In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
No. 10-2729
R OBERT Z ELLNER, a Wisconsin resident,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
D ARYL H ERRICK, a Wisconsin resident,
in his official capacity as Superintendent
of the Cedarburg School District, et al.,
Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
No. 2:08-cv-00315—Rudolph T. Randa, Judge.
A RGUED F EBRUARY 10, 2011—D ECIDED A PRIL 29, 2011
Before M ANION, E VANS, and H AMILTON, Circuit Judges.
E VANS, Circuit Judge. Robert Zellner, a high school
biology teacher and former teacher’s union president,
was fired by his employer, the Cedarburg School
District, for allegedly viewing pornographic images on
his school computer in violation of District policy.
2 No. 10-2729
Zellner, believing instead that he was fired because of
his union activities, filed a civil rights complaint under
42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Defendants Daryl Herrick, John
Pendergast, and Linda Borkenhagen, in their official
capacities, and the Cedarburg School District (we will
refer to the defendants collectively as “the District”),
alleging violations of his First and Fifth Amendment 1
rights. The district court granted the District’s motion to
dismiss with respect to Zellner’s due process claim and
the District’s summary judgment motion with respect
to his First Amendment claim. Zellner now appeals, and
we view the facts, as we must at this time, in the light
most favorable to Zellner.
Zellner worked at Cedarburg High School as a biology
teacher for nearly eleven years until his employment
was terminated on January 17, 2006. At all relevant times
Jay Grieger was the Principal of the high school and
Zellner’s immediate supervisor. Herrick has been the
Superintendent of the District since July 1, 2002.
Pendergast, elected to the School Board in the spring
of 2004, has been School Board President since 2005.
Borkenhagen is the Director of Technology for the District.
Because Zellner asserts that he was fired as a result of
his union activities, we begin with the years of animosity
between the Union and the District leading up to
Zellner’s termination. While employed by the District,
Zellner was an active member of the Cedarburg Educa-
1
This claim is actually a Fourteenth Amendment claim.
We’ll refer to it as a due process claim as we move along.
No. 10-2729 3
tion Association (the “Union”). In the fall of 2003, Zellner
became the president of the Union, serving in that
position for two years. From 2005 until his termination,
Zellner was the Union representative for the high
school. Before, during, and after Zellner’s term as
Union president, relations between the Union and the
District were plagued.
In 2003 Herrick recommended that the School Board not
renew Principal Grieger’s employment contract. The
Board, however, rejected Herrick’s proposal by a vote
of four-to-three. Shortly thereafter, Zellner and 58 other
high school staff members published a statement in a
local paper that criticized Herrick and the Board for
trying to oust Grieger. Later, Zellner was quoted in a
local paper saying that Herrick and the District were
creating an “atmosphere of uncertainty, distrust and
intimidation between the district administration and
the [high school] staff.”
Zellner, in his capacity as Union president, refused to
agree to Herrick’s proposed Qualified Economic Offer
(“QEO”) that resulted in salary reductions for Cedarburg
teachers, making them among the lowest paid in the
area. Zellner also facilitated a “District Leadership
Survey Report” in which Union members evaluated the
performance of administrators. The report was extremely
critical of Herrick. When Zellner attempted to present
the report to the School Board, Herrick directed Board
members not to open the report.
Following a contentious contract negotiation session
between the Union and School Board, Herrick warned
4 No. 10-2729
Zellner that “the gloves would come off” if the Union
did not back down. He also informed Zellner that a
“prominent member of the community” had claimed
Zellner was into pornography, but that because it was not
school-related, he would not report Zellner at that time.
In December 2004, Zellner, as Union president, publicly
spoke in opposition to the creation of a task force by
Herrick because Principal Grieger and volunteer teachers
were not allowed to participate. A month before Herrick’s
contract was up for renewal, Zellner informed Herrick
that the Union had secured a “no confidence” vote
in his leadership by some 95 percent of participating
teachers. The vote was discussed at several school board
meetings in 2005.
In January 2005, in his capacity as Union president,
Zellner issued a press release titled, “District Teachers
Vote ‘No Confidence’ in . . . Herrick,” and held a press
conference on the same subject. Articles on the Union’s
position, and Herrick’s response, were published in
the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Cedarburg News
Graphic.
