Opinion ID: 703164
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Denial of Summary Judgment to Sabatos, Brodsky, and Brennan.

Text: 32 The district court decided that Komlosi did not have a claim for the deprivation of procedural due process with respect to his suspension without pay because he was accorded a presuspension interview at which he was enabled to state his position regarding the suspension and the underlying charge, and the postsuspension arbitration hearing was deferred by mutual consent. See Komlosi, slip op. at 15-20. In this respect, the district court stated that Komlosi's insistence that he did not agree to the deferral cannot and should not create a material issue of disputed fact, given his representative's recollection that there was a stay [and Komlosi's] fail[ure] to produce any evidence that reflects his alleged continuous demands for an immediate and timely arbitration hearing. Id. at 18. The court added that in any event, it was reasonable for Sabatos, Brodsky, and Brennan to stay Komlosi's administrative hearing pending the criminal trial. See id. at 18-20. 33 The district court also ruled, however, that a material issue of fact existed as to whether Sabatos, Brodsky, and Brennan had acted arbitrarily and capriciously in suspending Komlosi without pay, thereby denying him substantive due process. See id. at 21-22, 26-27. Citing Newman v. Massachusetts, 884 F.2d 19, 25 (1st Cir.1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1078, 110 S.Ct. 1132, 107 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1990), and Gargiul v. Tompkins, 704 F.2d 661, 668 (2d Cir.1983), vacated, 465 U.S. 1016, 104 S.Ct. 1263, 79 L.Ed.2d 670 (1984), on remand, 739 F.2d 34 (2d Cir.1984), the district court stated that a lengthy suspension without pay invokes substantive due process protection. Komlosi, slip op. at 22. However, Newman, a First Circuit decision, is not controlling in this circuit, and in any event was decided long after Komlosi's suspension. Thus, the defendants could not have known that their conduct violated clearly established law on the basis of Newman. 34 Gargiul also provides an insufficient basis to conclude that Sabatos, Brodsky, and Brennan should have known that their suspension of Komlosi without pay constituted a violation of a clearly established right. In Gargiul, a tenured female teacher was suspended without pay when she refused to be examined by the school's male physician, even though she had agreed to be examined by a female physician of the school's choosing. The teacher asserted that it was against her creed to be examined by a male physician. 704 F.2d at 663. In addressing her claim, we stated that: If Gargiul's lengthy suspension without pay resulted from an arbitrary or capricious exercise of the Board's power, her due process rights were violated. Gargiul, 704 F.2d at 668. The Supreme Court vacated the Gargiul decision, however, on other grounds, see Tompkins v. Gargiul, 465 U.S. 1016, 104 S.Ct. 1263, 79 L.Ed.2d 670 (1984), and Gargiul ultimately failed to prevail in her lawsuit because a prior state proceeding was deemed to bar all her claims under the doctrine of res judicata. See Gargiul v. Tompkins, 739 F.2d 34 (2d Cir.1984); id., 790 F.2d 265 (2d Cir.1986). 35 Thus, at the time when Komlosi was suspended without pay in March 1985, Gargiul was a decision of this court that had been vacated by the Supreme Court. Further, even assuming the continued vitality of Gargiul, it was distinguishable in important respects from Komlosi's situation. We determined in Gargiul that: In view of Gargiul's offer to go at her own expense to any female physician selected by the Board [of Education], rather than to submit to a physical examination by the school district physician, who was male, the Board's actions with respect to Gargiul must be considered arbitrary. 704 F.2d at 669. Here, by contrast, the CBA explicitly authorized Komlosi's suspension without pay, at the discretion of the appointing authority, on precisely the grounds for which he was suspended, and his indictment shortly thereafter provided another clear ground for his suspension without pay under the CBA. Finally, Komlosi was ultimately provided with back pay for the entire period of his suspension, whereas Gargiul was never given any back pay. See Gargiul, 704 F.2d at 664; id., 790 F.2d at 267. 36 We conclude that Sabatos, Brodsky, and Brennan did not violate any clearly established right of Komlosi's by suspending him without pay, and should therefore have been accorded summary judgment on their claim of qualified immunity. 37