Robin MAGEE, Plaintiff-Appellant v. TRUSTEES OF the HAMLINE UNIVERSITY, MINNESOTA; Donald Lewis; David Titus, in his individual capacity; John Does, 1-5, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 13-1976
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
March 27, 2014
747 F.3d 532
BENTON, Circuit Judge.
Submitted: Feb. 12, 2014.
With Burton‘s unrebutted testimony and the letters documenting other dealerships’ similar conduct to hеlp interpret the parties’ past practice with respect to the ambiguous CBA language at issue, we conclude that the arbitration award drew its essence from the CBA. We therefore find no basis to vaсate the arbitration award.
III. Conclusion
We affirm the district court‘s order granting MADA‘s motion to dismiss the matter with prejudice.
Michelle S. Grant, David Faith, argued Minneapolis, MN, for David Titus.
Maurice G. Jenkins, Southfield, MI, V. John Ella, argued Minneapolis, MN, for Trustees of Hamline University and Donald Lewis.
Before SMITH, BEAM, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.
BENTON, Circuit Judge.
Robin K. Magee was terminated by the law school of Hamline University. She sued under
I.
Hamline is a private university in St. Paul, Minnesota. Magee, a law professor tenured since 1994, taught classes on policing, including police misconduct and race issues in the criminаl justice system. On April 17, 2007, she authored a commentary in the St. Paul Pioneer Press criticizing a state judge‘s decision not to “investigate” allegations of racism in a trial for murder of a St. Paul police officer.
David A. Titus was a St. Paul policе officer and president of the SPPF—a private federation representing St. Paul officers. Days after Magee‘s commentary, he authored an editorial questioning her “fitness to teach” and stating, “I hope Professor Magee confines her race baiting and cop-hating to her newspaper submissions and keeps it out of the classroom.” At Titus‘s urging, Police Chief David Harrington also published an editorial response оn the same page of the Pioneer Press.
The SPPF, under Titus‘s leadership, declared a boycott against the university, seeking punitive action against Magee. The SPPF‘s boycott resolution says that “members of the Saint Paul Police Fеderation shall not participate in any future continued education, professional training programs or other similar that is a product of Hamline University.” The resolution requests “that the police department discontinue and make no future contracts or agreements with Hamline University for educational purposes.” According to Magee, the university had a “business relationship” with the Department to provide “continuing education speakers and classes,” and the Department did not contract with the university after the boycott resolution passed. Titus and other officers contacted university officials, demanding they rеmove Magee. In April 2007, Magee was “summonsed” to explain her newspaper commentary to the university president, and university administrators contemplated adverse actions against Magee.
In 2009, Magee was charged with state tax-law violations and was suspended from teaching. She was convicted in February 2011 of four gross misdemeanors (felony charges were dismissed). See State v. Magee, No. 62-CR-09-15147, 2012 WL 1253071 (Minn.Ct.App. Apr. 16, 2012) (unpublished). Donald M. Lewis, dean of Hamlinе‘s law school since 2008, initiated disciplinary proceedings against Magee. After a faculty vote, she was terminated in July 2011. Magee sued, contending her termination was a concerted effort between the university, Lewis, Titus, and the Department “to please police and to prevent her from teaching about police misconduct, and otherwise to restrain her speech, and as retaliation for past sрeech criticizing government.”
II.
Magee appeals the dismissal of her suit, which this court reviews de novo. See Levy v. Ohl, 477 F.3d 988, 991 (8th Cir. 2007). This court assumes as true all factual allegations in the pleadings, interpreting them most favorably to the nonmoving
Magee sued under
“[W]hether a police officer is acting under color of state law turns on the nature and circumstances of the officer‘s conduct and the relationship of that conduct to the performance of his official duties.” Roe v. Humke, 128 F.3d 1213, 1216 (8th Cir.1997), quoting Martinez v. Colon, 54 F.3d 980, 986 (1st Cir.1995). “Absent any actual or purported relаtionship between the officer‘s conduct and his duties as a police officer, the officer cannot be acting under color of state law.” Ramirez-Peyro v. Holder, 574 F.3d 893, 900 (8th Cir.2009), quoting Roe, 128 F.3d at 1216. Factors include: whether the officer is on duty and in uniform, the mоtivation behind the officer‘s actions, whether the officer had access to the victim because of his position, and whether the officer threatened official conduct in the future. Id.
