Yeasin v. Durham
Yeasin v. Durham
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Plaintiff Navid Yeasin filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that Defendant Tammara Durham, the University of Kansas’s Vice Provost for Student Affairs, retaliated against him in violation of his First Amendment rights and violated his substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. This matter is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim (Doc. 13). The motion to dismiss is fully briefed, and the Court is prepared to rule. For reasons explained more fully below, Defendant’s motion to dismiss is granted.
To survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, a complaint must present factual allegations, assumed to be true, that “raise a right to relief above the speculative level,” and must contain “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.”
The Supreme Court has explained the analysis as a two-step process. For the purposes of a motion to dismiss, the court “must take all the factual allegations in the complaint as true, [but] we ‘are not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation.’ ”
If the Court on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion looks to matters that were not attached to the complaint or incorporated into the complaint by reference, it generally must convert the motion to a Rule 56 motion for summary judgment.
Defendant attached a number of exhibits to her motion to dismiss. The Tenth Circuit has stated it is within the discretion of the district court whether to consider such materials.
The Court may also take judicial notice of certain facts without converting a motion to dismiss into one for summary judgment.
Drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of Plaintiff, the following facts are taken from Plaintiffs Complaint (“Complaint”).
Plaintiff Navid Yeasin was a student at the University of Kansas (“KU”). While he was a student, he was involved in a romantic relationship with another KU student, A.W. The relationship began in the fall of 2012 and ended in the summer of 2013. On June 28, 2013, an incident occurred between Plaintiff and A.W. in Johnson County, Kansas that resulted in the termination of their relationship, filing of a criminal case against Plaintiff, and a consent protection order in Johnson County, Kansas. The consent protection order prohibited Plaintiff from having any contact, directly or indirectly, with A.W.
In August 2013, when A.W. and Plaintiff returned to the KU campus for the fall semester, A.W. made a complaint to IOA that Plaintiff had sexually harassed her. On August 14, 2013, IOA sent Plaintiff a letter (“No Contact Letter”) prohibiting Plaintiff from “attempt[ing] to contact [A.W.], personally or through any other person.”
Both during the relationship and after the relationship, Plaintiff maintained a social media account on Twitter. When the relationship ended, Plaintiff removed A.W. from his list of approved followers who could view or retweet his tweets. Over a period of approximately four months, Plaintiff tweeted approximately fourteen tweets that referenced but did not name A.W., nor was A.W.’s Twitter handle or other identifiers included in the tweets.
During the first week of September 2013, A.W. complained to IOA that her friends had shown her tweets from Plaintiff to his followers subsequent to IOA’s No Contact Letter. On September 6, 2013, IOA sent Plaintiff an email indicating that it interpreted the No Contact Letter to prohibit comments on any social media account about A.W “even if the communication is not sent to her or [does not] state her name specifically.”
On October, 7, 2013, IOA determined that Plaintiff had sexually harassed A.W. in the incident that occurred on June 28, 2013 in Johnson County and subsequently by sending tweets that referenced A.W. On October 18, 2013, IOA notified Plaintiff that he had violated Article 22 of the Student Code of Conduct and scheduled a formal hearing. Article 22 of the Student Code of Conduct at the time provided:
Students and organizations are expected to conduct themselves as responsible members of the University community. While on University premises or at University sponsored or supervised events, students and organizations are subject to disciplinary action for violations of published policies, rules, and regulations of the University and Regents, and for the following offenses ....27
After the formal hearing, on November 13, 2013, Defendant found that Plaintiff had committed non-academic misconduct based on the June 2013 incident, the threatening statements made to A.W., the tweets, and violation of the No Contact Letter.
Following the dismissal of Plaintiffs appeal to the University Judicial Board, Plaintiff filed a Petition for Judicial Review in the District Court of Douglas County, Kansas pursuant to the Kansas Act for Judicial Review and Civil Enforcement of Agency Actions (“KJRA”).
