Opinion ID: 215814
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Some former captains sue state and union officials.

Text: A group of former captains sued current and former Illinois officials (including Governor Blagojevich and Curry) in their individual and official capacities and AFSCME officials in their individual capacities on June 24, 2005, alleging that the defendants unlawfully retaliated against them for seeking to unionize with ISEA. Plaintiffs alleged that defendants violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by removing them from their positions as captains and depriving the demoted captains of their seniority in retaliation for their exercise of their First Amendment rights. Much of the litigation focused on plaintiffs' attempts to depose the Governor. On February 27, 2007, the state defendants sought a protective order to block plaintiffs from deposing Governor Blagojevich on grounds that it would just disrupt a busy public official who should not be taken away from his work. R. 46 (citing among other cases Stagman v. Ryan, 176 F.3d 986, 995 (7th Cir.1999)). State defendants maintained that it would never be appropriate to depose the Governor but argued that it was particularly inappropriate unless plaintiffs identified a particularized need that could not be satisfied in a less burdensome manner. Plaintiffs opposed the motion on March 15, 2007, arguing that Governor Blagojevich was not immune from testifying because evidence established that he had evidence explaining the captain position's elimination. Plaintiffs cited the state's initial disclosures stating that Blagojevich had knowledge concerning his own actions and thought process, but Defendants object to any discovery from the Governor without there being a showing that the Governor has personal knowledge of the subject matter at issue in the case; the AFSCME defendants' initial disclosure that Governor Blagojevich would have discoverable information regarding the [d]ecision to eliminate position of captain; the administration's June 4, 2003, press release announcing the line item veto of the captain position's funding; and a January 13, 2004, statement by the Governor saying why it was necessary to eliminate all these high-level positions that did not help IDOC work better. Plaintiffs argued that Blagojevich's stated reasons for eliminating the captain position were pretextual and thus, to prove their claim, they had to inquire into the `thought process' of the Governor in making this decision. The magistrate judge denied the state defendants' request on March 28, 2007, because plaintiffs showed that it was likely that Governor Blagojevich possessed relevant information, such that requiring him to sit for deposition would be reasonable. The state defendants objected on April 10, 2007, and advanced a new argument that the Governor was entitled to legislative immunity from suit and discovery. The state defendants argued that the complaint's basis was Governor Blagojevich's line-item veto because plaintiffs' evidence that Blagojevich participated in the decision was the press release and interview about the veto. Plaintiffs responded on April 26, 2007, citing the initial disclosures and the press release and interview regarding the elimination of IDOC positions as evidence that Governor Blagojevich had relevant evidence, and argued that defendants waived legislative immunity by failing to raise the issue earlier. Plaintiffs also argued that legislative immunity did not prohibit discovery and that legislative immunity is properly raised in a motion to dismiss. The district court adopted the magistrate judge's opinion in its entirety on May 10, 2007, allowing plaintiffs to depose Governor Blagojevich. The court did not address legislative immunity. See Bagley v. Blagojevich, 486 F.Supp.2d 786, 787 (C.D.Ill.2007). But that was hardly the end of the legislative immunity battle. What happened next frames the case for purposes of review. On one side, the state attempted to block Governor Blagojevich's deposition by arguing that he was a busy public official who could only be deposed if the former captains showed a particularized need. The state defendants were only partially successful. Although the court rejected the particularized need standard, the court did require plaintiffs to show that there is some reason to believe that the deposition will produce or lead to admissible evidence. R. 49 (quoting Hobley v. Burge, No. 03 C 3678, 2007 WL 551569, at  (N.D.Ill. Feb. 22, 2007) (unpublished)). On the other side, after the former captains showed that it was likely the Governor possessed relevant information, such that requiring him to sit for deposition would be reasonable, the state argued that the former captains' evidence showing that Blagojevich possessed relevant information was based on actions protected by legislative immunity. Government officials are entitled to legislative immunity when their actions stripped of all considerations of intent and motive are legislative. Bogan v. Scott-Harris, 523 U.S. 44, 55, 118 S.Ct. 966, 140 L.Ed.2d 79 (1998). Courts first look at whether the action took place in the sphere of legitimate legislative activity. Id. at 54, 118 S.Ct. 966 (quoting Tenney v. Brandhove, 341 U.S. 367, 376, 71 S.Ct. 783, 95 L.Ed. 1019 (1951)). Although not mandatory, courts may also look beyond the government officials' formal actions to consider whether the ordinance was legislative in substance.  