Endres v. Indiana State Police
Citation | 809 N.E.2d 320 |
Decision Date | 02 June 2004 |
Docket Number | No. 50S05-0406-CV-245.,50S05-0406-CV-245. |
Parties | ENDRES, Ben, Appellant, v. INDIANA STATE POLICE, Appellee. |
Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
David C. Kolbe, Warsaw, IN, Attorneys for Appellant.
Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, David L. Steiner, Deputy Attorney General of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.
ON PETITION TO TRANSFER
Indiana State Trooper Ben Endres ("Endres") refused to accept an assignment as a gaming agent at a riverboat casino, asserting that the assignment would conflict with his religious convictions. The Indiana State Police ("State Police") then terminated his employment, and the Indiana State Police Board ("Police Board") upheld the termination.
cert. denied.
Meanwhile, Endres also sought judicial review of the Police Board's decision in the Marshall Superior Court, which upheld Endres's termination. Endres appealed, and the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed. See Endres v. Indiana State Police, 794 N.E.2d 1089 (Ind.Ct.App.2003)
. In doing so, the Court of Appeals first concluded that the disposition of his federal action precluded Endres from relitigating his Title VII claim in this state court action. See id. at 1093-94. The Court of Appeals also concluded that his employment termination did not violate his State constitutional right to religious freedom. See id. at 1094-97. Endres has petitioned this Court to grant transfer of jurisdiction from the Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court. Ind. Appellate Rule 57. We now grant transfer and assume jurisdiction over this appeal. Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A).
trans. denied. We summarily affirm the Court of Appeals on this issue.
With regard to his State constitutional claim, we note, as did the Court of Appeals, that the appendix submitted by Endres is incomplete and that there is nothing in the materials submitted by either party to indicate that Endres offered any legal argument in support of his State constitutional claim until he filed his motion to correct error in the trial court. See Endres, 794 N.E.2d at 1091 n. 1
and 1094. The Court of Appeals took the position that, as a matter of "notice pleading," Endres's assertion in his initial complaint that his discharge constituted "a violation of the United States Constitution and Indiana Constitution each guaranteeing religious freedom and the free exercise thereof" was sufficient for Endres to preserve the constitutional issue for review on appeal.
We find that the mere listing of a contention in a party's complaint, with no further attempt to press the contention in the trial court, is insufficient effort to preserve the matter for appellate review. At a minimum, a party must show that it gave the trial court a bona fide opportunity to pass upon the merits of the claim before seeking an opinion on appeal. The policy reasons behind this requirement—preservation of judicial resources, opportunity for full development of the record, utilization of trial court fact-finding expertise, and assurance of a claim being tested by the adversary...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Clinic for Women, Inc. v. Brizzi
...for failure to work at casino claimed his right to religious freedom was materially burdened), affirmed in part, vacated in part, 809 N.E.2d 320 (Ind.2004); and another apparently involved a claim of freedom of the press. In re WTHR-TV, 693 N.E.2d 1 (Ind.1998) (defendant news stations claim......
-
Cavens v. Zaberdac
...the trial court a bona fide opportunity to pass upon the merits of the claim before seeking an opinion on appeal." Endres v. Ind. State Police, 809 N.E.2d 320, 322 (Ind.2004). We find this issue to have been procedurally Refusal of Tendered Instruction The defendant contends that the trial ......
-
Hardley v. State
...raise issues for the first time in an appellate court. Cavens v. Zaberdac, 849 N.E.2d 526, 533 (Ind.2006); Endres v. Ind. State Police, 809 N.E.2d 320, 322 (Ind. 2004) (per curiam). This is based on several fundamental considerations, including the desirability of getting the trial court's ......
-
Plank v. Cmty. Hospitals of Ind., Inc.
...courts should decline to address constitutional issues where the record is not developed at trial. See, e.g., Endres v. Ind. State Police, 809 N.E.2d 320, 321–22 (Ind.2004) (declining to address claim of state constitutional right to religious freedom where party offered no legal argument i......