Horton v. Orange County Board of Education, 71-1837.
| Decision Date | 13 June 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 71-1837.,71-1837. |
| Citation | 464 F.2d 536 |
| Parties | Stella HORTON et al., Appellants, v. ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
J. LeVonne Chambers, Charlotte, N. C. (James E. Ferguson, II, and Chambers, Stein, Ferguson & Lanning, Charlotte, N. C., and Conrad O. Pearson, Durham, N. C., Jack Greenberg, James M. Nabrit, III, New York City, on brief), for appellants.
Lucius M. Cheshire, Hillsborough, N. C., and Emery B. Denny, Jr., Durham, N. C. (Graham & Cheshire, Hillsborough, N. C., and Haywood, Denny & Miller, Durham, N. C., on brief), for appellee.
Before BRYAN, WINTER and RUSSELL, Circuit Judges.
Her employment as a teacher, the appellant Stella Horton complained to the District Court in a class action, was not renewed by the Orange County Board of Education in North Carolina for the session of 1969-70 in violation of the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Suing under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, she prayed reinstatement, with an injunction forbidding a repetition of such incidents. The Court declared the termination of employment by the Board was not unwarranted. In consequence reinstatement and damages were denied.
On her appeal we modify the judgment as to the date the termination became effective and as to damages. As the trier of the case, the late Honorable Edwin M. Stanley stated comprehensive and careful fact findings. Horton v. Orange County Bd. of Educ., 342 F. Supp. 1244 (W.D.N.C.1971). Because of their accuracy and clarity, we adopt them as ours. Any attempt by us to do as well would simply be unhelpful reiteration. In our view the plaintiff was entitled to reimbursement for the unemployment she suffered from the time of her separation as a teacher to the decision of the District Court.
Our holding is that ultimately her severance by the Board was proper, but that at the time of its effectuation it was improper. The explanation is this: In none of the letters advising her of the termination was she told of the grounds therefor. When notified of the Board's ruling she requested a hearing, intending to contest the determination. A hearing was scheduled for June 23, 1969, but when she appeared, she was told "there were no charges against her". Whereupon she and her attorney withdrew.
The District Judge very clearly and carefully sets forth the conduct on which the Board based her release. Mainly, it was her refusal to obey the orders of the principal and superintendent. The misbehavior consisted of downright insubordination. But this charge was never advanced to her by the Board and, hence, she had no opportunity to require proof or refute the accusations.
Logically, this would require a remand to the District Court with directions to return the controversy to the Board for a further hearing, for...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
McNeill v. Butz
...she may have been suspended without pay awaiting a proper disposition of the charges against her. See Horton v. Orange County Board of Education, 464 F.2d 536 (4 Cir. 1972). Any award shall be reduced by any interim earnings she may have derived from other employment. Our reversal and reman......
-
Wilson v. Taylor
...was not afforded the promised evidentiary hearing.22 Zimmerer v. Spencer, 485 F.2d 176 (5th Cir. 1973); Horton v. Orange County Board of Education, 464 F.2d 536 (4th Cir. 1972); Thomas v. Ward, 529 F.2d 916 (4th Cir. 1975); Burt v. Board of Trustees of Edgefield County School District, 521 ......
-
Skeets v. Johnson
...v. Board of Trustees, 521 F.2d 1201 (4th Cir.1975); Zimmerer v. Spencer, 485 F.2d 176, 179 (5th Cir.1973); Horton v. Orange County Board of Education, 464 F.2d 536, 538 (4th Cir.1972). The Supreme Court's disapproval of those cases is compelling evidence that the Carey analysis applies with......
-
Ohland v. City of Montpelier
...employee discharged without a proper hearing was later found to have been discharged for cause, see, e. g., Horton v. Orange County Board of Education, 464 F.2d 536 (4th Cir. 1972), the Supreme Court has explicitly disapproved of that theory. Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247, 260 n.15, 98 S.Ct......