Dydell v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 08 February 2011
• Docket Number: No. SC 90912.,SC 90912.
• Parties: Craig DYDELL, Appellant,v.Dr. Bernard TAYLOR, Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

332 S.W.3d 848

265 Ed. Law Rep. 792

Craig DYDELL, Appellant,

v.Dr. Bernard TAYLOR, Respondent.

No. SC 90912.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

Feb. 8, 2011.

George P. Coughlin, Matthew W. Geary, Dysart Taylor Lay Cotter & McMonigle PC, Kansas City, for Dydell.Derek T. Teeter, Allan V. Hallquist, Hayley E. Hanson, Husch Blakcwell Sanders LLP, Kansas City, for Taylor.Alisa B. Klein, Tony West, Mark B. Stern, Department of Justice of Justice, Charles P. Rose, Stephen H. Fried, Mari Colvin, General Counsels, Department of Education, Washington, D.C., Jerry L. Short, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Kansas City, MO, for the United States Government, which filed a brief as a friend of the Court.Kelli Hopkins, Columbia, for the Missouri School Boards' Association and National School Boards Association, which filed a brief as friends of the Court.LAURA DENVIR STITH, Judge.

Craig Dydell appeals from the entry of summary judgment in favor of former Kansas City school district superintendent Bernard Taylor in Mr. Dydell's action for damages stemming from Superintendent Taylor's alleged negligence in permitting a student to assault Mr. Dydell. Mr. Dydell argues that the circuit court erred in holding that Superintendent Taylor was immune from suit by operation of the Paul D. Coverdell Teacher Protection Act of 2001, 20 U.S.C. §§ 6731–6738 (2006) (Coverdell Act) because the Act is not a permissible exercise of Congress' constitutional authority under the spending or commerce clauses of the United States Constitution.

This Court finds that the Coverdell Act is a constitutional exercise of Congress' spending power under article I of the United States Constitution and that the trial court did not err in finding it applies to Superintendent Taylor. Accordingly, the judgment in favor of Superintendent Taylor is affirmed.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In June 2001, the Kansas City school board appointed Bernard Taylor superintendent of the Kansas City school district. As superintendent, he was the chief administrative officer and head of all divisions and departments of the school district. Superintendent Taylor was responsible for executing and implementing the school board's policies, rules and regulations. Those duties included making internal operational decisions regarding the school district.

In January 2004, James Whitehead was expelled from Westport charter school in Kansas City for attempting to bring a knife onto school grounds.¹ On January 12, 2004, as a result of the incident at Westport, juvenile authorities arranged for Mr. Whitehead's admission to a psychiatric hospital. Doctors discharged Mr. Whitehead from the psychiatric hospital on January 26, 2004.

In February 2004, Mr. Whitehead's mother sought to enroll him in the Kansas City school district. On June 17, 2004, the school district cleared him for enrollment. While evaluating whether Mr. Whitehead should be cleared, the school district became aware that he had been arrested for the incident at Westport. In connection with his clearance, the school district received Mr. Whitehead's psychiatric records from the psychiatric hospital. Because he had a learning disability at the time he was enrolled, Mr. Whitehead was referred to the school district's special education department to determine what school he should attend. The special education department prepared an individualized education program (“IEP”) for Mr. Whitehead. The IEP did not refer to his previous attempt to bring a knife into Westport. Eventually the district placed Mr. Whitehead at Central High School, which he began attending in the fall semester of 2004.

Craig Dydell began attending Central a year later, in the fall semester of 2005. One day, while Mr. Dydell was seated in the cafeteria at Central, Mr. Whitehead attacked him from behind with a box-cutter knife and sliced Mr. Dydell's neck open. The attack was unprovoked, as Mr. Dydell never had met Mr. Whitehead. Mr. Dydell survived the attack.

Mr. Dydell filed a negligence action against Superintendent Taylor, alleging that the latter's failure to supervise Mr. Whitehead adequately or to inform school district staff of Mr. Whitehead's psychiatric and criminal history caused Mr. Dydell's injuries. Shortly before trial was to have begun, Superintendent Taylor was granted leave to amend his answer to raise a defense of immunity based on the Coverdell Act. Following briefing and argument, the trial court granted Superintendent Taylor's motion for summary judgment based on the Act. In so doing, it rejected Mr. Dydell's arguments that the Act was beyond Congress' authority to enact and that it did not apply to Superintendent Taylor because his actions in regard to Mr. Whitehead were not carried out in compliance with local laws as required by the Coverdell Act. Mr. Dydell appeals. As his appeal challenges the validity of a statute of the United States, this Court has exclusive appellate jurisdiction. Mo. Const. art. V, § 3.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW AND PRINCIPLES GOVERNING REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF STATUTES

This Court's review on an appeal from summary judgment “is essentially de novo.” ITT Commercial Fin. Corp. v. Mid–America Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). Summary judgment is proper only if the moving party establishes that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Rule 74.04(c)(6). This Court will review the record in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered and accords the non-movant the benefit of all reasonable inferences from the record. ITT Commercial Fin. Corp., 854 S.W.2d at 376.

