Howard v. City of Coos Bay, No. 14-35506 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that the City retaliated against her success in a previous lawsuit by hiring another individual and rejecting plaintiff's application to become City Finance Director. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment and held that plaintiff's claims were not barred by claim preclusion, but issue preclusion barred plaintiff from recovering economic damages she already received as a result of the first lawsuit. The panel also held that no reasonable jury could find that plaintiff's suit was a substantial reason for the City's refusal to consider her for the Finance Director position in 2011. Therefore, the district court correctly concluded that plaintiff's First Amendment claim did not survive summary judgment. Finally, the panel held that plaintiff's claim under the Oregon Whistleblower Act failed as a matter of law.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Oregon state law by a former employee of the City of Coos Bay, Oregon, who alleged that the City violated the First Amendment and state law by refusing to rehire her as a Finance Director. The City terminated plaintiff from her position as Finance Director in 2008. In 2009, she filed her first lawsuit against the City alleging that her termination was retaliatory (Hunter I). While that lawsuit was pending, plaintiff’s former position became vacant and she applied for the job. Her application was rejected in 2011. After a jury ruled in plaintiff’s favor in Howard I, plaintiff filed a second action against the City in 2012, alleging that the City retaliated against her for her first lawsuit when it rejected her employment application (Howard II). The panel first held that plaintiff’s claims were not barred by claim preclusion because plaintiff’s retaliation claim in the present suit arose from events that occurred after she filed her complaint in Howard I . The panel held that claim preclusion does not apply to claims that accrue after the filing of the operative complaint. The panel held, however, that issue preclusion barred plaintiff from recovering economic damages which she has already
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