Shortly thereafter, the School Board required that Union
representatives, including Zellner, meet with Herrick,
members of the District leadership team, and the
Board, for the stated purpose of attempting to improve
relations between the Union and the District. A meeting
was held on January 24, 2005, and all parties agreed that
it would be “off the record,” and no notes would be
taken. After the meeting, Herrick sent an e-mail to
Pendergast (who missed part of the meeting) sum-
marizing what had occurred.
No. 10-2729 5
Following the meeting, a citizen made an open records
request, and the District produced the e-mail between
Herrick and Pendergast. In the e-mail, which Zellner
believes breached the “off the record” agreement, Herrick
stated that the teachers gave him an ultimatum to
accept only a one-year contract and told him the Union
would not work with him if he agreed to renew for two
years. Upon receiving the e-mail, the citizen wrote to
the Ozaukee County Sheriff and District Attorney com-
plaining about the Union’s ultimatum and asking them
to investigate whether it violated any laws. An article
was also published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
discussing the e-mails and the potential investigation.
Soon after the meeting, the Board offered Herrick—and
he accepted—a new two-year contract. In April 2005,
all incumbent Board members were re-elected, giving
them what they considered to be a “tough” mandate in
dealing with the Union. By June, the Board and the
Union had not reached an agreement on the Collective
Bargaining Agreement for 2003-2005, and the Board
implemented a second QEO resulting in further salary
reductions, again making Cedarburg teachers among
the lowest paid in the area.
In August 2005, Zellner’s term as Union president
ended, but he still remained involved in union activities
until his termination. Relations between the Union and
the District remained volatile, but Zellner did not
speak out publicly or talk with Herrick or Pendergast
personally regarding Union issues any time after
February 24, 2005.
6 No. 10-2729
On December 15, 2005, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
published an article entitled, “Cedarburg Losing More
Teachers—Some Cite Low Pay, Politics at High School.” In
the article Zellner is reported as saying, “When you start
losing veteran teachers to retirement that is one thing,”
but “when younger teachers leave, it’s a real warning.”
Zellner claims that Herrick and Pendergast were aware
that he was interviewed (they were also interviewed
for the article) and that they knew what he said.
Significantly more relevant to Zellner’s termination is
the fact that on August 15, 2005, the School Board
updated its computer usage policy entitled, “Employee
Access to Networked Information Resources” (the “Pol-
icy”). Zellner signed off on the updated Policy, acknowl-
edging that he was responsible for compliance with it
and that violations could result in a loss of access
and/or disciplinary action. Included in the Policy is a
rule notifying employees that their computer usage
is not private and may be monitored. The Policy specifi-
cally states that “accessing, sending or displaying
offensive messages, pictures or child pornography” is
strictly prohibited. The Policy also states that the
“network administrator will report inappropriate
behavior to the employee’s supervisor who will take
appropriate disciplinary action.”
In November 2004, the District’s technology depart-
ment had reimaged (wiped clean) a number of district
employees’ computers because of complaints of “spyware”
and “popups.” Zellner’s school computer was reimaged
at this time, and Borkenhagen, as we said the District’s
No. 10-2729 7
Director of Technology, was aware of the reimaging.
Almost ten months later, in late August 2005, Zellner
reported that his computer had “gone crazy,” and he
was unable to use it. Zellner’s computer was again
reimaged. Jeanne Dries, the IT technician who reimaged
Zellner’s computer, told Borkenhagen that Zellner’s
computer was very messed up and that in her opinion
it “doesn’t get that way without some behavior that—
going to sites that were questionable.” Borkenhagen
reported to Herrick, her supervisor, that Zellner’s com-
puter had to be reimaged a second time. Borkenhagen
did not notify Grieger, Zellner’s immediate supervisor.2
After Herrick learned about the second reimaging, he
directed Borkenhagen to place monitoring software
on Zellner’s computer. The software continually logged
Zellner’s computer activity, but the results were not
viewable unless they were specifically accessed. Borken-
hagen initially checked the log every day, but after a
while she checked with decreasing frequency. Zellner
acknowledges that the District had the right to place
monitoring software on his computer.
