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Burns v. State Police Ass'n of Mass.

Neither anonymous false accusations nor the publication of a anonymous letter with veiled critical references to a black trooper constituted an actionable case of racial discrimination against a state police association and one of its officers, as the evidence showed there were other possible non-racially based explanations for the activities involving the trooper.

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The full case caption appears at the end of this opinion.

COFFIN, Senior Circuit Judge. Plaintiff-appellant John Burns claims that the State Police Association of Massachusetts (SPAM) and one of its officers conspired to prevent his promotion to a higher rank in the state police force because of his race, in violation of 42 U.S.C. � 1985(3). Concluding that a conspiracy could not exist between a corporation and one of its officers acting in his official capacity, the district court granted summary judgment for defendants on the � 1985 claim and remanded related state law claims of defamation, slander and malicious prosecution to a Massachusetts court. We affirm, though on the more basic ground that appellant failed to present sufficient evidence of racial animus to support his � 1985 claim.

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