Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-5-1999

Abstract

Plaintiff-appellant Paul Wimmer appeals from a judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Wexler, J.) dismissing his claims for money damages against defendants-appellees Suffolk County Police Department (the "Police Department" or "Department") and Peter F. Cosgrove, Commissioner of the Department. Wimmer, who was a probationary police officer in the Department, alleged that he was terminated at the end of his probationary period because of his stance against racism in the Department and his political beliefs. Wimmer brought a claim of retaliation under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a) (1994) ("Title VII") and N.Y. Executive Law § 296(1)(e) (McKinney 1993),[1] and a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1994) for deprivation of his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. At trial, the district court granted judgment as a matter of law on the former claim at the end of Wimmer's case, reasoning that Wimmer had not presented any evidence that he was engaged in a "protected activity" under Title VII. With respect to the § 1983 claim, the court granted judgment as a matter of law at the end of the defendants' case, determining that Wimmer had not presented evidence that the Commissioner had established an actionable "policy" or "custom" or that he had acted to deprive Wimmer of his constitutional rights under § 1983.

For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

Comments

176 F.3d 125 (1999)

Paul WIMMER, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

SUFFOLK COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT and Peter F. Cosgrove, Commissioner of Suffolk County Police Department, Defendants-Appellees, Suffolk County, Defendant.

Docket No. 97-7321.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued November 5, 1997.

Decided May 5, 1999.

New York Law School location: File #2597, Box #138

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