Terry Joyner v. City of Atlanta

── Terry Joyner v. City of Atlanta ── Case No.: 22-13728 Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Date: March 25, 2026 Category: NEW USCA11 Case: 22-13728 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 03/25/2026 Page: 1 of 63 FOR PUBLICATION In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 22-13728 ____________________ TERRY JOYNER, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus CITY OF ATLANTA, CHIEF GEORGE TURNER, VAN HOBBS, in their individual capacities, Defendants-Appellees. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 1:16-cv-01780-RDC ____________________ Before BRANCH, GRANT, and ED CARNES, Circuit Judges. ED CARNES, Circuit Judge: USCA11 Case: 22-13728 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 03/25/2026 Page: 2 of 63 2 Opinion of the Court 22-13728 Terry Joyner worked as a police officer with the City of At- lanta Police Department (APD). He was denied a promotion to Captain in December 2014, and he was moved from a flexible to a fixed schedule in October 2015. He filed a lawsuit claiming that the City through his former supervisors — Police Chief George Turner, Major Earnest Finley, and Major Van Hobbs — engaged in racial discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq.; that Turner and Hobbs retaliated against him in violation of the First Amendment; and that the City through Turner and Hobbs retaliated against him in violation of the Geor- gia Whistleblower Act, Ga. Code Ann. § 45-1-4. Joyner lost all of his claims on summary judgment or at trial. This is his appeal from the judgment against him. He loses it, as well, except that we reverse the grant of summary judgment to Turner and Hobbs on his First Amendment retaliation claim. I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY A. The Facts Joyner was hired as a police officer with the APD in 1992. APD officers rank in the following ascending order: Police Officer, Senior Police Officer, Investigator, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Deputy Chief, Assistant Chief, and Chief. Joyner was pro- moted to Investigator in 1999, Sergeant in 2001, and Lieutenant in 2007. He was not promoted again. USCA11 Case: 22-13728 Document: 48-1 Date Filed: 03/25/2026 Page: 3 of 63 22-13728 Opinion of the Court 3 Joyner worked in the APD’s Field Operations Division (FOD), which, while he was working in it, was divided into six ge- ographic patrol zones. Each zone was led by one Captain and one Major. 1. In February 2008, Joyner Reported Allegations of Racial Discrimination. In February 2008, Joyner, who is White, was working in Zone 3 under Major Earnest Finley, who is Black.1 On February 12, 2008, Joyner met with Finley to inform him that some White officers had told Joyner that they believed Finley was treating them less favorably than he was treating Black officers. Joyner testified during his deposition that Finley was so angry when Joyner told him that “[Joyner] felt like [Finley] was about to hit [him],” and that Finley screamed something