Stockard v. Moss

• Decision Date: 04 September 1997
• Docket Number: No. 94-CV-143.,94-CV-143.
• Citation: 706 A.2d 561
• Parties: Bessie A. STOCKARD, Appellant, v. Orby Z. MOSS, Jr., et al., Appellees.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

706 A.2d 561

Bessie A. STOCKARD, Appellant, v. Orby Z. MOSS, Jr., et al., Appellees.

No. 94-CV-143.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued March 25, 1997.

Decided September 4, 1997.

John M. Clifford, with whom Christine M. Cooper, Washington, DC, was on the brief, for appellant.

Donna M. Murasky, Assistant Corporation Counsel, with whom Charles F.C. Ruff, Corporation Counsel at the time the brief was filed, and Charles L. Reischel, Deputy Corporation Counsel, were on the brief, for appellees.

Before WAGNER, Chief Judge, and TERRY and STEADMAN, Associate Judges.

STEADMAN, Associate Judge:

This appeal represents yet another chapter in an action which has been within this court system in excess of fifteen years. In March of 1982, appellant Bessie Stockard initiated the instant suit for, inter alia, the tort of slander against the District of Columbia, the Board of Trustees of the University of the District of Columbia ("UDC") and Orby Z. Moss, Stockard's immediate supervisor. The alleged slander arose from oral accusations made by Moss that Stockard had misappropriated funds during her tenure as head coach of UDC's women's basketball team. A jury awarded Stockard $300,000 on the slander claim, which was later reduced by remittitur to $100,000.

On appeal in 1990, we upheld the remittitur, but remanded the case for a determination whether an absolute immunity protected Moss from liability for defamatory statements. Moss v. Stockard, 580 A.2d 1011 (D.C.1990) ("Stockard I"). However, on remand, the trial court dismissed the claim in March of 1993 for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, relying on our subsequent decision in District of Columbia v. Thompson, 593 A.2d 621 (D.C.1991) ("Thompson II").¹ As in that case, the trial court here concluded that the claim fell within the scope of the Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act ("CMPA" or "the Act"), requiring a first resort to its grievance procedures. This appeal is taken from that dismissal. We affirm.

I. The Background

A. Facts

We summarize here the relevant facts, which are laid out in greater detail in Stockard I.

In 1978, Bessie Stockard was a tenured associate professor in the Physical Education Department of UDC. In April of 1979 Moss, Director of Athletics, offered to appoint Stockard head coach of the new women's basketball team at UDC, and Stockard accepted. The contract term was for one year² beginning June 1, 1979, renewable at Moss's discretion. In 1980 Moss offered to renew Stockard's contract for a second year. In deference to Stockard's desire to resume her former status as a full-time tenured professor of physical education, Moss offered the coaching position on a part-time basis, and Stockard accepted.

At the end of Stockard's second season, Moss orally informed her that her contract would not be renewed. The termination resulted from Moss's dissatisfaction with her handling of and accounting for university funds disbursed to cover meal and other expenses during a three-day team trip to Atlanta for two "away" games in December 1980. On March 25, 1981, Moss confronted Stockard and told her that she was either misrepresenting her trip reports or giving her players too much money. When Stockard refused to change her position, Moss told her that her contract would not be renewed.

Following Stockard's March 25 meeting with Moss, she informed her assistant coach, Steven Haynes, that she had been fired. The news spread quickly through the university community, and members of the team came to Stockard to ask her the reason why. She told them to "go ask Mr. Moss." On March 25, Theresa Snead and Alice Butler, co-captains of the team, went to Moss for an explanation of the reasons for Stockard's discharge. Snead testified that Moss told them Stockard had been fired for "misappropriation of funds." Shortly after Stockard was discharged, a team meeting was held which Moss attended. According to team member Louise Spriggs, Moss stated that "they had decided to let Stockard go because it was a misappropriation of funds."

B. Procedure

Stockard initiated her suit in March 1982, naming as defendants Moss, Emma Best,³ the Board of Trustees of UDC, and the District. The complaint sought compensatory and punitive damages, alleging breach of contract, libel and slander, tortious interference with contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and sex discrimination.⁴ All but the slander and breach of contract claims were dismissed, either by summary judgment or directed verdict. On May 6, 1986, the jury returned a verdict in Stockard's favor, awarding her $18,000 for breach of contract and $300,000 for slander. The trial court reduced the latter award to $100,000.

