Leitner v. Westchester Community College

779 F.3d 130, 39 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1430, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 2798, 1 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,257, 2015 WL 774615
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedFebruary 25, 2015
DocketDocket No. 14-1042-cv
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 779 F.3d 130 (Leitner v. Westchester Community College) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leitner v. Westchester Community College, 779 F.3d 130, 39 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1430, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 2798, 1 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,257, 2015 WL 774615 (2d Cir. 2015).

Opinion

CHIN, Circuit Judge:

In this case, plaintiff-appellee Carol Le-itner was an adjunct professor at West-chester Community College, a community college in the State University of New York (“SUNY”) system. She was fired, purportedly for making offensive comments in class. She sued Westchester Community College and certain of its administrators (collectively ‘WCC”), claiming that they violated her state and federal constitutional rights.

The district court (Seibel, J.) granted in part and denied in part WCC’s motion to dismiss. In relevant part, the district court concluded that WCC was not entitled to sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment. We agree. Accordingly, we affirm.1

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

A. The Facts

For purposes of this appeal, the facts alleged in Leitner’s first amended complaint are assumed to be true. In addition, the organizational facts relevant to the sovereign immunity question are set forth in the governing statutes and are largely undisputed.

1. WCC

SUNY is a higher education system established by the New York State Education Department, and WCC is a community college within the SUNY system. By statute, SUNY is comprised of four university centers, various technical and specialized colleges, “and such additional universities, colleges and other institutions” as are “acquired, established, operated or contracted to be operated for the state by the state university trustees.” N.Y. Educ. Law § 352(3). New York law defines “community colleges” as “[cjolleges established and operated pursuant to the [New York Education Law] ... and receiving financial assistance from the state.” N.Y. Educ. Law § 350(2).

The laws of Westchester County provide that WCC is a “county department.” Laws of Westchester County § 164.71. WCC is locally sponsored by Westchester County and is predominately operated by and accountable to county authorities. See N.Y. Educ. Law §§ 355, 6306. WCC’s Board of Trustees is composed of ten members: four are appointed by the governor of New York, five are appointed by the Westchester County Board, and one is appointed by WCC’s student body. WCC’s Board appoints WCC’s President, adopts the curriculum, and prepares the annual budget, all subject to approval by SUNY’s Board. N.Y. Educ. Law § 6306(2). Judgments against WCC are paid out of its [133]*133budget, one-third of which is provided by the state. See N.Y. Educ. Law § 6304(1).

WCC has adopted a three-step procedure for disciplining faculty members, which is memorialized in a WCC memorandum written in 1983. The memorandum states that if the administration learns of “some difficulty with the performance or decorum of a faculty member,” the following disciplinary procedures are followed: (1) an informal meeting with the associate dean, department chairperson, and union representative, followed by a letter summarizing the meeting; (2) if the problem recurs, a second meeting with the parties, after which an administrator will draft a letter detailing the problem and course of remediation; and (3) if the problem persists, a hearing with the parties and WCC’s dean, after which the dean may recommend termination of the faculty member. June 3, 1983 Memorandum of John F.M. Flynn.

2. Leitner’s Employment at WCC

In 1981, Leitner began working as an adjunct professor at WCC, and. for thirty years, she regularly taught classes in “Speech Communication” and “Voice and Diction.” In 2004, Leitner had a step-one meeting to address WCC’s criticism of “her refusal to lower her academic standards.” App. at 504. In 2007, Leitner had a step-two meeting to address a number of student complaints that Leitner made offensive remarks during class. After this meeting, WCC directed Leitner not to use “any language that [could] be construed as abusive, belittling, humiliating, or insulting” and to “treat every student with courtesy and respect.” App. at 505.

In the fall 2010, an incident during one of Leitner’s classes led to her step-three meeting, and, ultimately, WCC’s termination of her employment. During a class discussion after a student’s recitation of a poem, Leitner expressed her approval of Arizona’s controversial immigration law and her doubts about the fairness of spending taxpayer money on public services for illegal immigrants. In June 2011, Leitner had a step-three hearing. Based on what WCC contended was a pattern of student complaints and Leitner’s continued failure to comply with previous directives to follow WCC’s speech code, WCC dismissed Leitner, effective July 6, 2011. Le-itner contends that her termination “was the culmination of the administration’s longstanding campaign of retaliation against her.” App. at 519.

B. Proceedings Below

On May 11, 2012, Leitner filed a complaint against WCC alleging that WCC improperly retaliated against her in response to her constitutionally protected in-class speech. Leitner pled First Amendment retaliation claims and as-applied vagueness and overbreadth claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Article I, Sections 6 and 8 of the New York State Constitution. In her amended complaint, Leitner added claims against the Union for breach of duty of fair representation and against WCC for violating her rights under the collective bargaining agreement.

WCC moved to dismiss Leitner’s complaint under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) arguing, in relevant part, that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted, and that WCC was entitled to immunity. Ruling from the bench on March 24, 2014, the district court, in relevant part, held that WCC was not entitled to sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment. On April 4, 2014, WCC filed this interlocutory appeal challenging the [134]*134district court’s denial of sovereign immunity-

DISCUSSION

A. Applicable Law

1.Jurisdiction and Standard of Review

Our jurisdiction is generally limited to hearing “final decisions of the district courts.” 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We do, of course, have jurisdiction to hear appeals from the small class of non-final “collateral” district court orders that “finally determine claims of right separable from, and collateral to, rights asserted in the action, too important to be denied review and too independent of the cause itself to require that appellate consideration be deferred until the whole case is adjudicated.” Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 546, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed.

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

Related

Salvana v. DOCCS
Second Circuit, 2026
XinXiu Tina Hogan v. Kennebec Valley Community College
2026 ME 5 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2026)
Maltese v. Brown
Second Circuit, 2026
Tripathy v. Lockwood
Second Circuit, 2025
JOHNSON v. DUCHARME
D. New Jersey, 2025
Leise v. Christie
Second Circuit, 2025
Doe v. Deluca
Vermont Superior Court, 2025
Jones v. State of New York
Second Circuit, 2025
Grijalva v. Coward
E.D. New York, 2024
Good v. United States Department of Education
121 F.4th 772 (Tenth Circuit, 2024)
Maltese v. Brown
E.D. New York, 2024
Holmes v. Groder
E.D. New York, 2024
Iosilevich v. United States
E.D. New York, 2024

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
779 F.3d 130, 39 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1430, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 2798, 1 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 45,257, 2015 WL 774615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leitner-v-westchester-community-college-ca2-2015.