Stall v. Bourne, 84-1394

• Decision Date: 11 October 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-1394,84-1394
• Citation: 774 F.2d 657
• Parties: Charles W. STALL, Jr., Appellant, v. John E. BOURNE, Jr., and Ross F. Walker, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 657

774 F.2d 657

Charles W. STALL, Jr., Appellant, v. John E. BOURNE, Jr., and Ross F. Walker, Appellees.

No. 84-1394.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 25, 1984.

Decided Oct. 11, 1985.

Robert N. Rosen, Rosen, Oberman & Rosen, Samuel H. Altman, Altman & Altman, P.A., Charleston, S.C., on brief, for appellant.

James E. Gonzales, Gonzales & Gonzales, North Charleston, S.C., on brief, for appellees.

Before HALL and MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judges, and MICHAEL, United States District Judge for the Western District of Virginia, sitting by designation.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant, Charles W. Stall, seeks to reverse an order of the district court granting defendants summary judgment on grounds of issue preclusion. Stall's complaint in district court alleged that he had been discharged from employment due to his exercise of First Amendment rights. The district court concluded that Stall could not prevail on his constitutional claim because Stall had initiated a prior unemployment benefits action which was entitled to preclusive effect. That action had resulted in a determination that Stall's discharge was for work-related misconduct, though not misconduct of sufficient severity to deprive Stall of unemployment benefits. The district court precluded Stall from relitigating the reason for his discharge, and ruled that defendants were entitled to summary judgment on Stall's constitutional claim.

We affirm the order of summary judgment because the district court properly determined the issue preclusive effect of Stall's unemployment benefits action. Since our review of the district court's order requires an understanding of the proceedings in Stall's unemployment benefits action, we set out the history of that action in some detail.

Stall's unemployment benefits action and his constitutional claim stemmed from his discharge from employment with the city of North Charleston, South Carolina. The Buildings and Grounds department of the City of North Charleston had employed Stall for some time. The employer asserted that sometime before March 1, 1982, Stall had indicated an intention to resign on or about March 1, 1982. The employer, acting on that information, asked Stall to state the date of his resignation, seeking such information for the department's planning purposes. Stall's memorandum response was that, because certain educational courses he sought were not then available, and for financial reasons, he was not then asking for a "leave of absence". (Joint Appendix (App.) p. 84). The employer advised Stall by memorandum that the Stall response was "not satisfactory". (App. p. 85). Several weeks later, Stall's supervisor reviewed in a memorandum to Stall the employer's contention; he concluded, "It is impossible to maintain a functional organization with a state of uncertainty.... I will not allow you to give and rescind notice of resignation. Therefore, I am advising you that your last day of employment with the City of North Charleston will be March 1, 1982." (App. p. 86). Stall denied that he had ever stated an intention to resign.

During the period leading up to March 1, 1982, and apparently thereafter, Stall had been a member of the North Charleston School Board. In what appears to have been a spirited manner, an election contest for Chairman had developed on the School Board. Stall asserted that the Mayor of North Charleston had talked with him in early January, 1982, in the Mayor's office and at lunch in an effort, among other things, to persuade Stall to vote for the Mayor's candidate for Chairman, one Altman. When Stall demurred, the Mayor made reference to his belief that Stall's employment and School Board performance could reflect adversely on North Charleston. Stall asserted a feeling of intimidation, and a fear for his job, flowing from the Mayor's comments and Stall's reluctance to follow the Mayor's wishes as to Mr. Altman.

Thus was the stage set for the various proceedings which followed. At about the time of the filing of his constitutional claim in district court, Stall also initiated an unemployment benefits action with the South Carolina Employment Security Commission [the Commission]. In the informal claim filed by Stall with the Commission, his claims for relief were twofold in nature; he asserted that he was discharged without any proper cause, and he further asserted that "I feel I was terminated for political reasons". (App. p. 21). This material was contained in a "fact-finding report" of February 28, 1982, filed with the Commission. (App. p. 20, 21). In the complaint filed almost at the same time in the United States District Court for the State of South Carolina, Charleston Division, the claim for relief is predicated entirely on an assertion that Stall's termination was in violation of Amendments One and Fourteen of the Constitution of the United States. In both proceedings, then, Stall advanced his constitutional claims; in the unemployment benefits proceeding he joined with that constitutional claim a denial of the employer's stated reasons for his discharge.

