Wetherington v. N.C. Dep't of Pub. Safety

• Decision Date: 18 December 2015
• Docket Number: No. 22PA14.,22PA14.
• Citation: 368 N.C. 583,780 S.E.2d 543
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: Thomas C. WETHERINGTON, Petitioner v. NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY (f/k/a N.C. Department of Crime Control & Public Safety; North Carolina Highway Patrol), Respondent.

368 N.C. 583

780 S.E.2d 543

Thomas C. WETHERINGTON, Petitioner

v.NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY (f/k/a N.C. Department of Crime Control & Public Safety; North Carolina Highway Patrol), Respondent.

No. 22PA14.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Dec. 18, 2015.

McGuinness Law Firm, Elizabethtown, by J. Michael McGuinness, for petitioner-appellee/appellant.

Roy Cooper, Attorney General, by John F. Maddrey, Solicitor General, and Thomas J. Ziko, Special Counsel, for respondent-appellant/appellee.

George J. Franks IV and Richard C. Hendrix, for National Association of Police Organizations, amicus curiae.

Crabbe, Brown & James, LLP, by Larry H. James, pro hac vice, and Christina L. Corl, pro hac vice, for National Fraternal Order of Police; and Richard Hattendorf, for North Carolina State Lodge of Fraternal Order of Police, amici curiae.

Edelstein and Payne, Raleigh, by M. Travis Payne, for Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics of North Carolina, amicus curiae.

Bailey & Dixon, LLP, by J. Heydt Philbeck, Raleigh and Sabra J. Faires, for Southern States Police Benevolent Association and North Carolina Police Benevolent Association, amici curiae.

Law Offices of Michael C. Byrne, by Michael C. Byrne, for State Employees Association of North Carolina, amicus curiae.

JACKSON, Justice.

On 4 August 2009, Thomas Wetherington (petitioner) was dismissed from the North Carolina State Highway Patrol (the Patrol) for alleged violations of the Patrol's truthfulness policy. The State Personnel Commission (SPC) determined that petitioner's dismissal was supported by just cause. Petitioner filed for judicial review in Superior Court, Wake County, and the superior court reversed, concluding that petitioner's "misconduct ... did not amount to just cause for dismissal" and that "the decision to dismiss [petitioner] was arbitrary and capricious." On appeal, the North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed the superior court's order. Wetherington v. N.C. Dep't of Crime Control & Pub. Safety, 231 N.C.App. 503, 752 S.E.2d 511 (2013). We allowed the petition for discretionary review filed by respondent, the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety,¹ and the conditional petition for discretionary review filed by petitioner. Because it appears that the official who dismissed petitioner proceeded under a misapprehension of the law, namely that he had no discretion over the range of discipline he could administer, we now modify and affirm the opinion of the Court of Appeals and remand.

Petitioner was employed as a Trooper with the Patrol. On 21 May 2009, a complaint was filed against petitioner with the Patrol's Internal Affairs Section alleging that petitioner had provided contradictory statements about an incident in which he lost his campaign hat and in doing so had violated the Patrol's truthfulness policy. This policy states: "Members shall be truthful and complete in all written and oral communications, reports, and testimony. No member shall willfully report any inaccurate, false, improper, or misleading information." After an investigation, the Patrol dismissed petitioner on 4 August 2009.

On 23 October 2009, petitioner filed a petition for a contested case hearing in the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), and a hearing was conducted on 17 and 18 March 2010. On 3 September 2010, the administrative law judge (ALJ) filed a recommended decision making findings of fact and concluding that the Patrol's decision to dismiss petitioner was supported by the evidence. The ALJ made extensive findings of fact that included:

5. On March 29, 2009, Petitioner, while on duty, observed a pickup truck pulling a boat and made a traffic stop of that truck on U.S. 70 at approximately 10:00 pm. During that traffic stop, Petitioner discovered two loaded handguns in the truck and smelled the odor of alcohol coming from the interior of the truck. The two male occupants of the truck were cooperative and not belligerent.

Petitioner took possession of the handguns. At the conclusion of that traffic stop, Petitioner proceeded to a stopped car that had pulled off to the side of the road a short distance in front of the truck and boat trailer.

6. Petitioner testified that he first noticed his hat missing during his approach to the car parked in front of the truck. Petitioner heard a crunch noise in the roadway and saw a burgundy eighteen-wheeler drive by.

7. Petitioner testified that after the conclusion [of] his investigation of the stopped car, he looked for his hat. Petitioner found the gold acorns from his hat in the right hand lane near his patrol vehicle. The acorns were somewhat flattened. ....

