William R. Schwartzman, M.D. v. Fred Valenzuela Bamford Frankland, David Swoap

William Schwartzman brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1982) against various state officials, contending that they fired him in retaliation for exercising his right of free speech. This interlocutory appeal is allowed by Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 528-30 , 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2816-18 , 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985), to review a district court’s denial of a motion for summary judgment based on a claim of qualified immunity.

Schwartzman was employed as a staff psychologist at Napa State Hospital during the 1960s and resumed work there in 1978. Beginning in 1982, Schwartzman became involved in a series of disputes with hospital management. He was discharged in 1985.

Appellants Fred Valenzuela and Bamford Frankland, California state officials who were administrators of the hospital, contend that Schwartzman was discharged for rudeness and neglect of duties. Schwartz-man claims that he was fired because he publicly criticized the hospital for unnecessarily administering psychotropic drugs, failing to provide safe work conditions, and inadequately supervising a penal code patient who raped and killed one of Schwartz-man’s patients. This case is a garden variety factual…