Seamons v. Snow

• Decision Date: 20 March 2000
• Docket Number: Nos. 98-4152,98-4155,s. 98-4152
• Citation: 206 F.3d 1021
• Parties: (10th Cir. 2000) SHERWIN SEAMONS and JANE SEAMONS, individually and as natural parents of BRIAN SEAMONS, a minor, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. DOUGLAS SNOW, individually and in his capacity as the Coach at Sky View High School, and agent of Sky View High School and the Cache County School District; MYRON BENSON, individually, and as Principal of Sky View High School, and agent of Sky View High School and the Cache County School District; SKY VIEW HIGH SCHOOL; THE CACHE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendants-Appellees,
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 1021

206 F.3d 1021 (10th Cir. 2000)

SHERWIN SEAMONS and JANE SEAMONS, individually and as natural parents of BRIAN SEAMONS, a minor, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. DOUGLAS SNOW, individually and in his capacity as the Coach at Sky View High School, and agent of Sky View High School and the Cache County School District; MYRON BENSON, individually, and as Principal of Sky View High School, and agent of Sky View High School and the Cache County School District; SKY VIEW HIGH SCHOOL; THE CACHE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendants-Appellees,

Nos. 98-4152, 98-4155

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS TENTH CIRCUIT

March 20, 2000

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Utah (D.C. No. 94-CV-4-B) [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Robert R. Wallace and Lisa Watts Baskin of Plant, Wallace, Christensen & Kanell, Salt Lake City, Utah, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Jan Graham, Attorney General; and Brent A. Burnett, Barbara E. Ochoa and Dan R. Larsen, Assistant Attorneys General, State of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before SEYMOUR, Chief Judge, BRISCOE and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

SEYMOUR, Chief Judge.

This case arises out of the locker-room assault of a high school football player, Brian Seamons, by several of his teammates. Brian filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the school's football coach and principal, as well as the school district. He argues his rights under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment were violated when he was suspended and later dismissed from the football team because he refused to apologize for reporting the assault to the police and school authorities. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of all defendants. Brian appeals. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I

In the fall of 1993, Brian Seamons was a student at Sky View High School in Smithfield, Utah, and a member of the school's football team. On Monday, October 11 of that year, Brian was assaulted in the locker room by a group of his teammates. As Brian emerged from the showers, four teammates grabbed him, forcibly restrained him, and then bound him to a towel rack with highly adhesive athletic tape. Another teammate brought a girl Brian had dated into the locker room so that she could see what had been done to him.

Brian and his parents reported this incident to the police and to school authorities, including Myron Benson, Sky View's principal, and Doug Snow, the football coach. Two days after the assault, Brian and his parents met with Principal Benson and Coach Snow to discuss whether Brian would press criminal charges against the team members who assaulted him and whether Coach Snow would take any disciplinary action against them. Coach Snow stated he did not plan to remove any of the assailants from the team. Brian indicated that, in light of this, he would need to think about whether he wanted to remain on the team.

On Friday, October 15, the football team was scheduled to play an away game at Logan High School. That afternoon Brian informed Coach Snow that he wanted to remain on the team, and the two attended the traditional pre-game team-only spaghetti dinner in the school cafeteria. Coach Snow told Principal Benson that Brian was back on the team and everything had been worked out. In the meantime, Brian went home to get his uniform so he could dress for the game. When he returned to the school, Coach Snow asked Brian to meet with the four team captains, two of whom had participated in the assault. The purpose of this meeting, at which the Coach was present, was to allow the boys to clear up any residual hard feelings prior to the game.

During this meeting, a confrontation occurred between Brian and Dan Ward, a captain who had also been one of the assailants, over whether Brian should have to apologize to the team for reporting the assault to the police and school authorities. Specifically, Dan stated that he thought Brian had "betrayed the team" by reporting the assault and that Brian should not be allowed to play with the team until he apologized. Aplt. App., tab 14 at 376, 379. At this point, Coach Snow intervened and told Brian he needed to "forgive and forget and apologize" to the team captains. Id. at 359. When Brian refused, Coach Snow told him to "take the weekend and think about this," because without an apology he couldn't play with the team. Id. at 326. This ended the meeting.

Brian did not play in the game that night. He went home and told his parents he wasn't allowed to play because he had refused to apologize to the team. Brian's father, Sherwin Seamons, called the principal and angrily told him what had transpired at the meeting. Principal Benson, surprised to hear that Brian wasn't going to attend the game, drove to Logan High School and discussed the matter with Coach Snow.

