Opinion ID: 767610
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Requisite Causal Connection

Text: 15 Finally, Sowards has the burden of proving that her termination was substantially motivated by the exercise of herconstitutional rights. See Thaddeus-X v. Blatter, 175 F.3d 378, 394 (6th Cir. 1999) (en banc). Sowards worked as a jailer at the LCSD for several years and never had any problems until her husband announced that he was running for the position of Loudon County Sheriff. She then noticed an abrupt change in her work environment. She asserts that her supervisors ostracized her, changed her day shift to a split shift, disciplined her more harshly than her co-workers, told her she was being watched by the sheriff's office, and reduced her overtime opportunities. On July 19, 1995, Guider terminated Sowards from her position as a jailer allegedly in response to an incident that occurred on June 28, 1995, in which Sowards failed to serve an outstanding warrant for burglary on a person who had been brought to jail on a DUI charge. In Sowards's dismissal letter, Guider explained that he was following Chief Jailer Bridges's recommendation to terminate her employment because it was her responsibility to check for outstanding warrants and because of the serious nature of the burglary charge which had been outstanding for over a year. In his deposition, Guider denied that he took into account the fact that Sowards was married to William Sowards when terminating her. However, when asked [i]f Wanda Sowards had been one of [his] staunchest supporters in the last election would [he] have looked into the basis for Sergeant Bridges' recommendation of termination rather than just more or less accepting it, Guider replied, I might have. J.A. at 140. 16 Sowards has presented sufficient evidence upon which a reasonable juror could conclude that Guider's decision to terminate her employment was substantially motivated by her protected First Amendment associational rights. Guider admitted that he might have treated her termination case differently if she had been one of his political supporters. Although defendants respond that Guider also asserted that he did not take Sowards's association with her husband or his political campaign into account in deciding to terminate her employment, Guider made conflicting statements regarding his treatment of Sowards's case. Thus, a genuine issue of material fact exists regarding his true motivation for terminating her employment. 17 Moreover, other evidence also supports Sowards's claim that Guider's decision to terminate her was substantially motivated by her protected conduct. Prior to her termination, Sowards had never been disciplined for missing a warrant. Guider admitted that Sowards had been a dependable employee and had never been involved in any serious disciplinary action. Bridges acknowledged that her job performance over the years was a positive factor on her behalf. However, Bridges stated that he decided to recommend termination because the warrant Sowards missed had been outstanding for a long time and involved a serious crime. Even though Sowards explained that she had looked for the wrong name, Bridges stated that she could have looked up the records to find the correct name, and he did not treat her mistake more leniently because a misunderstanding was involved. Bridges also admitted that other LCSD officers had missed mittimuses, 3 but had never been fired for that omission despite their obligation to check for both outstanding warrants and mittimuses, which are located in the same box. Because there is evidence that she was treated differently than other officers who had made similar mistakes and that she was terminated based on only one mistake, Sowards has provided sufficient evidence that her association with her husband substantially motivated Guider to terminate her. 18 Defendants have not presented sufficient evidence that Guider would have terminated Sowards on the basis of this one mistake in the absence of her protected association. They argue that Guider did not know that Sowards had supported her husband in his political campaign for sheriff and thus could not have made any decisions on this basis. See Hall v. Tollett, 128 F.3d 418, 426-27 (6th Cir. 1997) (dismissing plaintiffs' political retaliation claims because of lack of evidence that a newly elected sheriff had any knowledge of which candidate plaintiffs had actually supported in the election). Guider claims that Sowards told him she was planning on supporting his candidacy rather than her husband's. Sowards denies making this statement. Furthermore, Guider admitted [b]ut in my mind, you know, I felt confident that she would support her husband. J.A. at 146. Unlike the sheriff in Hall, Guider actually spoke with Sowards and felt confident that she would support her husband's campaign. Defendants also argue that Guider could not have known of Sowards's political affiliation because Sowards admitted she was not politically active at work and had not given money to any campaigns. A rational juror could conclude, however, that Guider knew Sowards had supported her husband on the basis of Guider's deposition statement describing his conversation with her and his conclusion that she would support her husband. 19 Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Sowards, we conclude that a genuine issue of material fact exists whether Sowards's termination was substantially motivated by her protected associational freedoms. Therefore, the district court erred in granting defendants' motion for summary judgment.