Despite Judge Fairchild’s ruling, KU requested a stay while the matter was appealed to the Kansas Court of Appeals. Plaintiff was not permitted to re-enroll at that time. On September 26, 2016, the Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling of the District Court, finding that KU through Defendant erroneously interpreted the Student Code of Conduct by applying it to off-campus conduct and lifted the stay.
As a result of KU’s expulsion of Plaintiff, he has suffered damages in the form of delay in completing his education, lost employment and wages, emotional distress and mental anguish, attorney fees and litigation costs.
III. Discussion
Defendant argues for dismissal of both the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process claims based on qualified immunity. Defendant argues that her actions did not violate Plaintiffs First Amendment and substan
Qualified immunity gives government officials breathing room to make reasonable but mistaken judgments about open legal questions.
1. First Amendment
This Court begins by addressing whether, assuming Plaintiff had a First Amendment right to post on Twitter that was violated by Defendant expelling him from KU, this right was clearly established at the time. Courts have discretion to decide the order in which to engage in the two-prong qualified immunity analysis.
A government official violates clearly established law when the contours of a right at the time of the challenged conduct are sufficiently clear so that a “reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.”
Because neither the Supreme Court nor a panel of the Tenth Circuit has considered whether universities can regulate off-campus, online speech by students, Plaintiff relies on the argument that KU’s No Contact Letter placed a content-based, subject matter restriction on his speech that must be subjected to strict scrutiny. Plaintiff also argues that the standard for analyzing student speech announced in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School
The Court observes that Plaintiffs argument that this was a content-based, subject matter restriction that must be analyzed under strict scrutiny ignores the context in which this occurred. Plaintiff cites case law disapproving of content-based restrictions.
Most importantly, circuit courts have come to conflicting conclusions on whether a school can regulate off-campus, online student speech where such speech could foreseeably cause a material disruption to the administration of the school.
In addition, both parties rely heavily on Supreme Court cases that govern student speech standards, none of which considers
Further, even assuming that Plaintiff had a First Amendment right to post the tweets, it was not objectively unreasonable for Defendant to believe that the Student Code of Conduct extended her ability to discipline off-campus conduct that affected A.W. on campus. During the course of the investigation and the formal hearing, A.W. admitted she was scared to be on campus. There was also testimony that Plaintiff threatened to make sure that A.W. would not be able to attend any university in the state of Kansas. Article 20 of the Student Code of Conduct provided jurisdiction when “the alleged violation(s) giving rise to the disciplinary action occurs on University premises or at University sponsored or supervised events, or as otherwise required by federal, state or local law.” Although this was off-campus speech, the speech affected A.W. on campus. It was reasonable for Defendant to believe that Article 20, which gave jurisdiction for discipline as required by federal law (notably, Title IX), allowed her to punish the off-campus conduct that had an effect on A.W. on campus. Even if her belief that she had jurisdiction to discipline was mistaken, qualified immunity allows Defendant to make such a mistake.
Accordingly, any First Amendment right allegedly violated by Defendant was not clearly established such that it would have been clear to Defendant that her actions were unlawful.
2. Substantive Due Process
The Court next addresses whether there has been a violation of Plaintiffs
Plaintiff argues that he was wrongfully deprived of his property interest in continued enrollment at KU because Defendant’s actions in expelling him were arbitrary and lacked in a rational basis. Defendant concedes that Plaintiff had a protected property interest in continued enrollment at KU.
The Supreme Court has “assumed, without deciding, that federal courts can review an academic decision of a public educational institution under a substantive due process standard.”
In this case, Plaintiff fails to allege sufficient facts to demonstrate a substantive due process violation because although
The Court further finds it is not “shocking to the conscience” that Plaintiff was expelled based on Defendant’s findings following the investigation at KU. After issuing the No Contact Letter, Plaintiff was warned by the IOA to cease his indirect communication to A.W. via Twitter on September 6, 2013. He did not comply and continued to tweet indirectly about A.W. Defendant expelled Plaintiff based on the June 2013 incident, threatening statements, the tweets, and his failure to comply with the No Contact Letter. Defendant found these to be in violation of the Student Code of Conduct and sexual harassment policy. Under the deferential standards applied to university faculty in disciplinary settings, the Court is unwilling to second guess Defendant’s professional judgment as this hardly reaches the level of “shocking the conscience” of a federal judge. Therefore, even viewed in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, there is no claim for a violation of Plaintiffs substantive due process rights.
