Foreman Sch. Dist. 25 v. Steele, 01-543

• Decision Date: 06 December 2001
• Docket Number: 01-543
• Citation: 61 S.W.3d 801
• Parties: FOREMAN SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 25, APPELLANT, VS. LEO PAT STEELE, APPELLEESUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS 6 December 2001 APPEAL FROM THE LITTLE RIVER COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, NO. CIV 98-48, HON. CHARLES A. YEARGAN, JUDGE, AFFIRMED. Opinion Delivered JIM HANNAH, Associate Justice Appellant Foreman School District(the District) appeals the Little River County Circuit Court's summary judgment in favor of Appellee Leo Pat Steele in a breach of contract claim where the District failed to pay Steele for a year's employment after improperly attempting to nonrenew his contract. This case calls for the interpretation of the 1994 version of the Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act ("TFDA"). In 1993, the District hired Steele to be the high school principal for the 1993-1994 school year. His one-year contract began on
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

FOREMAN SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 25, APPELLANT VS LEO PAT STEELE, APPELLEE

No. 01-543

SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS

6 December 2001

APPEAL FROM THE LITTLE RIVER COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, NO. CIV 98-48, HON. CHARLES A. YEARGAN, JUDGE, AFFIRMED.

Opinion Delivered

JIM HANNAH, Associate Justice

Appellant Foreman School District No. 25 (the District) appeals the Little River County Circuit Court's summary judgment in favor of Appellee Leo Pat Steele in a breach of contract claim where the District failed to pay Steele for a year's employment after improperly attempting to nonrenew his contract. This case calls for the interpretation of the 1994 version of the Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act ("TFDA").

In 1993, the District hired Steele to be the high school principal for the 1993-1994 school year. His one-year contract began on July 1, 1993, at an annual rate of $40,000. Because Steele was a first-year employee, he was a "probationary teacher" as defined by the Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act ("TFDA").

On March 22, 1994, Foreman School District Superintendent Sam Pickle mailed Steele a notice that Pickle was going to recommend nonrenewal of Steele's contract for the 1994-1995 school year, citing various management and disciplinary problems Pickle saw in Steele's operation of the high school. Steele received the notice on or about March 24, 1994.

On April 21, 1994, Steele hand-delivered a response letter to the school board president requesting a hearing on Pickle's recommendation. Steele indicated in his letter that he had requested information regarding Pickle's grounds for his decision not to recommend renewal of his contract, and noted that he had not received the information at that time. He further requested five days from the time he received that information until a hearing to get prepared.

Pursuant to the terms of the TFDA, the school board was required to hold a hearing within ten days, but no sooner than five days, from Steele's request for a hearing. The parties did not agree to postpone the hearing beyond the ten-day period, and the hearing was not scheduled or held before May 2, 1994, the tenth day after Steele's request for a hearing. In fact, a hearing was not held until May 6, 1994. At the hearing, Steele objected to the hearing being held outside the ten-day period, noting that the school board's failure resulted in an automatic renewal of his contract for the 1994-1995 school year. The board disagreed, and then acted upon Pickle's recommendation not to renew Steele's contract. The school board hired a new principal for the 1994-1995 school year.

Steele filed a complaint in federal court two years and nine months later alleging that his contract was not renewed because he supported a black counselor who had been terminated by the school district. He also alleged that his nonrenewal violated the terms of the TFDA. A jury trial was held on the discrimination issue, after which the jury returned a verdict in favor of the school district. The federal district court, however, dismissed without prejudice Steele's TFDA issues and gave Steele thirty days to file that claim in state court.

Within thirty days, Steele filed a complaint in state court on October 7, 1998. Steele alleged in his complaint that the school breached the employment contract that was renewed when the District improperly proceeded on his nonrenewal hearing. Specifically, Steele noted that the District did not strictly comply with the TFDA, which requires that a hearing be held within ten days of his request for that hearing, thus causing the nonrenewal action to be void.

The District filed its answer on November 9, 1998. The District then filed a motion for summary judgment on January 27, 1999, arguing that Steele, as a probationary teacher, could not appeal the school board's decision of nonrenewal, that the circuit court did not have jurisdiction to hear an appeal from a school board's decision of nonrenewal, that even if Steele could appeal his action was barred under the seventy-five day limitations period under the TFDA, and that he has no breach of contract claim because no contract existed. Steele responded to the District's motion for summary judgment and filed a cross-motion for summary judgment on February 22, 1999. Steele argued in his motion that the District was required to strictly comply with the TFDA in order to nonrenew his contract, and the District's failure to strictly comply with the Act's terms rendered the District's attempts to nonrenew his contract void. As such, his contract was automatically renewed under the terms of the TFDA, and the District's resulting failure to pay Steele's salary was a breach of his employment contract. The District replied on August 25, 1999.

