Goodridge v. Ypsilanti Tp. Bd.

• Decision Date: 21 May 1996
• Docket Number: Docket Nos. 102629,103328
• Citation: 547 N.W.2d 668,451 Mich. 446
• Parties: Jerry T. GOODRIDGE, Petitioner-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP BOARD, Respondent-Appellant, Cross-Appellee. COMMAND OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF MICHIGAN and Kenneth Dobson, Petitioners-Appellees, v. CITY OF ALLEN PARK and Allen Park Civil Service Commission, Respondents-Appellants.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

Page 668

547 N.W.2d 668

451 Mich. 446

Jerry T. GOODRIDGE, Petitioner-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP BOARD, Respondent-Appellant, Cross-Appellee.

COMMAND OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF MICHIGAN and Kenneth Dobson, Petitioners-Appellees, v. CITY OF ALLEN PARK and Allen Park Civil Service Commission,

Respondents-Appellants.

Docket Nos. 102629, 103328.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

May 21, 1996.

William G. Povlitz, Grosse Pointe Woods, for Goodridge.

Stephen P. Whitaker, Livonia, for Command Officers Association of Michigan.

McLain & Winters by Wm. Douglas Winters and Angela B. King, Ypsilanti, for Ypsilanti Township Board.

Pagnucco, Kruse, Tamsen & Labadie, P.C. by Kenneth D. Kruse, Allen Park, for the City of Allen Park, and Judith Sawicki, Royal Oak, for Allen Park Civil Service Commission.

PER CURIAM.

The petitioners include a fire chief and a police officer who were disciplined by local civil service commissions. In each case, the Court of Appeals has set aside the discipline on the ground that the charges were not filed within the statutory ninety-day period. We reverse the judgments of the Court of Appeals and remand these cases to the Court of Appeals for further consideration.

I

In early 1986, Jerry T. Goodridge was Ypsilanti Township fire chief. In April of that year, an incident occurred that led to his discharge. The facts have been summarized by the Court of Appeals. Goodridge v. Ypsilanti Twp. Bd., 209 Mich.App. 344, 345-346, 529 N.W.2d 665 (1995).

This case stems from events that took place in April 1986 and resulted in the creation of two fraudulent civil service eligibility hiring lists for fire fighters; one list was dated April 7, 1986, and the other was dated April 21, 1986. The purpose of the lists was to rank applicants according to their written and oral exam results. However, both lists contained names of individuals who either had never taken the written and oral examinations or had failed those examinations. The April 7 list was used to hire four fire fighters on April 25, 1986. In July 1986, when the fraud was discovered, those four fire fighters were terminated.

A letter dated October 16, 1986, signed by Township Supervisor Ron Allen and six members of the township board, charged petitioner with five separate incidents of malfeasance in connection with his knowledge of the fraudulent lists and his failure to alert the township board. The letter indicated that his employment was terminated and that pursuant to the firemen's and policemen's service act (FPSA), M.C.L. § 38.514; M.S.A. 5.3364, the matter was being referred to the YTCSC [Ypsilanti Township Civil Service Commission].

The YTCSC conducted hearings regarding the five charges against petitioner, and on December 8, 1987, issued a decision sustaining the termination of his employment. He filed a timely petition for review in the Washtenaw Circuit Court and the court affirmed the YTCSC's decision, concluding that the decision was supported by the record.

Court of Appeals set aside the discipline on the ground that the charges against Mr. Goodridge were void ab initio because they were not brought within ninety days of the alleged violations. The Court relied on this sentence from M.C.L. § 38.514; M.S.A. § 5.3364: ¹

No member of any fire or police department within the terms of this act shall be removed, discharged, reduced in rank or pay, suspended or otherwise punished except for cause, and in no event until he shall have been furnished with a written statement of the charges and the reasons for such actions, and all charges shall be void unless filed within 90 days of the date of the violation, except in the case of a probationer, whose violations may accumulate for the probationary period.

The Court of Appeals acknowledged three prior decisions in which the ninety-day period was found to run from the date when misconduct is discovered, ² but a majority of the panel said that such an approach "is unsustainable because it is contrary to the plain terms." ³ 209 Mich.App. at 347, 529 N.W.2d 665. Giving "limited retroactivity" to its holding, 209 Mich.App. at 353-354, 529 N.W.2d 665, the majority concluded that Mr. Goodridge "is entitled to reinstatement, if otherwise qualified, as of the date of this opinion, but not to back pay." 209 Mich.App. at 354, 529 N.W.2d 665.

In dissent, Judge GRIFFIN said that the "decision overturning Werner, Hunn, and Solomon and establishing a new rule of law is imprudent and extraordinary." 209 Mich.App. at 354, 529 N.W.2d 665. He criticized the majority for deciding the case on the basis of an issue not raised by the parties, ⁴ and said that "other potentially important considerations such as detrimental reliance, stare decisis, and legislative acquiescence" had not been addressed. 209 Mich.App. at 355, 529 N.W.2d 665.