On Sunday, November 6, 2005, Zellner was at school
working on his class plan and used his school computer
to conduct a Google Image search. First, Zellner disen-
gaged the “safe search” filter. He then typed “blonde” into
2
According to the Policy, Borkenhagen must report all
“inappropriate behaviors,” “violations” or “complaints” to the
employee’s supervisor, in this case, Grieger. At this time,
however, Zellner had not been accused of violating a policy.
8 No. 10-2729
the Google search box. The search produced 20 “thumb-
nail” images, all of them pornographic, with links to
more images within and outside the Google website. He
then clicked to display the next 20 images. Zellner then
clicked a link entitled “more of these” adjacent to images
from www.ardentes.free.frblonde.com. When Zellner
did so, another 20 pornographic “thumbnail” images
were displayed on his monitor for a total of 17 seconds.
Zellner did not click on any of the photographs
displayed in his search. The entire incident took 67 sec-
onds.
In early December Borkenhagen viewed the log
from Zellner’s November 6 search. She was alerted by
the search term “blonde” in Zellner’s activity log.
Borkenhagen recreated Zellner’s activities, which
Zellner admits are accurate. Shortly after Borkenhagen
discovered the search, she informed Herrick and gave
him the accurate log of what happened. Herrick relayed
the information to Pendergast.
On December 20, 2005, Herrick and James R. Korom
(the District’s legal counsel) met with Zellner and his
union representative, Patrick Connolly, to discuss
Zellner’s November 6 Google Image search. The meeting
was not recorded. Zellner was first asked to confirm
the details of his “blonde” search, and that the images
obtained by recreating his search were accurate, which
he did. Zellner was then asked if he had performed
similar searches in the past, and he confirmed that he
had. According to Herrick, Zellner’s response was “not
more than monthly.” According to Zellner he responded,
“once in that month.” Furthermore, he admitted that
No. 10-2729 9
he had accessed pornography on a District computer
five or six times over several years. Zellner also con-
ceded that his actions on November 6 were a violation
of the District’s Policy and legitimate expectations.
At the meeting, Zellner offered to sign a last chance
agreement or resign at the end of the school year. Herrick
did not accept these offers and instead gave Zellner
the option to resign immediately or have the matter
put before the School Board. The meeting ended with all
parties understanding that Zellner would have an ex-
tended period of time to decide whether to resign or go
forward with a hearing. All parties also understood
that ultimately only the School Board could decide
Zellner’s fate. Subsequently, Herrick learned that
Zellner had decided not to resign. Herrick, Korom, and
Pendergast then conferred by telephone and decided
the School Board would hold a disciplinary hearing in
January.
As School Board President, it was Pendergast’s respon-
sibility to determine whether the meeting would be an
open or closed session. Pendergast knew that Zellner
had requested a closed hearing, and although he did not
know the exact details of the evidence—only that the
District had discovered what it said was pornography on
Zellner’s computer, about a week before the January 17
hearing, he decided it would be an open session. He did
so knowing that, given the subject matter, an open
hearing would likely damage Zellner’s reputation.
According to Zellner, the long-standing practice of the
School Board was not to identify an employee by name,
or describe charges in advance of a disciplinary hearing.
10 No. 10-2729
However, the notice of hearing published by Pendergast
identified Zellner by name and described the charge
against him as misuse of a School District computer.
There was no mention of pornography in the notice.
Before the hearing, Herrick asked Borkenhagen to find
a forensic analyst to inspect Zellner’s computer to de-
termine if there was any other inappropriate content
which had been deleted. Borkenhagen hired a firm
which returned a disk of files found on the hard drive.
Borkenhagen gave the disk to Herrick, and, at Herrick’s
request, printed out the images.
Herrick and Korom prepared charges which were sent
to Zellner via certified mail, but were otherwise not
released to anyone prior to the meeting. Paragraph 5(g) of
the charges reads as follows: “[Zellner] selected one
photo from the second page of his search results, and
accessed the website entitled ‘ardentes.free.frblonde,’ and
then reviewed images on that pornographic website.”
Paragraph 7 of the charges states that “[a]nalysis of
Mr. Zellner’s computer revealed additional evidence.
Among other images, Zellner had retained photographs
of female students of the District wearing bikinis
while on a school-sponsored trip to Hawaii” that
Zellner chaperoned.3
3
The photos were taken by students while in Hawaii for a
biology trip and were used for the school yearbook. Pendergast
admitted that none of the photos of students were inappro-
priate and that Zellner could no longer access the photos as
they had been deleted.
