09-1757 Norman-Nunnery v. Madison Area Technical College

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Employment
Retaliation; right of association; due process

Where a candidate for a position was not the most qualified candidate, summary judgment was properly granted to the employer on her claim that she was not fired because her husband once filed a frivolous lawsuit against the employer.

“Under either case, Norman-Nunnery’s claim cannot survive summary judgment because she has failed to provide any evidence that the defendants refused to hire her because of her marriage to Willie Nunnery. Arguably she has presented evidence that they were aware she was married to Willie Nunnery and that they harbored ill feelings toward him. But she has presented no evidence that they were motivated by their animosity toward Willie Nunnery in passing her over for the job. To the contrary, all of the uncontroverted evidence demonstrates that the candidates who advanced to the interview stage and the candidate who ultimately was hired all had depth-and-breadth scores that exceeded those of Norman-Nunnery. The depth-and-breadth scores were a legitimate, non-discriminatory criteria for distinguishing among the minimally qualified applicants. Her claim thus fails for lack of evidence. The defendants would prefer that we find that Norman-Nunnery’s claim fails as a matter of law, that a public employer’s refusal to hire a person because of animosity toward that person’s spouse can never be actionable as a Constitutional claim. Because Norman-Nunnery’s claim fails for a lack of evidence, we need not decide whether the claim is viable as a matter of law. We reserve that question for the case in which it is clearly presented.”

Affirmed.

09-1757 Norman-Nunnery v. Madison Area Technical College

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Crabb, J., Rovner, J.

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