Court Opinion

ID: 9470901
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:19:39.261382+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:10.073385
License: Public Domain

HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I am constrained to hold that the district court properly granted defendants’ motion for judgment n.o.v. largely for reasons articulated by the district court. In any event, if liability be assumed, I believe the case must be remanded for a new trial on the issue of damages.
I have no quarrel with the court’s opinion as it relies on Pickering, although the rationale of that case should be extended sparingly, if at all, to marginal first amendment cases. However, the court’s pathway via Mount Healthy to the conclusion that the verdict must stand if either Bruton or Fisher voted against McGee in retaliation is one I cannot tread with comfort.
I agree that a tie vote resulting in failure to rehire is an “act” for which a school board can be held liable in some circumstances, but the “act,” in order to carry liability, must rest on some illegal custom, policy or practice of the board. If three members voted against McGee and only one of those voted for prohibited reasons, this court would hold the district responsible. I can read no such responsibility into Monell, relied upon by the court, nor into any reported case decided in this circuit. Nor should Mount Healthy be so read. It did not involve any discussion of responsibility of the school district for the vote of a single board member and I am unwilling to assume that a factor that motivates a single board member motivates the board to such an extent as to place any burden of proof on the school district.
With respect to damages, it is clear that the verdict of $10,000.00 is excessive. Plaintiff claimed a maximum of only $7,000.00. It is conceded that plaintiff lost no wages as a result of the nonrenewal of his contract. There is also no dispute that after the close of the 1979-80 school year, he secured a teaching position for the fol*346lowing academic year in another school system at a higher salary, and obtained a position with a third school system the next year. Moreover, in the second year he was employed also as full time minister at a local Church of Christ. He has more than mitigated any small expense he might have had for moving, job hunting and the like. While he may pay more rent now than he paid before, there is no showing that his living quarters are not vastly superior to those he chose to occupy in Pemiscot County.
Finally, his claim of mental anguish and loss of reputation are hardly credible in view of his employment and pastoral history. Indeed, like the fired teacher in Smith v. Board of Education of Morrilton School District No. 32, 365 F.2d 770 (8th Cir.1966), his new work is the best thing that ever happened to him.
In sum, I would affirm in its entirety the judgment of the district court and insist that at least this court, if it is determined to find liability, should remand for a new trial on the issue of damages.