No. 10-2729 11
On January 17, 2006, the School Board held a hearing
regarding the charges against Zellner. Zellner was repre-
sented by Union counsel, the administration was repre-
sented by Korom, and the School Board had its own
counsel present. Zellner was given an opportunity to
prepare and present evidence. Herrick testified on
behalf of the District, and Zellner called Connolly as a
witness to testify on his behalf about what happened in
the December 20 meeting. Zellner chose to read a state-
ment to the Board instead of testifying. In his state-
ment, Zellner neither offered an excuse for his actions
on November 6, nor denied the charges. He merely
stated, “I am truly sorry for what happened,” and “I know
I used poor judgment in this case. I made a mistake and
it will never happen again.” (In his original complaint,
Zellner claims that he ran the search to report to the
IT department what students could access via school
computers. However, because he didn’t testify, the
School Board never heard this version of events, or
what his intent was in accessing the images.) At the
conclusion of the hearing, the Board deliberated in
closed session for a few hours. It considered various
reprimands, and ultimately determined that termina-
tion was the appropriate course of action.
After the School Board terminated Zellner’s employ-
ment, he filed a grievance which went to arbitration. The
arbitrators found that Zellner violated the District’s
Policy, but rescinded the termination. The School District
refused to abide by the arbitration decision. Zellner
then filed a lawsuit in Wisconsin Circuit Court seeking
confirmation of the arbitration award. Both the Circuit
12 No. 10-2729
Court and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals found that the
School Board’s termination was supported by just cause.
The bottom line was that the arbitrators’ award was
reversed. Zellner’s termination was upheld.
Zellner then filed this suit in federal court. The court
granted the District’s motion to dismiss with regard to
Zellner’s due process claim, finding that he failed to
plead it was virtually impossible for him to find new
employment. Subsequently, the court granted the
District’s summary judgment motion with respect to
Zellner’s remaining First Amendment claim, finding he
failed to prove that his union activities were the “but for”
cause of his termination, and that he failed to prove
the November 6 Google Image search was a phoney
pretextual reason for his termination.
We review de novo the district court’s grant of the Dis-
trict’s Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) motion to
dismiss. Opp v. Office of State’s Attorney of Cook County,
630 F.3d 616, 619 (7th Cir. 2010). To survive a motion
to dismiss, the plaintiff must do more in the complaint
than simply recite elements of a claim; the “complaint
must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true,
to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ”
Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 1949 (2009) (quoting Bell
Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). We
also review the district court’s grant of summary judg-
ment de novo. Nemsky v. ConocoPhillips Co., 574 F.3d 859,
864 (7th Cir. 2009). Summary judgment is appropriate
where the admissible evidence shows that “there is no
genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant
No. 10-2729 13
is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ.
P. 56(a). “A genuine issue of material fact arises only
if sufficient evidence favoring the nonmoving party
exists to permit a jury to return a verdict for that
party.” Faas v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 532 F.3d 633, 640-41
(7th Cir. 2008) (internal quotation marks omitted).
On appeal, Zellner first argues that the court incorrectly
dismissed his due process claim because it did so sua
sponte. A complaint may be dismissed for failure to state
a claim pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) “only if ‘it
appears beyond a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no
set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle
him to relief.’ ” Ricketts v. Midwest National Bank, 874
F.2d 1177, 1183 (7th Cir. 1989) (internal citations omitted).
Zellner correctly notes that we do not encourage
district courts to dismiss claims sua sponte. Instead, we
strongly encourage giving a party notice of an intention
to dismiss and an opportunity to respond. But Zellner’s
argument misses the mark.
Even if Zellner were able to prove “all of the other
elements necessary to make out a claim of stigmatiza-
tion . . . the remedy mandated . . . is ‘an opportunity to
refute the charge’ ” against him during a hearing. Codd
v. Velger, 429 U.S. 624, 627 (1977). The purpose of a
hearing is to provide the person “charged” with an op-
portunity to clear his name. Id. Here, Zellner unquestion-
ably received a hearing and was given an opportunity
to clear his name. The School Board held an open
hearing at which Zellner was allowed to present
evidence and witnesses to tell his side of the story—but
14 No. 10-2729
he decided not to testify. Instead, he read a statement
in which he did not dispute the charges against him,
but only apologized. Zellner has already received all
the relief he is entitled to, and therefore his due process
claim fails.
