Maynard v. Board of Educ. of Wayne County
| Decision Date | 01 May 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. CC963,CC963 |
| Citation | 178 W.Va. 53,357 S.E.2d 246 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | , 40 Ed. Law Rep. 496 Wanda MAYNARD, Individually and as President of the Wayne County School Service Personnel Association, an Unincorporated Association, Who Sues on Behalf of Herself and all Members of Said Association, Past and Present, and Nola Adkins and Juttie Smith, Individually and as Employees and School Service Personnel of the Board of Education of the County of Wayne, and on Behalf of all Other Employees and School Service Personnel, Past and Present, Their Heirs, Personal Representatives and Successors, Who are Similarly Situate and Have Like Interests in the Wayne County Schools v. The BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the COUNTY OF WAYNE, a Statutory Corporation, Shearl Plymale, President, Tommy Hill, Paul E. Hutchison, Argie Moore and Sandra Pinson, Being Duly Elected or Appointed Members of Said Board |
Syllabus by the Court
1. A county board of education is not immune from contractual liability to its employees for unpaid salaries because it followed the directives of the State Superintendent of Schools.
2. It is the written employment contract, not the incorporated statutory law per se, which fixes the liability of a public employer to its public employees for the purpose of determining the applicable statute of limitations in a judicial action or proceeding for noncompliance with such contract and statutory duties incorporated therein.
3. A party must exercise diligence when seeking to challenge the legality of a matter involving a public interest, such as the manner of expenditure of public funds. Failure to do so constitutes laches.
James H. Coleman, Charleston, Robert C. Chambers, Chambers, Chambers & Heilmann, Huntington, for appellants.
John H. Bicknell, Greene, Ketchum, Bailey & Tweel, Huntington, for appellees.
This case is before this Court upon certified questions from the Circuit Court of Wayne County, West Virginia, pursuant to the provisions of W.Va.R.App.P. 13 and W.Va.Code, 58-5-2 [1967]. The case involves a special levy in effect several years ago for increasing the salaries of nonteaching employees of a county board of education. We believe that the trial court reached the correct answers to the two certified questions but failed to address a vital issue related to the second certified question, specifically, the issue of laches.
On January 22, 1974, the voters of Wayne County, West Virginia authorized a special levy providing for, inter alia, increased salaries of school service personnel (nonteaching employees) by $118,188.00 annually over the next five fiscal years, commencing with the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1974. At the time the special levy was authorized, the Wayne County school service personnel were receiving the minimum wage provided for such employees under existing federal and state laws. 1
By amendments to W.Va.Code, 18A-4-8, effective July 1, 1974 and July 1, 1975, respectively, 2 the legislature increased the minimum pay scales for all school service personnel in the State's public schools to various levels above the minimum salary level for such personnel in effect prior to approval of the special levy by the voters of Wayne County. In April, 1975, the Superintendent of Schools for Wayne County, West Virginia, requested, pursuant to W.Va.Code, 18-3-6 [1931], an interpretation of the meaning of these amendments to W.Va.Code, 18A-4-8, in light of the special levy in Wayne County in January, 1974, to increase the salaries of school service personnel. 3
In response to this request the State Superintendent of Schools, by a memorandum dated April 25, 1975, made the "suggestion" that the special levy funds were to be used to meet the amended state minimum pay scales, rather than to supplement such minimum pay. In other words, the State Board of Education would reduce the state aid share by the amount of the special levy funds. Two examples were given: "If a persons' [sic] present salary, including the local supplement from [the] special levy, amounts to more than the state minimum requirement in S.B. 121 [the Senate Bill in 1975 W.Va.Code, 18A-4-8], that salary may not be reduced and need not be increased." (emphasis added) "If the persons' [sic] present salary, including the local supplement from [the] special levy, does not reach the minimum required by S.B. 121, the salary must be increased only to reach that in S.B. 121." (emphasis added)
The Wayne County Board of Education followed the "suggestions" of the State Superintendent of Schools and applied the special levy funds to meet but not to supplement the amended minimum pay scales for school service personnel.
