United States Eleventh Circuit

In an action claiming that defendants violated plaintiff-firefighter's First Amendment right to intimate association when they demoted him for an extramarital affair with one of his subordinates, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where the county's interest in discouraging extramarital associations between supervisors and subordinates was so critical to the effective functioning of the Fire Department that it outweighed plaintiff's interest in extramarital association with a subordinate, even assuming arguendo that the First Amendment protected extramarital association as fundamental right.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/06/2010
• Published 04/06/2010

Judges

• KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge:, Before DUBINA, Chief Judge, KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge, and ALBRITTON, District Judge.

Court

• United States Eleventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Isidro M. Garcia, Garcia Law Firm, P.A., West Palm Beach, FL, for Starling.


• For Appellees:
  
• Barry Seth Balmuth, Barry S. Balmuth, P.A., Andrew Marcus Pelino, Leonard Berger, West Palm Beach, FL, for Defendants-Appellees.