Leverington v. City of Colorado Springs, No. 09-1550 (10th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseFor over a year, Plaintiff-Appellant Miriam Leverington worked as a cardiac nurse for the internal staffing agency of Memorial Health system (Memorial), which is an enterprise of the City of Colorado Springs (City). Plaintiff was fired from her position after she told a Colorado Springs Police Officer during a “less than cordial” traffic stop, that she hoped she never had him as a patient. The Officer gave her a ticket, and later informed Plaintiff’s supervisors about her statement. Memorial terminated her employment. Plaintiff sued the officer and the City under 42 U.S.C. §1983, alleging that the defendants violated her First Amendment right to free speech. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case arguing that Plaintiff had no case against them and proved nothing. The district court granted defendants’ motion, holding that “there is no authority to support a claim that such a single statement in that context can be considered protected speech.” Plaintiff appealed. The Tenth Circuit held that “while Ms. Leverington certainly has free speech rights even as a public employee, in this case, Memorial did not overstep its bounds in taking action against her for her statement to [the officer].” The Court affirmed the lower court’s decision dismissing Plaintiff’s claim.
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