However, even assuming Plaintiff could show a constitutional violation, the Court believes that the law is not so clearly established that Defendant knew or should have known that expulsion for this conduct would violate Plaintiffs substantive due process rights under these circumstances. Plaintiff is required to point to a Supreme Court case, Tenth Circuit precedent, or the clearly established weight of authority from other courts that have found the law to be as the plaintiff maintains.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED BY THE COURT that Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 13) is granted.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
. Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007).
. Ridge at Red Hawk, L.L.C. v. Schneider, 493 F.3d 1174, 1177 (10th Cir. 2007).
. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).
. Kan. Penn Gaming, LLC v. Collins, 656 F.3d 1210, 1214 (10th Cir. 2011) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955).
. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955).
. Id.
. Id. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937
. Id.
. Id. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937.
. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(d); GFF Corp. v. Associated Wholesale Grocers, 130 F.3d 1381, 1384-85 (10th Cir. 1997).
. See Alvarado v. KOB-TV, LLC, 493 F.3d 1210, 1215 (10th Cir. 2007); Jacobsen v. Deseret Book Co., 287 F.3d 936, 941-42 (10th Cir. 2002); GFF Corp., 130 F.3d at 1384-85.
. Prager v. LaFaver, 180 F.3d 1185, 1189 (10th Cir. 1999).
. Doc. 1 at ¶ 9.
. Id. at ¶ 12.
. Id. at ¶¶ 20, 22.
. VanLandingham v. Grand Junction Reg’l Airport Auth., 603 Fed.Appx. 657, 662 (10th Cir. 2015) (considering a release and agreement attached to the motion to dismiss); Alvarado, 493 F.3d 1210 (considering a court order sealing the identity of plaintiff in an invasion of privacy claim because it was "central” to the claims against the parties); Jacobsen, 287 F.3d at 941-42; Butler v. Rio Rancho Public Schs. Bd. of Educ., 341 F.3d 1197, 1200 (10th Cir. 2003) (considering the decisions of the hearing officer and school board in the case of a student expelled from school alleging substantive due process violations).
. Doc. 1 at ¶ 15.
. See, e.g., Tal v. Hogan, 453 F.3d 1244, 1265 n.24 (10th Cir. 2006); Grynberg v. Koch Gateway Pipeline Co., 390 F.3d 1276, 1278 n.1 (10th Cir. 2004).
. Fed. R. Evid. 201(b)(2).
. Tal, 453 F.3d at 1264 n.24 (quoting Oxford Asset Mgmt., Ltd. v. Jaharis, 297 F.3d 1182, 1188 (11th Cir. 2002)).
. Fed. R. Evid. 201(c).
. 51 Kan.App.2d 939, 360 P.3d 423 (Kan. Ct. App. 2015).
. See Wagner v. Michie, 543 Fed.Appx. 753, 754 (10th Cir. 2013) (taking judicial notice of three state court decisions related to the matter before the court); Pace v. Swerdlow, 519 F.3d 1067, 1072 (10th Cir. 2008) (concluding
.Doc. 1.
. Doc. 13-4.
. Doc. 13-5.
. Doc. 13-8 at 10.
. Id. at 9.
. Doc. 13-7 at 2-3.
. Id. at 3.
. Id.
. K.S.A §§ 77-601-631.
. Yeasin v. Univ. of Kansas, 51 Kan.App.2d 939, 360 P.3d 423 (Kan. Ct. App. 2015).
. Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 743, 131 S.Ct. 2074, 179 L.Ed.2d 1149 (2011).
. Id. at 735, 131 S.Ct. 2074.
. Robbins v. Oklahoma, 519 F.3d 1242, 1249 (10th Cir. 2008).
. Id. (citing Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 556 n.3, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)).
. Tolan v. Cotton, — U.S. —, 134 S.Ct. 1861, 1866, 188 L.Ed.2d 895 (2014) (citing Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 236, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009)).