The following Tuesday, Brian confronted Coach Snow in school, telling him he wasn't going to apologize to the team and he still wanted to play football. At this point, Coach Snow told Brian that he was "sick of [his] attitude, sick of [his] father's attitude," and that he was off of the team. Aplt. App., tab 15 at 432-33. The following day the remainder of Sky View's football season was canceled.

II

Brian and his parents filed suit against Coach Snow, Principal Benson, Sky View High School, and the Cache County School District. Brian alleged numerous bases for recovery, including violation of his rights under Title IX and violations of his constitutional rights to procedural due process, substantive due process, freedom of association, freedom of speech, and equal protection. The district court granted defendants' motion to dismiss all of Brian's claims. See Seamons v. Snow, 864 F. Supp. 1111 (D. Utah, 1994) (Seamons I).

Brian appealed to this court. We affirmed the district court's dismissal of all but the free speech claim, holding that Brian had properly stated a claim under the First Amendment and that the district court's dismissal had been premature. See Seamons v. Snow, 84 F.3d 1226 (10th Cir. 1996) (Seamons II). We remanded to the district court for further proceedings.

The parties engaged in full discovery and deposed all the principal witnesses. Defendants moved for summary judgment and the district court held a summary judgment hearing. Then, in an unusual procedure, the court sua sponte held an evidentiary hearing at which five witnesses testified. Subsequently, the court granted summary judgment for defendants, and held alternatively that the school officials were entitled to qualified immunity. See Seamons v. Snow, 15 F.Supp.2d 1150 (D. Utah 1998) (Seamons III). Brian appeals these rulings.

III

We begin with a discussion of the unusual procedure the district court employed in conducting an evidentiary hearing on the summary judgment motion. Stating that it "needed to know more about the facts" after the initial summary judgment hearing, Aplt. App., tab 14 at 317, the court asked each of the parties to present live witness testimony at an evidentiary hearing. Neither party had requested this hearing. Five witnesses, two for plaintiffs and three for defendants, testified, were cross-examined, and were questioned by the court.

Rule 56 is silent as to whether oral testimony can be introduced at a summary judgment hearing, although it seems to suggest that decisions be based on affidavits and documentary evidence. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c) ("pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, . . . admissions on file, . . . [and] affidavits" are properly considered at summary judgment). Rule 43, however, authorizes the use of oral testimony for motions generally. See Fed R. Civ. P. 43(e) ("When a motion is based on facts not appearing of record the court may hear the matter on affidavits. . . [or] the court may direct that the matter be heard wholly or partly on oral testimony or deposition."). Other courts have applied Rule 43 to motions for summary judgment. See 10A C. Wright, A. Miller & M. Kane, Federal Practice & Procedure § 2723 at 386 (3d ed. 1998) (citing cases); see also Utah Div. of Parks & Rec. v. Marsh, 740 F.2d 799, 802 n.2 (10th Cir. 1984) (citing authorities and noting lack of objection).

The Seventh Circuit has observed that oral testimony is an appropriate procedure for those kinds of motions which permit the court to resolve factual disputes, which a summary judgment motion does not:

A judge decides many motions. A motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction is decided by the court alone. So, too, with motions to quash subpoenas and motions for new trials, two among the many for which Rule 43(e) was designed. A court may choose among methods for gathering the evidence, when it will resolve all factual disputes. Rule 43(e) gives the judge the full menu oral testimony, depositions, affidavits, and documents. He may use the one best suited to the occasion. A judge hearing a motion for summary judgment has no similar right to decide which evidentiary materials are the best ones for resolving a disputed question of fact; the judge may not resolve the dispute at all. The power to select among kinds of evidence does not imply a power to resolve disputed questions of fact.

Stewart v. RCA Corp., 790 F.2d 624, 628 (7th Cir. 1986) (citations omitted) (emphasis added). Because of the nature of summary judgment motions, the taking of oral testimony poses problems:

[O]ral testimony also could waste a lot of everyone's time. Because the judge may not evaluate the credibility of the witnesses, the principal advantage of oral testimony is unavailable in hearings under Rule 43(e) on motions for summary judgment. If there is no disputed issue, a few affidavits should show that. . . . [O]ral testimony under Rule 43(e) will be redundant. Because the judge may not resolve evidentiary disputes, he will do the same thing after hearing the testimony he should have done after reading...