Court Opinion

ID: 9466833
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:29:59.51097+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:00.124251
License: Public Domain

AINSWORTH, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
Judgment in favor of defendants was entered in this case under the order of the district judge pursuant to the special verdict rendered by the jury made in accordance with Rule 49 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure pertaining to “Special Verdicts and Interrogatories.” 1 After a care*627ful and thorough instruction to the jury pertaining to the questions submitted to it by the trial court, the jury’s responses were all in favor of defendants and against plaintiff Dr. Downing. The jury held in its special findings that appellant Dr. Downing was dismissed from his employment by the defendants with good cause, that he was provided written notice of the reasons for his dismissal and an effective opportunity to respond to the charges before his superiors, that he waived his right to such notice and hearing, that the grievance procedure provided him with an effective opportunity in a hearing to respond before an impartial decision maker to the charges before him and that he waived his right as well to such an effective opportunity to respond in a hearing before an impartial decision maker. (See majority opinion notes 2-6). In a memorandum filed by the trial judge pursuant to the special verdict the court held that “[ajfter hearing and considering the evidence, the court finds the facts to be the same findings of fact found by the jury and the court adopts such jury verdict and findings as the court’s findings.” The court’s memorandum continued with additional reasons why Dr. Downing was properly discharged.2
Thus Dr. Downing lost his case before the court and jury fair and square. All of the findings were adverse to him and judgment was entered accordingly. Nevertheless the majority now holds by a somewhat nebulous distinction which it perceives between findings of fact and determinations of law that the jury’s findings in response to the special interrogatories must be disregarded because they are “wrong as a matter of law.” If this be true, trials under Rule 49 and especially those in which special verdicts are rendered by a jury, appear to have lost their efficacy. The majority ruling herein thus effectively bypasses the requirement of the seventh amendment that the court must accord due deference to the jury’s verdict. See Narcisse v. Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, 620 F.2d 544, 546 (5th Cir. *6281980); Spurlin v. General Motors Corp., 528 F.2d 612, 620 (5th Cir. 1976).
“The controlling distinction between the power of the court and that of the jury is that the former is the power to determine the law and the latter to determine the facts.” Dimick v. Scheidt, 293 U.S. 474, 486, 55 S.Ct. 296, 301, 79 L.Ed. 603 (1935). Where the jury applies the law as instructed by the trial court and answers the special interrogatories propounded to it under Rule 49, the jury’s findings must be upheld by the reviewing court if substantial evidence exists to support them. Control Components, Inc. v. Valtek, Inc., 609 F.2d 763, 767 (5th Cir. 1980); Boeing Co. v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 375 (5th Cir. 1969).
Here it is clear that the jury’s special findings on the facts are supported by substantial evidence in the record as to each finding. This court is therefore bound by the jury’s verdict; to hold otherwise is to compel the parties to “forego [their] constitutional right to the verdict of a jury.” Dimick, supra, 293 U.S. at 487, 55 S.Ct. at 301.
The majority however has disregarded the jury’s special findings pertaining to the facts of Dr. Downing’s dismissal and has reexamined the record itself to determine whether under the facts appellant was denied procedural due process by his termination. This is not a proper function of a reviewing appellate court. The conclusion which the majority reaches that the case must be remanded for a new trial is not only opposite to the jury’s special findings, but is contradicted by the evidence. Under the majority holding therefore Dr. Downing will get another chance to try, if he can, before another jury at another time, to convince the jury that he was wrongly discharged.

