Seventh Circuit Partially Revives Black Ex-Firefighter Bias Suit

A federal appellate court vacated the dismissal of a Black firefighter’s claim that an Illinois city violated federal anti-bias law and fired him in retaliation for speaking to the EEOC about alleged race discrimination within his department.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit said in a per curiam order Monday that Judge John J. Tharp of the Northern District of Illinois wrongly granted summary judgment for the City of Markham on Vairrun Strickland’s discrimination and retaliation claims filed under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Tharp held that Strickland couldn’t challenge the city’s Board of Fire and Police Commissioners’ administrative decision to fire him in federal court because he first sued in state court and then voluntarily dismissed that case. The panel concluded that US Supreme Court precedent indicates that unreviewed state administrative decisions lack a preclusive effect on Title VII claims.

The appeals panel upheld the city’s summary judgment win on Strickland’s claims filed under state anti-bias law and Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act, which allows individuals to sue government entities for alleged violations of their constitutional rights.

The district judge correctly held that federal common law principles foreclosed Strickland from challenging decisions of an administrative agency acting in a judicial capacity with Section 1983 and state law claims, “and where the losing party fails to seek timely judicial review of the decision,” the panel said.

“The district court did not err when it concluded that Strickland had a full and fair opportunity to litigate,” it added. “Strickland could have raised, but did not, the thrust of his discrimination and retaliation claims as defenses in the Board hearing.”

The board terminated Strickland in April 2021, finding that he lied to detectives during an arson investigation and had put his co-workers at risk by coming to work while infected with Covid-19, according to court papers.

Strickland maintained that he was retaliated against because of his interview with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during a probe into bias claims brought by a former firefighter, and that he was written up for infractions for which other workers allegedly weren’t disciplined.

Judges David F. Hamilton, Amy J. St. Eve, and Thomas L. Kirsch II sat on the Seventh Circuit panel.

Kurtz, Sleper & Exline LLC represents Strickland. Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins Ltd. represents the City of Markham.

The case is Strickland v. City of Markham, 7th Cir., No. 24-03262, ruling issued 6/8/26.