Hernandez v. Hayes

• Decision Date: 31 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 04-94-00466-CV,04-94-00466-CV
• Citation: 931 S.W.2d 648
• Parties: 113 Ed. Law Rep. 1343 Gloria HERNANDEZ, Appellant, v. Shelly HAYES; Dale Hahn; Susanna Hahn; James Jewell; Marlene Hawkins; and The Texas State Teachers Association, Appellees.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 648

931 S.W.2d 648

113 Ed. Law Rep. 1343

Gloria HERNANDEZ, Appellant, v. Shelly HAYES; Dale Hahn; Susanna Hahn; James Jewell Marlene Hawkins; and The Texas State Teachers Association, Appellees.

No. 04-94-00466-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas San Antonio.

July 31, 1996.

Rehearing Overruled July 31, 1996.

William David Farmer, John Curney, Jr., Johnson, Curney & Fields, P.C., San Antonio, for appellant.

Kevin F. Lungwitz, Texas State Teachers Association, Austin, for appellees.

Before RICKHOFF, HARDBERGER and RON CARR, JJ.

OPINION

RON CARR, Justice. ²

This opinion is substituted for the opinion previously delivered and filed on December 20, 1995. We substitute this opinion to make certain factual clarifications. The relief requested in appellant's motion for rehearing is denied. The judgment is affirmed.

This is an appeal from a partial summary judgment which presents us with a single issue of first impression in which we hold that a Texas school board grievance process hearing is a quasi-judicial proceeding and thus statements made during that meeting are absolutely privileged for retaliatory suits.

Appellant, Gloria Hernandez, sued appellees, Shelly Hayes, Dale Hahn, Susanna Hahn, James Jewell, Marlene Hawkins and the Texas State Teachers Association, over statements made about her by the five individual appellees who testified in a grievance hearing before the Edgewood Independent School District Board of Trustees. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of all appellees, ruling that such statements at a school board grievance hearing are absolutely privileged. After the summary judgment was severed from the other allegations of the case, this appeal followed. We affirm the summary judgment.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT FACTS

At the time of the events in controversy, appellant Hernandez and all of the individual appellees were employed by the Edgewood Independent School District (Edgewood I.S.D.). Appellant Hernandez was a vice-principal at Perales Elementary School. Appellees Hayes, Jewell, Susanna Hahn, and Dale Hahn were teachers at Perales Elementary School. Appellee Hawkins was a teacher at another school in Edgewood I.S.D.

During the 1990-1991 school year, twenty-one members of the staff of Perales Elementary School filed an employee grievance against Vice Principal Hernandez and Principal Raquel Escobar concerning Hernandez's mistreatment of students and incompetence as an administrator, and Escobar's failure to deal with the problem. The grievants were represented in the grievance process by the Edgewood Classroom Teachers Association (ECTA), which is affiliated with the appellee, Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA). Appellee Hawkins was the ECTA Grievance Chairperson who assisted the grievants with their presentation. Appellees made a presentation to the Edgewood I.S.D. School Board. The grievants chose appellees Hayes, Jewell, Susanna Hahn, and Dale Hahn to speak on their behalf to the Board of Trustees. Appellee Hawkins also spoke on their behalf as ECTA Grievance Chairperson.

The official notice of the May 9, 1991, meeting of the Edgewood I.S.D. Board of Trustees contained the following items:

Level IV Grievance Hearings Requested by Ms. Marlene Hawkins, Representative, Edgewood Classroom Teachers Association, on behalf of

a. Perales Elementary Group Grievance

In this lawsuit, Hernandez is claiming that statements allegedly made by the individual appellees to the Edgewood I.S.D. Board of Trustees on May 9, 1991, during their presentation of the grievance caused her damages. The content of these statements is not at issue in this appeal. However, for purposes of summary judgment, and accepting Hernandez's version of the facts as true, it is apparent that the appellees' statements all dealt with complaints about how Hernandez treated the school children.

In response to the grievance, the School Board directed the Superintendent and his administration "to investigate and correct any and all problems at this campus."

THE QUASI-JUDICIAL PRIVILEGE

In Texas, an absolute privilege has routinely been extended to judicial proceedings, meaning that any statement made in the trial of any case, by anyone, cannot constitute the basis for a defamation action, or any other action. Reagan v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., 140 Tex. 105, 166 S.W.2d 909, 912 (Tex.1942); James v. Brown, 637 S.W.2d 914, 916 (Tex.1982).

An absolutely privileged communication is one for which no remedy exists in a civil action. Where there is an absolute privilege, no action in damages for language, oral or written, will lie, "and this is true even though the language is false and uttered or published with express malice." Reagan, 166 S.W.2d at 912. In this respect, an absolute privilege is tantamount to immunity. Hurlbut v. Gulf Atlantic Life Ins. Co., 749 S.W.2d 762, 768 (Tex.1987).