The Ypsilanti Township Board has applied to this Court for leave to appeal, and Mr. Goodridge has filed for leave to appeal as cross-appellant.

II

Kenneth Dobson is an Allen Park police officer. In May 1992, he and another officer were involved in an incident that led to disciplinary charges being filed against him. Again, the Court of Appeals has stated the facts. Command Officers Ass'n of Michigan v. City of Allen Park, 210 Mich.App. 485, 486-488, 534 N.W.2d 258 (1995).

On May 18, 1992, the vehicle in which Allen Park police officer Corporal Richard Curtis and Dobson, his passenger, were traveling collided with the rear of a vehicle owned by Laura Crupi and driven by Chad Hall. Curtis and Dobson had been golfing all day and admittedly consumed alcoholic beverages before the accident. According to witnesses, Curtis admitted fault, but indicated that he did not want to report the accident because his insurance rates were too high. Another witness indicated that Hall, who had a suspended license, did not want to be reported as the driver. Although Dobson denied knowing that Hall was the driver, Hall, along with other witnesses, indicated that Dobson knew that Hall was the driver.

Allen Park police officer Kenneth Zalenski responded to the scene of the accident. Zalenski heard Dobson tell Crupi and Hall that they could make out an accident report with Zalenski, or wait and have Dobson take care of it the following Thursday. Dobson then told Zalenski to "clear the scene."

Crupi went to the police station three days later and Dobson prepared a police report. Crupi was listed as the driver of her vehicle and Dobson was not listed as a passenger in Curtis' vehicle.

The Allen Park Police Department subsequently received anonymous telephone calls informing them that the police report had been falsified and that the police officers had been drinking on the day of the accident.

Six charges were brought against Dobson as a result of the traffic accident. The charges alleged that Dobson:

"(1) Knowingly entered false information on a police report regarding the accident of May 18, 1992, in which you were involved;

"(2) Failed to obtain all facts and pertinent information available regarding the accident of May 18, 1992, as reported in complaint # A-404-92;

"(3) [Was] dishonest in your statement to the officer investigating said accident and complaint;

'(4) Failed to allow the responding on-duty officer to fully and properly investigate the accident of May 18, 1992 as reported in complaint # A-404-92;

"(5) Submitted a document to department records for filing that you knew contained false information;

"(6) Instigated and committed actions that tend to or does discredit and injure the morale and reputation of the department."

As a result of these charges, the charging officer recommended that Dobson be discharged.

A hearing was held before the City of Allen Park Fire & Police Civil Service Commission on September 10, 1992. Charges 3, 4, and 6 were dismissed for lack of evidence. The remaining three charges were sustained. The punishment imposed by the commission was a fifteen-day suspension without pay, the loss of five vacation days, and ineligibility for promotion for six months. Petitioners[ ⁵] appealed the commission's findings and order of discipline to the Wayne Circuit Court, which affirmed the commission's determination.

As in Goodridge, the Court of Appeals set aside the discipline on the ground that the charges were untimely and therefore "void." However, a majority of the panel said that it would have upheld the commission's determination, except that it was bound by the "first-out" decision in Goodridge. ⁶ 210 Mich.App. at 489, 534 N.W.2d 258.

The majority criticized Goodridge, citing Werner and Wines v. Huntington Woods, 97 Mich.App. 86, 91, 293 N.W.2d 730 (1980), as instances in which the Court of Appeals had "interpreted the limitation provisions in other statutes regulating public employment and has inferred the existence of tolling periods even though the involved statute did not provide explicitly therefor." 210 Mich.App. at 488-489, n. 1, 534 N.W.2d 258.

Judge MICHAEL J. KELLY concurred separately, offering the opinion that Goodridge had been correctly decided. 210 Mich.App. at 490, 534 N.W.2d 258.

The Court of Appeals later entered an order directing that a special panel not be convened to review the rule of Goodridge. 210 Mich.App. 801, 534 N.W.2d 258 (1995).

The City of Allen Park has applied to this Court for leave to appeal.

III

Although some statutory limitation provisions include a discovery rule, ⁷ most do not. Thus, it often remains for the courts to determine whether a statutory limitation period should be tolled to allow a potential litigant a reasonable opportunity to file a claim. ⁸

The question whether to add a "discovery rule" to a limitation period that does not contain such an express provision has arisen in several cases in recent years. ⁹ We recently addressed the subject in Stephens Dixon, 449 Mich. 531, 536 N.W.2d 755 (1995). There, we noted that statutes of limitation "are procedural devices intended to...