Houde v. State
| Decision Date | 24 June 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 2008-55-Appeal.,2008-55-Appeal. |
| Citation | 973 A.2d 493 |
| Parties | Russell L. HOUDE, Sr. v. STATE of Rhode Island et al. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
Sean M. McAteer, Esq., for Plaintiff.
George H. Rinaldi, Esq., Providence, for Defendant.
Present: GOLDBERG, Acting C.J., FLAHERTY, SUTTELL, ROBINSON, JJ., and WILLIAMS, C.J. (ret.).
Justice SUTTELL, for the Court.
"[A] person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was gitting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him, and warn't ever going to grow dim or doubtful."1
This case exemplifies Mark Twain's witty observation instructing us that every choice is attended by consequences. The plaintiff, Russell L. Houde, Sr., appeals from a Superior Court judgment in favor of the defendant, State of Rhode Island. Mr. Houde sought a judgment declaring that he retained his status of "classified employee" and his concomitant entitlement to certain benefits after his employer, the Blackstone Valley District Commission (BVDC), merged with the Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC). We entertained oral argument pursuant to an order directing the parties to show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not be summarily decided. After examining the written and oral submissions of the parties, we are of the opinion that further briefing or argument is unnecessary. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.
Mr. Houde began working for the state on August 22, 1971, as a chemist with the Department of Health. Mr. Houde later moved to the BVDC where he continued to work as a supervising sanitary chemist. In 1991, the General Assembly merged the BVDC with the NBC in an effort to consolidate two agencies that had overlapping functions. See G.L. 1956 § 46-25.1-1, as enacted by P.L. 1991, ch. 309, § 2. The merger became effective on December 31, 1991. Under the NBC's enabling statute at the time, all technical experts were required to be in the nonclassified service of the state and were precluded from participation in the state retirement system.2 On November 20, 1991, Mr. Houde received a certificate of twenty years of service as a state employee, memorializing his attainment of "full status" within the state employee system. Among the benefits of "full status" is the so-called "bumping right" which entitles a laid off employee to a lateral move to a comparable state position with a similar pay grade.3
In preparation for the merger, before its effective date, the NBC began removing the classified status of all technical experts who would become NBC employees on the merger date. As part of this effort, NBC management met with Mr. Houde on December 17, 1991 to discuss his transition to nonclassified employment status. At that meeting, Mr. Houde expressed his interest in the change and requested a contract for his signature. Mr. Houde's initial enthusiasm apparently waned, however, because he returned the proposed contract unsigned with a note attached indicating that he wished to remain a classified employee, primarily to remain in the state retirement system. He continued to work as a supervising sanitary chemist for the NBC, and he did not seek a transfer to another classified position of a similar grade with the state.
Mr. Houde testified that the NBC assured him that he had a three-year period in which he could exercise his right to transfer to another equivalent classified position. Notwithstanding his unwillingness to leave the classified service, on January 23, 1993, the NBC processed the paperwork necessary to transfer Mr. Houde from the classified service to the nonclassified service.4 Mr. Houde conceded that he did not request a transfer to another state position with classified status, and that he received the additional pay and benefits that accompanied his transition to nonclassified status. Mr. Houde testified that, believing that he had three years in which to choose whether to remain with the NBC or seek a transfer, he renewed his request to retain his classified status at the NBC in August 1993 and again in January 1994.
Failing to make headway with NBC management, Mr. Houde and two other former classified coworkers filed an appeal in February 1994 with the state Personnel Appeal Board (the board) seeking to reinstate their classified status. In his letter to the board, Mr. Houde wrote, "my position has been arbitrarily changed from a classified to [a][non]classified position and I have been dropped from the State Retirement Plan despite my objections." The board dismissed this action for lack of jurisdiction under G.L. 1956 § 36-4-42 because the plaintiffs did not meet the definition of an "aggrieved party."5 The plaintiffs appealed this ruling to the Superior Court, which, though disagreeing with the board's interpretation of the statutory definition of an "aggrieved party," affirmed its ruling because the plaintiffs had failed to allege any action resulting in demotion, layoff, or discriminatory treatment. We dismissed the plaintiffs' subsequent appeal for failure to properly seek review by petition for a writ of certiorari as required by G.L. 1956 § 42-35-16.6 See Carrier v. Personnel Appeal Board, 701 A.2d 1027, 1028 (R.I.1997) (mem.). After this adverse result, one of Mr. Houde's coworkers retired rather than become nonclassified, and the other obtained a transfer that preserved her classified status.
Mr. Houde, however, chose to continue to work for the NBC as a supervising chemist. During this period, Mr. Houde enjoyed a significant increase in his salary as well as certain other benefits available only to nonclassified employees. He no longer contributed to the state employees' retirement fund; rather he enrolled in the NBC's Simplified Employee Pension Plan, which was fully funded by the NBC. Mr. Houde also enrolled in a long-term disability plan that the NBC offered exclusively to nonclassified employees. According to Denise Mello, the human resources manager at the NBC, Mr. Houde earned at least $7,000 more annually as a nonclassified employee than he would have had he remained classified by transferring to another state position at the same pay grade. Mr. Houde also conceded that during this period he never asked for assistance from the Division of Personnel in finding a classified position.