An absolute privilege has also been extended to statements made in "quasi-judicial" proceedings, such as proceedings before executive officers, boards, and commissions which exercise "quasi-judicial" powers. Reagan, 166 S.W.2d at 912; Lane v. Port Terminal R.R. Ass'n, 821 S.W.2d 623, 625 (Tex.App --Houston [14th Dist.] 1991, writ denied); Town of South Padre Island v. Jacobs, 736 S.W.2d 134, 143 (Tex.App.--Corpus Christi 1986, writ denied); see Parker v. Holbrook, 647 S.W.2d 692, 695 (Tex.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1982, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

The basis for extending an absolute privilege to quasi-judicial proceedings rests in the public policy considerations that every citizen should have "the unqualified right" to appeal to the agencies of government for redress, "without the fear of being called to answer in damages," and that the administration of justice will be better served if "witnesses are not deterred by fear of lawsuits." Parker, 647 S.W.2d at 695.

Two Texas cases have held that in order for proceedings before a governmental board to be considered "quasi-judicial," the board must have the authority to "redress grievances of which it takes cognizance." McAfee v. Feller, 452 S.W.2d 56, 57-58 (Tex.Civ.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1970, no writ); Lane, 821 S.W.2d at 625. The Edgewood I.S.D. School Board was exercising its authority to redress the appellees' grievance when the appellees made the alleged defamatory statements.

At least one Texas court has concluded in summary fashion that entities which have the power to "investigate and draw ... conclusion[s] from such investigation[s]" are quasi-judicial bodies. Putter v. Anderson, 601 S.W.2d 73, 76 (Tex.Civ.App.--Dallas 1980, writ ref'd n.r.e.). Certainly, the Edgewood I.S.D. School Board has this authority. In fact, in the case at bar, it ordered the superintendent of schools to "investigate and correct" the problems raised by the grievants.

In Town of South Padre Island v. Jacobs, a proceeding before a town's board of aldermen was held to be quasi-judicial. 736 S.W.2d at 144. In that case, the former fire chief brought a defamation suit against the city manager. The manager had prepared and delivered to the City's board of aldermen a memorandum in which he criticized the fire chief's job performance. The memorandum, which was also published in the local news media, criticized the fire chief for being immoral, incompetent and irresponsible, and accused the chief of stealing confiscated property. Id. at 140-42. The jury found that the city manager prepared and delivered the memorandum with malicious intent.

Nevertheless, the court held that the actions of the city manager were protected by an absolute privilege because the meeting of the town's board of aldermen was a "quasi-judicial proceeding." Id. at 144. The court listed indicators to consider in determining whether an entity is a quasi-judicial body:

[whether the entity has the power] 1) ... to exercise judgment and discretion; 2) ... to hear and determine or to ascertain facts and decide; 3) ... to make binding orders and judgments; 4) ... to affect the personal or property rights of private persons; 5) ... to examine witnesses, to compel the attendance of witnesses, and to hear the litigation of issues on a hearing; and 6) ... to enforce decisions or impose penalties.

Id. (citing Parker v. Holbrook, 647 S.W.2d 692, 695 (Tex.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1982, writ ref'd n.r.e.)). ³

The Parker court was clear that not all of the above indicators must be met to qualify an entity as quasi-judicial, but stated that "certainly the more of these powers it has, the more clearly is it quasi-judicial in the exercise of its powers." Parker, 647 S.W.2d at 695. Other Texas courts have made it clear that it is not necessary that a government proceeding have all of the above listed powers. In fact, some of the bodies which have been held to be quasi-judicial lack one or more of the listed powers. See Jacobs, 736 S.W.2d at 144 (board of alderman did not have power to compel the attendance of witnesses); Putter, 601 S.W.2d at 77 (internal affairs division of police department could not make binding orders or judgments; Martinez v. Hardy, 864 S.W.2d 767, 773 (Tex.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1993, no writ) (district clerk did not have power to compel the attendance of witnesses).

We conclude that a school board grievance process hearing fits firmly within the analytical framework established by Texas jurisprudence involving other quasi-judicial processes.

POWER TO EXERCISE JUDGMENT AND DISCRETION

School boards clearly have the power to exercise judgment and discretion. See TEX.EDUC.CODE § 23.26(b) (Vernon 1987) (stating "[t]he trustees shall have the exclusive power to manage and govern the public free schools of the district.")

POWER TO HEAR AND DETERMINE OR TO ASCERTAIN FACTS AND DECIDE

School boards have Texas Constitutional authority to provide their employees the opportunity to present grievances for board consideration. TEX. CONST., art. I, § 27; Professional Ass'n of College Educ. v. El Paso County Community Dist., 678 S.W.2d...