Healy v. Town of Pembroke Park

643 F. Supp. 1208, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24865
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedMay 29, 1986
Docket82-6368-Civ, 82-6369-Civ, 82-6441-Civ and 82-6442-Civ.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 643 F. Supp. 1208 (Healy v. Town of Pembroke Park) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Healy v. Town of Pembroke Park, 643 F. Supp. 1208, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24865 (S.D. Fla. 1986).

Opinion

ORDER

PAINE, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction (DE 76), Plaintiff’s Memorandum in opposition thereto (DE 78); Consolidated Plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Liability (DE 74), the Defendants’ Reply Memorandum in Opposition thereto (DE 78); Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment on Damages (DE 68), the Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Opposition thereto (DE 81); the Defendants’ Memorandum of Law in Support of the Individual Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss on the Grounds of Absolute Legislative Immunity (DE 80); the Defend *1210 ants’ Motion to Bifurcate (DE 79); and the Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Memorandum Re: Collateral Estoppel and Res Judicata (DE 82).

The Complaint

The complaint in these four consolidated cases is the same. The Plaintiffs are four policemen who are suing 1) the municipality where they were formerly employed, PEMBROKE PARK, 2) the Mayor of Pembroke Park, YOURMAN, and 3) four Pembroke Park municipal commissioners, LIN-ET, LOFLAND, CROCCO and WEEKLEY. The action is brought against the above defendants individually and in their official capacities. It is a civil action for preliminary and permanent injunctions to prevent deprivation under color of state law of certain rights, privileges and immunities secured to the Plaintiff by the Constitution of the United States, for an Order declaring unconstitutional the discriminatory acts of defendants, and for money damages to redress the injury caused to Plaintiff by the unconstitutional acts of Defendants. The complaint states that the action is brought pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. § 2201, 2202 and Title 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Jurisdiction is conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 1343.

Plaintiff, Jesse Politi, was employed by Pembroke Park as a police officer on February 9, 1975 and was discharged by the Town on September 30, 1980. The employment of the other plaintiffs is as follows:

Plaintiff Brown —employed as police officer March 7,1979 terminated Sept 30,1980
Plaintiff Frost —employed as police officer June 20,1976 terminated Sept. 30,1980
Plaintiff Healy —employed as police officer August 21,1979 terminated Sept 80,1980

The Complaint alleges that the Plaintiffs, as public employees, have a state constitutional right not to have their right to work abridged, or denied on account of membership or non-membership in a union or labor organization, the right to bargain collectively and to be represented in the determination of grievances pursuant to Art. I Sect. 6 of Florida Constitution and Fla. Statutes 447.301.

On or about October 1978, the Plaintiffs became represented by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), a labor organization. On or about October 1979, the Town signed a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the FOP. The contract was to cover the period from October 1, 1979 through September 30, 1980. According to the Complaint, during that year numerous disputes arose over the interpretation and application of the collective bargaining agreement. The Complaint alleges that as a result of these disputes, all the defendants developed “hostile, hateful and vengeful attitudes toward the plaintiffs’ labor organization”. The Complaint alleges that the Town refused to grant grievances or process them properly. The Town and its Mayor refused to negotiate over a new CBA and informed the FOP that it was considering contracting the police service to an outside agency. Ultimately, on July 9, 1980, the Commissioners voted to enter into a contract with the Broward County Sheriff to perform all police work for the Town. The contract became effective October 1, 1980. On September 30, 1980 the Plaintiffs were discharged.

The FOP filed timely Unfair Labor Practice charges with the State of Florida, Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC) charging violations of Florida Statute 447.-501(l)(a)(b) and (c). The life of the PERC proceedings is as follows: 1 On September 10, 1980, the FOP filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge alleging that the Town violated Florida Statutes by refusing to meet with FOP representatives to negotiate a successor collective bargaining agreement and by unilaterally, and in response to the employees’ protected activities, contracting out their work so as to avoid bargaining and otherwise dealing with the FOP. PERC found the charge sufficient and or *1211 dered the Town to file an answer on or before October 8, 1980. An evidentiaryhearing on the charge was scheduled for October 30, 1980. When no answer to the charge was filed by October 14, 1980, PERC issued an order directing the Town to show cause within ten days why its failure to answer should not be deemed an admission of the material facts in the charge. The Town failed to demonstrate that good cause existed to justify its failure to file an answer. Thus, the material facts were deemed admitted. PERC concluded inter alia, that “By entering into a contract for police services with the Sheriff of Broward County on July 9, 1980, to avoid bargaining collectively and otherwise dealing with the FOP, to avoid entering into a new collective bargaining agreement with the FOP, to discourage membership in the FOP, and to retaliate against the FOP and its members for having filed grievances against the Town, the Town engaged in an unfair labor practice within the meaning of Section 447.501(l)(a) and (b) Florida Statutes 1979.” PERC ordered full reinstatement. This PERC decision of March 12, 1981 was appealed to the First District Court of Appeals, State of Florida, and on November 23, 1981, the appeal was dismissed for lack of prosecution. The Plaintiffs sought enforcement of the PERC order in the Circuit Court in Broward County. The Circuit Court found that the Town had failed to comply with PERC’s Order of March 12, 1981, as well as a further Order dated May 21,1981. The Town appealed this Order to the Fourth District Court of Appeal. On March 8, 1983, the Circuit Court granted a Motion to Vacate the automatic stay of the Court’s Order created by the Town’s appeal and further ordered the Town to reinstate its former police officers no later than April 13, 1983 (some two years after the initial Order of reinstatement). Once again, the Town sought review in the Fourth District Court of Appeal of the Order vacating the automatic stay. Review was denied on April 4, 1983.

On April 8, 1983, the Town then filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus, or Writ of Prohibition with the Supreme Court of Florida seeking to review the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s action on the vacation of the automatic stay. This Petition was denied by the Supreme Court on April 15, 1983.

On February 15, 1984, the Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the Order of November 12, 1982, which enforced the original PERC Order. The Town appealed this decision to the Florida Supreme Court, which declined to accept jurisdiction.

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Bluebook (online)
643 F. Supp. 1208, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/healy-v-town-of-pembroke-park-flsd-1986.