A hearing was held on these motions on September 7, 1999, and the trial court entered its order on January 12, 2000. The court found that Steele's claim was based on the theory of breach of contract because the school board's attempt to nonrenew Steele's contract did not strictly comply with the terms of the TFDA, thus rendering the nonrenewal attempt void. As such, Steele's contract was automatically renewed, and the District then failed to honor that contract.

The District moved for reconsideration on March 30, 2000, and Steele responded to that motion on April 18, 2000. A hearing was held on April 18, 2000, on the issue of damages. The District also filed a post-trial brief on April 28, 2000, contending that the trial court's decision that Steele was entitled to his $40,000 salary was in error because Steele did nothing to mitigate his damages. On October 11, 2000, the trial court issued a letter opinion, and on October 18, 2000,a final judgment, finding that the District owed Steele his contract salary of $40,000 reduced by $5,486 as the amount of wages earned by Steele as mitigation. The District filed its notice of appeal on November 17, 2000, from the final judgment issued on October 18, 2000.

This matter is here as an appeal from summary judgment. It is well settled that summary judgment is to be granted by a trial court only when it is clear that there are no genuine issues of material fact to be litigated, and the party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Wallace v. Broyles, 331 Ark. 58, 66, 961 S.W.2d 712 (1998) (quoting Angle v. Alexander, 328 Ark. 714, 945 S.W.2d 933 (1997)); Pugh v. Griggs, 327 Ark. 577, 824 S.W.2d 387 (1992). Once the moving party has established a prima facie entitlement to summary judgment, the opposing party must meet proof with proof and demonstrate the existence of a material issue of fact. Id. As we further explained in Wallace, we will not engage in a "sufficiency of the evidence" determination. We have ceased referring to summary judgment as a drastic remedy. We now regard it simply as one of the tools in a trial court's efficiency arsenal; however, we only approve the granting of the motion when the state of the evidence as portrayed by the pleadings, affidavits, discovery responses, and admission on file is such that the nonmoving party is not entitled to a day in court, i.e., when there is not any genuine remaining issue of fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id.; Flentje v. First National Bank of Wynne, 340 Ark. 563, 11 S.W.3d 531 (2000).

On appeal, the District again raises its arguments from its motion for summary judgment. Specifically, the District argues that Steele, as a probationary teacher, could not appeal the school board's decision of nonrenewal, that the circuit court did not have jurisdiction to hear an appeal from a school board's decision of nonrenewal, that even if Steele could appeal his action was barred under the seventy-five day limitations period under the TFDA, and that he has no breach of contract claim because no contract existed. Steele responds that he is not litigating the "nonrenewal" of his contract because that action, being void, never took effect. Rather, Steele notes that he is litigating a breach of his contract because the contract was automatically renewed. Steele notes that the standard of compliance is strict compliance, and that the District did not strictly comply with the Act. Therefore, what was before the circuit court and what is before this court is a simple breach of contract claim. Furthermore, Steele notes that his complaint was not barred by the seventy-five day limitation because he was a probationary teacher, not a nonprobationary teacher. Therefore, he is only bound by the five-year statute of limitation for breach of a written contract.

The TFDA, codified at Ark. Code Ann. 6-17-1501--6-17-1510 (Repl. 1993), has been the subject of several changes over the last few years. However, because the acts that give rise to this case took place in 1994, that version of the TFDA applies. In the 1994 version of the TFDA, Steele was a "probationary teacher," which is defined in section 6-17-1502(a)(2) as:

(2) "Probationary teacher" means a teacher who has not completed three (3) successive years of employment in the school district in which the teacher is currently employed.

In section 6-17-1503, the General Assembly laid out the construction of the statutory scheme, noting that:

This subchapter is not a teacher tenure law in that it does not confer lifetime appointment nor prevent discharge of teachers for any cause which is not arbitrary, capricious, or discretionary. A nonrenewal, termination, suspension, or other disciplinary action by a school district shall be void unless the school district strictly complies with all provisions of this subchapter and the school district's applicable personnel policies.

(Emphasis added.) Furthermore, section 6-17-1506 notes that a teacher's contract can be renewed automatically "unless by May 1 of the contract year, the teacher is notified by the school superintendent that the superintendent is recommending...