Heagney v. Wong

915 F.3d 805

Scott L. HEAGNEY, Plaintiff, Appellee,

v.Lisa A. WONG; City of Fitchburg, Defendants, Appellants,Badgequest, Inc. ; Stephan Unsworth, Defendants.

No. 17-2033

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

February 11, 2019

Leonard H. Kesten, with whom Judy A. Levenson, Deidre Brennan Regan, and Brody, Hardoon, Perkins & Kesten, LLP were on brief, for appellants.

Nicholas B. Carter, with whom Joseph M. Cacace and Todd & Weld LLP were on brief, for appellee.

Before Torruella, Thompson, and Barron, Circuit Judges.

BARRON, Circuit Judge.

This case concerns a suit that Scott Heagney, a past applicant for the position of the police chief of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, brought against the City of Fitchburg ("Fitchburg") and its mayor after the mayor decided not to nominate him for the job. The mayor made her decision after she discovered late in the hiring process that Heagney had not disclosed, among other things, that he was charged with serious criminal offenses (of which he was later acquitted at trial) during the time period in which he was employed at another local police department. The mayor was quoted thereafter in local newspapers explaining her decision not to nominate Heagney for the position.

Heagney's suit claims that Fitchburg violated his rights under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B by basing its decision not to hire him for the position on his failure to disclose the criminal case against him. Heagney's suit also claims, under Massachusetts law, that the mayor defamed him through statements that she made to the local newspapers explaining the decision.

At trial, the jury found for Heagney on both claims. For the defamation claim, the jury awarded Heagney $750,000 in compensatory damages and for the Chapter 151B claim, no compensatory damages but $750,000 in punitive damages. The District Court denied Fitchburg's motions for judgment as a matter of law and for a new trial or remittitur, and entered judgment for Heagney. Fitchburg now appeals. We reverse the judgment on the defamation claim, affirm the judgment on the Chapter 151B claim, and reverse the award of punitive damages for the Chapter 151B claim.

I.

Heagney first submitted his application for the position of Fitchburg Police Chief in October 2013. On the résumé accompanying his application, Heagney listed positions that he had held at the Police Department of Franklin, Massachusetts from 1987 to 2001 and at the United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms ("ATF"), where he had been employed since 2001.

Heagney did not list on his résumé, however, his prior employment as an officer in the Police Department of Falmouth, Massachusetts where, after being fired by the Franklin Police Department, he had worked from 1990 to 1993. Instead, on his résumé, Heagney stated that he had worked as a patrolman at the Franklin Police Department from 1987 to 1994, without noting the break in his service. Heagney also did not list his prior employment at the Police Department of Attleboro, Massachusetts, where he had worked from 1985 to 1987.

As part of the application process, Heagney was also asked to fill out a standard employment application. The application asked candidates to list their employment for the past fifteen years. Heagney stated in the application only that he had worked in the Franklin Police Department from 1987 to 2001 and at the ATF from 2001 to present. He also answered "no" to two questions: "Have you ever been disciplined, fired or forced to resign because of misconduct or unsatisfactory employment?" and "Prior to the hiring of our next police chief, a thorough and comprehensive background investigation will be conducted. Are there any issues that we should be aware of that would arise during such an investigation?"

Over the course of several months, Bernard Stephens -- Fitchburg's personnel director -- and the rest of the selection committee -- whose members had been chosen by Lisa Wong, the mayor of Fitchburg -- gradually narrowed the pool of potential candidates with the assistance of an "assessment center" and through various interviews. After interviewing the three remaining candidates, Wong chose Heagney as the finalist for the position of Fitchburg Police Chief. She sent an email to the city council on March 10, 2014 announcing her decision to nominate him for the position.

Before Wong would officially nominate any candidate for Fitchburg Police Chief to the city council, however, that candidate was required to pass a background check by BadgeQuest, a consulting firm that Fitchburg had hired to assist in the selection process. Thus, BadgeQuest, at Fitchburg's request, proceeded to complete its background investigation of Heagney. And, after an initial investigation, Stephan Unsworth, Fitchburg's primary contact at BadgeQuest, communicated BadgeQuest's tentative conclusion to Stephens that "there [we]re no issues in [Heagney's] background that would have a negative impact on [his] suitability for the position of Fitchburg [P]olice [C]hief." Unsworth did indicate, though, that BadgeQuest was still waiting for Heagney's personnel file from the ATF.