9. After searching for, but not locating his hat, Petitioner contacted Sergeant Oglesby, his immediate supervisor, and told him that his hat blew off of his head and that he could not find it.

....

11. Trooper Rink met Petitioner on the side of the road of U.S. 70. Trooper Rink asked Petitioner when he last saw his hat. Petitioner said he did not know.... Petitioner said that he was going down the road ... and was putting something in his seat when he realized he did not have his hat. Petitioner then indicated that he turned around and went back to the scene of the traffic stops and that is when he found the acorns from his hat. Petitioner was very upset and Trooper Rink told Petitioner that everybody loses stuff and that if Petitioner did not know what happened to his hat, then he should just tell his Sergeants that he didn't know what happened to it. Petitioner replied that it was a little late for that because he already had told his Sergeant that a truck came by and blew it off of his head.

....

13. The testimony of Trooper Rink provides substantial evidence that Petitioner did not know what happened to his hat, was untruthful to Sergeant Oglesby when he said it blew off of his head, and that Petitioner's untruthfulness was willful.

....

15. The next day, March 30, 2009, Sergeant Oglesby and several other members of the Patrol looked for Petitioner's hat.

16. Sergeant Oglesby had a detailed conversation with Petitioner on the side of the road regarding how the hat was lost. During the conversation, Petitioner remained consistent with his first statement to Sergeant Oglesby from the night of March 29, 2009 as he explained to Sergeant Oglesby that a gust of wind blew his hat off of his head. Petitioner continued stating that the wind was blowing from the southeast to the northwest. Petitioner said he turned back towards the direction of the roadway and saw a burgundy eighteen [-]wheeler coming down the road so he could not run out in the roadway and retrieve his hat. Petitioner then heard a crunch and did not see his hat anymore.

....

18. Petitioner was not truthful to Sergeant Oglesby on March 30, 2009, when he explained how he lost his hat.

....

20. Petitioner testified that, approximately three to four days after the loss of the hat, he suddenly realized that the hat did not blow off of his head, but that he had placed the hat on the light bar of his Patrol vehicle and it blew off of the light bar. Petitioner never informed any supervisors of this sudden realization.

21. Approximately three weeks after the hat was lost, Petitioner received a telephone call from Melinda Stephens, during which Petitioner was informed that her nephew, the driver of the truck and boat trailer on March 29, 2009, had Petitioner's hat.

22. Petitioner informed Sergeant Oglesby that his hat had been found. 23. Petitioner's hat subsequently was returned to Sergeant Oglesby. When returned, the hat was in good condition and did not appear to have been run over.

24. Due to the inconsistencies in Petitioner's statements and the condition of the hat, First Sergeant Rock and Sergeant Oglesby called Petitioner to come in for a meeting. During the meeting, First Sergeant Rock asked Petitioner to clarify that the hat blew off of his head and that the hat was struck by a car. Petitioner said yes. First Sergeant Rock then pulled Petitioner's hat out of the cabinet and told Petitioner that his story was not feasible because the hat did not appear to have been run over. At that point, Petitioner broke down in tears and said he wasn't sure what happened to his hat. He didn't know if it was on the trunk lid of the truck, the boat, or behind the light bar, and blew off. Petitioner stated that he told Sergeant Oglesby that the hat blew off his head because he received some bad counsel from someone regarding what he should say about how the hat was lost.

25. During his meeting with First Sergeant Rock and Sgt. Oglesby, Petitioner was untruthful when he told First Sergeant Rock that the hat blew off of his head because by Petitioner's own testimony, three days after losing his hat he realized that he placed it on his light bar. However, three weeks after the incident, in the meeting with First Sergeant Rock and Sergeant Oglesby he continued to claim that the hat blew off of his head. It wasn't until First Sergeant Rock took the hat out and questioned Petitioner more that Petitioner admitted that the hat did not blow off of his head, but blew off of the light bar. Therefore, even if Petitioner was confused on March 29, 2009, as he claims, he still was being untruthful to his Sergeants by continuing to tell them that the hat blew off of his head....

....

33. Petitioner's untruthful statements to First Sergeant Rock and Sergeant Oglesby were willful and were made to protect himself against possible further reprimand because of leaving the patrol vehicle without his cover.

(Citations omitted.) The findings also noted that Colonel Randy Glover ultimately was responsible for determining what type of discipline to impose upon petitioner for his conduct. The ALJ observed that Colonel Glover "considers the policy on truthfulness so paramount to the organization that, in his opinion, a member who is untruthful must be terminated"; however, the ALJ found that Colonel Glover "was aware that he had discretion"...