Erle E. Peacock, Jr. v. Merlin K. Duval

Dr. Erie E. Peacock, Jr. appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of all defendants. Because Peacock’s claims raise genuine issues of material fact, we reverse the summary judgment and remand for trial.

From 1969 until late 1973, Peacock was a tenured Professor of Surgery and Head of the Department of Surgery at the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine, a state institution. However, for reasons that remain in dispute, relations between Peacock and the college administration eventually soured. Peacock was summarily dismissed as Head of the Department on October 25, 1973 and was suspended as Professor of Surgery on February 11, 1974. Peacock filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona on February 22,1974, alleging that the dismissal and suspension, without prior hearings, violated his fourteenth amendment due process and first amendment freedom of speech rights. Peacock was awarded damages of $470,000 by a trial jury, but the district court overturned this verdict as excessive and ordered a new trial. In addition, the trial judge granted summary judgment for all defendants on Peacock’s fourteenth amendment due process counts. In Peacock…