Taylor v. Cochran

• Decision Date: 10 December 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-2370,86-2370
• Citation: 830 F.2d 900
• Parties: Wayland TAYLOR, Appellant, v. E.W. COCHRAN, Mayor of the City of Corning and as an individual; Gene Kellett; Edwin Ahrent; Clarence Thomas; and Dorothy Johnson, Members of The City Council of Corning, Arkansas; and The City of Corning, Arkansas, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 900

830 F.2d 900

2 Indiv.Empl.Rts.Cas. 1307

Wayland TAYLOR, Appellant, v. E.W. COCHRAN, Mayor of the City of Corning and as an

individual; Gene Kellett; Edwin Ahrent; Clarence Thomas;

and Dorothy Johnson, Members of The City Council of Corning,

Arkansas; and The City of Corning, Arkansas, Appellees.

No. 86-2370.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted June 11, 1987.

Decided Oct. 5, 1987.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Dec. 10, 1987.

Clifford M. Cole, Piggott, Ark., for appellant.

Winston Bryant, North Little Rock, Ark., for appellees.

Before ARNOLD, Circuit Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and MAGILL, Circuit Judge.

MAGILL, Circuit Judge.

In this case a jury found that the City of Corning, Arkansas wrongfully fired Wayland Taylor for exercising his first amendment rights, and awarded him damages. The district court then granted defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. We examine whether the district court was correct in granting defendant's motion. We conclude that the district court erred and accordingly, we reverse.

I. FACTS.

Appellant Wayland Taylor (Taylor) was hired by the City of Corning, Arkansas on April 2, 1971. Taylor was originally hired as a mechanic and later was transferred to the Street Department, and then to the Water Department. When he was fired on January 3, 1983, Taylor was working in the Water Department.

On January 1, 1983, defendant E.W. Cochran (Cochran) took office as the mayor of Corning, Arkansas. Two days later, the Corning City Council met in special session to discuss the operations of the Water and Sewer Department. During this meeting, the Council voted to lay off Taylor and one other Water Department employee.

That same day, Taylor's supervisor told him of the layoff, then Taylor met and talked with Cochran. Taylor testified that Cochran told him he was through because "you're just Jess Pulliam's man" (Cochran's opponent in the preceding election). Cochran denied making such a statement.

Taylor was not given prior notice of the action to be taken against him and was not given a hearing either before or after being laid off.

II. TRIAL COURT PROCEEDINGS.

On January 7, 1985, Taylor filed suit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 against Cochran, all members of the Corning City Council and the City of Corning. Taylor alleged (1) that his procedural due process rights under the fourteenth amendment were violated because he had a property interest in his position with the Water Department, (2) that he was entitled to a pretermination hearing, and (3) that he was entitled to a name-clearing hearing because of stigmatizing charges. Taylor sought both compensatory and punitive damages.

The defendants filed a pretrial motion for summary judgment, which the district court granted in part on September 16, 1986. The court held that Taylor did not have a property interest in his continued employment with the City of Corning, and thus his due process claim must fail as to all defendants. The court also concluded that the Council members were entitled to absolute immunity in their individual capacities because they were functioning in their legislative capacities. The court further held that in order to hold the City of Corning liable, Taylor must allege that a custom or policy existed of impermissible firing of employees on the basis of their political affiliations. Since no such policy was alleged in the complaint, the district court granted summary judgment to all the defendants in their official capacities. However, Cochran was left in the lawsuit because Taylor, although not alleging a first amendment violation in his complaint, filed an affidavit with his response to defendants' motion for summary judgment which alleged that he was laid off because he had supported Cochran's opponent in the previous election. The district court allowed the case to go to trial against Cochran because a material fact remained as to whether Cochran had told Taylor he was fired for being "Jess Pulliam's man" and also as to whether the reduction in personnel was merely a pretext for impermissible political retribution.

The case was tried before a jury on September 22, 1986, in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas, Jonesboro Division. The issues of fact were submitted to the jury by interrogatories. Interrogatory No. 1 asked: "Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Wayland Taylor's exercise of his first amendment rights to freedom of association was a substantial or motivating factor in the decision to lay him off from his job with the water department of Corning, Arkansas?" To which the jury answered "yes." Interrogatory No. 2 asked: "Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Wayland Taylor would have been laid off from his job with the Corning water department even if he had not exercised his first amendment rights?" To which the jury answered "no." The jury returned a verdict for Taylor and awarded him damages of $33,000.

