BENTON – St. Clair County Sheriff Rick Watson fired bailiff Pleas Griffin for good cause, U.S. Senior District Judge Phil Gilbert ruled on May 29.
He granted summary judgment for Watson and the county on Griffin’s claims of age and race discrimination.
He found Griffin made no showing that he performed his job at a satisfactory level.
“This is not a close case,” Gilbert wrote.
Ferne Wolf of Creve Coeur, Missouri, filed suit for Griffin in 2017.
This January, she moved to amend the complaint so Griffin could assert a whistle blower claim and add supervisor Scott Battoe as defendant.
Wolf moved to extend discovery 60 days, in case the motion to amend should fail.
She argued that she needed to depose Circuit Judge Zina Cruse.
Magistrate Judge Reona Daly denied leave to amend in February, finding it would unduly delay disposition by triggering another round of discovery and motions.
Daly found that adding a party would prejudice defendants, and that a statute of limitations barred the whistle blower claim.
She also denied discovery, finding the county specifically stated that Cruse requested that Griffin not be placed in her courtroom.
“Plaintiff had the opportunity to depose Judge Cruse prior to the discovery deadline but chose not to,” Daly wrote.
Her order set up Gilbert’s knockout punch.
Gilbert wrote that the county operated at a deficit and needed to make budget cuts, aiming to slash the bailiff’s fund, which was in the red by $10,000 to $14,000 a month.
He wrote that the county told Watson to choose five bailiffs to fire, and Watson negotiated it to three.
He wrote that one bailiff was no longer mobile enough for his duties and one volunteered to leave.
Watson needed to fire a third bailiff, and Gilbert found he chose the right one.
Gilbert wrote that an advocate in domestic violence court reported that Griffin behaved poorly and made comments about legs and dresses of advocates.
According to Gilbert’s order, Griffin’s supervisor warned him but received complaints in a week.
The supervisor permanently removed Griffin from domestic violence court and assigned him to a metal detector. Then, advocates in a nearby office said they overheard him complaining about them.
The supervisor reassigned him again and reprimanded him.
Further, Griffin attended a press conference in East St. Louis in uniform, without consent of command staff or sheriff.
Finally, a judge requested that he no longer be in her court.
“For that, Griffin sued both the county and the sheriff,” Gilbert wrote.
He also wrote that the county fired him because they couldn’t assign him to different locations compared to other bailiffs.
He dismissed Griffin’s suit with prejudice.
Larissa Whittingham of Husch Blackwell in Springfield, Mo., represented the county along with Sonni Nolan and Christine Miller of Husch Blackwell in Clayton.