On April 23, 1984, the plaintiffs, school service personnel in Wayne County, West Virginia, brought the underlying declaratory judgment action in the Circuit Court of Wayne County, West Virginia ("the trial court"), to construe the written employment contracts and to recover funds, totalling $590,940, plus accrued interest, that the plaintiffs allege are due them as salary supplements over and above the 1974 and 1975 amended minimum pay scales for such personnel. The fiscal years involved in the action commence with the fiscal year beginning July 1 of 1974 and end with the fiscal year beginning July 1 of 1978. The defendants named in the action are the Wayne County Board of Education and its members.
The defendants filed a motion to dismiss, asserting the affirmative defense of the statute of limitations, on the ground that the two-year statute of limitations contained in W.Va.Code, 55-2-12, as amended, barred the plaintiffs' action. 4 The trial court, treating the motion as one for summary judgment, denied the motion, ruling that the ratification of the special levy had created a written contract between the Wayne County Board of Education and the citizens of Wayne County, including the plaintiffs, which was governed by the ten-year statute of limitations for written contracts contained in W.Va.Code, 55-2-6, as amended. 5
Thereafter, the defendants filed an answer denying liability and filed a third-party complaint against the West Virginia State Board of Education and various other state officials. The essence of the third-party complaint was that the salaries of the plaintiffs had been reduced by the State Board of Education and the other state officials, not by the Wayne County Board of Education, and, therefore, should the Wayne County Board of Education be found liable to the plaintiffs, it was entitled to be reimbursed by the third-party defendants.
The third-party defendants subsequently moved to dismiss the third-party complaint on the ground that the trial court lacked jurisdiction and venue over them. The trial court granted this motion on the ground that the third-party complaint was barred by the constitutional immunity afforded the State by W.Va. Const. art. VI, § 35 and on the ground that the claim against the third-party defendants had been improperly brought in a county other than Kanawha County, West Virginia, in violation of W.Va.Code, 14-2-2, as amended. 6
The defendants then moved for summary judgment against the plaintiffs on the ground that the Wayne County Board of Education possessed the same immunity as the third-party defendants when acting pursuant to the "directives" and "instructions" of the State Superintendent of Schools and the State Board of Education. The trial court denied this motion of the defendants and certified the following two questions to this Court, answering the first question in the negative and the second question in the affirmative:
(1) Is a county board of education immune from contractual liability to its employees for unpaid salaries when it follows the directives and instructions of the State Superintendent of Schools and the State Board of Education?
(2) Does the ten-year statute of limitations for written contracts apply to an action to enforce the payment of salary supplements to county nonteaching employees, when the salary supplements are pursuant to a county special levy?
With respect to the first certified question, the defendants argue that a county board of education is covered by the constitutional immunity of the State when the county board follows the directives of the State Superintendent of Schools. The defendants contend that Sayre v. Stevens Excavating Co., 163 W.Va. 324, 256 S.E.2d 571 (1979), and Bailey v. S.J. Groves & Sons Co., 159 W.Va. 864, 230 S.E.2d 267 (1976), are analogous and support their position. In those two cases this Court held that a private contractor which follows the plans, designs or specifications of the West Virginia Department of Highways in constructing a public improvement is entitled to the State's immunity from tort liability for damages to private property, unless the private contractor independently commits a tort.
We believe these two precedents do not support the defendants' position. Other precedents of this Court, involving the same issue involved herein, specifically, the liability of a county board of education for unpaid salary supplements to nonteaching employees, funded by a special levy, indicate that the county board's failure to apply the special levy funds to supplement the minimum salaries constitutes an independent wrong for which the county board is liable. See Thomas v. Board of Education, 164 W.Va. 84, 261 S.E.2d 66 (1979) [hereinafter Thomas I ]; Thomas v. Board of Education, 167 W.Va. 911, 280 S.E.2d 816 (1981) [hereinafter Thomas II ], overruled on another point, Hansbarger v. Cook, 177 W.Va. 152, 157 n. 5, 351 S.E.2d 65, 71 n. 5 (1986).
In Thomas I this Court noted that the county board of education felt bound by the interpretation of the State Board of Education. The latter had interpreted the amendments to W.Va.Code, 18A-4-8 and had concluded that county special levy funds were to be used in...
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