As to the summary judgment decision with respect to
his First Amendment claim, Zellner argues that he estab-
lished a prima facie case of retaliation as well as evidence
of pretext. The First Amendment prohibits a public em-
ployer from retaliating against an employee for engaging
in protected speech. See Callahan v. Fermon, 526 F.3d
1040, 1043-44 (7th Cir. 2008). To make out a prima facie
case of First Amendment retaliation, a plaintiff must
present evidence that: (1) his speech was constitu-
tionally protected; (2) he has suffered a deprivation
likely to deter free speech; and (3) his speech was at least
a motivating favor in the employer’s action. Massey v.
Johnson, 457 F.3d 711, 716 (7th Cir. 2006). In other words,
the plaintiff bears the burden of proving “but for” causa-
tion. Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., 129 S. Ct. 2343,
2350 (2009); Fairley v. Andrews, 578 F.3d 518, 525-26 (7th
Cir. 2009) (applying Gross to First Amendment claims
under 42 U.S.C. § 1983).
Once a plaintiff demonstrates that an improper
purpose was a motivating factor, the burden shifts to the
defendant to show that the same decision would have
been made in the absence of the protected speech. Massey,
457 F.3d at 717. If the defendant carries that burden, the
plaintiff must then demonstrate that the defendant’s
proffered reasons for the decision were pretextual and
No. 10-2729 15
that retaliatory animus was the real reason for the deci-
sion. Id. At the summary judgment stage, this means
a plaintiff must produce evidence upon which a
rational finder of fact could infer that the defendant’s
proffered reason is a lie. Vukadinovich v. Board of School
Trustees, 278 F.3d 693, 699 (7th Cir. 2002).
Zellner argues that the history of animosity between the
Union and the District—culminating in the December 15
publication of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, in
which Zellner was critical of the District—is ample
support that “but for” his union activities he would
not have been terminated. But “the fact that a plaintiff’s
protected speech may precede an adverse employment
decision alone does not establish causation.” Mullin v.
Gettinger, 450 F.3d 280, 285 (7th Cir. 2006). While it is
abundantly clear that the relationship between the
Union and the District was contentious, combative, and
miserable, and that Zellner and the District played a
central role in the relationship, Zellner ignores the dis-
covery of his November 6 Google Image search. It is
undisputed that the search violated the District’s
Policy, that Zellner admitted that he performed the
search, and that he knew he violated the Policy. Accord-
ingly, the School Board had a legitimate, non-discrim-
inatory reason to terminate Zellner’s employment.
Zellner argues that the only reason the Board had the
information was because Borkenhagen improperly re-
ported his violation to Herrick instead of Zellner’s direct
supervisor, Grieger. But this argument is a non-starter. It
doesn’t really matter to whom Borkenhagen reported
Zellner’s conduct. Zellner violated the District’s Policy
16 No. 10-2729
by viewing pornographic images on his school computer,
the violation had nothing to do with his union activities,
and the School Board found that this violation should
result in termination. Accordingly, the district court
correctly ruled that no jury could find that “but for” the
plethora of Zellner’s union activities and statements,
the School Board would not have terminated his em-
ployment. Zellner’s prima facie claim thus failed on the
element of causation.
Moreover, even if Zellner had proved causation, the
burden shifts to the District to show that the same
decision would have been made in the absence of
Zellner’s union activities. See Valentino v. Village of South
Chicago Heights, 575 F.3d 664, 670 (7th Cir. 2009). Here,
Zellner runs into the same problem—he directly and
knowingly violated a School Board Policy. He admitted
as much in front of the Board at his hearing and
apologized for his actions. Zellner thus failed to estab-
lish proof that the Google Image search was a pretext
for firing him. Without evidence that some other
teacher violated the Policy in a similar way and received
a milder sanction, Zellner’s “but for” case rests on con-
jecture. Accordingly, he cannot rebut the District’s legiti-
mate, non-discriminatory reason for his termination.
The judge correctly granted the District’s motion for
summary judgment with respect to Zellner’s First Amend-
ment claim.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district
court is A FFIRMED.
4-29-11