Eves v. LePage, No. 16-1492 (1st Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseMark Eves, the Maine Legislature Speaker of the House, obtained a contract of employment with Good Will-Hinckley (GWH), a Maine nonprofit that is largely funded by biennial grants from the state. Whether to disburse that grant money to GWH was left to the discretion of the Governor of Maine. Displeased at GWH’s decision to hire the Speaker, the Governor threatened to withhold GWH’s discretionary funding when payment would ordinarily be due. GWH subsequently terminated the Speaker’s employment contract. The Speaker sued the Governor for damages and injunctive relief, asserting that the Governor had retaliated against the Speaker’s exercise of his First Amendment rights. The federal district court dismissed all claims. The First Circuit (1) affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of the Speaker’s federal claims on qualified immunity grounds; and (2) vacated the district court’s judgment with respect to the dismissal with prejudice of the Speaker’s state claim, which the Court remanded to the district court for a dismissal without prejudice, holding that this matter is best left to the Maine courts.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on January 19, 2018.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on June 19, 2019.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on June 26, 2019.
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