On appeal, we reversed outright the award of damages for breach of contract, and remanded the defamation claim to the trial court for a determination of whether the slander was shielded by an absolute privilege. Stockard I, supra, 580 A.2d at 1013.

However, soon after we decided Stockard I, we held in Thompson II that the CMPA, which set up comprehensive administrative procedures for resolving the grievances of District employees, was intended to provide employees with their exclusive remedies for claims arising out of employer conduct in handling personnel ratings, employee grievances and adverse actions. 593 A.2d at 635. As a consequence, the Act precluded litigation of such claims, in the first instance, in Superior Court. Id.

Therefore, upon remand, appellees moved the trial court to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The trial court granted these motions, finding that Stockard's defamation action was indistinguishable from the action preempted by the CMPA in Thompson II. Stockard appeals from those orders.⁵

Appellant presents two arguments on appeal. First, she contends that her defamation claim was not a "personnel issue" for which the CMPA provides an exclusive remedy, and therefore is not preempted by the Act. Second, she argues that even if her defamation claim falls within the ambit of the CMPA, the trial court nonetheless had jurisdiction over that claim because it was "fundamentally related" to her claim for sexual discrimination, see note 4, supra, for which there is no remedy under the CMPA. We address each in turn.

II. CMPA Exclusivity

The CMPA establishes a merit personnel system that, among other things, provides for (1) employee "performance ratings," including "corrective actions" when necessary; (2) employee discipline through "adverse action" proceedings; and (3) prompt handling of employee "grievances." See D.C.Code §§ 1-615.1 to -615.5 and 1-617.1 to -617.3 (1992).⁶ As a general rule, whether a public employee defends a corrective or adverse action by the employer, or initiates a grievance proceeding against the employer, the matter will be resolved either under detailed CMPA procedures or under a CMPA-sanctioned collective bargaining agreement. Thompson II, supra, 593 A.2d at 625.

In Thompson II we noted, after reviewing the purpose and text of the CMPA, that the Council of the District of Columbia intended the Act to "address virtually every conceivable personnel issue among the District, its employees, and their unions— with a reviewing role for the courts as a last resort, not a supplementary role for the courts as an alternative forum." 593 A.2d at 634. We concluded that "the Council intended CMPA to provide District employees with their exclusive remedies for claims arising out of employer conduct in handling personnel ratings, employee grievances, and adverse actions." Id. at 635. The CMPA therefore implicitly preempts claims of wrongful treatment and injury cognizable as a "personnel issue" under the Act's "performance ratings," "adverse actions," and "employee grievances" provisions. King v. Kidd, 640 A.2d 656, 663 (D.C.1993).

In Thompson II, Thompson, a former District employee, brought suit against the District and Alfred Maury, her supervisor, arising from an altercation between herself and Maury. The confrontation, which began with an exchange of angry words regarding the propriety of Thompson's allegedly excessive leave-taking, escalated to pushing and shoving. Following the incident, Maury discussed his side of the story with Sigrid Washington and June Sweeney, his superiors. He also wrote a memorandum to Washington describing the incident and recommending that Thompson be dismissed. A month after the incident, Thompson received a performance evaluation which rated her unsatisfactory. After her termination, Thompson filed a complaint in Superior Court alleging that Maury's actions constituted assault and battery, and that his subsequent statements describing the incident were defamatory. She further alleged that his actions constituted intentional infliction of emotional distress. A jury awarded Thompson damages on each claim. We reversed on appeal, holding that Thompson's tort claims of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress arose out of disputes with her supervisor "that clearly fall within the scope of CMPA §§ 1-615.1 to -615.5 and §§ 1-617.1 to -617.3."⁷ 593 A.2d at 635. We concluded that the supervisor's actions constituted personnel evaluation decisions and disciplinary actions fitting squarely within the text and purpose of the CMPA's administrative review and grievance procedures. As a result, Thompson was precluded from litigating those claims in Superior Court.

Here, Moss' statements, like Maury's, fell within the ambit of the CMPA. The defamatory remarks clearly arose out of Moss' conduct in handling personnel evaluation decisions and disciplinary actions as contemplated by the CMPA. His statements regarding Stockard's deficient job performance were offered in explanation of why her status as basketball coach was being terminated through nonrenewal of her contract, in a sense an adverse action.⁸ We see no meaningful distinctions between the defamation in Thompson II and that in this case...