Opinion ID: 1356584
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendants' Denial of Plaintiff's Requests for Zoning and Signage Variances

Text: Plaintiff alleges that not only Defendant Hudson's statements, but also the actions of the other Comstock Defendants, constituted an adverse action because they collectively threatened her economic livelihood. A final allegation in Plaintiff's complaint, which the district court ignored, bolsters her retaliation claim Plaintiff alleges that the Zoning Board of Appeals denied her request for zoning and signage variances in retaliation for her speech and conduct at [Comstock meetings and her petitioning Comstock for a redress of grievances. (Dist.Ct. Doc. No. 1, Compl. ¶ 21). The denial of the variances directly impacts Plaintiff's ability to conduct her business in the manner of her choosing, which is a threat to her economic livelihood. Therefore, this action alone is probably sufficient to state a claim of retaliation inasmuch as the possibility of a zoning variance or a signage variance necessary for operating a business as planned would deter a person of ordinary firmness from exercising First Amendment rights. On the other hand, Plaintiff continued to publicly criticize Comstock officials and attend public meetings after her variances were denied, after the conversations with her employer, and after her termination from Farm Bureau, which suggests that Plaintiff herself was neither deterred nor chilled from speaking. However, the test is whether a person of ordinary firmness would be deterred; actual deterrence on the part of the plaintiff is not necessary to state a claim of an adverse action, Bell v. Johnson, 308 F.3d 594, 606 (6th Cir.2002). This Circuit has previously held that we must be careful to ensure that real injury is involved, lest we `trivialize the First Amendment' by sanctioning a retaliation claim even if it is unlikely that the exercise of First Amendment rights was actually deterred. Mezibov, 411 F.3d at 721 (quoting Bart v. Telford, 677 F.2d 622, 625 (7th Cir.1982)). But a credible threat to the nature and existence of one's ongoing employment is of a similar character to the other recognized forms of adverse actiontermination, refusal to hire, etc.even if perpetrated by a third party who is not the employer. From some of the factual allegations in Plaintiff's complaint, this Court notes that it is possible that the more immediate and serious threat to Plaintiff's economic well-being was that she did not follow her employer's instructions to change her behavior in the community, rather than that Defendant Hudson or other Comstock officials spoke with her employer about her actions in Comstock or denied her variances. However, under the Iqbal pleading standard, 129 S.Ct. at 1949-50, Plaintiff has plausibly alleged in her pleadings adverse actions on the part of the Defendants that would deter a person of ordinary firmness from exercising their First Amendment rightsa threat to her economic livelihood directly traceable to Defendants' conduct based on her factual allegations regarding the conversations and the denial of variances. Therefore, we conclude that the district court erred in ruling that she had not alleged an adverse action on the motion to dismiss.