Opinion ID: 797308
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 1 From 1985 to 2000, Nancy Spiegla was employed as a state correctional officer at the Westville Correctional Facility in Indiana. From 1993 to 2000, Spiegla worked essentially the same post at the prison's main gate on a 5-2 schedule (five days on, two off). Working the main gate involved controlling the traffic in and out of the prison, as well as searching the vehicles of visitors and employees for contraband. By all accounts Spiegla was an outstanding employee throughout her tenure at the prison. 2 On January 13, 2000, Spiegla was at her main-gate post alongside Sergeant Brian Moody, her immediate supervisor, when something in the parking lot caught her attention. She saw Major Eddie Hull and Captain Ernest Huff transfer bags from their private vehicles into the state-owned truck they were driving. When the two men approached the main gate in the truck, Spiegla intended to search their bags for possible contraband as part of the general search she performed on all vehicles entering the prison. 1 But when she got up to leave the guard house, Moody dissuaded her from searching the truck, explaining that a recent change in prison policy exempted all state vehicles from search. Spiegla had not heard of any change and believed the correct policy was to search all vehicles, no exceptions. Frustrated that she could not go out there and do [her] job, Spiegla noted the apparent breach of prison policy in her log. 3 Later that day, Spiegla recounted the incident to Assistant Superintendent John Schrader, who told her she should have searched Hull and Huff's truck. Schrader also promised to refer the matter to Superintendent Herbert Newkirk, which he did at an executive staff meeting later that day or the next. At the meeting Newkirk asked Assistant Superintendent Bernard Johnson (who was angry at the manner in which Spiegla's concerns were raised) to investigate the matter. 4 Four days later Spiegla was reassigned from the main gate to the perimeter, a 6-2 shift that involved walking around the prison's outer fence and delivering food to the towers. Upset over the transfer, Spiegla brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Johnson, Hull, and Newkirk, all of whom had authority to transfer her. She claimed she was transferred in retaliation for reporting the main gate incident to Schrader; these statements, she asserted, were protected speech under the First Amendment. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants on the ground that Spiegla was not speaking out as a citizen, but rather as an employee and therefore had not engaged in protected speech. 5 On appeal we reversed and remanded, holding in part that the First Amendment did protect her statements to Schrader. Spiegla v. Hull, 371 F.3d 928, 939 (7th Cir.2004) ( Spiegla I ) (concluding that Spiegla spoke as a private citizen on a matter of public concern). The case ultimately went to trial on the remaining issues of fact—namely, causation and whether the defendants would have taken the same action in the absence of the protected speech. See Mt. Healthy City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ. v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977). The jury found for Spiegla and awarded her $210,000 in damages. 6 The defendants appealed, asserting a number of trial errors. But after briefing was completed, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Garcetti, clarifying the threshold legal inquiry in First Amendment retaliation claims in the public employment context. The defendants requested a supplemental briefing schedule in light of Garcetti. We granted their request and ordered the parties to submit supplemental memoranda discussing the effect of Garcetti on this appeal.