Wojcik v. Massachusetts State Lottery Com'n
| Decision Date | 20 August 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-2032.,01-2032. |
| Citation | 300 F.3d 92 |
| Parties | Edward A. WOJCIK and Debra Wojcik, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. MASSACHUSETTS STATE LOTTERY COMMISSION; Shannon P. O'Brien, individually and in her official capacity; Jay Mitchell, individually and in his official capacity; and Dwight Robson, individually and in his official capacity, Defendants, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Philip N. Beauregard, with whom Michael Franco and Beauregard, Burke & Franco were on brief, for appellants.
Salvatore M. Giorlandino, Assistant Attorney General, with whom Thomas F. Riley, Attorney General of Massachusetts, and Maria Hickey Jacobson, Assistant Attorney General, were on brief, for appellees.
Before TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge, CAMPBELL and CYR, Senior Circuit Judges.
Appellant Edward Wojcik ("Wojcik") and his wife, Debra, brought suit against the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission ("Lottery Commission") and a handful of Lottery Commission officials for damages arising out of Wojcik's termination as a Lottery Commission employee. After dismissing the claims against one defendant on Eleventh Amendment grounds, the district court granted the remaining defendants' motion for summary judgment on all of the claims under federal law.1 The leftover state-law claims were dismissed without prejudice. On appeal, Wojcik claims error in the district court's Eleventh Amendment and summary judgment rulings. Finding none, we affirm.
We recite the facts in the light most favorable to appellant, drawing all reasonable inferences in his favor. See McIntosh v. Antonino, 71 F.3d 29, 33 (1st Cir.1995).
Wojcik was hired by the Lottery Commission in 1976. In 1999, he held the position of Field Service Manager in the Lottery Commission's office in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. His employment history with the Lottery Commission was largely uneventful until August 30, 1999. On that day, he was confronted in the Fairhaven office by the Lottery Commission's General Counsel, Internal Auditor, and Chief Investigator. These officials were accompanied by a Massachusetts state police officer.
Wojcik was interrogated concerning allegations that he had been playing scratch tickets in violation of a Massachusetts law that prohibits "any member or employee of the [Lottery] commission or ... any spouse, child, brother, sister or parent residing as a member of the same household in the principal place of abode of any member or employee of the commission" from purchasing a Massachusetts lottery ticket or a share of a ticket, and from being paid any prize from a lottery ticket. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 10, § 31.
Wojcik was also interrogated concerning his possible knowledge of eleven books of scratch tickets that had recently been discovered missing from the Fairhaven office. At the end of the interrogation, the officials informed Wojcik that he was suspended without pay.
At the time of these events, the Lottery Commission was the object of intense media scrutiny caused by allegations of theft and embezzlement by Lottery Commission employees. The media also picked up on the story of the missing scratch tickets in the Fairhaven office and linked the story to the recent suspension of Wojcik and two other employees in the same office. Articles appeared in the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, New Bedford Standard Times, and Brockton Enterprise. The Lottery Commission's stated position in the articles was that Wojcik and the others were under investigation for "violation of Lottery policies and procedures and applicable statutory provisions."
Wojcik was a member of the Service Employees International Union, Local 254 ("Union" or "Local 254"), which had a collective-bargaining agreement with the Lottery Commission. Under that agreement, employees could not be terminated "without just cause." According to Wojcik, immediately following his suspension, Local 254 contacted the Lottery Commission on Wojcik's behalf, requesting specifics of the allegations against him, but the Lottery Commission provided no details, such as dates, places, and witness names.
On September 20, 1999, Wojcik received a letter of termination, signed by the Executive Director of the Lottery Commission, appellee Jay Mitchell. The letter states that Wojcik was terminated for "violation of Lottery policies and procedures and applicable statutory provisions."
Again, publicity appeared in the news media. In particular, the Boston Globe and Boston Herald both reported that two Lottery Commission employees had been terminated and another had resigned under suspicion of stealing winning scratch tickets. The Lottery Commission's official stance remained that Wojcik was terminated "for failing to meet standards and for violating lottery policies and procedures."
