Barberic
Barberic v. City of Hawthorne
Opinion
Opinion
Wilson, J.
MEMORANDUM OF OPINION
Plaintiff Shari Barberic brought this action pursuant to 12 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of Hawthorne (the City) and its Chief of Police, Kenneth Stonebraker, claiming that her involuntary psychological disability retirement as a police woman with the City’s police department violated her due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and her right of free expression under the First Amendment.
Specifically, Barberic claims, first, that she was deprived of a protected property interest without due process because she was denied an adequate hearing prior to her involuntary retirement. Second, she claims that the stigmatizing publication of her psychological disability retirement without a prior “name clearing hearing” deprived her of a protected liberty interest without due process. Finally, plaintiff claims that defendants’ decision to retire her violated her First Amendment rights because it was based upon her exercise of her constitutionally protected right of free expression.
The court finds for plaintiff on both due process claims and finds for defendants on the First Amendment claim.