. Panagoulakos v. Yazzie, 741 F.3d 1126, 1129 (10th Cir. 2013) (quoting Wilson v. Montano, 715 F.3d 847, 852 (10th Cir. 2013)); see also Mullenix v. Luna, — U.S. -, 136 S.Ct. 305, 308, 193 L.Ed.2d 255 (2015).
. Cox v. Glanz, 800 F.3d 1231, 1247 (10th Cir. 2015) (quoting Quinn v. Young, 780 F.3d 998, 1005 (10th Cir. 2015)).
. Ashcroft, 131 S.Ct. at 2085 (quoting Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986)).
. Gomes v. Wood, 451 F.3d 1122, 1134 (10th Cir. 2006) (quoting Pierce v. Gilchrist, 359 F.3d 1279, 1298 (10th Cir. 2004)).
. Mullenix, 136 S.Ct. at 308 (quoting al-Kidd, 563 U.S. at 742, 131 S.Ct. 2074 (emphasis added); Brosseau v. Haugen, 543 U.S. 194, 198, 125 S.Ct. 596, 160 L.Ed.2d 583 (2004) (per curiam)).
. Wood v. Moss, — U.S. —, 134 S.Ct. 2056, 2067, 188 L.Ed.2d 1039 (2014) (citing Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 202, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001)),
. 393 U.S. 503, 514, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969) (concluding schools may restrict speech that might "reasonably lead school authorities to forecast substantial disruption of or material interference with school activities or that collides with the rights of other students to be secure and to be let alone”).
. See Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263, 268-69, 102 S.Ct. 269, 70 L.Ed.2d 440 (1981); Papish v. Bd. of Curators of the Univ. of Missouri, 410 U.S. 667, 93 S.Ct 1197, 35 L.Ed.2d 618 (1973) ("State colleges and universities are not enclaves immune from the sweep of the First Amendment.”).
. Reed v. Town of Gilbert, — U.S. —, 135 S.Ct. 2218, 192 L.Ed.2d 236 (2015); United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709, 132 S.Ct. 2537, 183 L.Ed.2d 574 (2012); Ashcroft v. Am. Civil Liberties Union, 542 U.S. 656, 124 S.Ct. 2783, 159 L.Ed.2d 690 (2004).
. Healy v. James, 408 U.S. 169, 184, 92 S.Ct. 2338, 33 L.Ed.2d 266 (1972).
. See Keefe v. Adams, 840 F.3d 523 (8th Cir. 2016); Ward v. Polite, 667 F.3d 727, 733-34 (6th Cir. 2012); Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley, 664 F.3d 865, 875-76 (11th Cir. 2011); Hosty v. Carter, 412 F.3d 731, 734-35 (7th Cir. 2005); Axson-Flynn v. Johnson et al., 356 F.3d 1277, 1286-90 (10th Cir. 2004).
