NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT __________ No. 20-3415 __________ ROY BORDAMONTE, Appellant v. HECTOR LORA, Individually and in their official capacities; LUIS GUZMAN, Individually and in their official capacities; GARY SCHAER, Individually and in their official capacities; ALEX BLANCO, Individually and in their official capacities; RALPH DANNA, Individually and in their official capacities; CARLOS FIGUEROA; CITY OF PASSAIC, a Municipal Corporation ________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (D.C. Civil Action No. 2-17-cv-02642) District Judge: Honorable William J. Martini ________________ Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) September 27, 2021 Before: AMBRO, KRAUSE, and BIBAS, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: September 30, 2021) ___________ OPINION * ___________ * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. AMBRO, Circuit Judge Roy Bordamonte, a police officer with the City of Passaic, sued the City and six of its officials and employees alleging that he suffered unlawful retaliation at work for supporting the losing candidate in the City’s mayoral election. The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of the Defendants on all counts and dismissed the case with prejudice. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the District Court’s decision. I. Bordamonte was a member of the City’s Police Department from 1994 until his retirement as a Sergeant in 2019. Between 2015 and 2016, he was the Commanding Officer of its Quality of Life (“QOL”) Unit. In the fall of 2016, defendant Alex Blanco, the City’s then-mayor, pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges and later resigned. Around the same time, defendant Luis Guzman became the Police Chief. Guzman disbanded the QOL Unit and transferred the officers in it, including Bordamonte. At his request, he began a night shift under the command of defendant Ralph Danna. In this new role, Bordamonte alleges that Danna harassed and mistreated him, including by interfering with his use of vacation days. Bordamonte contends that all these actions—the dissolution of the QOL Unit, his transfer to the patrol shift, and Danna’s mistreatment of him—were in retaliation for his support of Richard Diaz for mayor, who lost the race to defendant Hector Lora. 1 He sued 1 Bordamonte also contends that, as part of an internal investigation, he was asked to give false testimony against Diaz in violation of New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act. Bordamonte does not challenge the District Court’s grant of summary judgment as to this claim in his opening brief. 2 the City, Blanco, Guzman, Danna, Lora, as well as Gary Schaer, a member of the City Council, and Carlos Figueroa, a Lieutenant in the Police Department, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act, for violating his First Amendment rights. The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of the Defendants and dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice. Bordamonte appeals to us. II. Our review on appeal is plenary, which means we review the motions for summary judgment …
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