North Miami Educ. Ass'n v. NORTH MIAMI COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

• Decision Date: 18 September 2000
• Docket Number: No. 52A02-9911-CV-754,52A02-9911-CV-754
• Citation: 736 N.E.2d 749
• Parties: NORTH MIAMI EDUCATION ASSOCIATION and Nelda Sue Johnson, Appellants-Plaintiffs, v. NORTH MIAMI COMMUNITY SCHOOLS, Appellee-Defendant.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

736 N.E.2d 749

NORTH MIAMI EDUCATION ASSOCIATION and Nelda Sue Johnson, Appellants-Plaintiffs, v. NORTH MIAMI COMMUNITY SCHOOLS, Appellee-Defendant.

No. 52A02-9911-CV-754

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

September 18, 2000.

Richard J. Darko, Eric M. Hylton, Lowe Gray Steele & Darko, LLP, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellants.

Donald G. Fern, Fern, Grund & Grund, Peru, Indiana, Attorney for Appellee.

OPINION

RILEY, Judge

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Appellants-Plaintiffs Nelda Sue Johnson (Johnson) and the North Miami Education Association (Association) (hereinafter referred to collectively as "Plaintiffs") appeal the trial court's Order granting the North Miami Community Schools' (School) motion to dismiss Plaintiffs' complaint and application to vacate an arbitrator's award because the arbitrator did not direct the School to reinstate Johnson as a teacher. The trial court found that the arbitrator did not exceed his power in making his award, and that Plaintiffs failed to allege any other statutory or factual basis that would allow the trial court to accept judicial review in order to vacate the Arbitration Award.

We affirm.

ISSUE

Plaintiffs raise one issue for our review, which we restate as: whether the trial court erred in granting the School's motion to dismiss the Plaintiffs' complaint and application to vacate the arbitrator's award because the Plaintiffs failed to allege either a statutory or factual basis to allow the trial court to exercise judicial review to vacate the Arbitration Award.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Johnson was hired by the North Miami Community Schools at the beginning of the 1996-1997 school year as a nonpermanent teacher at the North Miami Junior-Senior High School. The North Miami Education Association is the exclusive representative for the employees of the North Miami Community Schools. The Association and the School negotiated a Collective Bargaining Agreement that covered August 1997 through August 1999.

Johnson's teaching contract was renewed for the 1997-1998 school year. However, during its regularly scheduled meeting of April 21, 1998, the School voted not to renew Johnson's contract as a nonpermanent teacher for the 1998-1999 school year. The Association and Johnson stipulated that pursuant to Ind.Code § 20-6.1-4-14, the procedural due process safeguards were followed when the School voted to not renew Johnson's teaching contract. After Johnson requested the reasons for the nonrenewal of her teaching contract, the School issued a letter dated April 22, 1998, informing Johnson that pursuant to Ind.Code § 20-6.1-4-14, it was not renewing her teaching contract for the following reasons:

1. Your instructional contribution to the educational program was not of the quality sufficiently high to merit your continuation as a teacher. The Board of School Trustees considers insufficient quality of instructional contribution to be relevant to the North Miami Community School Corporation's interest.

2. The mathematics program could be improved by replacing you with another teacher. The Board of Trustees considers improvement of the mathematics program to be relevant to the North Miami Community School Corporations' interest.

(R. 77).

As a result of the School's decision to not renew Johnson's teaching contract, and pursuant to the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, on May 22, 1998, the Association filed a grievance on Johnson's behalf. The grievance asserted that the School had failed to abide by numerous provisions of the Agreement when it refused to renew Johnson's contract for the 1998-1999 school year. As a remedy, the grievance asked that Johnson's teaching contract be renewed, that references to her nonrenewal be expunged from her personnel file, and that all other relief due her be granted.

After the grievance progressed through the contractual procedure of the Collective Bargaining Agreement without resolution, the Association requested binding arbitration of the grievance.

On August 4, 1998, an arbitration hearing was held before Stephen L. Hayford (Arbitrator). On October 26, 1998, the Arbitrator issued his Opinion and Award and found that the School had violated four provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but determined that he had no authority to grant a remedy reinstating Johnson's teaching contract.

On January 14, 1999, the Plaintiffs filed with the trial court their complaint and application for vacation of the Arbitrator's Award. The Association based jurisdiction of its Complaint and Application to Vacate Award of Arbitrator on Ind.Code § 34-57-2-13. The Association alleged that the Arbitrator's Award was legally void and defective in that the Opinion and Award were in manifest disregard of the law, and that there were gross errors of judgment in law apparent on the face of the Award because the Arbitrator ignored the applicable law regarding binding arbitration of teacher dismissals.

