Majeske v. City of Chicago

740 F. Supp. 1350, 5 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1494, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8024, 53 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 574, 1990 WL 90382
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 27, 1990
Docket89 C 7262
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 740 F. Supp. 1350 (Majeske v. City of Chicago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Majeske v. City of Chicago, 740 F. Supp. 1350, 5 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1494, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8024, 53 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 574, 1990 WL 90382 (N.D. Ill. 1990).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

LINDBERG, District Judge.

Defendants, City of Chicago, Leroy Martin, Charles Ford, Edward Brooks, Hubert Holton, Jr., and Glenn Carr, have moved to dismiss the two-count complaint of plaintiffs, Carol Majeske, Julie P. Johnson, Carol Zancha, Marie Jacobson, Nancy Bringe, and John Gargul. Plaintiffs have moved for class certification. The court now rules on both of these motions.

The motion to dismiss the complaint will be considered first. Although the complaint is not as clear as it ought to be on this point, it appears to allege claims under Section 1981; Section 1983 based on violations of due process and equal protection; and under Illinois law for violations of the Chicago Municipal Code and the Personnel Rules promulgated thereunder and for breach of contract. See 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1981, 1983 (West 1981); U.S. Const. Amend. XIV.

Plaintiffs are white Chicago police officers who sat for the 1989 detectives’ promotional exam. They allege various improper treatment of themselves in connection with that exam, primarily because of a scoring system that favored black and his-panic test takers over white test takers.

Although it is difficult to discern a Section 1981 claim in the complaint, the parties have proceeded on the assumption that one is present. 42 U.S.C.A. § 1981 (West 1981). The court will address this subject first.

Section 1981 provides in part:
*1352 All persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory to make and enforce contracts ... as is enjoyed by white citizens____

42 U.S.C.A. § 1981 (West 1981). An interesting feature of the statute in the context of this case is that it guarantees “the same right ... as is enjoyed by white citizens.” 42 U.S.C.A. § 1981 (West 1981). This, however, does not preclude relief because the Supreme Court has held that Section 1981 prohibits racial discrimination against white persons. McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company, 427 U.S. 273, 96 S.Ct. 2574, 49 L.Ed.2d 493 (1976). The Supreme Court recently said:

[T]he question whether a promotion claim is actionable under § 1981 depends upon whether the nature of the change in position was such that it involved the opportunity to enter into a new contract with the employer. If so, then the employer’s refusal to enter the new contract is actionable under § 1981. In making this determination, a lower court should give a fair and natural reading to the statutory phrase “the same right ... to make ... contracts,” and should not strain in an undue manner the language of § 1981. Only where the promotion rises to the level of an opportunity for a new and distinct relation between the employee and the employer is such a claim actionable under § 1981.

Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, — U.S. -, -, 109 S.Ct. 2363, 2377, 105 L.Ed.2d 132, 155 (1989). Plaintiffs have alleged no facts in their complaint from which it could be concluded that a promotion to detective in the Chicago Police Department “rises to the level of an opportunity for a new and distinct relation between the employee and the employer” and so have not alleged “a claim actionable under § 1981.” Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, — U.S. -, -, 109 S.Ct. 2363, 2377, 105 L.Ed.2d 132, 155 (1989). The Section 1981 claim in plaintiffs’ complaint will therefore be dismissed.

With respect to plaintiffs’ due process claims, defendants contend that plaintiffs have not alleged a protectible property interest and so have not alleged a violation of due process. Plaintiffs in their responsive memorandum have identified the following as their protectible property interests:

Plaintiffs allege that they have a property interest in the established, non-discretionary criteria for promotions, set forth in the municipal code and personnel rules: the right to be ranked on the basis of their acutal [sic] scores on the basis of excellence. The CITY has no discretion to create racially adjusted “percentile” scores, nor to rank candidates in any order it chooses on an eligibility list, U.S. v. City of Chicago, 853 F.2d 572 at 576 (7th Cir.1988).
Further, plaintiffs have a property right in having a record made of all parts of the examination. The CITY’s customary way, and the only practical way, to record an oral board is to make an audio-video tape.

Plaintiffs cite no authority, including the case cited above, for the proposition that the items noted are property interests protectible under the due process clause.

Moreover, plaintiffs do not address a recent Seventh Circuit opinion, cited in the memorandum in support of defendants’ motion to dismiss, in which that court stated:

Turning to the merits, the City contends, based on Bigby v. City of Chicago, 766 F.2d 1053 (7th Cir.1985), that [intervening appellee Thomas W.] Earth has no protectible interest in his rank on the 1979 [Chicago Police Department sergeant’s eligibility] roster. In Bigby, a group of black police sergeants brought suit against the City under Title VII alleging that the City had discriminated against them by refusing to promote them to lieutenant, because they failed to achieve a qualifying score on the lieutenant’s examination which they contended was racially biased. A group of white and hispanic police sergeants sought and were allowed to intervene in the suit on the ground that it was not “job-related” and therefore violated the intervenors’ rights under the Due Process Clause of *1353 the Fourteenth Amendment. ■ The district court after argument agreed that the exam was discriminatory and ordered the immediate promotion of eleven black sergeants to lieutenant. However, the court refused to order promotion of the intervenors because, though the examination was invalid under Title VII, it was not arbitrary or capricious and so did not warrant relief under the Fourteenth Amendment. The intervenors appealed. We held that the intervening sergeants had neither a property nor liberty interest in a fair promotional exam or in “the rank, which they have not yet attained, of lieutenant.” Id. at 1056. One passage in Bigby is particularly instructive here:
“[T]he promoting officials are authorized to choose among the highest-rated applicants, and no criteria are provided for that choice. See Ill.Rev.Stat. 1981, ch. 24, ¶ 10-1-13; Chicago Municipal Code 1125.1-5(5). Construing the counterpart provision in the statute governing the police forces of smaller municipalities, McCoy v. Board of Fire and Police Comm’rs, 79 Ill.App.3d 742, 744, 35 Ill.Dec. 70, 72, 398 N.E.2d 1020

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Bluebook (online)
740 F. Supp. 1350, 5 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1494, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8024, 53 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 574, 1990 WL 90382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/majeske-v-city-of-chicago-ilnd-1990.