The Due Process Issue

On numerous occasions throughout his tenure as a staff psychiatrist at the San Angelo State Center, Dr. Downing caused disruptions among staff members by writing comments in patients’ medical records that reflected his opinion of various staff members, hospital programs and state and federal agencies. Dr. Downing’s comments and his resultant problems with the staff were in most cases brought to the attention of Mr. R. Allen Williams, Superintendent of the San Angelo State Center, through the supervisor of the dormitory personnel or the unit director or through the assistant superintendent. These matters were discussed with Dr. Downing in October 1976 at a meeting at which Dr. White, the medical director, Mr. Willis, the personnel officer, Mr. Williams and appellant were present. The meeting lasted several hours and all parties had an opportunity to voice their views. Dr. Downing was informed by Mr. Williams that his practice of writing editorial comments on patients’ charts prevented the staff from providing the best service for their patients, that he must refrain from this conduct and instead bring his grievances to Mr. Williams’ attention. Then on May 31, 1977, after having received reports of other similar incidents of inappropriate commenting by Dr. Downing in clients’ medical records, Mr. Williams had another conference with appellant to discuss his conduct. At this meeting Mr. Williams handed Dr. Downing a letter of that date and discussed at length its contents with him. The letter advised Dr. Downing of Mr. Williams’ concerns regarding appellant’s difficulties with the staff and the problems he was creating among staff members through his use of written comments in patients’ records. The letter emphasized that these problems had continued for several years, even during prior administrations, and thus Dr. Downing must follow two directives in order to continue his employment at the San Angelo State Center. The directives ordered appellant to “immediately cease editorializing through unusual and uncustomary statements in the clinical records of the clients of this facility,” and to “follow administrative channels to state your personal concerns regarding staff and programs in lieu of editorializing in the clinical records.” The letter also stated that if Dr. Downing did not comply with these directives his employment could be terminated.
*629Dr. Downing failed to heed the directives, and on June 20, 1977, Mr. Williams again held a conference with Dr. Downing at which Dr. White and Mr. Willis also were present. At this time Mr. Williams showed appellant a comment written by Dr. Downing on a patient’s chart which violated the directives in the May 31 letter.3 Mr. Williams read appellant the letter and gave Dr. Downing an opportunity to discuss the comment and explain his conduct, but he declined to respond. Upon Dr. Downing’s continued refusal to answer the charges against him, Mr. Williams delivered a letter to appellant which informed him of his discharge, also explained to him that his conduct violated the May 31 directives, and that Mr. Williams had no recourse other than to discharge him because of deliberate insubordination. Mr. Williams then sent appellant a copy of the Rules of the Commissioner of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation regarding appellant’s right to obtain a hearing before an impartial grievance committee established by the Department concerning the administration’s decision to terminate him.4 Dr. Downing did not seek redress at the agency level following his termination, but instead filed this suit in federal district court.
Since Dr. Downing was a nonprobation-ary government employee, he could only be dismissed for cause in accordance with the Rules of the Commissioner of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and thus had a constitutionally protectable property interest in his expectation of continued employment. Perry v. Sinderman, 408 U.S. 593, 599-603, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 2698-2700, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972); Thurston v. Dekle, 531 F.2d 1264, 1272 (5th Cir. 1976), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 438 U.S. 701, 98 S.Ct. 3118, 57 L.Ed.2d 1144 (1978) (original opinion reinstated with substitutions, 578 F.2d 1167 (5th Cir. 1978)). Accordingly, Dr. Downing cannot be deprived of this property interest without due process. Perry, supra, 408 U.S. at 603, 92 S.Ct. at 2700; Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 564, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2703, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). Procedural due process, however, does not require that a person possessing a property interest in his employment be accorded a full evidentiary hearing prior to his termination. See Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U.S. 134, 135, 94 S.Ct. 1633, 1635, 40 L.Ed.2d 15 (1974); Davis v. Vandiver, 494 F.2d 830, 831 (5th Cir. 1974). Rather, in determining what procedures are necessary to protect against the wrongful termination of an employee, “a balance must be struck between the government’s and the employee’s respective interests.” Thurston, supra, 531 F.2d at 1272. Since the “government interest in efficient . operation is a weighty one,” id. at 1272, the balance should operate to minimize the risk of wrongful termination to an employee “without burdening the government with elaborate pretermination proceedings.” Id. at 1273; Glenn v. Newman, 614 F.2d 467, 472 (5th Cir. 1980). The district court correctly instructed the jury that in order to meet the minimal procedural requirements of due process prior to termination the employee must be given written notice of the reasons for termination and an effective opportunity to respond orally and in writing to the charges. Glenn, supra, 614 F.2d at 472; Thurston, supra, 531 F.2d at 1273.
Here, the jury’s findings in its answers to special interrogatories that appellant Dr. Downing was accorded these procedural prerequisites is substantially supported by the record. Dr. Downing was given written notice of the reason for his discharge by Mr. *630Williams’ June 20 letter in which his employment was actually terminated. This letter made reference to the directives contained in Mr. Williams’ May 31 letter to Dr. Downing which set out specifically the proscribed conduct and informed appellant that engaging in such conduct could lead to his dismissal. As early as the October 1976 meeting Dr. Downing was aware that if he did not cease editorializing and making inappropriate comments in patients’ records, he could be discharged. Throughout this time he had ample opportunity to respond to the administration’s directives informally by a conference before his superiors through the agency’s grievance procedure. He never sought resolution of his grievances through the available procedures. At the June 20 meeting, prior to being given his termination letter and after he was told of the charges against him, Dr. Downing again was provided an opportunity to reply to those charges. He refused to comment.
After his termination appellant was officially notified of the agency procedure whereby he could challenge the administration’s actions before an impartial panel established for the purpose of hearing his complaints. Dr. Downing failed to invoke this procedure. The majority’s determination that this failure could not operate as a waiver of appellant’s right to a hearing because “he did not know exactly why he was fired” is contradicted by the evidence. Although the majority concludes that Dr. Downing was not provided an adequate statement of the charges against him, it nevertheless points out that the staff directives included in the May 31 letter to him were sufficiently definite to “ ‘give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice that his contemplated conduct is forbidden.’ ” Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156, 162, 92 S.Ct. 839, 843, 31 L.Ed.2d 110 (1972), quoting United States v. Harriss, 347 U.S. 612, 617, 74 S.Ct. 808, 812, 98 L.Ed. 989 (1954). Clearly a “person of ordinary intelligence” would know that the comment “Gross neglect,” which Dr. Downing wrote on a patient’s chart and which finally resulted in his discharge, violated those directives. This is particularly true in Dr. Downing’s case since he repeatedly had been warned against engaging in such conduct. This is what the jury found in their answers to special interrogatories and their findings are amply supported by the record. Thus, Dr. Downing was accorded all that was necessary to guarantee him fair notice and an effective opportunity to respond both orally and in writing to the matters surrounding his termination. His failure to take advantage of the procedures made available to him clearly operates as a waiver of any future right to a hearing. The majority’s conclusion to the contrary is therefore erroneous.

