Seals v. State

• Citation: 998 F.Supp.2d 509
• Decision Date: 20 February 2014
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 3:13–CV–74–SA–JMV.
• Parties: Edward SEALS, Jr., Plaintiff v. State of MISSISSIPPI; Board of Trustees of State of Mississippi State Institutions of Higher Learning; University of Mississippi; Dr. Daniel Jones, M.D., et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi

998 F.Supp.2d 509

Edward SEALS, Jr., Plaintiff

v.State of MISSISSIPPI; Board of Trustees of State of Mississippi State Institutions of Higher Learning; University of Mississippi; Dr. Daniel Jones, M.D., et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 3:13–CV–74–SA–JMV.

United States District Court,

N.D. Mississippi,

Oxford Division.

Feb. 20, 2014.

Derek D. Hopson, Hopson Law Office, PLLC, Clarksdale, MS, for Plaintiff.

J. Cal Mayo, Jr., Mary A. Connell, Mayo Mallette, PLLC, Oxford, MS, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT

SHARION AYCOCK, District Judge.

This cause comes before the Court on Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [55], Defendants' Motions to Strike [59] and [63], and Plaintiff's Motions to Strike [61] and [66]. Because the Court determines that Plaintiff has failed to establish a genuine dispute of material fact with regard to his due process claims as to Jones and Plaintiff's claims against the individually named faculty members are barred by qualified immunity, the Court grants judgment in favor of Defendants as to those counts of the Complaint. Because the Court finds that Plaintiff's remaining constitutional claims fail on the basis of sovereign immunity or standing, those claims are dismissed without prejudice. Having dismissed Plaintiff's federal claims, the Court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction of Plaintiff's remaining state-law claims and accordingly dismisses those claims without prejudice as well.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The instant suit stems from a disagreement between Plaintiff Edward Seals, Jr. and a number of faculty and staff members at the University of Mississippi (“the University”) regarding grade assignments and allegations of academic misconduct levied at Seals during his tenure at the University. Specifically, Seals filed the present action contending that Defendants are liable under theories of due process infringement, breach of contract, and defamation. The following facts provide the backdrop for the dispute.¹

In August 2009, Seals was admitted to the University's biology program as a transfer student, having already completed two years of course work at Coahoma Community College. At the time of Plaintiff's enrollment, he had been accepted for admission to the University of Mississippi Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College (“the Honors College”) and the rural physicians scholarship program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. According to Plaintiff, the physicians scholarship program would have provided approximately $120,000 toward his medical education assuming he was eventually admitted to medical school and agreed to practice in a rural area of the state. Acceptance into both of the honors programs was largely contingent on Seals' academic history and required that he maintain a high level of academic success.

Although Seals successfully graduated from the University, earning a Bachelor's of Science degree in August 2011, he was unable to maintain the requisite grade point average required for either honors program and was subsequently dismissed from both. Additionally, Seals was implicated in an alleged incident of cheating and was also accused of plagiarizing materials on several separate occasions. Those allegations resulted in a faculty member charging him with academic dishonesty. Subsequently, and according to Plaintiff, consequentially, he has since failed to gain admission to medical school. Plaintiff now attempts to contest numerous final grades assigned to him during his tenure at the University. Dissatisfied with those grades, Plaintiff attempts to enlist this Court to independently review the propriety of four final grades assigned by various members of the University faculty.

In order to graduate from the University as an Honors Scholar, Seals was required to write an Honor's thesis under the supervision of a thesis advisor. Seals initially asked Defendant Mika Jekabsons to serve as his advisor, and Jekabsons agreed. Plaintiff thereafter enrolled in Biological Sciences I (BISC 491) under the direction of Jekabsons. BISC 491 was a directed study class designed to introduce Seals to certain research methods that would be essential in producing his thesis. Specifically, Seals was expected to gain familiarity producing polyacrylamide gels and running samples on them. Because Jekabsons' research assistant had significant experience running such experiments, Jekabsons placed Seals under the direct guidance of his own research assistant, Dennis Huckabee.

