Opinion ID: 2806250
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Clearly Established Law in 2007 and 2008

Text: If we accept the facts asserted by Locke, Haessig’s actions violated clearly established law at time of the violation. In 2007 and 2008, when the events took place, it was well established that sexual harassment by a state actor under color of state law violated the Equal Protection Clause and was actionable under § 1983. Valentine v. City of Chicago, 452 F.3d 670, 682 (7th Cir. 2006); Bohen v. City of East Chicago, 799 F.2d 1180, 1185–86 (7th Cir. 1986). It was also clear that a supervisor could be held liable for a subordinate’s sexual harassment if the plaintiff could show either intentional sex discrimination or a conscious failure to protect the plaintiff from abusive conditions created by subordinates amounting to intentional discrimination. Valentine, 452 F.3d at 683–84; Bohen, 799 F.2d at 1187; see also T.E. v. Grindle, 599 F.3d 583, 588 (7th Cir. 2010) (“At the time of the events at issue in this litigation [from 2001 to 2005], it was clearly established in this circuit that a supervisor could be held liable for participating in or deliberately turning a blind eye to the equal protection violation of her subordinate.”). 8 No. 13-1857 By 2007, we had recognized that males who were sexually harassed could bring equal protection claims if they could show intentional discrimination on the basis of their sex. We reversed a grant of summary judgment where a male plaintiff presented evidence that school officials ignored his complaints of sexual harassment by male classmates but consistently punished the harassers when similar complaints were made by girls. Nabozny v. Podlesny, 92 F.3d 446, 454–56 (7th Cir. 1996). It was also well established in 2007 and 2008, however, that a supervisor was not liable under a respondeat superior theory for constitutional torts committed by a subordinate. Jones v. City of Chicago, 856 F.2d 985, 992 (7th Cir. 1988). And a merely negligent failure to intervene was not enough to show discrimination that violated the Equal Protection Clause. See Nanda v. Moss, 412 F.3d 836, 842 (7th Cir. 2005) (supervisor would be liable if plaintiffs showed he was “deliberately indifferent in facilitating” discriminatory termination). A reasonable official in Haessig’s position would have known that her alleged conduct was unconstitutional. See Hernandez v. Foster, 657 F.3d 463, 473–74 (7th Cir. 2011) (“A right is clearly established when, at the time of the challenged conduct, the contours of a right are sufficiently clear that every reasonable official would have understood that what he is doing violates that right.”) (internal quotation marks and modifications omitted). Accepting Locke’s version of the facts, Haessig was more than merely negligent. She failed to intervene or investigate in response to Locke’s complaint, and she then threatened to retaliate against him for complaining of harassment. No. 13-1857 9 The facts of Valentine are similar to this case and show that Haessig was on notice her alleged conduct was unconstitutional. In Valentine, the plaintiff, a state employee, complained several times to her supervisor that a co-worker was sexually harassing her by making profane comments about her body, making obscene gestures to her, and caressing her arm and shoulder. Each time the plaintiff complained, the supervisor told the harassing co-worker to stop, yet the harassment continued. The court held that a “reasonable juror could find under these circumstances that [the supervisor’s] response was obviously inadequate, and [he] was aware that to prevent the harassment he would have to take more severe action.” Valentine, 452 F.3d at 684. The supervisor further told the plaintiff that she was making trouble by reporting the harassment up the chain of command. Id. The court concluded that a jury could infer that the supervisor had “consciously chosen not to protect” the plaintiff and that there was a material question of fact as to whether the supervisor had intentionally discriminated against the plaintiff, precluding summary judgment. Id. Locke alleges that Haessig did even less in response to Locke’s complaint of harassment than the supervisor in Valentine. The supervisor in Valentine told the harasser to stop each time the plaintiff complained. Even then we found that a jury could infer the supervisor was intentionally discriminating by failing to do more when that response was clearly inadequate. In contrast, we must assume Haessig did nothing to intervene to stop the harassment in response to Locke’s complaint. While she reported the complaint to her supervisor, she failed to follow up with Locke as her supervisor directed and never spoke to Locke about the complaint. Locke presents further evidence that Haessig threat10 No. 13-1857 ened to retaliate against him for making the complaint by threatening to keep his ankle monitor on for the duration of his parole. As in Valentine, a jury could infer that Haessig had “consciously chosen not to protect” Locke from the sexual harassment and on that basis hold Haessig liable for intentional sex discrimination. See id. at 684. After Valentine, it should have been clear to a reasonable officer that Haessig’s alleged conduct was unlawful in this situation. See Pearson, 555 U.S. at 231; Foster, 657 F.3d at 473– 74. Haessig cannot claim the protection of qualified immunity on the ground that she had no notice that her actions were unlawful.