The First Amendment Issue

In addressing the first amendment issue presented by appellant in this appeal, the majority again disregards the jury’s special interrogatory finding that Dr. Downing was dismissed “with good cause,” and instead conducts an independent review of the record to determine whether appellant’s first amendment freedoms have been abridged by the actions of the administrators of the San Angelo State Center. Holding that the record is inadequate regarding the preparation and use of patients’ records at the center, the majority returns the case to the district court apparently for further findings and further explanatory evidence regarding Dr. Downing’s first amendment claims. Upon careful review of the evidence, however, the record is clear that there is substantial support for the jury’s finding that the actions taken against Dr. Downing did not unreasonably infringe on his first amendment freedoms and that he was not fired for an impermissible cause. Thus, further hearing is unnecessary on this issue. (See Dr. Sears, Dr. White, R., II, 29, 31-32, 35; R., Ill, 198; R.N. Knight, R.N. Godwin, R., IV, 253-256).
In Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 568, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 1734-35, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968), the Supreme Court pointed out that the problem in any case where there is a need to regulate the speech of public employees is “to arrive at a balance between the interests of the [employ*631ee], as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interests of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees.” In striking this balance, the Pickering decision drew a distinction on the one hand between speech which does not affect working relationships among employees and on the other hand statements, such as those involved here, which are directed toward persons with whom the speaker would normally be in contact in the course of his daily work. Thus there results a question of maintaining discipline or harmony among coworkers. See Pickering, supra, 391 U.S. at 569-70, 88 S.Ct. at 1734. In determining that comments on matters of public concern that are substantially correct may not furnish grounds for dismissal merely because they are critical in tone, the Court noted that “significantly different considerations” would be involved in cases where “the relationship between superior and subordinate is of such a personal and intimate nature that certain forms of public criticism of the superior by the subordinate would seriously undermine the effectiveness of the working relationship between them.” Pickering, supra, 391 U.S. at 570 n. 3, 88 S.Ct. at 1735 n. 3. The same can be said for positions in public employment which involve close working relationships among other coworkers. The need for confidentiality may be so great that “even completely correct public statements might furnish a permissible ground for dismissal.” Id. See Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District, 439 U.S. 410, 415, 99 S.Ct. 693, 696 n. 3, 58 L.Ed.2d 619 (1979).
The Court also noted that a different case is presented where employees are provided grievance procedures to submit complaints about the operation of the facility to their superiors prior to bringing complaints before the public. See id. 391 U.S. at 572 n. 4, 88 S.Ct. at 1373 n. 4.5 And later, in Mount Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 284, 97 S.Ct. 568, 574, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977), while again addressing the question of whether speech of a government employee was constitutionally protected, the Supreme Court indicated that speech which violated an established policy would be treated differently from “ad hoc” communications which were entitled to first amendment protection.
All of the above circumstances are present in this case and thus mandate striking the balance in favor of the state. Dr. Downing’s practice of entering uncustomary comments in patients’ records not only violated the written and stated directives of the San Angelo State Center administration to refrain from editorializing and entering inappropriate statements on patients’ medical charts,6 but was the cause of repeated disruptions among Dr. Downing’s coworkers. The principal targets of appellant’s comments were other staff members at the facility. The effect of these statements upon the staff’s attitude and working relationships and the fact that the continued editorializing substantially interfered with the efficient functioning and operation of the Center were the chief concerns of Mr. Williams and other members of the Center’s administration and the reason why appellant Dr. Downing finally was discharged. It was not the fact of the criticism or the nature of the statements, but rather the manner in which Dr. Downing chose to voice his grievances, despite the options available to him to make his complaints heard before the appropriate author*632ities informally and through the established grievance procedure.
Under these circumstances, the jury correctly found that Dr. Downing was dismissed for good cause. The action taken by the administrators of the San Angelo State Center in terminating Dr. Downing’s employment after repeated warnings to refrain from the disruptive conduct which led to his discharge was reasonable considering “the State’s paramount interest as an employer in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees” and appellant’s bad faith in persisting in engaging in conduct it knew to be disruptive. Rosado v. Santiago, 562 F.2d 114, 117 (1st Cir. 1977).
I cannot therefore agree with the conclusions reached by the majority. I would affirm the judgment entered in the district court.

