United States Fifth Circuit

Dismissal of a contractor's First Amendment retaliation claim against a city is vacated where: 1) the district court erred in concluding that plaintiff failed to allege that a prior lawsuit was a matter of "public concern in the community" due to the lawsuit's location relative to that of the retaliation; 2) plaintiff's petition was sufficient to put the city on notice that its prior suit involved matters of public concern; and 3) a contractor is not required to have a prior relationship with a governmental entity before being able to assert a First Amendment claim.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/31/2006
• Published 08/31/2006

Judges

• W. EUGENE DAVIS, Circuit Judge:, Before DAVIS, BARKSDALE and DeMOSS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Erwin S. Chemerinsky (argued), Duke University, Durham, NC, Andrew Monroe Trusevich, Quilling, Selander, Cummiskey & Lownds, Dallas, TX, Donald M. Hunt, Lawrence Matthew Doss, Molly A. Manning, Mullin, Hoard & Brown, Lubbock, TX, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Gary Michael Bellair (argued), Robert L. Craig, Jr., Craig, Terrill & Hale, Lubbock, TX, for Defendants-Appellees.