintiff "eats sand for breakfast." [Id. at 15, ¶ 37.]

• On August 24, 2015, while out for a meal, Officers Farrell, Friel, and Malak asked Plaintiff, "What's with your people burning the American flag?" They then opined that the United States should nuclear bomb Iran and that "American solders * * * should just kill them all." [Id. at 16, ¶ 38.]

• On September 10, 2015, Officers Farrell and Friel repeatedly said that "all Muslims kill Christians and provoke violence.". [Id. at 9-10, ¶ 22.]

• On the same day, Officers Farrell and Friel repeatedly taunted Plaintiff that "Mohammed was a pimp and a child molester." [Id.]

• On the same day, Officer Friel told Plaintiff that all Muslims hate Jews. [Id

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