Abuse of Discretion Damages.

Byline: Derek Hawkins

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Denean Adams v. Board of Education of Harvey School District 152, et al.,

Case No.: 19-2534; 19-3269

Officials: SYKES, Chief Judge, and EASTERBROOK and BARRETT, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Abuse of Discretion Damages

Denean Adams was superintendent of the Harvey, Illinois, public schools from July 2013 through June 2016. Her tenure ended unhappily: in July 2015 the Board of Education revoked an offer to extend her three-year contract; later that educational year it blocked her email account and tried to pretend that she did not exist. Indeed, the Board told state education officials in spring 2016 that she was no longer superintendent. These and related events put her under a lot of stress. She took medical leave in March 2016 and never returned to work. But she did file this suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983. A jury awarded $400,000 in damages after concluding that the Board and its members had violated the First Amendment (applied to the states through the Fourteenth). The district court declined to set aside that award, see 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117428 (N.D. Ill. July 15, 2019), and added about $190,000 in attorneys' fees. 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 122282 (N.D. Ill. July 23, 2019). Both sides have appealed.

Adams asks us to dismiss the Board's appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The Board's principal argument on the merits is that a report to the police is a personal grievance, not a matter of public concern, and therefore falls outside the scope of the First Amendment. That personal grievances are the subject of state law (torts and contracts) rather than the First Amendment is well established. See, e.g., Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138 (1983); Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 (1968). Yet the district court did not rule otherwise. Our conclusion that Adams's speech is within the scope of the First Amendment means that the evidence presented a jury question about whether her statements caused the end of her employment. The record permitted a reasonable jury to find that they did. Likewise a reasonable jury could conclude that an ordinary employee in Adams's position would be deterred from speaking by the prospect of losing her job.

The Board's other arguments are feeble. It contends, for example, that Adams lacks a good claim because the proposal to extend her contract through June 2017 was properly rescinded (or never properly made in the first place). But the jury did not award...

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