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Bill O'Rights · 03-01-2005, 10:49 AM

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1638&u_sid=1348522

Quote:

LINCOLN (AP) - A federal appeals court on Monday ordered a third trial in the case of a woman who was fired from her bank teller job after speaking out at a school board meeting.

But the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln, who said that damages of $1.56 million awarded in Betty Lou Dossett's first jury trial were "the product of passion and prejudice."

"Even Dossett's attorney was not so bold as to argue for anything close to that sum," wrote Judge Steven Colloton.

Dossett was fired from the First State Bank in Loomis, Neb., in 1998, two weeks after speaking out publicly against a proposed merger of the Phelps County R-6 School District with Loomis Public Schools.

She said she was told that prominent bank customers threatened to take their business elsewhere if she was not fired.

In a letter to Dossett, bank President John R. Nelson said she was fired "as a result of comments . . . which were negative about the local school board and superintendent, thereby reflecting poorly on the community and placing at risk substantial customers of the bank."

Dossett sued, saying her firing violated her constitutional right to free speech.

The bank's lawyer argued that First Amendment rights didn't apply to private employers.

After the case was transferred to U.S. District Court in Lincoln, a jury found for Dossett in February 2003 and awarded $1.56 million in damages.

But Kopf threw out the award and ordered a new trial, and in the second trial, a jury found in favor of the bank.

Dossett appealed to the 8th Circuit, arguing that the instructions Kopf gave the second jury were faulty. She also appealed Kopf's ruling on the damages awarded in the first trial.

In Monday's ruling, the 8th Circuit agreed with Kopf that the damages were excessive.

"The first jury's award, as far as we can tell, would represent an unprecedented amount of damages in a First Amendment retaliation case," Colloton wrote.

But the court agreed with Dossett on Kopf's instructions to the jury. It ordered a third trial on whether the bank conspired with the school district to retaliate against Dossett.

Dossett's lawyer, Maren Lynn Chaloupka, hailed that decision.

"This is an important ruling that provides protection for any Nebraskan who has the guts to take an unpopular position, as Betty Lou Dossett did."

Ok...beyond the 1.56 million dollars awarded in damages, which I also believe was a bit excessive, do you feel that an employer (First State Bank) has the right to dictate to its' employees (Betty Lou Dossett) what they can say, where they can say it, when they can say it, who they can say it to, and how they can say it. In short, should an employer have direct control (confidentiality clauses withstanding) over your freedom of speech? Do First Amendment rights apply to private employers, or not?