Greene v. Doruff

Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendant-prison official's motion for summary judgment in action by plaintiff-prisoner alleging that defendant violated his First Amendment rights by filing meritless conduct report against plaintiff in retaliation for plaintiff filing grievance against defendant for terminating him from his position as clerk in prison library. While basis for Dist. Ct.'s ruling was that plaintiff had failed to establish that challenged action would not have occurred but for constitutionally protected speech, plaintiff satisfied his burden by testifying that he told librarian about plaintiff's grievance one day prior to defendant's filing of instant conduct report that sought to justify plaintiff's firing. Accordingly, triable issue arose as to whether defendant could establish that filing of said report would have occurred regardless of plaintiff's grievance.