Plaintiff's work with Huckabee progressed for the majority of the semester without major incident. According to Seals, Huckabee informed him that he “was performing the experiments fine.” In the eyes of Jekabsons, however, Seals “was relying too much on [Huckabee] to perform tasks that [he] wanted him to learn.” Accordingly, Jekabsons became “a little concerned that [Seals] wasn't picking up on the ability to perform the techniques independently.” Jekabsons thereafter initiated contact with Seals to convey his expectations for the course.

Toward the end of the semester, Huckabee was unavailable to continue observing Seals and Jekabsons stepped in to provide instruction for the remaining sessions. Thus, Jekabsons was allowed the opportunity to directly evaluate Seals' ability to make a gel and then run samples.

Jekabsons, in reliance on both his direct observation of Plaintiff and his observation of Plaintiff's interaction with Huckabee, ultimately assigned Seals a B for the semester. Believing his performance worthy of an A, Plaintiff exercised his ability to appeal that grade under the University's academic appeals process. As part of that process, Seals contested the grade with Jekabsons, the biology department chair, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and, finally, the Office of the Provost. During the course of that proceeding, Jekabsons was asked by the biology chair to provide his reasoning for the grade. In that prepared statement, Jekabsons concluded that:

Based upon the repeated training [Seals] received, the explicit communication of my expectations that he be able to perform these tasks independently, and my observations of his performance after being trained in the lab for about 14 weeks, I did not feel that he performed at a superior or excellent level as required for an A. The tasks set forth for [Seals], as well as my expectations, were not unreasonable, as these types of protocols are routinely taught to undergraduates in cell biology courses. I did not quantify any of these tasks in the form of a test or quiz (this is rarely, if ever done when conducting research), but, based upon my more than 20 years of lab experience, could confidently conclude that [Seals] exhibited significant deficiencies in some of the benchwork.

Seals, on the other hand, argued that the grade was unfair based on the fact that Jekabsons had failed to provide him with a syllabus and had graded him on a subjective basis. Nonetheless, the grade was affirmed at every level of the University appeal process.² Following the conclusion of that appeal, Jekabsons informed Seals that he could no longer serve as his thesis advisor. Seals paints the foregoing acts as constitutional violations, contending that Jekabsons “took away and infringed upon [Seals'] property interest being his grade, by not giving him a syllabus and/or by not grading him objectively.”

Additionally, Seals seeks review of a C assigned for his performance in Introductory Physiology (BISC 330). That class, taught by Carol Britson, also involved a significant laboratory component. Britson delegated the direction of the lab component to her teaching assistant. The course syllabus stated that grading would be based on the students' performance in both the lecture and laboratory components of the course, and that students would be graded based on their contributions to the class, willingness to work in groups, initiative, patience, intellectual curiosity, and personal integrity. Further, the syllabus stated that students achieving 80–89% in the course would receive a B, while students achieving 70–79% would receive a C.

During the course of the semester, students could earn up to twenty-five participation points for their performance in the class. According to Britson, at some point during the semester her graduate assistant complained that several students were sleeping, texting, and talking during lab class. Britson avers that she observed similar behavior among the students and had specifically observed Plaintiff banging on the classroom door when he was late to class and the door was locked, refusing to turn in quizzes in a timely manner, and refusing to turn in his final exam after the time period had expired. Accordingly, when the graduate assistant turned in a maximum of twenty-five participation points for every student in the class, Britson nonetheless made deductions for students she had observed engaging in disruptive behaviors.

In the case of Plaintiff, Britson reduced his participation grade to a score of twenty. The reduced participation score gave Plaintiff a total score of 78.95, a C. Although Seals thereafter complained that Britson had no right to deviate from the participation grade recommended by her teaching assistant, Britson pointed out that even had Seals been given a maximum participation score, his total would still have only been a 79.25. Seals also, however, complained that he did not have an opportunity to review graded assignments that were left outside her office and that such practice should be against University policy. Seals also complained that Britson filed a report with the campus police, alleging that a certified letter sent by Seals was suspicious, but that her report was disingenuous. Nonetheless, Seals failed to appeal Britson's assigned grade under the University policy.

Now, Seals argues that “Britson's conduct [was] an arbitrary taking of his...