Opinion ID: 726672
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Ineffective commitment to the Middle School.

Text: 21 As with the Metzendorf evaluations, Donato denies the accuracy of all these allegations.B. District Court Proceedings 22 Plaintiff originally filed suit on March 30, 1993 against the District and Metzendorf in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Wexler, J.). She claimed in her complaint that Metzendorf prepared negative evaluations to retaliate against her for her involvement in the prior discrimination lawsuit, and that such action violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). 23 In June 1993 Donato filed an amended complaint that included two causes of action. She again contended that the District's negative evaluations and subsequent termination constituted a course of retaliatory conduct to punish her for opposing its unlawful maternity leave policy. But she added a cause of action alleging that the District's termination of her employment without a hearing violated rights guaranteed by the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment and claimed that her civil rights had been violated under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. She sought a permanent injunction against further discrimination, a total of $4 million in actual and punitive damages, and attorneys' fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). 24 In her complaint, Donato disputed the truth and accuracy of the several Metzendorf memoranda and described Grishman's statement of reasons for her termination as filled with intentional fabrications. Plaintiff contended that the defendants had taken these actions in an effort to damage her professional career. She refuted the District's charges against her by pointing to her many years of satisfactory service as a teacher and chairperson, her contributions to the school curriculum, and the various educational awards she had received. 25 When plaintiff moved for summary judgment on her due process claim, the district court denied it and instead dismissed that cause of action without an opinion. Later, the court presided over a bench trial to decide the retaliatory discharge cause of action. Plaintiff testified on her own behalf and called three witnesses--Robert Goldstein, Benjamin Taubenfeld, and Mario Colleluori. Goldstein, another school official, testified about the September 1992 meeting in which Metzendorf purportedly stated that unless he disparaged Donato's work, the Board would chop [his] legs off. Taubenfeld testified as a hostile witness. He served as a Board member during most of the 20 years before trial, including the time when the Board dismissed Donato. Donato asked him questions about certain telephone conversations she had with him. When Taubenfeld failed to remember them, Donato played tape recordings of the conversations. In the recordings, Taubenfeld agreed with Donato's assertion that Metzendorf was falsifying statements. Taubenfeld also commented that [e]verything that goes on here [at the school] is phoney as the day is long, and he blamed Ginger Lieberman and Anna Goidell, two other Board members, for the deception. Colleluori, another Board member, testified briefly but added nothing to Donato's case. 26 After plaintiff rested, the defendants moved to dismiss the retaliatory dismissal claim, arguing that plaintiff failed to show a connection between her firing and her participation in the maternity leave lawsuit. The district court granted the motion with the following explanation: I find there's no believable evidence in this case of retaliation. I believe the plaintiff has misstated, has done so many improper things in this case she is unworthy of belief. And as the finder of fact, I find insufficient evidence to allow this case to go any further. Dismissed. 27 With both causes of action in plaintiff's complaint now dismissed, the district court entered final judgment on August 7, 1995. Donato appeals from the dismissal of her due process claim and her retaliatory discharge claim.