Magee does nоt plead sufficient facts that Titus was acting “under color of” state law. She does not allege he was on duty or in uniform when he published his editorial, contacted the university, or took any other acts described in the complaint. Id. She does not plead he was motivated by anything other than his personal concern and SPPF position. Id.; Dossett, 399 F.3d at 949 (acts of officials in “the ambit of their personal pursuits are plainly excluded” from Seсtion 1983 liability). She does not contend he had access to her (or her editorial) because he was an officer. Id.
Nor does Magee plead sufficient facts about the university or Lewis. To be liable under § 1983, а private actor must be a “a willful participant in joint activity with the State” in denying a plaintiff‘s constitutional rights. Dossett, 399 F.3d at 947, citing Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 152 (1970). A plaintiff must plausibly allege “‘a mutual understanding, or a meeting of the minds, between the private party and the state actor.‘” Pendleton v. St. Louis County, 178 F.3d 1007, 1011 (8th Cir.1999), quoting Miller v. Compton, 122 F.3d 1094, 1098 (8th Cir.1997). No facts in Magee‘s complaint reasonably infer a “meeting of the minds.” The multiple contacts between Titus, Lewis, and the university do not, without more, reasonably infer that they conspired to terminаte Magee. See Mershon v. Beasley, 994 F.2d 449, 452 (8th Cir.1993) (“contacts, by themselves and without more” do not allow the inference of “any mutual understanding” in a § 1983 action).
Magee focuses on the boycott, which she alleges shows a threat of official conduct in the future. She believes that Titus, the SPPF, and the Department acted together to force the university and dean to punish her. However, Magee does not plead specific facts plausibly connecting any “concerted action” to her termination. It is conceivable that the university and Lewis, after a faculty vote, terminated her because of the boycott. However, without additional facts, Mаgee has not “‘nudged [her] claims‘” of retaliation “‘across the line from conceivable to plausible.‘” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 680, quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570.
III.
Magee moved to add the SPPF as a defendant. When the district court dismissed the case, it denied the motion as futile. This court reviews for abuse of discretion the denial of a motion to amend a pleading. Mississippi River Revival, Inc. v. City of Minneapolis, 319 F.3d 1013, 1018 (8th Cir.2003).
The district court “should freely give leave [to amend a pleading] when justice so requires.”
The SPPF is a private party. See Montgomery v. City of Ardmore, 365 F.3d 926, 942 (10th Cir.2004) (a police union is not a state actor). The SPPF is liable only if it were “a willful participant in joint activity with the State” to deny Magee‘s constitutiоnal rights. Dossett, 399 F.3d at 947. Magee has not plausibly alleged a “meeting of the minds” between the Department, the SPPF, and the university. Miller, 122 F.3d at 1098; Mershon, 994 F.2d at 452. Magee alleges that the SPPF “influenced” Department policy, but this conclusion is inadequate. She must allege facts that the two entities acted in concert. Montgomery, 365 F.3d at 942 (plaintiff must allege facts that the police union “acted in concert” with the public entity). Even if Magee were able to equate the SPPF and the Department, she has not linked their activity to the university. The multiple contacts between Titus, the SPPF‘s members, and the university do not, without more, reasonably infer that they conspired to terminate Magee. See Mershon, 994 F.2d at 452 (“contacts, by themselves and without more” do not allow the inference of “any mutual understanding” in a § 1983 action). The district court properly ruled that adding the SPPF would be futile.
The judgment is affirmed.
BENTON
CIRCUIT JUDGE