Mcdonald v. City of West Branch, Michigan, et al. (466 U.S. 284)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 18, 1984 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 466 U.S. 284 · 104 S. Ct. 1799
- Decided
- April 18, 1984
- Term
- October Term 1983
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Brennan
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented in this § 1983 action is whether a federal court may accord preclusive effect to an unappealed arbitration award in a case brought under that statute. In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that such awards have preclusive effect. We granted certiorari, 464 U. S. 813 (1983), and now reverse. H-H On November 26, 1976, petitioner Gary McDonald, then a West Branch, Mich., police officer, was discharged. McDon-aid filed a grievance pursuant to the collective-bargaining agreement then in force between West Branch and the United Steelworkers of America (the Union), contending that there was “no proper cause” for his discharge, and that, as a result, the discharge violated the collective-bargaining agreement. After the preliminary steps in the contractual grievance procedure had been exhausted, the grievance was taken to arbitration. The arbitrator ruled against McDonald, however, finding that there was just cause for his discharge. McDonald did not appeal the arbitrator’s decision. Subsequently, however, he filed this § 1983 action against the city of West Branch and certain of its officials, including its Chief of Police, Paul Longstreet. In his complaint, McDonald alleged that he was discharged for exercising his First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, freedom of…
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