The General Assembly amended the NBC statute in 1999, effectuating the complete privatization of the commission and removing all employees from the state system.7 According to the state personnel administrator, Mr. Houde ceased to be a state employee by July 1999. On April 24, 2000, the NBC informed Mr. Houde of his termination as part of a larger consolidation of laboratory positions.8 Mr. Houde tried unsuccessfully to find new state employment and officially retired in December 2002.
Mr. Houde filed suit in Superior Court seeking a declaratory judgment that he had retained his classified status throughout his employment with the NBC. After reviewing the parties' submissions and conducting a bench trial on October 12, 2007, the trial justice denied Mr. Houde's petition for declaratory relief in a written decision issued October 24, 2007. The trial justice ruled that G.L. 1956 § 46-25-8 unambiguously prohibited technical experts from classified status,9 and thus any assurances made by NBC management concerning a three-year decisional window amounted to an ultra-vires representation without the force of law. The trial justice reasoned that "a plain reading of § 46-25-8, coupled with the State's repeated efforts to formalize Plaintiff's status conversion and Plaintiff's acceptance of the benefits of nonclassified employment, show that all parties were aware that continuing classified employment with NBC was impossible." Moreover, the trial justice found that Mr. Houde had waived his right to transfer to another state classified position by failing to seek alternative state employment and receiving the benefits of his nonclassified position. Final judgment was entered on November 8, 2007, from which Mr. Houde timely appealed.
On appeal, Mr. Houde renews his argument that NBC employment was not inconsistent with classified status and that the trial justice erred in finding that he waived such status by accepting his increase in salary and failing to exercise his right to transfer at the time of the merger.
"A Superior Court decision granting or denying declaratory relief is reviewed with great deference by this Court." Providence Lodge No. 3, Fraternal Order of Police v. Providence External Review Authority, 951 A.2d 497, 502 (R.I. 2008) (citing Fleet National Bank v. 175 Post Road, LLC, 851 A.2d 267, 273 (R.I. 2004)). When deciding an action for declaratory judgment, a trial judge makes all findings of fact without a jury. Fleet National Bank, 851 A.2d at 273. "It is well-established that `the findings of fact of a trial justice, sitting without a jury, will be given great weight and will not be disturbed absent a showing that the trial justice overlooked or misconceived material evidence or was otherwise clearly wrong.'" Id. (quoting Casco Indemnity Co. v. O'Connor, 755 A.2d 779, 782 (R.I. 2000)). "The task of determining the credibility of witnesses is peculiarly the function of the trial justice when sitting without a jury." McEntee v. Davis, 861 A.2d 459, 464 (R.I.2004) (quoting Bogosian v. Bederman, 823 A.2d 1117, 1120 (R.I.2003)). Additionally, "the `resolution of mixed questions of law and fact, as well as the inferences and conclusions drawn from the testimony and evidence, are entitled to the same deference.'" Narragansett Electric Co. v. Carbone, 898 A.2d 87, 97 (R.I.2006) (quoting Hawkins v. Town of Foster, 708 A.2d 178, 182 (R.I.1998)). "A trial justice's findings on questions of law, however, are reviewed de novo." Fleet National Bank, 851 A.2d at 273.
Mr. Houde faced a choice in 1991 when the General Assembly merged the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Panarello v. State
...a trial justice presides over an action for declaratory judgment, the justice makes “all findings of fact without a jury.” Houde v. State, 973 A.2d 493, 498 (R.I.2009). We have consistently held that our review of both a decision by the Superior Court granting or denying declaratory relief ......
-
Foster Glocester Reg'l Sch. Bldg. Comm. v. Sette
...689 A.2d 1060, 1062 (R.I.1997)). However, we review de novo the trial justice's determinations of questions of law. Houde v. State, 973 A.2d 493, 498 (R.I.2009) (citing Fleet National Bank v. 175 Post Road, LLC, 851 A.2d 267, 273 (R.I.2004)). Our review of a hearing justice's decision on a ......
-
Pelletier v. Laureanno
...drawn from the testimony and evidence” in a nonjury case. Nye v. Brousseau, 992 A.2d 1002, 1008 (R.I.2010) (quoting Houde v. State, 973 A.2d 493, 498 (R.I.2009)). However, we apply a de novo review to pure questions of law that are raised on appeal. Lamarque v. Centreville Savings Bank, 22 ......
-
Drescher v. Johannessen
...the inferences and conclusions drawn from the testimony and evidence’ ” in a nonjury case. Nye, 992 A.2d at 1008 (quoting Houde v. State, 973 A.2d 493, 498 (R.I.2009)). However, we apply a de novo review to pure questions of law that are raised on appeal. Lamarque v. Centreville Savings Ban......