Opinion ID: 526161
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Protected speech as the motivating factor in the dismissal--the Mt. Healthy inquiry.12

Text: 32 Having determined that both Mr. Melton's trial testimony and his communications with Mr. Page's defense counsel constituted protected speech within the meaning of Connick and Pickering, we must now determine whether Mr. Melton's actions played a causative role in his dismissal. 33
34 Throughout the trial, defendants repeatedly denied that Mr. Melton's testimony in the Page trial was in any way related to his dismissal. However, Mr. Melton presented evidence, albeit circumstantial, that his testimony may have been a substantial or motivating factor in his dismissal. Specifically he introduced testimony by the only other police officer who testified at the Page trial. Like Mr. Melton, that individual too was subjected to an Internal Affairs investigation shortly after his testimony. Eventually the other officer chose involuntary retirement rather than risk losing his retirement benefits if he were fired. From this evidence the jury could have determined that Mr. Melton's trial testimony was indeed a substantial or motivating factor in his dismissal, notwithstanding defendants' disavowal of that fact. 35 As to the second Mt. Healthy prong, defendants claim that the trial testimony was not the basis for the disciplinary action taken against Mr. Melton. Their consistent position has been that Mr. Melton was dismissed for his communication with Mr. Page's defense counsel. 36
37 Not only did Mr. Melton make a substantial showing that his dismissal was in fact a result of his communication with Mr. Page's counsel, defendants readily admitted that fact. The jury had ample evidence on which to find that those actions were the motivating factor in plaintiff's discharge. 38
39 In its First Amendment instruction the court improperly combined the two bases for potential liability: plaintiff's trial testimony and his communications with counsel. 13 40 Additionally, while the jury instruction addressed the first prong of the Mt. Healthy inquiry--whether plaintiff had shown that his protected speech was the substantial or motivating factor in the dismissal--the court never informed the jury as to the defendants' burden of rebuttal under Mt. Healthy. 41 We find we cannot affirm the jury's verdict against the individual defendants on the First Amendment claim because the errors in the instruction leave us uncertain as to the actual ground on which the jury's decision rested. Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862, 881, 103 S.Ct. 2733, 2745, 77 L.Ed.2d 235 (1983). Under Zant, a general verdict must be set aside if the jury was instructed that it could rely on any of two or more independent grounds, and one of those grounds is insufficient, because the verdict may have rested exclusively on the insufficient ground. Id; see also Sunkist Growers, Inc. v. Winckler & Smith Citrus Prods. Co., 370 U.S. 19, 30, 82 S.Ct. 1130, 1136, 8 L.Ed.2d 305 (1962). Because we determine herein that the individual defendants are qualifiedly immune under Harlow if the dismissal was for Mr. Melton's communications with Mr. Page's defense counsel, see discussion infra at 728-30, that ground would be an insufficient basis for a verdict against them. 14 Consequently, we reverse the jury verdict on the First Amendment claim and remand for a new trial on the issue of whether Mr. Melton's trial testimony was a substantial motivating factor in his discharge. 42