Shortly after his termination, Wojcik filed a grievance through the Union to contest his termination and obtain a hearing on the allegations against him. After several months, during which Wojcik claims that the Lottery Commission failed to give him specific notice of the allegations against him, the Lottery Commission finally denied the grievance. Wojcik then filed for arbitration, as provided in the collective-bargaining agreement.
The arbitration hearings began on August 9, 2000, and continued on a scattered basis for several months. At the hearing, Wojcik had personal counsel representing him. The arbitration addressed only whether the Lottery had "just cause" under the collective-bargaining agreement to terminate Wojcik for playing lottery tickets; it did not address whether he had engaged in the theft. However, it is now undisputed that Wojcik did not steal lottery tickets and that he was not connected to the eleven missing books of scratch tickets. The arbitration proceedings were not open to the public.
On May 23, 2001, twenty-one months after the suspension, the arbitrator issued his decision. The arbitrator upheld the discharge, concluding that Wojcik had played scratch tickets in violation of both state law and an agreement he signed at the beginning of his employment with the Lottery Commission. In particular, the arbitrator credited the testimony of a Lottery Commission security officer and an administrative assistant from the Fairhaven office establishing that Wojcik and others played lottery scratch tickets on a frequent basis. The arbitrator concluded that Wojcik and others "chased books of tickets," meaning that they kept purchasing tickets from a particular book until one of them won a prize or until they were told that another person had won a large prize from a ticket in that book. The arbitrator also found that Wojcik once hit a large prize and had his mother-in-law cash the ticket on his behalf. Finally, although Wojcik ultimately admitted to his wrongdoing, the arbitrator concluded that he had engaged in dishonesty by initially denying that he violated the prohibition on playing lottery tickets.
Wojcik did not seek review of the arbitrator's decision. See Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 150C, § 11 ().
Edward Wojcik and his wife filed the instant action in district court on June 30, 2000. They named as defendants the Lottery Commission; appellee Shannon O'Brien, the Massachusetts State Treasurer and Chairman of the Lottery Commission; Mitchell; and appellee Dwight Robson, a spokesperson for the Lottery Commission. The amended complaint contained claims for violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983; violation of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 12, § 11I; defamation; tortious interference with contractual relations; invasion of privacy; and loss of consortium.
On February 23, 2001, the district court dismissed all claims against the Lottery Commission as barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Later, the district court also dismissed all claims asserted against the remaining defendants in their official capacities.
Shortly after the arbitrator rendered his decision, the remaining defendants moved for summary judgment on all claims. On June 27, 2001, the district court, in a ruling from the bench, granted the motion for summary judgment as to the § 1983 claims. Exercising its discretion under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c), the district court also dismissed the remaining state-law claims without prejudice, giving Wojcik and his wife an opportunity to refile these claims in Massachusetts Superior Court. Although they did not avail themselves of this opportunity, a timely appeal to this Court followed.
Wojcik seeks review of several of the district court's rulings. He asserts error in the district court's conclusion that the Lottery Commission is immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment. He also challenges the district court's grant of summary judgment with respect to each of his three claims of a constitutional violation.
The standard of review is not in dispute. Whether the district court correctly applied the immunity doctrine under the Eleventh Amendment is a question of law that engenders de novo review on appeal. Arecibo Cmty. Health Care, Inc. v. Puerto Rico, 270 F.3d 17, 22 (1st Cir.2001).
Likewise, we review the district court's ruling on summary judgment de novo. Straughn v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 250 F.3d 23, 33 (1st Cir.2001). Summary judgment is appropriate when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Barbour v. Dynamics Research Corp., 63 F.3d 32, 36 (1st Cir.1995) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)). The record evidence must be construed "in the light most favorable to, and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of, the nonmoving party." Feliciano de la Cruz v. El Conquistador Resort and...
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