After the jury determination, Cochran filed a motion for directed verdict and/or motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (judgment n.o.v.). The district court granted the motion on October 14, 1986, holding that the "evidence of 'other reasons' for Taylor's 'layoff' was overwhelming, and went unrebutted * * *." This appeal followed.

III. DISCUSSION.

Taylor argues that the district court erred in granting Cochran's motion for judgment n.o.v. because there was substantial evidence to support the jury's finding of impermissible interference with Taylor's first amendment rights. ¹ We thus examine the applicable standards.

The standards for granting a motion for judgment n.o.v. are the same as those governing a directed verdict. Tackett v. Kidder, 616 F.2d 1050 (8th Cir.1980). A directed verdict is normally employed when: (1) there is a complete absence of pleadings or proof on an issue or issues material to the cause of action; or (2) there are no controverted issues of fact upon which reasonable persons could differ. Thus, a verdict may properly be directed when, without weighing the credibility of the witnesses, there can be but one reasonable conclusion as to the verdict. But where there is sufficient evidence in conflict, so that reasonable persons could reach different conclusions, a directed verdict is improper. Dace v. ACF Industries, Inc., 722 F.2d 374 (8th Cir.1983).

Similarly, a motion for judgment n.o.v. may be granted only when, without weighing the credibility of the evidence or substituting the court's judgment for that of the jury, there can be but one reasonable conclusion as to proper judgment. Where there is sufficient conflicting evidence, or insufficient evidence to conclusively establish the movant's case, judgment n.o.v. should not be awarded. Kort v. Western Surety Co., 705 F.2d 278 (8th Cir.1983). In considering the motion, the court must view the evidence in the light and with all reasonable inferences most favorable to the party who secured the jury verdict. Russell v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 666 F.2d 1188 (8th Cir.1981).

Dace quotes the standard used in Giordano v. Lee, 434 F.2d 1227, 1231 (8th Cir.1970), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 931, 91 S.Ct. 2250, 29 L.Ed.2d 709 (1971), that:

[A] motion for directed verdict is properly denied where the evidence presented allows reasonable men in a fair exercise of their judgment to draw different conclusions * * *. In making this determination, the evidence, together with all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.

Dace, 722 F.2d at 375.

In short, when a motion for directed verdict or for judgment n.o.v. is made, the court must assume that all of the evidence supporting the party opposing the motion is true, and must, in addition, give that party the benefit of all reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence. The case may be taken from the jury only if no rational jury could find against the moving party on the evidence so viewed. Dace, 722 F.2d at 376.

Based on these standards, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence to create an issue of fact for the jury regarding the true reason for Taylor's layoff, and thus the district court erred in granting judgment n.o.v. for Cochran.

The district court properly set out the applicable analytic framework governing Taylor's first amendment claim, as stated by the Supreme Court in Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 287, 97 S.Ct. 568, 576, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977). Under this test, the burden was first placed on Taylor to show that his conduct was a substantial or motivating factor in the decision to lay him off. Taylor met this burden, for the jury, when asked in Interrogatory No. 1 whether Taylor's political activities had been a motivating factor in his being laid off, answered in the affirmative.

The burden then shifted to the defendant, Cochran, to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Taylor would still have been fired, for other permissible reasons, even in the absence of the protected conduct. As to this step, the district court found as follows:

The evidence of "other reasons" for Taylor's "layoff" was overwhelming, and went unrebutted: The division of the water department where Taylor worked was reduced from a five-person force to a three-person force; the City of Corning was experiencing a financial dilemma, requiring budget cuts; Taylor's position was left vacant after his layoff; Taylor and the other man laid off in the force reduction were the only two of the five employees who were not State certified to mix the chemicals used to treat the water; and Taylor could not become certified due to the fact that he cannot read and write well enough to pass a written test (a fact acknowledged by Taylor).

Each of these facts presented by the defendant was either acknowledged or uncontested by the plaintiff.

Our review of...