Employment — public employment — First Amendment — public concern

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Employment — public employment — First Amendment — public concern

Where a teacher was terminated after complaining to police about a student’s violent behavior, summary judgment should not have been granted to the school on his First Amendment claim.

“Violence in schools is a subject in which the public these days is highly interested, with the added twist in this case, which would amplify the public’s interest, that the father of the student who made the threat appears to have endorsed it. Nevertheless the plaintiff in filing the criminal complaint might have had no interest in making a public statement about school violence, but have only wanted to deter further threats against himself. However, in saying that the undisputed facts ‘overwhelmingly demonstrate[d]’ that the latter was the correct interpretation of the plaintiff’s reaction to ‘I stabbed Gschwind,’ the district judge overlooked the statement in the plaintiff’s affidavit that he had filed the criminal complaint in part ‘to help ensure the smooth and safe operation of the school and everyone inside’ and, more important to a free-speech claim, ‘to bring to the public light the fact that such an incident had occurred.’ As pointed out in Gazarkiewicz v. Town of Kingsford Heights, 359 F.3d 933, 942 (7th Cir. 2004), ‘speech of public importance is only transformed into a matter of private concern when it is motivated solely by the speaker’s personal interests’ (emphasis in original).”

Reversed and Remanded.

12-1755 Gschwind v. Heiden

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Reinhard, J., Posner, J.