“ ‘Constitutional challenges to the validity of any alleged right or defense asserted by a party to an action must be raised at the earliest opportunity consistent with good pleading and orderly procedure.’ ” State ex rel. Houska v. Dickhaner, 323 S.W.3d 29, 33 (Mo. banc 2010) , quoting, Litzinger v. Pulitzer Pub. Co., 356 S.W.2d 81, 88 (Mo. banc 1962). “A statute is presumed to be constitutional and will not be invalidated unless it clearly and undoubtedly violates some constitutional provision and palpably affronts fundamental law embodied in the constitution.” State v. Richard, 298 S.W.3d 529, 531 (Mo. banc 2009). When evaluating the constitutional validity of a statute, “[t]his Court will ‘resolve all doubt in favor of the act's validity’ and ‘may make every reasonable intendment to sustain the constitutionality of the statute.’ ” Reproductive Health Servs. of Planned Parenthood v. Nixon, 185 S.W.3d 685, 688 (Mo. banc 2006) , quoting Westin Crown Plaza Hotel v. King, 664 S.W.2d 2, 5 (Mo. banc 1984).

III. THE COVERDELL ACT PROVIDES IMMUNITY TO SUPERINTENDENT TAYLORA. The Coverdell Act is a Permissible Exercise of Congress' Spending Power

Mr. Dydell argues that Congress had no authority to enact the Coverdell Act because it attempts to coerce states into recognizing immunity of certain teachers, which he contends is beyond the enumerated powers of Congress and, therefore, is a nullity.²

Congress is a legislative body of discrete enumerated powers.³ See U.S. Const. art. I, § 1 (entrusting Congress only with the “legislative Powers herein granted”). Congress' limited authority to enact laws reflects our country's deep solicitude for federalism and is calculated to lessen the potential for tyranny and abuse. Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U.S. 452, 458, 111 S.Ct. 2395, 115 L.Ed.2d 410 (1991) (“[T]he principal benefit of the federalist system is a check on abuses of government power”).

Among Congress' enumerated powers is the power to spend. U.S. Const art I., § 8, cl. 1 (“Congress shall have Power ... to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the Unites States”). Incident to its spending power, and integral to resolution of this case, Congress is authorized to “fix the terms on which it shall disburse federal money to the States.” Pennhurst State School & Hosp. v. Halderman, 451 U.S. 1, 17, 101 S.Ct. 1531, 67 L.Ed.2d 694 (1981). “Legislation enacted pursuant to the spending power is much in the nature of a contract: in return for federal funds, the States agree to comply with federally imposed conditions.” Id. Such a “quid pro quo” is constitutionally permissible so long as it is not unduly coercive and certain other standards are met. As discussed below, the parties disagree as to whether the Coverdell Act is improperly coercive as applied to Missouri and as to whether the other standards for its constitutional application are met because it requires Missouri to recognize federally imposed immunity for school officials in return for the receipt of federal school funds. Resolution of this issue requires review of the provisions of the Act.

Congress enacted the Coverdell Act—the full title of which is the Paul D. Coverdell Teacher Protection Act of 2001, 20 U.S.C. §§ 6731–6738 (2006)—as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. 20 U.S.C. §§ 6301–7941 (2006). The Coverdell Act specifically states that it “shall only apply to States that receive funds under this chapter, and shall apply to such a State as a condition of receiving such funds.” 20 U.S.C. § 6734. The “chapter” the Act references is chapter 70 of title 20 of the United States Code, also known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Coverdell Act also provides, “This subpart preempts the laws of any State to the extent that such laws are inconsistent with this subpart, except that this subpart shall not preempt any State law that provides additional protection from liability relating to teachers.” Id. § 6735(a). Moreover, a state may elect not to be governed by the teacher protection provisions:

This subpart shall not apply to any civil action in a State court against a teacher with respect to claims arising within that State if such State enacts a statute in accordance with State requirements for enacting legisla...