Mard v. Town of Amherst

350 F.3d 184, 20 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1119, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 23662, 2003 WL 22770063
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedNovember 20, 2003
Docket03-1216
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 350 F.3d 184 (Mard v. Town of Amherst) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mard v. Town of Amherst, 350 F.3d 184, 20 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1119, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 23662, 2003 WL 22770063 (1st Cir. 2003).

Opinion

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

In her action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, plaintiff Veronica Mard appeals the district court’s award of summary judgment in favor of defendants Town of Amherst et al. Mard complains that the defendants terminated her injury leave benefits without providing adequate notice or opportunity to be heard, in violation of her right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The district court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment and denied the plaintiffs cross motion for summary judgment. Finding compliance with the requirements of due process, we affirm the decision of the district court.

I.

We recite the facts in the light most favorable to the appellant, drawing all reasonable inferences in her favor. See Macone v. Town of Wakefield, 277 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir.2002). On September 2, 2000, Mard, a firefighter for the Town of Amherst, Massachusetts, answered an emergency ambulance call at Amherst College. While proceeding down a hill with a stretcher to retrieve a patient, Mard slipped and fell, landing on her back and shoulder. As a result of the fall, Mard received injuries to her back, neck, shoulders, left arm, left leg, right knee, and ankle.

After Mard completed the call and returned to the station, she informed her supervisor, Captain Donald R. McKay, that she was injured and would need to go home. Mard did not return to work and began receiving injury leave benefits pur *134 suant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 41, § 111F. The statute provides that whenever a firefighter of a city or town “is incapacitated for duty because of injury sustained in the performance of his duty,” he or she shall be granted paid leave “for the period of such incapacity.” Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 41 § 111F. Such leave may not extend beyond “any period after a physician designated by the board or officer authorized to appoint police officers or fire fighters in such [town] determines that such incapacity no longer exists.” Id.

As a member of the Amherst Fire Fighters, Local 1764, I.A.F.F. (“the Union”), Mard was a party to a collective bargaining agreement between the Union and the Town. The agreement, a copy of which is sent to all union members within their first month of full employment, specifies the rights and obligations of union members who are sick or injured and affirms that the provisions of the agreement “shall not be less than the provisions of [Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 41, § 111F].” Article 21.5 of the agreement further provides:

The employee shall upon request submit medical evidence to the Fire Chief on those occasions on which leave as provided herein is claimed when the employee has been treated by a physician or other medical practitioner, including, but not limited to, treatment by an osteopath or chiropractor. The Fire Chief may require the timely presentation of such medical evidence or other evidence reasonably satisfactory to him in connection with a claim for sick or injury leave hereunder in the event he reasonably suspects that the employee making such claim was not legitimately incapacitated from performing his duties as an employee.

Under Article 21.11 of the collective bargaining agreement, the Fire Chief, acting on behalf of the Town, may determine the length and extent of a union member’s injury:

Upon ... his own initiative the Fire Chief will arrange for medical evaluation of length and extent of disability, including an opinion as to the ability of the employee to perform limited duty. The Fire Chief shall make a determination of suitability for duty taking into consideration the needs of the department ....

As provided by Article 21.12, any “disputes regarding interpretation or application of [the] policy [are] subject to the grievance and arbitration procedure” set forth in the agreement.

In June 2001, the Town requested that the plaintiff attend an independent medical examination conducted by neurologist Linda C. Cowell. Dr. Cowell conducted an extensive evaluation and prepared an eight-page report for the Town, which included medical records provided by Mard. The report noted that “the examining process was explained to the examinee and she understands there is no patient/treating physician relationship and the report will be sent to the requesting client.” It concluded that Mard “could perform a light duty job with essentially no lifting.”

. Immediately after Mard’s examination by Dr. Cowell, another neurologist, Brian Smith, prescribed medication for migranes that Mard said she had been experiencing. Mard notified the Town that Dr. Smith had placed her on medication that caused her dizziness and disequilibrium and that therefore precluded her from driving. In response to this information, the Town approved the continuation of Mard’s injury leave.

On August 29, 2001, the Town sent Mard a letter notifying her that “an appointment for an Independent Medical Examination ha[d] been arranged for [her]” with a neurologist, Dr. William Donahue. The letter instructed Mard to *135 bring to the appointment “any X-rays, CT scans, MRI studies, [or] other medical records pertaining to [her] injury” and warned that “pursuant to Section 45 of the Workers Compensation Act, failure to attend or obstruction of this examination may suspend your right to compensation.”

Mard attended her appointment with Dr. Donahue and brought with her medical records from her orthopedic surgeon, primary care physician, and chiropractor, as well as records relating to a prior MRI. Mard claims that Dr. Donahue did not ask for her medical records and refused to review the records when she offered them to him. She states that Dr. Donahue told her that he did not wish her to provide any unsolicited information and that she should answer only those questions he asked. She farther claims that the physician conducted an eleven-minute examination, asking only general questions and neglecting to inquire about her migraines or the side effects of her migraine medication. According to Mard, Dr. Donahue did not review her March 2001 MRI or the initial study of the migraines and failed to address her migraines or the effects of her medication in his report to the Town.

The Town, on the other hand, argues that Mard “had the opportunity and did, in fact, present her side of the story to Dr. Donahue,” and that the doctor’s opinion was “based on reliable information, including his physical examination, the plaintiffs description of her symptoms, and a medical records review.” In his four-page report to the Town, Dr. Donahue stated that he took a medical history from Mard and reviewed her medical records, including “an extensive independent medical examination particularly in terms of a history that was done by Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
350 F.3d 184, 20 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1119, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 23662, 2003 WL 22770063, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mard-v-town-of-amherst-ca1-2003.