Opinion ID: 10011
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Rollins and Hatler

Text: The City, Rollins, and Hatler contend the district court erred in determining that the City and the officers had violated § 1983 by retaliating against Forsyth and Kirks because they had exercised their First Amendment rights to free speech. We will not address the troublesome question of the City's § 1983 liability because, as discussed later, the City is alternatively liable under the 3 Whistleblower Act. Rollins's and Hatler's § 1983 contentions are unconvincing. Rollins and Hatler first assert that Forsyth and Kirks did not engage in conduct protected by the First Amendment. Contrary to the defendants' arguments, Forsyth and Kirks offered unrebutted testimony that they instructed their lawyers to publicize the wiretapping allegations. Further, it does not appear that Forsyth and Kirks were primarily motivated by personal and not public concerns in publicizing their allegations. At the time they spoke out, Forsyth and Kirks had been exonerated by the IA report. Although the plaintiffs' disputes with DPD may have influenced their decision to speak out, the Dallas Morning News articles about their allegations discussed matters of public concern. The public would want to know of charges that influential citizens were taking advantage of their relationships with the police, even to the extent of conducting their own wiretaps. Moreover, balancing t he significance of the speech against the employer's efficiency concerns, as Connick2 requires, do es not turn out favorably for Rollins and Hatler. No defense witness testified that Forsyth's and Kirks's publication of the wiretapping allegations undermined the DPD's operations. To the contrary, those witnesses testified that the newspaper articles did not affect the Department's efficiency. Second, Rollins and Hatler co ntend that the evidence was insufficient to prove that they transferred Forsyth and Kirks because of their complaints internally and then through the media about the alleged wiretapping. Forsyth and Kirks testified that, two days after the first Dallas Morning News article appeared, Rollins and Hatler warned them to stop the publicity and threatened to transfer them if further publicity ensued. The day after the second newspaper article appeared, Rollins and Hatler transferred the plaintiffs. Third, Rollins and Hatler contend that the transfers did not deprive Forsyth and Kirks of any cognizable property right or privilege because their pay was not reduced. This court has already rejected that argument under strikingly similar facts. In Click v. Copeland, 970 F.2d 106 (5th Cir.1992), two sheriff deputies were transferred from the county's law enforcement section to 2 Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983). 4 positions as jail guards because they had engaged in conduct protected by the First Amendment. The employees suffered no reduction in pay. However, they contended their transfers were demotions because the jail guard positions were much less desirable then their previous ones. This court agreed that their transfers constituted demotions in violation of § 1983. As this court explained: Copeland maintains that his transfer of Click and Falcon to the jail was not a demotion because neither received a decrease in pay; in fact Falcon received a raise. Money alone, however, does not buy happiness. The Perry Court spoke of benefits generally, not just salary [citing Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 597, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 2697-98, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972) ]. The evidence adduced at trial strongly supports the proposition that jobs in the jail are not as interesting or prestigious as jobs in the law enforcement section.... In short, Click and Falcon's transfers could be considered demotions even though they suffered no reduction in salary. 970 F.2d at 109. See also Fyfe v. Curlee, 902 F.2d 401, 404 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 940, 111 S.Ct. 346, 112 L.Ed.2d 310 (1990) (holding that a transfer to a less desirable but equal paying job constituted a demotion). Click does not support the proposition that every transfer of job duties without a decrease in salary is necessarily a demotion because it occurs following a plaintiff's exercise of protected speech; a plaintiff's subjective perception that a demotion has occurred is not enough. Here, however, the evidence revealed that the Intelligence Unit positions were more prestigious, had better working hours, and were more interesting than night patrol. Moreover, few officers voluntarily transferred from the Intelligence Unit to night patrol and other officers had been so transferred as punishment. Fourth, Rollins and Hatler contend that the evidence was insufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that Forsyth and Kirks suffered $100,000 and $75,000 respectively in emotional anguish. We disagree. Forsyth testified that she suffered depression, weight loss, intestinal troubles, and marital problems, that she had been sent home from work because of her depression, and that she had to consult a psychologist. Kirks testified that he suffered depression, sleeplessness, and marital problems. Judgments regarding noneconomic damages are notoriously variable; we have no basis to reverse the jury's evaluation. Fifth, Rollins and Hatler contend the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's award of $125,000 in exemplary damages against each of them. We disagree; Forsyth and Kirks presented 5 sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that Rollins and Hatler acted with malice or a reckless or callous disregard for the plaintiffs-appellees' rights. See Wells v. Hico Indep. Sch. Dist., 736 F.2d 243, 259 (5th Cir.1984), cert. dismissed, 473 U.S. 901, 106 S.Ct. 11, 87 L.Ed.2d 672 (1985). Rollins and cising their First Amendment rights, yet the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, strongly corroborates the jury's finding that they did so. Moreover, the $125,000 awards are not excessive: each is less than Forsyth's and Kirks's actual damages. Sixth, Rollins and Hatler contend the jury's finding that Vines was not liable is inconsistent with its finding that they were liable. We disagree. Vines testified that he had approved Forsyth's and Kirks's transfers based on the information he received from Rollins and Hatler and that he routinely approved transfers recommended by superior officers. A reasonable jury could find that Vines did not retaliate against Forsyth and Kirks because he was not personally involved in their dispute and signed the transfer papers based on information from the codefendants. The jury's finding that Rollins and Hatler had constitutionally offensive motives for the transfers does not imply or impute the same disposition to Vines. Finally, Rollins and Hatler contend the district court erred in rejecting their defense of qualified immunity. Click held, however, that [t]he law was established clearly enough in this circuit in January 1988 that a reasonable officer should have known that if he retaliated against an employee for exercising his First Amendment rights, he could not escape liability by demoting and transferring the employee rather than discharging him. 970 F.2d at 111. The retaliatory transfers at issue here took place a year later. In sum, we affirm the district court's judgment against Rollins and Hatler under § 1983 and the accompanying damage awards for violating Forsyth's and Kirks's First Amendment rights.