Lubcke v. Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority, Worrell, 18691
| Decision Date | 09 September 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 18691,18691 |
| Citation | 124 Idaho 450,860 P.2d 653 |
| Parties | Barbara LUBCKE, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. BOISE CITY/ADA COUNTY HOUSING AUTHORITY, a corporation, Judith Worrell, individually and in her official capacity as Executive Director of the Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority, Defendants-Appellants. Boise, October 1992 Term |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Elam, Burke & Boyd, Boise, for defendants-appellants. Bobbi K. Dominick argued.
Lynn, Scott, Hackney & Jackson, Boise, for plaintiff-respondent. John C. Lynn argued.
The respondent, Barbara Lubcke ("Lubcke"), was hired by the Housing Authority in 1981. Lubcke began her employment with the Housing Authority as a secretary to the executive director. Eventually, Lubcke was promoted to the position of a housing representative where she was responsible for the administration of the low-rent public housing program. Her duties included taking applications for housing, maintaining waiting lists, determining an applicant's eligibility for public housing, keeping updated on pertinent federal regulations, monitoring occupancy and continuing eligibility of tenants, and various paperwork associated with these duties. Lubcke maintained her position as a housing representative until her termination in 1986.
During Lubcke's tenure with the Housing Authority there were several personnel changes in the position of executive director. When she began working for the Housing Authority, Ernest Ludwig was the executive director. Subsequently, Lubcke was supervised by Moises Torrescano. After Torrescano, Owen Krahn was the executive director. During Krahn's tenure as executive director, there was frequent highly-publicized turmoil surrounding the Housing Authority. Lubcke, along with two other employees of the Housing Authority, refused to sign a letter of support for Mr. Krahn, and Lubcke became publicly critical of Mr. Krahn's leadership. After Krahn left, Judith Worrell became the executive director.
On October 24, 1986, after some "counseling" sessions between defendant Worrell and Lubcke, respondent was terminated from her position at the Housing Authority. At that time she received at least one list of purported reasons for her termination. According to Worrell, Lubcke received two letters listing the reasons for termination when she was terminated. Lubcke claimed she never saw the second letter until it arrived in the mail. Worrell claimed that she mailed the second letter to Lubcke only because Lubcke forgot to take it with her after she was fired and ousted.
After meeting with Worrell, Lubcke submitted written responses to the charges, requested specific instances of misconduct, and requested a grievance hearing before the board of directors of the Housing Authority.
On December 2, 1986, Worrell and Robert Hudgins wrote a letter to Henry Berg, the Regional Inspector General of HUD wherein Worrell and Hudgins outlined what they believed to be Lubcke's conduct in violation of HUD statutes and regulations, i.e., revealing restricted information, acquiring property from tenants, and failure to follow regulations regarding waiting lists and qualifications of tenants. Additionally, a full investigation was requested. HUD took no action.
Following her 1986 termination by the Housing Authority, Lubcke obtained employment with the Idaho Department of Insurance. In July of 1987, Lubcke accepted a position with Boise Physical Therapy, where she earned more per hour than when working for the Housing Authority.
On June 27, 1989, Lubcke filed an amended complaint against the Housing Authority and Judith Worrell listing six causes of action: Count One, breach of contract; Count Two, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing; Count Three, defamation; Count Four, deprivation of property without due process; Count Five, deprivation of liberty without due process; and Count Six, deprivation of freedom of speech. In an amended complaint she included Robert Hudgins, the chairperson of the board of the Housing Authority, as a defendant in Count Three.
On September 27, 1989, all defendants answered the second amended complaint listing a number of defenses which included the assertion that the alleged acts were not performed under color of state law, the alleged wrongful acts were not performed pursuant to an official policy or custom, absolute immunity, and qualified immunity.
On November 14, 1989, the jury trial commenced. After Lubcke had presented her case-in-chief and rested, defendants moved the district court for a directed verdict. The district court granted a directed verdict in favor of Hudgins as to the defamation claim, and likewise to both defendants as to the claimed breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. After all of the evidence had been presented, defendants moved for an additional directed verdict which was granted only as to the defamation claim.
The court submitted three claims for the jury to deliberate: breach of contract, lack of or failure of procedural due process, and free speech.
The jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Lubcke on all three claims. The jury awarded Lubcke $182,703.00 in damages, with $57,703.00 representing the breach of contract claim, $50,000.00 representing the deprivation of procedural due process claim, and $75,000.00 representing the deprivation of free speech claim.
The defendants then moved the court for judgment notwithstanding the verdict ("judgment n.o.v."), pursuant to I.R.C.P. 50(b), or a new trial, pursuant to I.R.C.P. 59(a)(5), 59(a)(6), and 59(a)(7), or, alternatively, for a remittitur, pursuant to I.R.C.P. 59(a)(5). The court heard oral argument on the defendants' request for costs and fees, all of which were denied, and in addition to which, the court awarded requested costs and fees to Lubcke.
On April 11, 1990, the court entered an amended judgment to conform with its order on the post-trial motions which resulted in Lubcke being awarded an additional $22,255.65 attorney fees and $4,620.17 costs, thus increasing her total award to $209,578.82.