The next significant development occurred on March 17, 2014, before Heagney's personnel file arrived from the ATF. On that date, Wong's office received an anonymous letter that raised concerns about Heagney's pending nomination for Fitchburg Police Chief. The letter stated that Heagney had worked and had been involved in various incidents of misconduct at the Attleboro, Falmouth, and Franklin Police Departments. The letter also stated that Heagney had been charged with various criminal offenses related to pistol whipping an individual (which subsequent investigation revealed to be his ex-girlfriend) but that the criminal "case was dismissed[.]"

At Wong's request, Stephens immediately asked BadgeQuest to "check out" the allegations in the letter, which BadgeQuest began to do. Before BadgeQuest had conclusively verified any of the letter's allegations, however, Stephens sent Unsworth an email on the afternoon of March 18, 2014, in which he called off the BadgeQuest investigation into Heagney. In his email to Unsworth explaining why, Stephens gave as "[r]easons": (1) "[y]our question early on to him about any problems in the past ... that we should know about. He answered no"; (2) "[a]pplication was not filled out with all the police jobs that he had early in his career"; and (3) "[h]e has lost Mayor Wong's support."

On the afternoon of March 18, 2014, Wong spoke with Heagney and gave him an end-of-business-day deadline to withdraw his name as an applicant for the chief of police position. After that deadline passed and Heagney still had not withdrawn his name, Wong sent an email to the city council in which she withdrew her nomination of Heagney to be the Fitchburg Police Chief. In the email, Wong stated that "[t]he nomination was subject to the execution of a contract and a background check, both of which have been suspended."

Local newspapers covered Wong's withdrawal of Heagney's nomination. One of the articles about this news, written by Paula Owen, appeared in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and stated: "Now, Ms. Wong claims the 46-year-old ATF agent, who runs the Rochester, N.Y., office, was not forthcoming on his résumé about his work experience or about a court case on alleged assault and battery and other charges when he was 21."¹

Fitchburg eventually received Heagney's personnel files from the ATF and the Falmouth and Attleboro Police Departments. Those files included the following information related to the "court case" -- and the underlying allegations of criminal conduct by Heagney -- referenced in the anonymous letter. In 1988, Cheryl Collins, Heagney's ex-girlfriend, filed complaints with the Franklin and Wrentham Police Departments against Heagney in which she alleged that he had physically abused and threatened her with a pistol. Following the allegations, Heagney was placed on temporary leave from his job at the Franklin Police Department after an internal investigation. The criminal case against Heagney in Wrentham District Court for assault and battery of Collins with a dangerous weapon ended in Heagney's acquittal.

The personnel files also revealed other disciplinary actions that had been taken against Heagney by police departments at which he had previously worked. Those actions were for various instances of misconduct, including fabricating a police report, acting unprofessionally during a suicide watch, and failing to appear in court for a trial.

In 2015, Heagney filed suit in state court against Wong, Fitchburg, BadgeQuest, and Unsworth. The defendants removed the case to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a). Heagney's complaint alleged that all defendants except for Fitchburg had defamed him in violation of Massachusetts law and that Fitchburg had violated Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B by not hiring Heagney due to his failure to inform it of the criminal case against him. As relevant here, Chapter 151B provides that it is unlawful for

an employer, himself or through his agent, ... to exclude, limit or otherwise discriminate against any person by reason of his or her failure to furnish such information through a written application or oral inquiry or otherwise regarding ... an arrest, detention, or disposition regarding any violation of law in which no conviction resulted.

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 151B, § 4(9).

Prior to trial, Heagney settled with BadgeQuest and Unsworth. Heagney then proceeded to trial on his claims against Wong and Fitchburg. At the end of the trial on those claims, the defendants filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a), which the District Court denied. The case was submitted to the jury. The jury specifically found that Wong had made the statement to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette that Heagney "was not forthcoming ... about a court case on alleged...