Solomon v. Royal Oak Tp.

• Decision Date: 04 September 1986
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 85-71283.
• Citation: Solomon v. Royal Oak Tp., 656 F.Supp. 1254 (W.D. Mich. 1986)
• Parties: Odis SOLOMON, Plaintiff, v. ROYAL OAK TOWNSHIP, a municipal corporation, Tommy Staton, Marie Turner, and Pedro Cain, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

656 F. Supp. 1254

Odis SOLOMON, Plaintiff, v. ROYAL OAK TOWNSHIP, a municipal corporation, Tommy Staton, Marie Turner, and Pedro Cain, Defendants.

Civ. No. 85-71283.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, S.D.

September 4, 1986.

Glen N. Lenhoff, Flint, Mich., Mark J. Kriger, Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff.

Kenneth L. Lewis, Detroit, Mich., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ANNA DIGGS TAYLOR, District Judge.

This is a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action with pendent claims of violations of Michigan employment contract and tort law. This court's jurisdiction is based upon 28 U.S.C. § 1343 (1957) and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1982), and the matter was tried by the court. This memorandum constitutes the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law. The defendants include Tommy Staton and Pedro Cain, members of the Royal Oak Township Board of Trustees; and Marie Turner, the former Township Clerk. Royal Oak Township is a small suburb contiguous to the city of Detroit, Michigan.

Plaintiff Odis Solomon, a former member of the Royal Oak Township Police Department, joined the Department in 1966 as a patrolman. Solomon's outstanding performance and leadership capabilities were rewarded by several promotions. He became Sergeant in 1968, Lieutenant in 1972; and Royal Oak Township Public Safety Director (and Chief of Police) in 1974.

Solomon was terminated from employment as Public Safety Director in January 1978. He then filed a wrongful discharge action against the Township, and in settlement of that lawsuit plaintiff resumed employment as a Lieutenant and second-in-command in late 1978.

Official corruption appears to have become a pervasive problem in Royal Oak Township, during the time span relevant to this lawsuit. When plaintiff became Public Safety Director, official corruption became one of his primary concerns. The Township apparently was in such difficulty that Judge Hilda Gage of the Oakland County Circuit Court was required to assume superintending control and issued an order in 1978 appointing a superintendent to direct administration of the Township. The Township continues to be monitored under this order and Jerry Saddler is the current superintendent. The substance of those difficulties was never explained, on this record.

As Public Safety Director, plaintiff investigated accusations of corruption which were presented against police department personnel, as well as against other officials of the Township. He also cooperated with investigations conducted concurrently by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Michigan State Police. With plaintiff's assistance, the FBI had conducted an investigation of possible bribery and numbers racketeering in 1977. John Gatewood, now plaintiff's successor as Police Chief of the Township, was questioned by the FBI and testified that plaintiff had launched an investigation of him which had lasted for nine years. He expressed great bitterness about that fact.

Defendants claim that plaintiff pursued a series of unfounded complaints against Township officials, but the court notes that at least one federal conviction did result from plaintiff's activities. Between 1981 and 1984, James Hunt, a former Township Supervisor, was indicted and convicted of extortion and bribery. Defendant Marie Turner, then the Township clerk, testified against Hunt in exchange for governmental immunity for her admitted complicity in those matters.

Plaintiff also is alleged to have charged that Trustee Pedro Cain might have been involved in illegal drug transactions and that Trustee Tommy Staton resided in Detroit rather than in the Township as required by a Township ordinance, and as he fraudulently claimed. Staton did testify at trial that he does live in Detroit, and does also claim to reside in the Township in matters of record.

Plaintiff also filed a complaint with the Michigan State Police against Cecil Dawson, the present Township Deputy Chief of Police. Dawson is the former owner of "J & D Investigations," a firm which provided private security guard services in the area. Plaintiff discovered that Dawson was using the Township Police Department's radio equipment and LEIN machine in connection with his private security service and that Dawson was not filing the background reports on security guards whom he employed with the State Police as required by state law. Although Dawson testified that he had thereafter surrendered his license to conduct such a business to the State Police because he was too busy to continue, the proofs showed that Dawson actually had surrendered his license rather than submit to a hearing on the violations of law which plaintiff had reported.