Bogan, 523 U.S. at 55, 118 S.Ct. 966. On May 30, 2007, Governor Blagojevich moved for reconsideration and for a protective order regarding his deposition. The Governor argued that plaintiffs based their lawsuit on his veto and that the district court did not address legislative immunity. Blagojevich argued that legislative immunity shielded him from testifying about the motive and/or rationale for his legislative veto, which directly implicates a legislative immunity defense and discovery bar. Blagojevich also argued that with the Illinois General Assembly in session, deposing him would be inconvenient. Blagojevich supplemented this motion on June 19, 2007, asking the district court to strike the deposition notice plaintiffs submitted on June 13, 2007. Plaintiffs responded on June 19, 2007, arguing that Governor Blagojevich improperly raised legislative immunity because he failed to raise it when he first opposed the deposition. Plaintiffs argued that legislative immunity is an affirmative defense, that evidence suggested that the Governor's decision to eliminate the captain position before his veto was administrative, not legislative, and that the case involved Governor Blagojevich's motivations in the decision regarding the former captains' seniority. Governor Blagojevich replied June 21, 2007, noting that the state defendants did not mention legislative immunity in their December 16, 2005, answer because there were no allegations of legislative acts in the Complaint. Governor Blagojevich filed an emergency motion for a protective order on Friday, June 22, 2007, asking for a stay of his deposition that plaintiffs scheduled for Monday, June 25, 2007. Blagojevich argued that the deposition notice was improper because plaintiffs issued it while the motion to reconsider was pending, with short notice during a legislative session, and without confirming defense counsel's availability. That same day, plaintiffs responded and the district court denied Blagojevich's motions to reconsider and for a protective order. But the court ruled separately on Governor Blagojevich's emergency motion for a protective order, staying the deposition due to the difficulty scheduling the deposition. The court also directed the parties to contact the magistrate judge to schedule the deposition. The parties conferred on June 28, 2007, agreeing not to conduct the deposition until the legislative session ended in probably late August, 2007. Blagojevich's counsel advised that he may be seeking a protective order or other relief on the scope of Governor Blagojevich's deposition or otherwise based upon privilege. On July 25, 2007, Governor Blagojevich renewed his efforts to block his deposition. He argued that legislative immunity barred plaintiffs from deposing him on the captain position's elimination and that in the alternative his deposition should be delayed because of his government position. On August 7, 2007, Governor Blagojevich moved to dismiss the complaint against him pursuant to legislative immunity. He argued that eliminating the captain position was legislative, that the plaintiffs wanted to hold him liable for a budgetary decision, and that the inquiry was based on his thought process. On August 8, 2007, Curry sought a protective order to limit her deposition's scope pursuant to legislative immunity (excluding IDOC's budget proposals, the captain position's funding, and the veto). Plaintiffs responded September 24, 2007, arguing that the budget changes were not merely legislative in nature because others were placed into positions to perform the same work and that no one performed a budget analysis. Plaintiffs argued that Governor Blagojevich's actions preceding the captain position's elimination were outside the scope of legislative immunity. Plaintiffs cited the governor's meetings during budget negotiations which involved negotiations outside the legislative process. Plaintiffs argued that these meetings were being held in order for the Governor to appease contributors to his campaign. Plaintiffs opposed the motion to dismiss on grounds that legislative immunity, if applicable, did not shield Governor Blagojevich from liability on the seniority aspect of their claim. On December 7, 2007, the court denied Blagojevich and Curry's motions. Because defendants answered plaintiffs' complaint, the court converted the motion to dismiss to a motion for judgment on the pleadings. The court found [w]ithout a doubt that the veto was legislative procedurally, but nothing on the complaint's face suggested that the veto was substantively legislative. Yet the court also found that nothing on the face of the complaint suggested that the decision to deny seniority to the former captains was accomplished in the form of a legislative act. The court refused to decide whether legislative immunity applied as a testimonial privilege because defendants did not provide sufficient evidence that legislative immunity applied to their actions. The court also noted that neither party provided evidence explaining whether the shift commanders were merely renamed captains. If the shift commanders were renamed captains, the court said the veto would be administrative. Bagley v. Blagojevich, No. 05-3156, 2007 WL 4302434 (C.D.Ill. Dec. 7, 2007). Governor Blagojevich renewed his protective order motion on January 23, 2008, again on grounds of legislative immunity. Blagojevich provided evidence on whether the shift commanders were simply renamed captains. He argued that the shift commanders had additional responsibilities and that the timing of the shift commander position's creation suggested that it was not simply a renamed captain. The Governor also argued that his deposition would not produce evidence concerning the seniority decision and thus he should not be deposed on that matter due to his government position. On January 25, 2008, Curry renewed her motion for a protective order limiting her deposition's scope. Plaintiffs responded April 14, 2008, arguing that the shift commander position was simply a renamed correctional captain, and that at the very least, a question of fact precluded a legislative immunity finding. Governor Blagojevich filed a renewed motion for judgment on the pleadings on May 22, 2008, pursuant to legislative immunity. On October 22, 2008, the court granted Governor Blagojevich and Curry protective orders pursuant to legislative immunity. The