Benton v. Town of South Fork & Police Department

553 F. App'x 772
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 9, 2014
Docket13-1179
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 553 F. App'x 772 (Benton v. Town of South Fork & Police Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Benton v. Town of South Fork & Police Department, 553 F. App'x 772 (10th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

WADE BRORBY, Senior Circuit Judge.

Denny Benton appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment dismissing his amended complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

I. Background

The following facts are gleaned from Mr. Benton’s pro se amended complaint, which we liberally construe. See Firstenberg v. City of Santa Fe, 696 F.3d 1018, 1024 (10th Cir.2012).

A. Mr. Benton’s Employment with the Town of South Fork

Mr. Benton was a police officer with the Town of South Fork, Colorado (Town or South Fork), until he resigned on September 23, 2009. Shortly before that date, the Town had hired Randy Herrera as the new Chief of Police. Mr. Benton says that he faced a hostile work environment as soon as Chief Herrera arrived. The Chief hardly spoke to him, left him out of the loop on pending cases, told him that a man his age should be looking for another career, and threatened to ruin his career. He also treated Mr. Benton differently than two Hispanic police officers. The Chief assigned these officers extra work hours not offered to Mr. Benton and promoted Officer Chavez even though Mr. Benton had more seniority.

On September 8, 2009, Chief Herrera notified Mr. Benton that he was investigating a traffic stop that Mr. Benton had conducted fifteen months earlier (the Zele-nok traffic stop). Mr. Benton protested that he had not received any write-up when the previous Chief of Police reviewed that traffic stop. Unbeknownst to Mr. Benton, Mr. Zelenok had filed a civil rights action against the Town and Mr. Benton.

Mr. Benton tried to resign from his position with South Fork on September 11, but Mayor Heersink and Town Manager Wright talked him out of it. When Mr. Benton met with Chief Herrera on September 13 regarding the internal investigation into the Zelenok traffic stop, the Chief told him that two Town Trustees wanted him fired. After that meeting, Chief Herrera continued to harass Mr. Benton regarding the Zelenok traffic stop and also threatened him with future write-ups. Mr. Benton tried to resign from his *775 position again on September 13, but Mayor Heersink and Town Manager Wright talked him out of it once more. On each of the days that Mr. Benton attempted to resign, he reported for his work shift less than one hour late.

On September 22, 2009, Mr. Benton met with Chief Herrera and Town Manager Wright. The Chief told Mr. Benton they were going to try to have him fired at the next Town Board meeting. They also presented him with a write-up dated September 21 that Mr. Benton claims was false. Among other things, it said that Mr. Benton had been on leave without excuse on September 11 and 13. Mr. Benton protested, indicating that he had reported late for work on those days because he had been speaking with Chief Herrera’s supervisors about his intent to resign. According to Mr. Benton, the write-up was also false because Town policy only required that action if an employee has had three tardies. Chief Herrera also informed Mr. Benton that he was opening an investigation regarding another traffic stop (the Elgin traffic stop). He told Mr. Benton if he did not resign, that investigation would go in his personnel file. But Chief Herrera and Town Manager Wright then promised Mr. Benton that if he resigned, the existing false write-ups and the additional, threatened false write-ups would not go in his personnel file.

That evening Mr. Benton prepared a written grievance against Chief Herrera and the Town, which he intended to present to the Town Trustees. He had also decided to resign from his position with the Town because he could not continue to work under Chief Herrera. He intended to seek another police officer job, and he had already started the application process with the City of Delta, Colorado. He claims that his decision to resign was nonetheless made under duress due to the hostile work environment at South Fork and the Chiefs threats to ruin his career.

On September 23, Mr. Benton submitted his resignation at the Town Hall. During his exit interview, he provided Mayor Heersink with his written grievance, but the Mayor did not agree to submit it to the Town Board of Trustees. Instead, the Mayor stated it would go in Mr. Benton’s personnel file and would make him look like a whiner. As Mr. Benton was leaving the Town Hall, Chief Herrera told him that the investigation regarding the Zele-nok traffic stop no longer existed. Mr. Benton alleges that Town Manager Wright directed the Chief to “squash” that investigation.

B. Events Following Mr. Benton’s Resignation

Mr. Benton applied for a position with the Leadville, Colorado, police department. He tested for that position in October 2009, but he was not offered a job. Delta also showed interest in Mr. Benton’s job application, and in late November 2009 he completed and passed the testing for a position. He was told that Delta was doing a background check, and he signed a release allowing South Fork to review his personnel file. But after Delta reviewed his file, Mr. Benton was not offered the job. He received a letter from Delta dated January 27, 2010, informing him that he had not been selected for hire and that Delta was continuing its search to fill the position.

In late October or early November 2009, Mr. Benton first learned that he was named as a defendant in the Zelenok litigation, although he was not served with the complaint until December 2009. On April 30, 2010, his defense counsel in that case informed Mr. Benton that he had received from Chief Herrera a write-up prepared by Officer Chavez regarding the *776 Elgin traffic stop. Mr. Benton was surprised because, while he had been threatened with false write-ups during his September 22, 2009, meeting with the Chief, he had never seen or signed this write-up.

Mr. Benton learned that Chief Herrera would be leaving his job with South Fork in late December 2010. In early January 2011, he requested a copy of his personnel file. When he reviewed his file at the Town Hall on January 14, 2011, he discovered that former Chief Herrera and new Chief Chavez had put three false write-ups in his file. His immediate reaction was, “[N]o wonder I can’t get a job you guys can’t do this to me.” R., Vol. 1 at 62.

Mr. Benton did not initially realize the legal importance of the false write-ups. He finally sent a written claim to the Town on July 14, 2011. On July 18, he filed a charge of discrimination against the Town with the Colorado Civil Rights Division and the EEOC (EEOC charge). He stated:

At the time of my separation from [South Fork], I informed the town Mayor about my concerns of discrimination toward me based on age and national origin/ancestry.... On or about January 17, 2011, I discovered that the Respondent was providing false information to prospective employers therefore[ ] impeding my gainful employment. ...

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Related

Benton v. Town of South Fork
587 F. App'x 447 (Tenth Circuit, 2014)

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553 F. App'x 772, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/benton-v-town-of-south-fork-police-department-ca10-2014.