On May 1, 1990, defendants filed their notices of appeal pursuant to Idaho Appellate Rules 11(a)(1), 11(a)(5), and 11(a)(6), appealing from the December 11, 1989, judgment and the April 11, 1990, decision on the post-trial motions.
The appellants raise two primary issues. First is whether the trial court erred in denying the appellants' motion for a judgment n.o.v. or, alternatively, for a new trial on the issue of liability. Second is whether the trial court erred in denying appellants' motion for a new trial on the issue of damages or, in the alternative, for a remittitur. Each of the two issues has several subsidiary issues.
When the district court is moved to grant a judgment n.o.v., the standard is "whether there is substantial evidence upon which the jury could properly find a verdict for the [nonmoving] party." Quick v. Crane, 111 Idaho 759, 763, 727 P.2d 1187, 1191 (1986). In Dinneen v. Finch, 100 Idaho 620, 603 P.2d 575 (1979), which was adhered to and relied upon in Quick v. Crane, 111 Idaho 759, 727 P.2d 1187 (1986), Chief Justice Donaldson 1 and Justice Bakes 2 both wrote. Therein our scope of review for this issue is well stated:
In determining whether a ... judgment n.o.v. should have been granted, the appellate court applies the same standard as does the trial court which passed on the motion originally.
Quick, 111 Idaho at 764, 727 P.2d at 1192.
Our task, then, in reviewing this issue is to "review the record of the trial court below and draw all inferences from the evidence in a light most favorable to [respondent] to determine if there was substantial evidence to justify submitting the case to the jury." Quick, 111 Idaho at 764, 727 P.2d at 1192. In other words, this Court must ask "what evidence tends to support respondents, with all reasonable inferences and intendments to be drawn in favor of respondents...." Conley v. Amalgamated Sugar Co., 74 Idaho 416, 424, 263 P.2d 705, 709 (1953).
Likewise, the Court held in Quick that
[i]n reviewing the denial of a motion for a new trial our standard [of review] is well settled. This Court has been consistent in recognizing the trial court's important function in passing on motions for new trial and upholding the trial court's grant or denial of such motions unless the court has manifestly abused the wide discretion vested in it.... The trial court is in a far better position to weigh the demeanor, credibility, and the persuasiveness of all the evidence. Appellate review is necessarily more limited. While we must review the evidence, we are not in a position to "weigh" it as the trial court can.
Quick, 111 Idaho at 770, 727 P.2d at 1198 (emphasis in original, citations omitted).
Notwithstanding our deferential standard of review, the Housing Authority and Worrell assert there are several reasons why a judgment n.o.v. or a new trial should have been granted.
A. THE TRIAL COURT DID NOT ERR BY REFUSING TO GRANT A JUDGMENT N.O.V. OR A NEW TRIAL ON LIABILITY.
We state each contention and our disposition thereof:
1. There was sufficient evidence to show that the Housing Authority breached the employment contract.
Under the Housing Authority's personnel manual, Lubcke was entitled to continued employment unless she was terminated for "unsatisfactory service" or for a "substantial violation" of a regulation. The Housing Authority argues that it articulated "many legitimate reasons for termination, consisting of conduct constituting unsatisfactory performance or a substantial violation of HUD regulations[,]" at trial which were not rebutted by Lubcke. In her replication which constituted a thorough refutation, Lubcke clearly out-argued the Housing Authority, or so the trial judge found in a well-written opinion which this Court approves and places before the litigants and the public:...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Weinstein v. Prudential Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Docket No. 34970-2008 (Idaho 6/1/2010)
...is disregarded as harmless error. Smith v. Mitton, 140 Idaho 893, 901, 104 P.3d 367, 375 (2004); Lubcke v. Boise City/Ada County Housing Auth., 124 Idaho 450, 459, 860 P.2d 653, 662 (1993); Neff v. Hysen, 72 Idaho 470, 474-75, 244 P.2d 146, 148-49 (1952). Liberty Mutual does not contend tha......
-
Nation v. State, Dept. of Correction
...would have known. Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818-19, 102 S.Ct. at 2738-39, 73 L.Ed.2d at 410-11; Lubcke v. Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority, 124 Idaho 450, 462-63, 860 P.2d 653, 665-66 (1993). The issue of whether an official should have known that he or she acted unlawfully is a question o......
-
Edmondson v. Shearer Lumber Products
...free speech and association. He relies on Gardner v. Evans, 110 Idaho 925, 719 P.2d 1185 (1986) and Lubcke v. Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority, 124 Idaho 450, 860 P.2d 653 (1993), which followed the two-step analysis of Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (......
-
Anderson v. Spalding
....... No. 26648. . Supreme Court of Idaho, Boise", December 2001 Term. . July 2, 2002. . \xC2"...), and the Idaho Supreme Court case of Lubcke v. Boise City/Ada Cty. Hous. Auth., 124 Idaho ... substantive due process, the absence of authority to support Anderson's claim, and the Court's ......