VIRGINIA — The federal district court of Minnesota has dismissed a lawsuit by a former Rock Ridge School Board member against the district and the board chair for a second time.
The order filed Monday, March 16, said Pollyann Sorcan failed to state a First Amendment retaliation claim in her 2023 suit. She filed the action after board members censured and removed her from committee assignments, and she was excluded from attending committee meetings after her removal.
Sorcan argued the action was in retaliation to her engaging in protected speech.
In Monday’s order, Judge John R. Tunheim opined that removal from committees is among the most common forms of internal discipline used by political bodies. Tunheim wrote that Sorcan’s committee removals did not prevent her from performing her duties or deprive her of any privilege, since the committees are purely advisory.
As for barring her attendance from committee meetings, the court did agree this was an adverse action against Sorcan, as a member of the public looking to attend a public meeting. But according to the order, her complaint failed to show this move was retaliatory.
The lawsuit was already dismissed once, but last year, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back after determining the former board chair named in the suit did not enjoy individual legislative immunity.
The Rock Ridge School Board separately removed Sorcan from office in 2024, after she attempted to help others overturn Board decisions and violated data privacy rules.
She unsuccessfully ran to fill that seat again in the subsequent special election.
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