Holly Judge v. Shikellamy School District, 905 F.3d 122

Holly Judge, a tenured elementary school principal, was arrested May 30, 2014 for suspected drunk driving; her BAC later tested at .332. She was released that night without being told the result.
About three weeks later Superintendent Patrick Kelley confronted Judge, delivered a letter demanding her "immediate resignation" by the next day or he would issue written charges seeking dismissal for grounds including "immorality," and offered a neutral reference if she resigned.
Judge asked if there was anything she could do, consulted her mother (not counsel), and resigned the next day after learning she had in fact been charged with DUI.
Judge sued the school district and individual officers alleging constructive discharge and claims for procedural and substantive due process, equal protection, and breach of contract; district court dismissed some claims, granted summary judgment to the district on the remaining contract and procedural-due-process claims, and dismissed individual defendants on qualified immunity grounds.
The Third Circuit reviewed de novo whether Judge’s resignation was voluntary or a constructive discharge and whether any constitutional or contractual claims survived.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Judge was constructively discharged (i.e., resignation was involuntary)	Kelley’s ultimatum and short deadline coerced Judge into resigning; resignation therefore was not voluntary	Letter offered an alternative (formal charges and a pre-termination hearing); objectively a reasonable person would not feel compelled to resign	Resignation was voluntary as a matter of law; no genuine dispute of coercion or duress
Whether procedural due process claim (tenured employee) survives	Resignation under coercion deprived Judge of property/liberty interests without due process	Judge had contractual right to a hearing if charges were filed; alternative process available and not illusory	Procedural due process claim fails because no constructive discharge to trigger deprivation
Whether breach of contract claim survives	Forced resignation circumvented contract protections (notice/hearing)	Contract required written notice and hearing before termination; option to pursue charges preserved those rights	Contract claim fails for same reason: resignation was voluntary, so no breach
Whether Individual Defendants are liable / subject to suit (qualified immunity)	Individual actors compelled resignation and caused constitutional violation	Qualified immunity protects individuals absent an established constitutional violation	Individuals dismissed based on qualified immunity because no substantive constitutional violation was shown

Leheny v. City of Pittsburgh, 183 F.3d 220 (3d Cir. 1999) (presumption that resignations are voluntary; plaintiff must show resignation was involuntary)
Colwell v. Rite Aid Corp., 602 F.3d 495 (3d Cir. 2010) (objective reasonable-person standard for constructive discharge)
Hargray v. City of Hallandale, 57 F.3d 1560 (11th Cir. 1995) (useful multi-factor framework for evaluating whether resignation was coerced)
Duffy v. Paper Magic Group, Inc., 265 F.3d 163 (3d Cir. 2001) (discussing objective test for whether employee felt compelled to resign)
Zelno v. Lincoln Intermediate Unit No. 12 Bd. of Dirs., 786 A.2d 1022 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2001) (drinking-and-driving conduct can constitute "immorality" supporting termination)
De Ritis v. McGarrigle, 861 F.3d 444 (3d Cir. 2017) (qualified immunity analysis for individual defendants)