Davis v. Board of Educ. of City of St. Louis, 71493
| Decision Date | 03 February 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 71493,71493 |
| Citation | 963 S.W.2d 679 |
| Parties | 125 Ed. Law Rep. 229 William DAVIS and Linda Davis, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS, David J. Mahan, John E. Ingram, Jr., and David G. Flieg, Defendants/Respondents. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Charles W. Bobinette, Uthoff, Graeber, Bobinette & O'Keefe, Richard B. Blanke, St. Louis, for appellants.
Kenneth C. Brostron, Lisa O. Stump, Michael W. Roskiewicz, Lashly & Baer, P.C., St. Louis, for respondents.
Plaintiffs, a tenured physical education teacher in the St. Louis Public Schools and his wife, brought an action against the Board of Education of the City of St. Louis, the superintendent of the public schools, and two public school employees for damages and other relief for injuries plaintiffs incurred when, after students made complaints of abuse, the superintendent reassigned the teacher to non-teaching duties, then suspended him without pay and filed charges against him. The Board found him not guilty of the charges after an administrative hearing. The trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the superintendent on the malicious prosecution claim on the ground of official immunity. It also entered summary judgment in favor of the superintendent and the two employees on the claim for tortious interference with contract. The case was tried on the malicious prosecution and loss of consortium counts. The trial court refused
to submit punitive damages to the jury on the malicious prosecution count. The jury returned a verdict against the two employees on both counts. However, the trial court entered judgment notwithstanding the verdict on these claims. Plaintiffs appeal, asserting the trial court erred in taking each of the above actions. We affirm.
The Board of Education of the City of St. Louis (the Board) is the governing body of the St. Louis Public Schools. Section 162.571 RSMo (1994). Prior to and for the school years 1990-1991, 1991-1992, and 1992-1993, plaintiff William Davis (hereinafter individually referred to as plaintiff) was employed by the St. Louis Public Schools as a permanent teacher pursuant to Section 168.221 RSMo (1986). The terms of plaintiff's employment are set forth in Section 168.221.3 RSMo (1994) 1 which provides in pertinent part:
No teacher or principal whose appointment has become permanent may be removed except for one or more of the following causes: Immorality, inefficiency in the line of duty, violation of the published regulations of the school district, violation of the laws of Missouri governing the public schools of the state, or physical or mental condition which incapacitates him for instructing or associating with children, and then only by a vote of not less than a majority of all the members of the board, upon written charges presented by the superintendent of schools, to be heard by the board after thirty days' notice, with copy of the charges served upon the person against whom they are preferred ... Pending the hearing of the charges, the person charged may be suspended if the rules of the board so prescribe, but in the event the board does not by a majority vote of all the members remove the teacher or principal upon charges presented by the superintendent, the person shall not suffer any loss of salary by reason of the suspension.
Defendant David J. Mahan was the Acting or Interim Superintendent of Schools for 1990-1991 and became superintendent in 1991. Defendant John E. Ingram, Jr. was the Acting Assistant Superintendent for Elementary School Education for the 1990-1991 year and then became Assistant Superintendent in 1991. He was appointed by Mahan and was responsible for supervising the 75 public elementary schools in the district. Defendant David G. Flieg was the Executive Director of Elementary School Education. He reported to Ingram and was responsible for the day-to-day supervision of the elementary schools.
During the 1990-1991 school year, plaintiff was a physical education teacher at Woerner I.G.E. School, a St. Louis public school. On January 31, 1991 several students at Woerner reported to their school nurse that plaintiff had made sexual comments, improperly touched and looked at them, and cursed at them. On February 1 the principal at Woerner, Dr. Rejesta V. Perry, notified Flieg of possible sexual misconduct involving plaintiff. Flieg directed Perry to call the parents, the police, and the Missouri Division of Family Services (DFS) and to interview the students about their allegations. Dr. Perry conducted interviews and sent a handwritten report of her questions and the student's answers in each interview to Flieg's office. The students again reported that plaintiff cursed at them, touched them offensively, and looked at them in an offensive manner. A DFS investigator and a police detective each began separate investigations in which they also interviewed the students.
