Court Opinion

ID: 9487287
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:12:37.034441+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:11.013222
License: Public Domain

HARRY W. WELLFORD, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I agree with the thoughtful opinion of Chief Judge Arnold that we must reverse the decision of the district court as a matter of law to hold that a § 504 (29 U.S.C. § 794) cause of action may include a claim for legal damages.
I believe, however, that we should review further plaintiffs complaint to determine the issues to be remanded in light of the record in this case. The district court concluded that plaintiff made “no claim for back pay, because [among other reasons] the plaintiff remained employed throughout the time she was allegedly discriminated against.” There is, however, a claim for damages which must be considered. The district court may also have been in error in foreclosing a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 cause of action despite the fact that the § 1983 claim is somewhat parallel and analogous and damages sought thereunder may duplicate the asserted § 504 claimed damages. See Wilder v. Virginia Hospital Ass’n, 496 U.S. 498, 110 S.Ct. 2510, 110 L.Ed.2d 455 (1990); Golden State Transit Corp. v. City of Los Angeles, 493 U.S. 103, 110 S.Ct. 444, 107 L.Ed.2d 420 (1989); Maine v. Thiboutot, 448 U.S. 1, 100 S.Ct. 2502, 65 L.Ed.2d 555 (1980).
Plaintiff concedes in her complaint, as she must in claiming to be handicapped, that without medical treatment for a number of months that her behavior as “an elementary counselor” and “instructor” displayed, among other symptoms, “extreme irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, poor judgment and reckless behavior.” By mid-April of 1990, towards the end of the school year, her physician opined that he had diagnosed “bipolar manic illness;” that she had “obtained substantial relief from these symptoms;” and that in the future, with treatment, “she should be able to perform her job duties.”4 Plaintiff, furthermore, concedes that “during this period another teacher would report various conduct of Carolyn Rodgers to the superintendent” which she described as “bizarre” or “crazy.”
This condition was described in White v. Holmes, et al., 21 F.3d 277 (8th Cir.1994), as a “manic depressive illness, characterized by symptoms that include mood swings and impulsive behavior.” Id. at 279, n. 1. In White, a plaintiff prisoner, injured by a fe*646male prison librarian with this disorder or illness, sued prison authorities for a sudden violent attack because this person became upset because she could not open a door. This condition, in my view, if not subject to continuing control in the future as a matter of reasonable medical certainty, would east doubt on plaintiffs ability to serve as an elementary teacher and counselor. There is also the ongoing question of reasonable accommodation.
Plaintiff attaches to her complaint the response of Magnet Cove Public Schools (Magnet Cover) at the end of April, 1990. This letter (Plaintiffs Exhibit C) sets out not only the serious problems exhibited by plaintiff as a counselor and instructor above described, but also (1) failure to coordinate student activities in several respects and (2) “failure to complete the six (6) hours” required for the 1989-1990 school year which had to be “corrected by the start of the 90-91 year.” These latter two specified deficiencies may or may not have been related to plaintiffs claimed disability.
In any event, plaintiff submitted a subsequent June 13, 1990 letter to Magnet Cove requesting a “medical leave of absence ... for the 1990-91 school year,” and acknowledging that Magnet Cove would “require a medical release upon [her] return to teaching and other duties.” She ended the letter by stating: “Your consideration has been greatly appreciated.” Plaintiffs Exhibit D. Plaintiff averred her inability to work in May of 1990 because Magnet Cove had responded as above set out. She conceded abortive negotiations with Magnet Cove concerning her medical leave of absence because Magnet Cove wanted a competent physician’s medical opinion that her “medical problems had been alleviated and were unlikely to reoccur.”
Plaintiffs Exhibit G also indicated that in May of 1990 “there was an oral agreement between the parties to grant [Rodgers] a medical leave of absence in lieu of the recommended nonrenewal. Therefore, nonrenewal of your contract was set aside and not acted upon by the [Magnet Cove] board.” (This was “in lieu of the contract nonrenewal and/or a hearing.”) Plaintiff conceded, according to her Exhibit G, that a number of accommodations were granted to Rodgers during the 1989-90 school year by Magnet Cove.
The complaint also avers that Rodgers, prior to the beginning of the 1990-91 school year, entered into a contract with defendant Benton School District (“Benton”) to perform teaching services, and she began work in August of 1990 without notifying Benton of her handicap. When she later informed Benton of her condition, she stated she would be in need of modest accommodations.” Thereafter, she was terminated by Benton for failing to set out the nature and extent of her handicapped condition and the need for special accommodation. Rodgers contested this action including an appeal to state court, but dismissed her case because “plaintiffs condition has increased” so that by November, 1990, she was “unable to work as a teacher.” In conflict with this assertion, however, was her next averment that “she was able to obtain employment from defendant Little Rock School District [LRSD] which commenced October 1,1990.” This time plaintiff apparently notified LRSD of her handicap and requested various accommodations. Despite continuing disagreements about accommodations, Rodgers completed the 1990-91 school year at a salary apparently as high or higher than she would have earned at Magnet Cove or Benton.
This recitation from the record persuades me that the district court was not in error in concluding, at least through the 1990-91 school year, that the plaintiff suffered no damages. It was apparent that prior actions of Magnet Cove and Benton had not, in fact, precluded or adversely affected her ability to teach through the 1990-91 school year. Her claims for damages, if any, should commence only with the beginning of the 1991-92 school year, in my view.
I believe that a school district, seeking a qualified kindergarten or elementary teacher, may properly require a candidate with bipolar manic disease to submit a medical evaluation indicating that such disease is alleviated or under control and whether its symptoms are likely to reoccur or the condition deteriorate during the ongoing school *647year. This bears upon one’s qualification to teach/counsel young students.
I concur with the majority decision, but would, as indicated, limit the basis of plaintiffs claims for the reasons indicated in this record.

. This prognosis assumed that Rodgers would regularly continue her treatment despite her proclivity to act ''inappropriately.” We do not know what "substantial relief" may be in relation to reckless and hostile conduct with an aggressive disorder with one who is dealing with a group or groups of young elementary students. A reasonable school board might well be concerned about its own liability under these circumstances to an abused or mistreated child or the parents or guardians if it continued Rodgers’ employment with these potential risks without some medical assurance that the condition might not suddenly reoccur.