court did not determine whether shift commanders were renamed captains because it found that the plaintiffs' evidence showed that the elimination of the captain position had prospective implications... and ... [had] the traditional hallmarks of legislative action. The court prohibited plaintiffs from seeking discovery from Curry on the IDOC budget, the legislation defunding the captains, and the analysis of the budgetary effects of the position's elimination. The court also found that plaintiffs failed to present evidence suggesting that Governor Blagojevich participated in the seniority decision and decided that deposing Governor Blagojevich would be improper. The court also converted the motion on the pleadings to a motion for summary judgment and deferred its ruling until the parties had an opportunity to present more evidence. Bagley v. Blagojevich, No. 05-3156, 2008 WL 4724310 (C.D.Ill. Oct. 22, 2008). The court granted Governor Blagojevich summary judgment on February 20, 2009, based on its finding that legislative immunity shielded him from liability. The court also found that plaintiffs failed to present evidence connecting Governor Blagojevich to the seniority decision. Bagley v. Blagojevich, No. 05-3156, 2009 WL 426399 (C.D.Ill. Feb. 20, 2009). The AFSCME defendants filed for summary judgment on February 26, 2009, and the remaining state defendants did the same on February 27, 2009. The state defendants argued that there was no evidence of a causal relationship between plaintiffs' union activities and the alleged retaliatory actions. The state defendants argued that the captain position was eliminated to reduce management layers, that the CBA language drove the seniority decision, and that there was no evidence of improper motive or knowledge of plaintiffs' alleged protected activities. The AFSCME officials argued that their actions related to the former captains' seniority were protected by various immunity doctrines, and alternatively, that they did not act under color of state law to deprive the former captains of their First Amendment rights. In a September 1, 2009, response to the summary judgment motions, plaintiffs acknowledged: ... that if Governor Blagojevich's actions are entitled to legislative immunity, all of the other defendants are entitled to immunity as to [the issue of eliminating the captain position]. Given that the Court has already granted the motions by concluding that qualified immunity has been established, this issue has previously been disposed of. As such, the only issue remaining for this Court to decide is whether there is sufficient evidence from which a jury could conclude that the defendants retaliated against the Plaintiffs by eliminating their seniority. Plaintiffs reasserted their disagreement on legislative immunity but recognized that the law of the case doctrine closed the issue. Plaintiffs argued that defendants agreed to read the word continuous into the CBA to deny the former captains seniority; that Curry spoke with the person making the seniority decision; that an AFSCME official spoke to an administration official; and that the history of AFSCME and ISEA's battle to represent the captains suggested that the AFSCME officials' actions were retaliatory. Plaintiffs alleged that AFSCME used its campaign contributions to influence the state officials' decisions related to the former captains' seniority. The district court granted the remaining defendants summary judgment on January 15, 2010. The court found that plaintiffs failed to show evidence of a conspiracy between AFSCME officials and the Blagojevich administration. Although the court found that the immunity doctrines did not apply to the union officials, the court found that plaintiffs failed to present sufficient evidence linking the AFSCME officials to state action. The court found that its prior legislative immunity determination as to Governor Blagojevich and Curry did not affect the other state and AFSCME defendants' liability as to the captain position's elimination. Yet the plaintiffs unsuccessfully attempted to tie the Court's earlier decision regarding Blagojevich's immunity to all Defendants. Bagley v. Blagojevich, 685 F.Supp.2d 904, 911 (C.D.Ill.2010). The court noted: The fact that a governor enjoys legislative immunity for making a line item veto in a budget bill does not necessarily mean that lower level executive branch officials enjoy the same immunity. In addition, the Plaintiffs' statement that all of the other Defendants are immune is broad enough to include the AFSCME Officials as well. The Plaintiffs have attempted to put words into the mouth of the Court. The Court's determination regarding the immunities enjoyed by former Governor Blagojevich and Curry are each separate determinations, compartmentalized from the rest of the case and the rest of the Defendants. Immunity is not automatically imputed to other Defendants. The Plaintiffs have thrown up their hands on the matter of the elimination of the Captain Position. They have not responded to the State Officials' contentions on this claim, and they have not made any alternative arguments. The Plaintiffs have made no effort to effectively argue their case. Instead, they point out an earlier disagreement they had with the Court that is not necessarily controlling on the issue. Because plaintiffs failed to respond to the state officials' arguments on the remaining issues, the court found that they waived the issue by making no real argument on the claim. Id. The court went on to find that plaintiffs failed to present evidence of a causal link between the ISEA organizing activities and the seniority decision. The court found that the interpretation of the CBA was not objectively unreasonable, id., and that there was not enough evidence that state officials influenced the seniority decision. Plaintiffs filed a timely appeal from the final judgment entered in favor of all of the defendants.