On February 12, 1991 Ingram wrote to Mahan recommending that Davis be removed from Woerner School. On February 13, 1991 Superintendent Mahan temporarily reassigned plaintiff to a non-teaching position pursuant to Board Regulation 4680 which permits the superintendent to transfer an employee for the good of the system.
On February 25, 1991 Mahan directed Ingram and Flieg to go to Woerner School to interview those students who had made complaints and those students who had been interviewed by the police, DFS, and the principal. That same day Ingram and Flieg went to the school. Ingram took notes as The DFS investigator conducting an independent investigation found no evidence of child or sexual abuse. On March 22 and April 2, 1991, she reported her findings to plaintiff and Mahan, but not to Ingram or Flieg.
Flieg interviewed each of the students individually. They made follow-up visits on three subsequent days. Ingram and Flieg interviewed twenty students from the Woerner School, boys and girls of different races from the first, second, fourth, fifth, and eighth grades. These statements included serious allegations that plaintiff had engaged in sexual misconduct, physical misconduct, and profanity.
The St. Louis police detective assigned to the case spoke with Flieg on March 4, 1991 and told him that his investigation was near completion and would be presented to the circuit attorney's office. Flieg told him that whatever the outcome of the criminal investigation, he would proceed with the termination. The detective presented the case to the circuit attorney's office, which did not issue warrants.
On March 13, 1991 a hearing was conducted in Flieg's office on the students' charges. Plaintiff appeared with a union representative. Ingram read the list of charges to plaintiff. Plaintiff denied most of the charges and gave an explanation consistent with innocence for the others.
On March 18, 1991 Flieg submitted a memorandum to Ingram which described the scope of their interviews and summarized each student's statement. The memorandum concluded, "[b]ased on the above, my recommendation is to dismiss Mr. William Davis." The memorandum was transmitted to Mahan. After reviewing Flieg's memorandum, Mahan directed Flieg to go back to the school and take written statements from the students about what had occurred. On March 25 Flieg took written statements from most of the students he had interviewed. On April 2 Ingram forwarded to Mahan the reports of the school nurse and Dr. Perry, Flieg's memorandum, and the handwritten statements from the interviews. Ingram told Mahan he concurred with Flieg's recommendation and recommended a dismissal hearing.
By letter dated August 5, 1991, Mahan notified plaintiff that he was suspended without pay and Mahan would recommend his discharge pending a hearing before the Board of Education. Mahan enclosed a written Statement of Charges. Those charges contained fourteen separate charges of immorality or of violations of Board Regulation 4840.
On January 10, 1992 plaintiff's attorney wrote a seven-page letter to Mahan in which he asked Mahan to review his decision to file charges against plaintiff and move for his dismissal. The attorney reported in detail the results of the attorney's own investigation into the charges and reported that many of the students had made statements to him or testified in depositions. In those statements and depositions the students denied the substance of the complaints. The attorney reported that the School Board attorney was going to drop two of the charges made with respect to one female student and asked that the other charges be likewise dropped.
The Board conducted a hearing on the twelve remaining charges on the record on January 15 and 16, February 3, 6 and 10, and March 5, 1992. At the hearing some of the students repudiated their earlier statements. Other students gave testimony which the Board did not believe. On September 16, 1992 the Board notified plaintiff that it had issued Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law finding that plaintiff was not guilty of the charges, that he would not be removed from his position as teacher, and that he should not suffer any loss of salary by reason of his suspension.
Plaintiff was reinstated by the Board effective September 21, 1992. After his reinstatement the Board paid plaintiff $37,271.46 as salary, holiday pay, and sick leave from the date of the suspension to the date of reinstatement. Plaintiff did not lose retirement benefits, creditable years of service, or seniority.
On July 7, 1993 plaintiff requested the Board to pay him $6,105.00 to compensate him for pre-judgment and post-judgment interest accrued on his back pay and wages lost from a third party which had denied him
summer employment because of his suspension. On August 24, 1993 the Board found plaint...
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