Copenny v. City of Hopewell

7 F. Supp. 3d 635, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33762, 2014 WL 1051141
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedMarch 14, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 3:14-cv-00007-JAG
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 7 F. Supp. 3d 635 (Copenny v. City of Hopewell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Copenny v. City of Hopewell, 7 F. Supp. 3d 635, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33762, 2014 WL 1051141 (E.D. Va. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOHN A. GIBNEY, JR., District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on the defendants’ motions to dismiss. (Dk. Nos. 15 and 17.) The City of Hopewell Police Department learned that an officer, Bobby Copenny, Jr., had taken undue liberties with a high school student in his custody. As a result, the Department terminated his employment. Several months later, a Hopewell grand jury indicted Co-penny for abduction with intent to defile, arising from the same misconduct that led to his termination.

Copenny has sued the City and two high-ranking police officers for violating his civil rights. His amended complaint does not contain any separate counts, but he appears to allege four claims: violation of his right to procedural due process, violation of his right to substantive due process, violation of his due process rights by malicious prosecution, and conspiracy to violate his civil rights.

The Court dismisses the plaintiffs amended complaint. As to procedural due process, Copenny received all the process due to him. His substantive due process claim fails for two reasons: tenured public employment is not a fundamental property interest entitled to substantive due process protection, and nothing in this case “shocks the conscience.” His due process/malicious prosecution has no legal or factual basis. Finally, Copenny’s conspiracy claim is dismissed for failure to allege sufficient facts to support a conspiracy. Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the motion to dismiss on all counts.

I. Facts1

Copenny worked as a police officer for the City of Hopewell Police Department,2 which assigned him to work in Hopewell High School. Copenny arrested a high school student, Cienna Westcarr, for physically threatening a vice principal. Copen-ny took her to the local jail, and gave her a ride home after her booking. A few days later, defendant John Keohane, the Chief of Police, ordered him not to return to Hopewell High School for duty but instead to report to Keohane’s office. There, Defendant Robert Skowron, the deputy chief of police, told Copenny that Westcarr had filed a complaint about Copenny. West-carr said that Copenny had taken her to his apartment before taking her to jail on January 13, 2012.

Copenny then explained his side of the story to Skowron, apparently denying everything. After the interview, Skowron told Copenny not only that Westcarr, when interviewed, described Copenny’s apartment in detail, but also that the police had a security video of Copenny and Westcarr in Copenny’s apartment complex. Not long after this meeting, the Police Department terminated Copenny. After the termination, in accordance with the Hopewell [638]*638Police Department’s procedures, Copenny filed a grievance, initiating a four-step process. After Copenny had proceeded through three of the four steps, he and the City settled their dispute by allowing Co-penny to resign instead of being fired. He then withdrew the grievance.

During the grievance process, a Hopewell grand jury indicted Copenny for abduction with intent to defile for taking Westcarr to his apartment. The Hopewell Circuit Court acquitted Copenny of the abduction charge.

II. Discussion

A Alleged Due Process Violations for Employment Termination

i. Procedural Due Process

When terminated, “a public employee ... [is] entitled to a very limited hearing prior to his termination, to be followed by a more comprehensive post-termination hearing.” Gilbert v. Homar, 520 U.S. 924, 929, 117 S.Ct. 1807, 138 L.Ed.2d 120 (1997) (citing Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill) 470 U.S. 532, 538-39, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 84 L.Ed.2d 494 (1985)). “[A] tenured public employee is entitled to oral or written notice of the charges against him, an explanation of the employer’s evidence, and an opportunity to present his side of the story.” Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 546, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 84 L.Ed.2d 494 (1985) (citing Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U.S. 134, 170, 94 S.Ct. 1633, 40 L.Ed.2d 15 (1974)). When an employer provides post-termination procedures, the employer need not provide extensive pre-termination procedures. Holland v. Rimmer, 25 F.3d 1251, 1258 (4th Cir.1994).

Copenny’s amended complaint shows that the defendants provided him with all the process due to him. Before the termination, Skowron notified Copenny about Westcarr’s allegations, explained the evidence against him, and gave Copenny a chance to tell his side of the story. After the termination, Copenny participated in a comprehensive four-step grievance procedure. The grievance procedure apparently worked fairly, because Hopewell changed Copenny’s termination to a resignation-a considerable benefit to Copenny. The procedural due process claim, therefore, fails.

ii. Substantive Due Process

The Court also dismisses Copen-ny’s substantive due process claim. “Unlike rights subject to procedural due process protection, which arise from sources other than the Constitution, substantive due process rights arise solely from the Constitution.” Huang v. Bd. of Governors of Univ. of N.C., 902 F.2d 1134, 1142 n. 10 (4th Cir.1990). To decide a substantive due process claim, a court must first look “to whether the property interest being deprived is ‘fundamental’ under the Constitution.” Guthrie v. McClaskey, 1:11CV61, 2012 WL 5494457, *6 (W.D.Va. Nov. 13, 2012). “If it is, then substantive due process protects the plaintiff from arbitrary or irrational deprivation, regardless of the adequacy of [the] procedures used.” Id. (quoting Nicholas v. Penn. State Univ., 227 F.3d 133, 142 (3d Cir.2000)). “If the interest is not ‘fundamental,’ however, the governmental action is entirely outside the ambit of substantive [due] process and [the government action] will be upheld so long as the state satisfies the requirements of procedural due process.” Id. (quoting Nicholas, 227 F.3d at 142.)

“[T]enured public employment is not a fundamental property interest entitled to substantive due process protection.” Id.; see also Logar v. W. Va. Univ. Bd. of Governors, 2013 WL 4501052, *6-8 (N.D.W.Va. Aug. 21, 2013) (collecting [639]*639cases). Although the Fourth Circuit has not directly addressed this issue, the Court has said that “[i]t is doubtful” whether a public employee’s government employment “is a right properly subject to substantive due process review.” Huang, 902 F.2d at 1142 n. 10. The public employee’s right to his position, “if it exists, is essentially a state law contract right, not a fundamental interest embodied in the Constitution.” Id. (citing Regents Univ. of Michigan v. Ewing, 474 U.S. 214, 229-30, 106 S.Ct. 507, 88 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985) (Powell, J. concurring)).

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Bluebook (online)
7 F. Supp. 3d 635, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33762, 2014 WL 1051141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/copenny-v-city-of-hopewell-vaed-2014.