Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for FreeJ. Duffin partially grants the city and city officials' motion to dismiss the former city planning and development director's lawsuit alleging the officials conspired to force him out of his job for political reasons based on false accusations involving an incident in which he repeated a racial slur a citizen had previously said during a public meeting. In part because the director has sufficiently pleaded that he was labeled as a racist and targeted for retaliation because he is a heterosexual white male and the officials were intent on "boosting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging programs," his hostile work environment, disparate treatment and equal protection claims against the city and the officials will proceed, except for equal protection claims against two officials. The director's First Amendment prior restraint claim against the city survives, but the same claim against the individual officials is dismissed. His First Amendment retaliation claim is dismissed in its entirety, as are all of his official capacity claims against the individual officials.