Ambus v. Utah State Bd. of Educ., 890497
| Decision Date | 31 October 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 890497,890497 |
| Citation | 800 P.2d 811 |
| Parties | 64 Ed. Law Rep. 267 Gregory T. AMBUS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. UTAH STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, Defendant and Appellee. |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
Stephen W. Cook, Salt Lake City, for plaintiff and appellant.
R. Paul Van Dam, John S. McCallister, and Douglas F. Bates, Salt Lake City, for defendant and appellee.
This case is before the court on an interlocutory appeal from the denial of appellant's motion for summary judgment. Appellant contends that summary judgment is appropriate on the issue of whether the Utah State Board of Education erred in using evidence of the substantive charges contained in expunged criminal records in a professional licensing hearing.
Appellant Gregory T. Ambus received certification as a secondary school teacher on August 13, 1981. Subsequent to certification, he taught in the Granite School District ("Granite") as a science teacher and received a number of awards and honors for his teaching abilities.
On April 7, 1986, Ambus was arrested by the Salt Lake City Police Department and charged with two counts of marijuana distribution and one count of agreeing to distribute. The events that were alleged to have taken place in Ambus's home did not involve his duties as a teacher. He consistently maintained his innocence, and on December 5, 1986, the charges were dismissed.
On May 4, 1987, the Third Judicial District Court entered an order of expungement, which reads in pertinent part:
This Court finds that the statements made by defendant in the petition above are true, and that the rehabilitation of defendant has been attained to the satisfaction of the Court.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED as follows:
1. All records in defendant's case in the custody of this court, or in the custody of any court, agency or official, shall be sealed and expunged....
2. Upon entry of this order, defendant shall be deemed judicially pardoned, and he may respond to any inquiries relating to convictions of crimes as though the conviction described above had never occurred.
Regardless of the expungement, Granite terminated Ambus's employment. He appealed the termination, and it was submitted to arbitration, where the hearing officer "strongly recommend[ed]" that "the termination be reversed and the Grievant be restored to some equivalent teaching post within the Granite School District as of the beginning of academic year 1987-1988." Despite the arbitrator's recommendation, Granite refused to reinstate Ambus; 1 nevertheless, he was able to obtain employment in the Salt Lake City School District.
On January 27, 1988, a newspaper article appeared in a local newspaper describing the litigation initiated by Ambus in the federal court. As a result of information contained in the newspaper article, the Utah State Board of Education ("the Board") initiated steps to revoke Ambus's teaching certificate.
On October 20, 1988, the Board held a hearing to determine Ambus's qualifications to continue teaching. At the hearing, the Board called two witnesses, the arresting officer and the paid informant, who were involved with the underlying events giving rise to the criminal charges contained in the expunged records. Ambus made timely objections to the use of any evidence relating to the events which formed the basis of the arrest and the expunged records.
On March 16, 1989, the Board revoked Ambus's teaching certificate based upon the testimony received at the hearing. Ambus filed the instant action on March 20, 1989, alleging, among other things, that the Board's use of evidence of underlying events that were part of expunged criminal records violated the district court's order of expungement and Utah's expungement statute, Utah Code Ann. § 77-18-2 (1987). Ambus's motion for summary judgment was denied, and he brought this interlocutory appeal.
The issue in this case is whether the Board could properly admit and use evidence of events contained in the record that gave rise to criminal charges that had been dismissed and resulted in expungement. Our review of the Board's action entails a question of law, statutory interpretation, and legislative intent; we therefore accord no deference to the Board's determinations but review them for correctness. 2
Utah Code Ann. § 77-18-2 (1987) governs expungements and reads in pertinent part as follows:
(2)(a) When a person has been arrested with or without a warrant, that individual, after one month if there have been no intervening arrests, may petition the court in which the proceeding occurred, or, if there were no court proceedings, any court in the jurisdiction where the arrest occurred, for an order expunging and sealing any and all records of arrest and detention which may have been made, if any of the following occurred:
(i) he was released without the filing of formal charges;
(ii) proceedings against him were dismissed, he was discharged without conviction and no charges were refiled against him within 30 days, or he was acquitted at trial; or
(iii) the record of any proceedings against him has been sealed under Subsection (1).
(b) If the court finds that the petitioner is eligible for relief under this subsection, it shall issue its order granting the expungement and sealing.
(c) This subsection applies to all arrests and any proceedings which occurred before, as well as those which may occur after, the effective date of this section.
(d) The court shall enter an order that all records in petitioner's case which are in the custody of that court, or any other court, or any state, county, or local entity, agency, or official, be sealed.
....
(3) The person who has received expungement and sealing of an arrest or conviction may answer an inquiring employer as though the arrest or conviction did not occur.
Ambus claims that the clear intent of the statute is that criminal records and evidence of criminal actions cannot be used in proceedings subsequent to the expungement of the record and cites Doe v. Utah Department of Public Safety 3 in support of his claim. In Doe, the appellant applied for employment with the Utah Department of Corrections, which required the approval and certification of the Division of Peace Officer Standards and Training ("P.O.S.T."). Appellant was granted a trial court order ruling that P.O.S.T. could not consider expunged records in deciding...
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Ambus v. Utah State Bd. of Educ., 920204
...prohibits a government employee from divulging information contained within an expunged and sealed record. Ambus v. Utah State Bd. of Educ., 800 P.2d 811 (Utah 1990). On remand, the Board presented no evidence to support its decision to revoke the teaching certificate. As a result, the tria......
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Ambus v. Granite Bd. of Educ.
...ruling allowing evidence relative to conduct involved in the expunged charges was correct, distinguishing Ambus v. Utah State Board of Education, 800 P.2d 811 (Utah 1990). Plaintiff appealed, alleging the points of error set out In reviewing the district court's grant of summary judgment we......
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