Nonetheless, the central issue in the proceedings before the district court and before the Commission was, and had to be, the same: what was the reason for Stall's discharge? If the reason for discharge was, for example, for a sufficiently severe failure to perform the duties of the employment, then obviously Stall could not prevail in either forum. On the other hand, if the Commission should have found that the discharge was not based on, for example, improper performance of duty, or other similar grounds, then Stall could prevail before that Commission, either because the asserted grounds for discharge were legally insufficient, or because his First Amendment rights had been violated by the discharge, or for both reasons. For emphasis, the issue before both the Commission and the District Court is restated: what was the reason for Stall's discharge? Certain it is, however, that from the second paper shown (UCB Form 102) in the Joint Appendix Stall raised the issue of his First Amendment rights in the Commission proceedings in his statement there that "I feel I was terminated for political reasons". (App. p. 21).

While the record does not reveal the nature or extent of the first level of proceedings on the unemployment benefits claim, before a "Claims Adjudicator", that official filed a "Determination by Claims Adjudicator on Claim for Benefits" (App. p. 22), where she states her decision. The Claims Adjudicator determined that Stall had not been discharged, but in fact had voluntarily left his job with the city. It is clear from the report of the Claims Adjudicator that she did consider in her ruling on the claim for benefits of March 18, 1982, the arguments advanced by Stall concerning his First Amendment rights. The Claims Adjudicator writes, "He states he felt he was terminated for political reasons. After careful consideration ...", the Adjudicator found that Stall had voluntarily quit his employment. (App. p. 22). Only by ignoring such language as that quoted can we conclude that the Claims Adjudicator did not consider the First Amendment rights advanced by Stall. Because of her conclusion as to voluntarily quitting, the Claims Adjudicator in the initial determination decided that Stall was not eligible for unemployment benefits.

Stall appealed the Adjudicator's initial decision, which led to a full evidentiary hearing before the Commission's Appeals Referee ¹. Both Stall and the employer were represented by counsel in the hearing before the Commission's Appeals Referee. Each presented extensive evidence concerning the reasons for Stall's discharge. That evidence appears to have included a copy of Stall's district court complaint, ² and substantial testimony by Stall to the effect that his discharge had resulted from his refusal to support the city mayor's candidate for the North Charleston School Board position. Even a cursory reading of the transcript of the hearing before the Appeals Referee shows clearly that Stall chose to attack his discharge on two bases. First, he asserted vigorously that the assigned reason for his discharge was in fact not the true reason, in that he denied having ever indicated that he intended definitely to resign, and otherwise challenged the assertions of the employer on the charge of misconduct. Secondly, that same cursory reading shows very clearly that Stall advanced to the Appeals Referee in his testimony the conviction which Stall held that he had in fact been discharged for exercising his First Amendment rights. Stall recites the incident of lunch with the Mayor where Stall indicated that he disagreed with the Mayor's request that he change his position on the North Charleston School Board matter and vote as the Mayor wanted him to vote. Stall states that he felt threatened "because I [Stall] interpreted the conversation as being very intimidating." (App. p. 59). Stall goes on to say "Well, he [the Mayor] wanted me to pull for John Graham Altman for Chairman, and that I didn't want to do that, and I felt like that, in itself, was going to, you know, cause ... one of the things to lose my job." (App. p. 60). Further on, counsel for the employer asks Stall, "All right. Did the Mayor, in any way, threaten your job directly on the afternoon of January 8th, when he was talking to you about your School Board performance, as you described it?" Stall answered, "I felt like I was being intimidated by the things he was asking me." (App. p. 68). Without belaboring the point, it is transparently obvious that Stall advanced as strongly as he could his arguments that his discharge came about because of his exercise of his First Amendment rights, and not because of any misconduct on his part as an employee. Given the facts of this case, it is difficult to see how Stall could have advanced more forcefully in the hearing before the Appeals Referee his contention...