. Rule 49(a) pertinent to this case reads as follows:
Rule 49.
SPECIAL VERDICTS AND INTERROGATORIES
(a) Special Verdicts. The court may require a jury to return only a special verdict in the form of a special written finding upon each issue of fact. In that event the court may submit to the jury written questions susceptible of categorical or other brief answer or may submit written forms of the several special findings which might properly be made under the pleadings and evidence; or it may use such other method of submit*627ting the issues and requiring the written findings thereon as it deems most appropriate. The court shall give to the jury such explanation and instruction concerning the matter thus submitted as may be necessary to enable the jury to make its findings upon each issue. If in so doing the court omits any issue of fact raised by the pleadings or by the evidence, each party waives his right to a trial by jury of the issue so omitted unless before the jury retires he demands its submission to the jury. As to an issue omitted without such demand the court may make a finding; or, if it fails to do so, it shall be deemed to have made a finding in accord with the judgment on the special verdict.

. The full text of the memorandum of Chief Judge Woodward follows:
MEMORANDUM
The above case was tried in San Angelo, Texas on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th days of May, 1978 and a verdict was returned by the jury which is here referred to for all purposes. After hearing and considering the evidence, the court hereby finds the facts to be the same findings of fact found by the jury and the court adopts such jury verdict and findings as the court’s findings.
Therefore judgment should be entered against the plaintiff as it appears that the plaintiff was dismissed from his employment by the defendants with good cause, that he was provided (prior to his dismissal) with written notice of the reasons for his dismissal and an effective opportunity for a conference before his superiors to respond to the charges; and that the grievance procedure established by the plaintiffs employer provided the plaintiff with the effective opportunity of a hearing before an impartial decision maker to respond to the charges against him.
The court concludes that all the prerequisites of Constitutional due process were afforded to the plaintiff by the defendants. It further appears that the defendants did not abridge the plaintiffs right of free speech under the law ■ and the facts as found by the jury.
Although the court is of the opinion that there is sufficient evidence to support all of the jury’s findings of fact in this case, the plaintiff would not be entitled to a judgment even though the answers to Special Issues Numbers One, Two(a) and Two(c) were to be set aside. The jury specifically found in its answers to Special Issues Numbers Two(b) and Two(d) that the plaintiff had waived his rights to any notice, hearing or opportunity to respond, and such waivers are sufficient to form a basis for judgment in favor of the defendants.
The Clerk will furnish a copy hereof to each attorney.
ENTERED this 25th day of May A.D. 1978.
HALBERT O. WOODWARD
Chief Judge
Northern District of Texas

. In direct contravention of the Center’s directives to cease editorializing and entering unusual and uncustomary statements in patients’ records, Dr. Downing wrote on a patient’s chart, among other things, that the patient had died as a result of “Gross neglect.” It was specifically on the basis of this comment that Dr. Downing ultimately was discharged.

. The record indicates that Dr. Downing was aware of the available grievance procedure for some time prior to his termination. He thus had the opportunity at all times to seek resolution of any grievance he may have had against the San Angelo State Center and its staff. He did not take advantage of these procedures and consistently refused to use the proper administrative channels in voicing his grievances.

. See also Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 582 n. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 1742 n. 1, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968) (White, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (“[T]he Court’s opinion . . . does not foreclose the possibility that under the First Amendment a school system may have an enforceable rule . . that public statements about school business must first be submitted to the authorities to check for accuracy.”)

. As was noted earlier, the majority found that the staff directives to appellant to “immediately cease editorializing through unusual and uncustomary statements in the clinical records” and “to follow administrative channels” to state his personal concerns were not vague and gave Dr. Downing fair warning of the conduct proscribed. See Stansberry v. Holmes, 613 F.2d 1285, 1289 (5th Cir. 1980).