Rogers v. Kelly

866 F.2d 997, 1989 WL 4499
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 26, 1989
DocketNo. 88-1234
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 866 F.2d 997 (Rogers v. Kelly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rogers v. Kelly, 866 F.2d 997, 1989 WL 4499 (8th Cir. 1989).

Opinion

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

Leslie T. Rogers was terminated from his position with the Little Rock School District without being given adequate due process. He appeals the district court’s1 award of one dollar in nominal damages. He also appeals as insufficient the court’s award of attorney’s fees. We affirm.

I.

The factual background of this ease is described in Rogers v. Masem, 788 F.2d 1288, 1289-91 (8th Cir.1985) {Rogers I), wherein we first considered this dispute. We therefore will discuss only those facts necessary to the issue of damages.

In 1979, Dr. Leslie T. Rogers was hired by the Little Rock School District as an evaluation specialist. After two years in that position, he was reassigned to a position as assistant principal at Henderson Junior High School. As to Rogers’ year at Henderson, the district court2 to which the case was tried found the following:

Dr. Rogers’ period of employment at Henderson can be described as one of continuing conflict. * * * Although many of Dr. Rogers’ confrontations involved Marjorie Hubbard [the principal], he also experienced difficulty with a football coach, teachers who were called upon to work with him, the representative of the Classroom Teachers’ Association, bus drivers and the supervisor of transportation for the district.
Dr. Rogers complains that he was the victim of unfair treatment by Mrs. Hubbard and others while at Henderson. He claims that his problems with Mrs. Hubbard stemmed from the fact that she was insensitive to black children and treated blacks and poor whites differently from whites who enjoyed economic advantages.
[999]*999It is not necessary to review all the incidents involving Dr. Rogers and those with whom he came in conflict while he was at Henderson in order to resolve who was at fault in each incident. After hearing the witnesses and reviewing the exhibits, the court is convinced that Dr. Rogers was unable to resolve his differences of opinion with Mrs. Hubbard and others without an unpleasant encounter. On several occasions, he ended a meeting with a flurry of heated words or a threat to call his attorney. While the court does not doubt Dr. Rogers’ sincerity about his concern for the treatment of blacks and the poor, self-righteousness is no excuse for the abusive behavior and disruptive attitude displayed by Dr. Rogers on many occasions.

Rogers v. Masem, No. LR-C-82-485, slip op. at 2-3 (E.D.Ark. Oct. 4, 1984). In April 1982 Rogers was reassigned to the district’s personnel department.

On June 15, 1982, Superintendent Ed Kelly wrote Rogers that he was recommending his termination. On July 12,1982, Rogers’ attorney requested a hearing before the school district’s board of directors (the Board). The Board met the next day and, without any participation by Rogers, voted not to renew Rogers’ contract. The Board eventually provided Rogers with an informal hearing on October 28, 1982. Rogers was given the opportunity to respond to material reviewed by the Board prior to its vote to terminate Rogers. Rogers and his attorney also made a statement to the Board. After the hearing, the Board allowed its earlier vote of nonrenewal to stand.

Rogers, who is black, sued the Little Rock School District, its superintendent, and its board members, claiming race discrimination and violation of due process rights. The district court, after a bench trial, concluded that Rogers had not been discriminated against on the basis of race. It also found no violation of due process.

On appeal, this court affirmed the district court finding that Rogers had not proved discrimination. Rogers I, 788 F.2d at 1292. We reversed, however, on the procedural due process claim. We concluded that the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act of 1979, Ark.Stat.Ann. §§ 80-1264 to -1264.10 (1980) (repealed), created for Rogers a substantive property right to continued employment “of which he could not ‘be deprived except pursuant to constitutionally adequate procedures.’ ” Rogers I, 788 F.2d at 1295 (quoting Cleveland Bd. of Ed. v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 541, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 1493, 84 L.Ed.2d 494 (1985)). Because Rogers had not been afforded a pre-termination hearing, we held that he had been denied procedural due process. Id. at 1295. We remanded “for entry of judgment for Rogers and for calculation of damages and other appropriate relief in accordance with [the] opinion.” Id.

On remand, Rogers sought back pay, reinstatement, restoration of benefits, damages, and attorneys’ fees. The district court relied on the trial court’s findings of fact, and on its own review of the record, and concluded that Rogers suffered no actual harm since he would have been fired even if he had received procedural due process. Thus, the court awarded one dollar in nominal damages. The district court awarded attorneys’ fees to Rogers’ three attorneys. It awarded Richard Roachell $2,686.70 in fees and costs. The court also awarded John Walker $3,375 and Lazar Palnick $1,875. This was substantially less than Walker and Palnick had requested.

II.

In Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247, 98 S.Ct. 1042, 55 L.Ed.2d 252 (1978), the Supreme Court stated:

Because the right to procedural due process is “absolute” in the sense that it does not depend upon the merits of a claimant’s substantive assertions, and because of the importance to organized society that procedural due process be observed, we believe that the denial of procedural due process should be actionable for nominal damages without proof of actual injury.

[1000]*1000Id. at 266, 98 S.Ct. at 1054 (citations omitted). In Rogers I we held that Rogers’ right to procedural due process was violated. Thus, he is entitled to nominal damages.

Substantial compensatory damages, however, may be awarded only to compensate actual injury caused by the denial of procedural due process; damages cannot be presumed to flow from every deprivation of procedural due process. Id. at 260-65, 98 S.Ct. at 1050-53. The district court on remand concluded that Rogers suffered no actual injury “since it is both apparent from the factual record and implicit in [the trial court's] unassailed conclusions that [Rogers] would have been fired even if he had been accorded procedural due process.” Rogers v. Kelly, 674 F.Supp. 1372, 1374 (E.D.Ark.1987).

A.

Rogers strenuously asserts that the district court’s decision is in contravention of the law of the case as established in Rogers I. It is a fundamental principle, however, that “[t]he doctrine of law of the case comes into play only with respect to issues previously determined.” Quern v. Jordan, 440 U.S. 332, 347 n. 18, 99 S.Ct. 1139, 1148 n. 18, 59 L.Ed.2d 358 (1979) (citing In re Sanford Fork & Tool Co., 160 U.S. 247, 16 S.Ct. 291, 40 L.Ed. 414 (1895)). This court in Rogers I

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