On March 5, 1999, the School filed a Motion to Dismiss the Association's complaint for failure to state a claim for which relief could be granted, and for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The matter was submitted to the trial court for argument and hearing on May 13, 1999. On October 19, 1999, the trial court issued its Order granting the School's Motion to Dismiss because the Plaintiffs had failed to allege a factual basis or statutory authority that would allow the trial court to accept judicial review. Additional facts will be supplied when necessary.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in dismissing their complaint and application to vacate the arbitrator's award because they failed to allege either a statutory or factual basis to allow the trial court to accept judicial review to vacate the Arbitration Award. Specifically, Plaintiffs contend that because Indiana law allows school corporations and exclusive representatives to agree that teacher dismissals are subject to binding arbitration and the law provides arbitrators the power to reinstate teachers, the trial court erred in determining that the arbitrator had no power to reinstate Johnson despite the School's violations of the Agreement. We disagree.

Although the Arbitrator found that the School violated the Master Contract, and that these violations may have prejudiced Johnson's efforts to secure renewal of her teaching contract, he also held that he was without authority to overturn the School's decision not to renew her contract. Specifically, the Arbitrator's Award was as follows:

In the analysis above, the Arbitrator has determined that the actions of the Administration and the Board in the course of deciding not to renew the teaching contract of Nelda Sue Johnson, resulted in violations of Article X, Section D and Article XII, Sections A, B and E of the Master Contract. Accordingly, the instant Grievance is sustained.

In most circumstances Master Contract violations like those found in this Case would warrant the reinstatement of [a] teacher terminated for alleged poor teaching performance. However, as explained previously, because the decision not to renew the teaching contract of a nonpermanent teacher is a matter reserved by statute (I.C.20.6-4-14)[sic] [Ind.Code § 20-6.1-4-14] to the sole discretion of the Board, the Arbitrator is without the authority to direct that Mrs. Johnson's nonrenewal be overturned. Instead the remedy in this Cause must be limited to the following. The Administration and the Board are directed, in the future, to comply fully with the provisions of Article X, Section D, and Article XII, Sections A, B and E of the Master Contract with regard to all bargaining unit teachers, nonpermanent, semi-permanent and permanent. No other remedy is directed.

(R. 95).

Plaintiffs argue that the Arbitrator's decision and award was in manifest disregard of Indiana statutory law, and contains gross errors of judgment in law that are apparent on the face of the Award. Specifically, Plaintiffs rely on Ind.Code § 34-57-2-13 of the Uniform Arbitration Act to argue that the Arbitrator's award should be vacated. In relevant portion, that statute provides:

(a) Upon application of a party, the court shall vacate an award where:

* * * * *

(3) the arbitrators exceeded their powers and the award can not be corrected without affecting the merits of the decision upon the controversy submitted;

* * * * *

but the fact that the relief was such that it could not or would not be granted by a court of law or equity is not ground for vacating or refusing to confirm the award.

Ind.Code § 34-57-2-13. While Plaintiffs concede that generally an arbitrator's mistake of law or erroneous interpretation of the law do not constitute an act in excess of the arbitrator's powers, they argue that manifest disregard of the law and gross errors of judgment in law are two exceptions to the general rule that an arbitration award will not be vacated as a result of a mistake of law. See Southwest Parke Educ. Ass'n v. Southwest Parke Community School Trustees Corp., Bd. of School Trustees, 427 N.E.2d 1140, 1147 (Ind.Ct. App.1981),

reh'g denied.

Plaintiffs begin with an analysis of three statutory amendments to the laws relating to arbitration of teacher dismissals to argue that the arbitrator understood and correctly stated the law, but disregarded the law in making his decision. Collective bargaining agreements between school corporations and teachers are governed by Ind.Code § 20-7.5-1 et seq.,¹ and permit a school corporation and a teacher's association to bargain and include in a collective bargaining agreement provisions for the arbitration of teacher dismissals.

First, Plaintiffs argue that the amended language of Ind.Code § 20-6.1-4-14.5 of the Teacher Tenure Act permits school employers and an exclusive representative to mutually agree to binding arbitration with respect to teacher dismissals. Ind. Code § 20-6.1-4-14.5 governs the construction of...