6th Circuit - First Amendment - Retaliation - Monell Liability Having come from a smallish county, this case reminds me of those days. A tow company operator who was also the fire chief of an all volunteer fire department and whose wife was its treasurer. As in most small communities and some large when the government needs vehicles towed from their streets, they call towing companies and usually use a rotation list so that each company gets a fair share of the business. The Plaintiff believed that he was not getting his fair share and supported a person at the next election to become the county's "judge executive" on a promise of fixing the rotation list. That person was elected but dismissed a friend of the Plaintiff in the EMS service leading to the Plaintiff posting a derogatory Facebook account of the incident. That led to a curse laden call from the judge executive and an agreement to delete the post in return for fixing the rotation list. Subsequently, the relationship further soured despite what seemed like an immediate fix of the rotation. The judge executive accused the Plaintiff of stealing from the fire department and sought an audit (which found nothing wrong) and according to the Plaintiff set in motion a campaign against the Plaintiff spreading gossip and innuendo derogatory to him. That led to another post which shortly thereafter seemed to have spurred the judge executive to remove Plaintiff from the rotation list and also remove the fire department from those called to respond to emergencies. Suit followed and the lower court dismissed for failure to provide adequate support for a claim of First Amendment retaliation or Monell liability. The 6th Circuit reversed as to the retaliation claim concluding that there was sufficient support for a jury to consider whether the first post spawned the adverse reactions against Plaintiff. The panel concluded that the Plaintiff could not show that the judge executive was the final decision maker and thus could not succeed in the suit against the county. For those in large jurisdictions, it might be difficult to imagine the close interrelations between members of a community that lead to these types of cases and situations, but for those who live in smaller communities, where relatives may be on both sides of a case or political issue and be members of the governing body, it's common place. Lemaster vs. Lawrence County, KY 23a0072p-06.pdf (uscourts.gov)<https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/23a0072p-06.pdf> Charles W. Thompson, Jr. Of Counsel P: (202) 466-5424 x7110 M: (240) 876-6790 D: (202) 742-1016 [facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/InternationalMunicipalLawyersAssociation/>[twitter icon]<https://twitter.com/imlalegal>[linkedin icon]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-municipal-lawyers-association-inc./> [logo]<https://imla.org/> 51 Monroe St. Suite 404 Rockville, MD, 20850 www.imla.org<http://www.imla.org/> Plan Ahead! Plan Ahead! See IMLA's upcoming events<https://imla.org/events/>, calls and programming. Check out our On-Demand webinar library<https://netforum.avectra.com/eweb/shopping/shopping.aspx?site=imla&webcode=shopping&cart=0&shopsearchCat=Merchandise&productCat=Webinar> with 100+ webinars at your fingertips!