Court Opinion

ID: 9465011
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:33:17.499297+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:55.766656
License: Public Domain

GOODWIN, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
Issues remain which should preclude the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the school board. The board imposed an impermissible stigma on Graves by firing her without a hearing and making more or less public its reasons for termination. A copy of the board’s letter in her placement file at Northern Arizona University may effectively prevent her from finding other *225employment. At least the question calls for trial.
I agree that Graves did not have a property interest in her position and is not entitled to reinstatement and back pay as such. But the board, after trial, could be liable for damages for any losses Graves sustained as a result of the manner in which her case was handled. Those losses could be calculated by the trier for the period of the stigma, less mitigation. The record also satisfies me that there was a triable issue whether the board was biased against Graves. If found to have been biased, the board could not properly reject the hearing board’s recommendation that she be rehired. These questions might also affect the amount of her damages.
The majority apparently expects the board to remove all traces of its reasons for firing Graves from its records. I doubt the efficacy of the hortatory remand. I would vacate the summary judgment and try the remaining issues.