Barachkov v. 41B District Court

311 F. App'x 863
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 20, 2009
Docket06-2512
StatusUnpublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 311 F. App'x 863 (Barachkov v. 41B District Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barachkov v. 41B District Court, 311 F. App'x 863 (6th Cir. 2009).

Opinions

[865]*865OPINION

DAVID L. BUNNING, District Judge.

Patricia Barachkov, Nancy Englar and Carol Diehl, employees of the 41B District Court in Clinton Township, Michigan, were fired from their jobs in July 2004. Following their terminations, Appellants filed an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Appellees had violated Appellants’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by ending their employment because of interview statements Appellants made as part of a management oversight review conducted by the Michigan State Court Administrative Office (SCAO). The district court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment, as it concluded that 41B District Court and Clinton Township were entitled to sovereign immunity, and that plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate that any constitutional violations had occurred. For the reasons stated below, we AFFIRM in part, REVERSE in part, and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

Appellee 41B District Court is a Michigan trial court assigned jurisdiction over traffic violations, civil and criminal infractions, small claims, and probation oversight. At times relevant to this case, 41B District Court was comprised of two physically separate divisions, one serving the city of Mt. Clemens, and the other serving Clinton Township. Each municipality was responsible for maintaining, financing and operating its respective division of the court.

Appellants were employees of the Clinton Township division of the court until their terminations in July, 2004. Appellants Barachkov and Englar were employed as court clerks, while Appellant Diehl was a court cashier. During Appellants’ employment, Linda Davis was Chief Judge of the 41B District Court and was assigned supervisory authority over personnel in both locations by law, and possessed the authority to hire, fire, discipline, or discharge employees. Chief Judge Davis and Judge John Foster sat in the Mt. Clemens location, while Judge William Cannon sat in Clinton Township.

In late May 2004, Deborah Green, a representative of the SCAO, informed Chief Judge Davis that the SCAO would soon be conducting a management oversight review into the operations and performance of the 41B District Court. On June 28, 2004, Chief Judge Davis held a staff meeting in which she advised the district court staff that, as part of the SCAO investigation, each employee of the court would be interviewed. At this meeting, Chief Judge Davis emphasized the serious nature of the investigation and that the need for honesty was paramount. She informed the employees that no one would be disciplined for previous wrongs, and that no one would lose their jobs if they were honest with the interviewer.

Green independently interviewed each court employee; Chief Judge Davis did not participate in the investigation. Following completion of the interviews, Green concluded that Appellants Barachkov, Diehl, and Englar had lied and withheld information, and had coerced others to do the same. Appellants allege that their answers to Green’s questions were honest and that Green asked questions about topics on which they had no personal knowledge.

On July 15, 2004, Chief Judge Davis fired the Appellants. Along with a representative of the SCAO, Chief Judge Davis met individually with each Appellant and informed her that she was being terminated due to her responses during the interview. Appellants were not provided with advance notice of the terminations or a [866]*866hearing in which they could dispute the reasons for their dismissal. Appellants contend that their terminations were a result of Chief Judge Davis’ desire to advance her political and personal agenda by forcing Judge Cannon to retire, and that they were fired for failing to provide false information about Judge Cannon’s management of the Clinton Township division of the 41B District Court.

B. Procedural Background

Appellant Barachkov commenced an action pursuant to § 1983 and various state laws in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in October, 2004. Shortly after, Appellants Diehl and Englar followed suit and filed identical actions. On March 31, 2006, the district court consolidated the cases into a single action. Appellees thereafter filed motions for summary judgment alleging that Clinton Township and the 41B District Court were entitled to sovereign immunity and that Appellants could not, as a matter of law, establish any constitutional violations. The district court agreed and granted Appellees’ motion. Appellants timely filed the present appeal from the district court’s order. They raise four issues on appeal, arguing the district court erred in (1) dismissing 41B District Court as a party on Eleventh Amendment grounds; (2) granting summary judgment on their First Amendment retaliation claim; (3) granting summary judgment on their Fourteenth Amendment procedural due process claim; and (4) dismissing their claims for prospective injunctive relief against Chief Judge Davis in her official capacity. We will discuss each of these issues in turn.

II. Analysis

A. Standard of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). “The moving party bears the burden of showing the absence of any genuine issues of material fact.” Sigler v. Am. Honda Motor Co., 532 F.3d 469, 483 (6th Cir.2008). Once the movant has satisfied its burden, the nonmoving party must “do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts,” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986), it must produce evidence showing that a genuine issue remains, Plant v. Morton Int’l, Inc., 212 F.3d 929, 934 (6th Cir.2000).

The court must credit all evidence presented by the nonmoving party and draw all justifiable inferences in that party’s favor. Id. We must “assess the proof to determine whether there is a genuine need for trial,” and “[t]he proper inquiry is whether the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the plaintiff.” Weigel v. Baptist Hosp. of E. Tenn., 302 F.3d 367, 375 (6th Cir.2002) (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)). “We review de novo a district court’s grant of summary judgment.” Spencer v. Bouchard, 449 F.3d 721, 727 (6th Cir.2006).

B. Sovereign Immunity

“From birth, the States and the Federal Government have possessed certain immunities from suit in state and federal courts.” Ernst v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Wagle v. Corizon
E.D. Michigan, 2022
Cherry v. Howie
191 F. Supp. 3d 707 (W.D. Kentucky, 2016)
Ortiz v. Holmes
157 F. Supp. 3d 692 (N.D. Ohio, 2016)
Barachkov v. Lucido
151 F. Supp. 3d 745 (E.D. Michigan, 2015)
Patricia Barachkov v. Linda Davis
580 F. App'x 288 (Sixth Circuit, 2014)
Curtis Smith v. Simon Leis
407 F. App'x 918 (Sixth Circuit, 2011)
Condiff v. Hart County School District
770 F. Supp. 2d 876 (W.D. Kentucky, 2011)
Pucci v. Nineteenth District Court
628 F.3d 752 (Sixth Circuit, 2010)
Turppa v. County of Montmorency
724 F. Supp. 2d 783 (E.D. Michigan, 2010)
Dolan v. City of Ann Arbor
666 F. Supp. 2d 754 (E.D. Michigan, 2009)
Patterson v. CITY OF EARLINGTON
650 F. Supp. 2d 674 (W.D. Kentucky, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
311 F. App'x 863, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barachkov-v-41b-district-court-ca6-2009.