Justia U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Marcia Eisenhour sued Weber County, three of its county commissioners, and a state judge. According to Eisenhour, the judge sexually harassed her and the County retaliated against her for reporting the harassment. She claimed violations of Utah's Whistleblower Act, the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, and Title VII. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on all claims. Eisenhour challenged that ruling and the district court’s exclusion of her testimony on disciplinary proceedings involving the judge. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit affirmed: (1) the exclusion of Eisenhour's testimony during the disciplinary proceedings involving Judge Storey; and (2) the award of summary judgment on the claims against the County for violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses, liability under Title VII, and violation of the Whistleblower Act relating to the refusal to rehire her. However, the Court concluded that genuine issues of material fact existed on: (1) the claim against the County under the Whistleblower Act and the First Amendment claim based on closing of the Justice Court; and (2) the claims against Judge Storey based on the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. View "Eisenhour v. Weber County, et al" on Justia Law

The City of Greenwood Village, Colorado fired Police Sergeant Patrick Cillo after an incident involving officers under his command. Sgt. Cillo alleged the City's real motive for firing him was opposition to the union chapter he led. Sgt. Cillo and his union sued the City and three individuals. The district court granted summary judgment for Defendants on all claims. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit concluded that Sgt. Cillo survived summary judgment as to the first three "Pickering/Connick" factors and that the individual defendants were not entitled to summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds. The district court's judgment was reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings. View "Cillo, et al v. City of Greenwood Vilage, et al" on Justia Law

An immigration judge found petitioner Nadia Maatougui removable for marriage fraud in 2004. Petitioner then asylum and four other forms of relief from removal. The Immigration Judge denied the requests, and the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed. Petitioner claimed on appeal to the Tenth Circuit that the IJ and BIA erred in denying her a hardship waiver and cancellation of removal based on their credibility determinations and the weight they gave the evidence in her case. Under case law, the Tenth Circuit determined it did not have jurisdiction to overturn their credibility determinations or evidence weighing, and thus could not grant relief on that claim. Petitioner also claimed that changed conditions in her native Morocco and the ineffective assistance of her prior counsel at a hearing in 2004 merited reopening her case. The Tenth Circuit concluded petitioner failed to present new, material, previously unavailable evidence that justified reopening her case. View "Maatougui v. Holder, Jr." on Justia Law

Jeremy Myers challenged the district court's dismissal of his malicious prosecution claim, alleging violations of his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Specifically, he argued that Detective Brian Koopman obtained an arrest warrant by fabricating facts to create the illusion of probable cause. As a result, Myers spent three days in custody. Upon careful consideration of the facts of this case, the Tenth Circuit concluded that the district court did not err in dismissing Myers’ Fourteenth Amendment claim because an adequate state remedy existed, but the district court improperly dismissed Myers’ Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim as untimely after recasting it as a claim for false imprisonment. View "Myers v. Koopman" on Justia Law

Defendant Officer Patricia Yazzie appeals the district court's denial of qualified immunity in this case that alleged wrongful arrest and imprisonment (Count I) and illegal seizure of property (Count II). This case was an interlocutory appeal following the district court's ruling in an action brought by Spero Panagoulakos pursuant to 42 U.S.C. sections 1983 and 1988, and 28 U.S.C. 1343. Upon careful consideration of the district court record, the Tenth Circuit found that the officer was entitled to qualified immunity because "no clearly established law imposed on her a duty to release Panagoulakos following his lawful arrest after [a] traffic stop." View "Panagoulakos v. Yazzie, et al" on Justia Law

Two prison guards had sexual intercourse with Plaintiff-Appellant Stacey Graham while she was in solitary confinement at the Logan County Jail in Oklahoma. The guards confessed and were fired immediately. Plaintiff sought damages in a civil-rights complaint against the two guards and the county sheriff. She alleged a violation of the Eighth Amendment. The federal district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on the ground that the sexual acts were consensual. The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision: "[a]lthough we recognize a need to examine consent carefully in the prison context, this case does not present a factual issue with regard to Ms. Graham's consent." View "Graham v. Sheriff of Logan County, et al" on Justia Law

Petitioner Sara Debord filed suit against her employer, Mercy Health Services of Kansas, for sexual harassment and retaliation in violation of Title VII. Petitioner claimed Mercy knew or should have known that her supervisor created a hostile workplace through unwanted touching and offensive sexual remarks. She also claimed that Mercy did not do enough to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, and that, when she finally reported the harassment, Mercy retaliated by firing her. After reviewing the evidence at summary judgment, the district court concluded there was no triable issue of material fact. The Tenth Circuit, after its review of the matter, agreed with the district court: the record did not disclose that Mercy knew or should have known about petitioner's allegations of a hostile workplace, and she did not provide a reasonable explanation for the nearly five years she waited to first report the harassment. Nor was there a genuine dispute about whether Mercy honestly held legitimate reasons for terminating Debord based on its conclusion that she was dishonest and disruptive during Mercy's investigation of allegations about her supervisor's conduct and claims she improperly received extra pay. View "Debord v. Mercy Health System of Kansas, et al" on Justia Law

Plaintiff-Appellee Brandon Blackmon brought a 42 U.S.C. 1982 action against various members of the juvenile detention center in Sedgwick, Kansas, alleging they violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights as a pre-trial detainee when he was taken there as an eleven-year-old. He claimed that the staff regularly used a "Pro-Straint Restraining Chair, Violent Prisoner Model" sometimes as a legitimate effort to stop him from committing suicide, but mostly, as plaintiff contended, to punish him. The chair is equipped with wrist, chest and ankle restraints; as a juvenile detainee, plaintiff was 4'11' and 96 pounds. The district court denied defendants' motion for dismissal based on qualified immunity grounds. Defendants appealed to the Tenth Circuit, maintaining that the district court erred in holding that the facts, when viewed in a light favorable to plaintiff, suggested that defendants sometimes exceeded the scope of qualified immunity. After its review of the district court record, the Tenth Circuit affirmed in all respects except one: the Court directed the district court to grant qualified immunity to defendant Sutton on plaintiff's "failure to transfer" claim. View "Blackmon v. Sutton, et al" on Justia Law

George Roberts said IBM fired him because of his age. He argued an instant message exchange between two of the company’s human resources managers referencing his "shelf life" played a direct role in his eventual discharge. The Tenth Circuit concluded that after its review of the evidence presented at trial, the term "shelf life" had nothing to do with Roberts’s age and everything to do with his workload. "Once its euphemisms and acronyms are translated into English, the instant message conversation unmistakably suggests that 'shelf life' was nothing worse than an inartful reference to Mr. Roberts’s queue of billable work. And that is more than enough to preclude it from amounting to direct evidence of discrimination in violation of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act." View "Roberts v. IBM" on Justia Law

Abercrombie & Fitch appealed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the court’s denial of summary judgment in favor of Abercrombie, on the EEOC’s claim that Abercrombie failed to provide a reasonable religious accommodation for a prospective employee, Samantha Elauf in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After review, the Tenth Circuit concluded Abercrombie was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law because there was no genuine dispute of material fact that Ms. Elauf ever informed Abercrombie prior to its hiring decision that she wore a hijab for religious reasons and that she needed an accommodation for that practice because of Abercrombie’s clothing policy. Accordingly, the case was remanded to the district court with instructions to vacate its judgment and for entry of judgment in favor of Abercrombie. View "EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch" on Justia Law