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Myers v. Hasara

Since legal standards concerning public employer's authority to punish employee for exercising rights protected by First Amendment were well established when city mayor suspended health inspector for comments made by inspector about produce market, qualified immunity did not bar inspector's claims against mayor.

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

Kanne, Circuit Judge. At the behest of its mayor, the City of Springfield suspended health inspector Cynthia Myers for comments she made regarding an open-air produce market that allegedly had been operating in violation of city and state law. Myers considered the punishment a violation of her constitutional rights and sued the mayor and health department director under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983. The district court granted the defendants summary judgment on the merits and also ruled that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity because the law regarding discipline of public employees for exercising their First Amendment rights was not clearly established at the time of Myers’ suspension. However, because the district court resolved factual disputes in favor of the defendants, we hold that summary judgment was not warranted in this case. Furthermore, the standards concerning a public employer’s authority to punish an employee for exercising rights guaranteed under the First Amendment were well established at the time of the events in question, and therefore qualified immunity was not justified. We reverse the grant of summary judgment and remand for trial.

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