Dawson had hired one Lindsey Hamm, a man who had just been arrested by Township police officers and charged with carrying a concealed weapon (a 32-caliber gun) and with disorderly conduct. Dawson had dropped the CCW charge against Hamm and failed to process the misdemeanor charge expeditiously. He went to court and spoke on Hamm's behalf, then hired Hamm as a security guard just one week after the arrest incident. The required information concerning Hamm's hiring and background was not forwarded to the State Police, nor were the legally required fingerprints and other identification data which would have been necessary for a State Police record search. It was later revealed that Dawson had failed to advise the police of other security guard hirings, as well.

Plaintiff argued, and the evidence indicates, that his undertaking to rid the township government of corruption resulted in the development of serious hostilities against him among defendants and their associates. During this period allegations of sexual improprieties were instituted against plaintiff by three women: Barbie Logan, Sharon Gleaton and Christine Egbeleye, who were public safety dispatchers employed by the Department. At the urging of at least one of the defendants herein, these women filed grievances against plaintiff alleging sexual harassment.

Rhonda Scott, a police reserve officer, accused plaintiff of raping her. In mid-1984, defendant Staton informed William Carmody, who was the Township Superintendent, that plaintiff had raped Scott, who was Staton's sister-in-law. When Scott filed the official grievance with the Department a year later, she was an outpatient at the Clinton Valley Mental Hospital. Plaintiff admitted having consensual sexual intercourse with Scott and fondling and kissing Gleaton on and off the premises of the Department. Gatewood also, however, had intimate relationships with Gleaton and Egbeleye.

In September 1984, Staton was interviewed on television, elaborating upon the sex charges which had been filed against plaintiff, particularly his sister-in-law's charge of rape. Staton claims that he had the Board of Trustee's approval and spoke in his official capacity as a member of the Board.

Superintendent Carmody scheduled an "open workshop" about the women's charges. The Township Treasurer, Lester Maddox, Carl Miller, and defendants Turner, Staton and Cain attended the meeting. Plaintiff appeared at the hearing but did not make a comment on the charges. After the hearing, Superintendent Carmody referred the matter to the State Attorney General's Office. The Michigan State Police investigated each claim. The police report indicates that Barbie Logan and Rhonda Scott disavowed their prior complaints but that Gleaton and Egbeleye continued to maintain that plaintiff sexually assaulted them. Following a complete investigation, the State Police determined that there was insufficient evidence to institute criminal prosecution against plaintiff. The state police suggested that the women pursue their claims with the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, if they wished. Some claims were filed but they were later withdrawn. Accordingly, all of the charges came to nought.

In June of 1984 plaintiff was disabled for several months by an on-duty automobile accident. In September plaintiff returned to work and was informed that he was no longer Public Safety Director. He had been demoted to Lieutenant. In plaintiff's absence, Gatewood had been appointed as Acting Public Safety Director and the Board then voted to retain Gatewood in that position "for the smooth operation of the public safety department." Turner and others testified that the morale of the officers had been low during plaintiff's administration because the officers felt that plaintiff was too harsh, used profanity, and did not have the respect of the department.

In January of the following year, plaintiff was again demoted from Lieutenant to patrolman, purportedly as part of a reorganization plan recommended by the Board of Trustees to rectify the top-heaviness of the Department. Plaintiff then filed this lawsuit.

Plaintiff was a patrolman when the Hamm incident occurred. On the 15th and 16th of March 1985, two articles written by reporter Lesa Doll were printed in the Royal Oak Tribune. Doll reported that Dawson surrendered his license after the State Police had discovered that Dawson had not provided the requisite information concerning several of his security guards, including Hamm. Plaintiff was quoted as saying, "Dawson failed to press proper charges against the man and instead hired him for his own personal gain." During that same interview, plaintiff characterized Dawson's actions as an "obstruction of justice" and "totally ridiculous." Plaintiff was also interviewed by a radio reporter.

When Chief Gatewood became aware of this publicity, he reprimanded plaintiff and forbade him from further communications with the media without prior authorization from his superiors. Gatewood also informed plaintiff that any further contact with the media would result in plaintiff's dismissal. Plaintiff testified credibly that he obeyed this order. Unfortunately, plaintiff's radio interview was rebroadcast after plaintiff was reprimanded by Gatewood.

Chief Gatewood...