Smith v. City of Janesville

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-City’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-tow truck operator’s section 1983 and 1981 actions, alleging that defendant removed plaintiff from city’s “no-preference” tow list due to plaintiff’s race and because of certain complaints of racial discrimination that he had made against police department. Defendant explained that removal was based on citizen’s complaint that plaintiff had failed to tell her where he was towing her car and about missing GPS device, and on defendant’s failure to respond to City’s inquiry about said complaint. Moreover, plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence to allow jury to find that racial discrimination motivated decision to remove plaintiff from tow list. Also, while plaintiff presented evidence that white tow truck operator received citizen complaint but was not removed from tow list, white tow truck operator was not similarly-situated to plaintiff, where substance of complaint against white comparator was less severe that complaint against plaintiff, and where white tow truck operator promptly responded to City’s inquiry about citizen complaint.