Date: 03-20-2002

Case Style: Danny Ray Heggen, et al. v. Gary Lee, Hopkins County Sheriff

Case Number: 00-6315

Judge: Clay

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Plaintiff's Attorney: Evan E. Taylor, LAW OFFICE OF EVAN TAYLOR, Owensboro, Kentucky, for Appellees.

Defendant's Attorney: John T. Soyars, FOSTER, SOYARS & ASSOCIATES, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, for Appellant.

Description: Gary Lee, the sheriff of Hopkins County, Kentucky, appeals from the final judgment entered by the district court denying his motion for summary judgment on the issue of qualified immunity with respect to Plaintiffs' claims, brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Plaintiffs were discharged in retaliation for supporting Lee's opponent in a past county sheriff's election. Specifically, Plaintiffs Danny Ray Heggen, Todd Blakely, and James F. Pendergraff, all of whom were Hopkins County deputy sheriffs, allege that as a result of supporting Lee's political opponent in the 1998 election for Hopkins County Sheriff, they were subsequently discharged in violation of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

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In 1998, Defendant Gary Lee defeated former Sheriff Raymond Jones in the May 1998 primary election for sheriff of Hopkins County, Kentucky, and ran unopposed in the November general election. Each of the Plaintiffs were deputy sheriffs in Jones' administration.

Lee admits that he never solicited any support from Plaintiffs because he assumed that Plaintiffs would support Jones in the election. In addition, each Plaintiff actively supported Jones. Plaintiff Danny Ray Heggen testified at his deposition that he spoke with people in the area where he lived about Jones, had bumper stickers on his car, a sign in his yard and encouraged neighbors to place signs in their yards in support of Jones. He also attended a political dinner before the 1998 May primary elections and sat at former Sheriff Jones' table. Lee attended the event as well.

Plaintiff Blakely also placed Jones' campaign signs in his yard and helped to put up Jones' signs in the yards of some of his family members as well. Blakely stated that a key Lee supporter, Maurice Wilson, mentioned to him after the primaries that Lee said he was unsure what he would do about certain members of the department who had campaigned for his opponent. According to Blakely, Wilson told him that Lee mentioned Blakely and Heggen by name.

Plaintiff James Pendergraff also supported Jones by speaking to his friends, family and members of the Fraternal Order of Police on Jones' behalf.(1) Pendergraff stated that he believes he told Wilson he was campaigning for Jones.

Heggen and Blakely's job duties largely mirrored each other and included road patrol, serving arrest warrants and civil papers, taking complaints and "working" auto accidents. Lee also stated that deputies transport prisoners and provide courtroom security. Pendergraff served primarily as a courtroom bailiff.

After taking office, Lee decided not to rehire Plaintiffs. He claims that he did not rehire Heggen because he "frequented" an adult entertainment club and because he had received complaints about Heggen's handling of several rape cases. He stated that he refused to rehire Blakely because he frequented the same club as Heggen. Plaintiffs claim that Defendant admits that he did not know about the adult entertainment club issue until after this suit was filed. Defendant stated at his deposition that he spoke with someone about the "clubs" or "Club Paradise," which Heggen and Blakely were accused of frequenting, for the first time in the summer of 1999. This occurred after Plaintiffs were informed that they would not be rehired in December 1998. Finally, Lee stated that he did not rehire Pendergraff because he promised Pendergraff's job as bailiff to someone else.

On June 9, 1999, the above-named Plaintiffs and former sheriff department office manager Kathy Walters-Knox filed the instant action against Lee, in his official and individual capacities, and Hopkins County. Plaintiffs amended their complaint in November 1999, adding Lee's wife, Elizabeth Ann Heggen, as a Plaintiff, and asserting a loss of consortium claim. Defendants moved for summary judgment, which the district court granted in toto with respect to Walters-Knox. However, as to Heggen, Blakely, and Pendergraff, the district court granted the motion as to Hopkins County and Lee in his official capacity only. The district court found that these three Plaintiffs had stated a viable constitutional claim against Lee in his individual capacity, and that Lee was not entitled to qualified immunity.(2) Lee appeals that ruling.

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Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, "government officials performing discretionary functions are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818 (1982). The rights at issue must have been "clearly established" not just in an abstract sense, but in a particularized sense. Cope v. Heltsley, 128 F.3d 452, 458 (6th Cir. 1997). Having determined that Defendant failed to carry his burden of showing that the deputy sheriff position falls within the exception to the general rule against patronage dismissals, we must determine whether the law was clearly established at the time Defendant refused to rehire Plaintiffs, such that a reasonable person in Defendant's position would have understood his conduct to be violative of Plaintiffs' constitutional rights. Hall, 203 F.3d at 438. To determine whether a right is clearly established, this Court has instructed district courts to look at binding precedent from the Sixth Circuit, the United States Supreme Court or its own court. Cope, 128 F.3d at 459 n.4. As we explained in McCloud, "it is improper to grant qualified immunity to every defendant who has taken an adverse employment action against a plaintiff . . . previously occupying a public office that the Supreme Court or the Sixth Circuit has not yet explicitly held falls into or outside of the Branti exception." McCloud, 97 F.3d at 1547. For that reason, this Court developed the four categories outlined in section A of this opinion in order "to help establish and define which public offices fall within the Branti exception." Hall, 128 F.3d at 429. We recognized that such an approach will not remove all ambiguity, and to the extent any ambiguity exists, it should be construed in favor of the government. Id.

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Click the case caption above for the full text of the Court's opinion.

Outcome: Defendant has failed to show that party affiliation is an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of Plaintiffs' former positions as deputy sheriffs in Hopkins County, Kentucky. Thus, if at trial the factfinder determines that Defendant discharged Plaintiffs for political reasons, then Defendant will have violated Plaintiffs' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights against patronage dismissal. Further, Defendant is not entitled to qualified immunity inasmuch as this Court's opinion in Hall v. Tollett should have alerted Defendant that refusing to rehire Plaintiffs for political reasons was impermissible. We AFFIRM.

Plaintiff's Experts: Unavailable

Defendant's Experts: Unavailable

Comments: None