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City of Fairbanks v. Rice3/17/2000
[No. 5253 - March 17, 2000]
Appeal from the Superior Court of the State of Alaska, Fourth Judicial District, Fairbanks, Mary E. Greene, Judge.
I. INTRODUCTION
Jimmy Rice and Lee DeSpain sued the City of Fairbanks (their former employer) and two city employees alleging violations of the Alaska Whistleblower Act resulting in their constructive discharge, and violations of their civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 of the federal Civil Rights Act. A jury returned verdicts for Rice and DeSpain. The city and its employees appeal; Rice and DeSpain cross-appeal. We affirm because sufficient evidence supports the verdicts, because the city was not entitled to qualified immunity on the Whistleblower Act claim, and because the superior court did not err in rejecting the defendants' claim that Rice and DeSpain failed to exhaust their administrative remedies. We find no prejudicial error in the parties' other appeal and cross-appeal issues.
II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
Jimmy Rice and Lee DeSpain were firefighters employed by the City of Fairbanks, Department of Public Safety (fire department). Both were members of the Fairbanks Fire Fighters Association, affiliated with the International Association of Fire Fighters.
In 1994 DeSpain and Rice reported that Michael Pulice, the city's Director of Public Safety and their indirect supervisor, was overstating his "comp" time. The Fairbanks City Council discussed the report on February 13, 1995. The next day Pulice telephoned Fairbanks attorney Brett Wood, knowing that Wood had represented Rice and DeSpain. According to Wood, Pulice threatened during the telephone conversation to retaliate against DeSpain and Rice for their report and other activities unrelated to their employment, and insinuated that he might "set them up" or entrap them. Wood informed City Manager Patrick Cole of the call and asked that Rice and DeSpain be placed on administrative leave until the issue was resolved. Cole declined to do so.
Three other circumstances contributed to animosity between Rice and DeSpain and the city: the city and Pulice allegedly tried to weaken or discredit the fire fighters' union, Rice and DeSpain engaged in surveillance of Pulice, and Rice told then City Manager Mark Boyer that Pulice had had an extra-marital affair with Pulice's administrative assistant.
Rejecting the city's recommendation to submit the issue to dispute resolution, DeSpain and Rice resigned, claiming that they were concerned about retaliation and "intolerable" working conditions. When they resigned, DeSpain and Rice had each been employed for at least twenty years with the fire department.
Rice and DeSpain sued the city, former City Manager Cole, and Public Safety Director Pulice. They claimed in their various complaints that the city, Cole, and Pulice had violated the Alaska Whistleblower Act, resulting in the plaintiffs' constructive discharge and the loss of a promotion for Rice, and that Cole and Pulice had violated the plaintiffs' federal constitutional rights of free speech. DeSpain also sued Pulice for defamation, alleging that Pulice had told attorney Wood that DeSpain was involved in an extramarital affair.
The case was tried before a jury. The superior court effectively dismissed the Whistleblower Act claims against Pulice and Cole individually when it allowed the jury to consider those claims only against the city. The court instructed the jury to consider the § 1983 claims against Pulice and Cole.
The jury found for DeSpain on his civil rights claims against Cole and Pulice, on his Whistleblower Act claim against the city, and on his defamation cla
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