. Compare Keefe, 840 F.3d at 523 (concluding college’s removal of student from school based on off-campus statements on his social media page did not violate student’s First Amendment free speech rights); Jackson v. Ladner, 626 Fed.Appx. 80, 88 (5th Cir. 2015) (concluding that school officials, who punished a high school student for her use of social media to send another student threatening messages while off campus, were entitled to qualified immunity from a claim of a First Amendment violation as such rights were not clearly established); Bell v. Itawamba Cty. Sch. Bd., 799 F.3d 379, 389-96 (5th Cir. 2015) (holding the school may discipline a high school student for off-campus speech on his social media page that was directed intentionally at the school community and understood to be threatening, harassing, and intimidating without violating the student’s First Amendment rights); Wynar v. Douglas Cty. Sch. Dist., 728 F.3d 1062, 1070 (9th Cir. 2013) (concluding public school officials did not violate high school student’s First Amendment rights by suspending him for sending violent and threatening instant messages from his home to his friends about planning a school shooting); Yoder v. Univ. of Louisville, 526 Fed.Appx. 537, 545-47 (6th Cir. 2013) (holding defendant university was entitled to qualified immunity from liability based on alleged First Amendment violation relating to off-campus, social media speech because any such right was not clearly established); S.J.W. v. Lee’s Summit R-7 Sch. Dist., 696 F.3d 771, 778 (8th Cir. 2012) (holding that high school students allegations that defendants violated their First Amendment rights by suspending them for creating a blog with offensive, racist, and sexist comments about classmates were unlikely to have success on the merits for purposes of a preliminary injunction); Kowalski v. Berkeley Cty. Schs., 652 F.3d 565, 570-75 (4th Cir. 2011) (upholding summary judgment in favor of a school that punished a student for creating a MySpace page mocking a fellow student); Doninger v. Niehoff, 642 F.3d 334, 347 (2d Cir. 2011) (holding that it is not "clearly established that off-campus speech-related conduct may never be the basis for discipline by school officials”), with J.S. v. Blue Mountain Sch. Dist., 650 F.3d 915, 920 (3d Cir. 2011) (holding that a school district violated the First Amendment rights of plaintiff when it suspended her for creating, outside of school, an online profile for the school principal that mocked the principal and contained adult language and explicit content); Lay shock v. Hermitage Sch. Dist., 650 F.3d 205, 216-19 (3d Cir. 2011) (concluding the school district violated the high school student's First Amendment right of free expression by suspending him for creating a fake Internet profile of school's principal while using his home computer during non-school hours).
. Keefe, 840 F.3d at 523.
. Doc. 15 at 7-8.
. See Davis v. Monroe Cty. Bd. of Educ., 526 U.S. 629, 646-47, 119 S.Ct. 1661, 143 L.Ed.2d 839 (1999) (noting a school may be liable for damages where the school is "deliberately indifferent to known acts of student-on-student sexual harassment and the harasser is under the school's disciplinary authority.").
. Dear Colleague Letter from Russlynn Ali, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Dep't of Educ. Office for Civil Rights (Apr. 4, 2011).
. Davis, 526 U.S. at 631, 119 S.Ct. 1661; Doc. 13-7 at 3.
. Plaintiff cited Harris v. Blake, 798 F.2d 419 (10th Cir. 1986) and Gossett v. Board of Regents for Langston University, 245 F.3d 1172 (10th Cir. 2001) for the proposition that Plaintiff had a property interest in his education. This Court assumes, without deciding, that there is a right to continued enrollment in a public university.
. Regents of Univ. of Mich. v. Ewing, 474 U.S. 214, 222, 106 S.Ct. 507, 88 L.Ed.2d 523 (1985); Bd. of Curators of Univ. of Mo. v. Horowitz, 435 U.S. 78, 91-92, 98 S.Ct. 948, 55 L.Ed.2d 124 (1978).
. Ewing, 474 U.S. at 224-25, 106 S.Ct. 507; Gossett, 245 F.3d at 1182.
. Ewing, 474 U.S. at 227-28, 106 S.Ct. 507.
. Id. at 225, 106 S.Ct. 507.
. See Salehpoor v. Shahinpoor, 358 F.3d 782, 786-87 (10th Cir. 2004); Butler v. Rio Rancho Pub. Schs. Bd. of Educ., 341 F.3d 1197, 1200-01 (10th Cir. 2003).
. Butler, 341 F.3d at 1200-01; Tonkovich v. Kansas Bd. of Regents, 159 F.3d 504, 516 (10th Cir. 1998); Curtis v. Oklahoma City Pub. Sch. Bd. of Educ., 147 F.3d 1200, 1215 (10th Cir. 1998).
. Ewing, 474 U.S. at 227-28, 106 S.Ct. 507.
. Cox v. Glanz, 800 F.3d 1231, 1247 (10th Cir. 2015) (quoting Quinn v. Young, 780 F.3d 998, 1005 (10th Cir. 2015)).
. 798 F.2d 419 (10th Cir. 1986).
. 245 F.3d 1172 (10th Cir. 2001).
. Harris, 798 F.2d at 424-25.
. Gossett, 245 F.3d at 1182.
. Id.; Harris, 798 F.2d at 424.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Navid YEASIN v. Tammara DURHAM
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published