Cahill v. Board of Education
Cahill v. Board of Education
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a judgment denying the plaintiff Eileen Cahill’s motion to set aside a verdict which denied her request for an injunction and awarded her damages in a breach of contract action. The defendants, the Stamford board of education and Joseph B. Porter, the superintendent of schools for the city of Stamford, have filed a cross appeal from the trial court’s denial of their motion to dismiss based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The plaintiff, who had attained tenure in the Stamford school system, taught biology at Rippowam High School. In 1969, the plaintiff took an
In 1975, the plaintiff revived suit against the defendants alleging that the defendants (1) breached the “Agreement of 1968-1970” (herein
The jury returned a general verdict for the plaintiff, awarding her $24,180 in damages. The trial court accepted the verdict, and denied the plaintiff’s motion to set aside the verdict and her request for an injunction.
I
The plaintiff’s initial claim is that the court erred in concluding and in instructing the jury that the defendants properly could initiate termination proceedings without reinstating her. The plaintiff’s claim of error as to the court’s conclusion of law amounts to a claim that the plaintiff was legally entitled to reinstatement. In her complaint, the plaintiff sought by way of relief, a mandatory injunction. A mandatory injunction does not automatically issue upon the showing of an enforceable legal right. Connecticut Light & Power Co. v. Holson Co., 185 Conn. 436, 444, 440 A.2d 935 (1981); Moore v. Serafin, 163 Conn. 1, 8, 301 A.2d 238 (1972). In order for the plaintiff to be entitled to this remedy, “ ‘[tjhere must not only be a violation of the plaintiff’s rights, but such a violation as is, or will be, attended with actual or serious
We do not decide the plaintiff’s claim that the court improperly instructed the jury as to the need for her to be reinstated inasmuch as the plaintiff has failed to follow our established rules of practice. Section 3060F (c) (2) of the Practice Book requires the appellant to include in her brief a verbatim statement of all relevant portions and exceptions to the charge to the jury. State v. Stevens, 178 Conn. 649, 656-57, 425 A.2d 104 (1979); Maciejewska v. Lombard Bros., Inc., 171 Conn. 35, 38, 368 A.2d 206 (1976). This she failed to do. The plaintiff has presented us with no reason to disregard this rule, and our review of the record discloses none.
n
The plaintiff further claims that the court applied the wrong statute regarding termination of tenured teachers. This claim is raised for the first time on appeal. The complaint specifically alleged a vio
Only in the most exceptional circumstances will this court consider a claim that was not raised in the trial court. Practice Book § 3063; Mazur v. Blum, 184 Conn. 116, 120, 441 A.2d 65 (1981); State v. Burke, 182 Conn. 330, 331, 438 A.2d 93 (1980); State v. Evans, 165 Conn. 61, 69, 327 A.2d 576
The plaintiff urges us to find error because the trial court failed to consider or bring to the attention of the jury a claim not made either in the complaint or in a request to charge the jury. The plaintiff in her complaint alleged that there was a breach of contract by failing to restore her to a position of like nature, seniority, status and pay after she returned from her leave in accordance with the terms of the agreement. The plaintiff further alleged that she was improperly terminated in accordance with the mandate of § 10-151 of the statutes. The court and the jury considered these claims after a full hearing. In order for us to require the trial court to consider Special Act No. 310 as a breach of the agreement or a violation of the tenets of § 10-151 the complaint would have to allege facts sufficient to state a cause of action under Special Act No. 310. Stevens v. Neligon, 116 Conn. 307, 311, 164 A. 661 (1933). There was no claim made that the plaintiff did not receive a hearing or notice of a hearing or that improper grounds were used in order to terminate her
in
The defendants, on cross appeal, contend that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to hear this case because the doctrine of sovereign immunity bars a teacher’s suit for breach of contract against a local board of education.
The doctrine of sovereign immunity, which establishes that the state cannot be sued without its consent, is well recognized in Connecticut. Sentner v. Board of Trustees, 184 Conn. 339, 342, 439 A.2d 1033 (1981); Horton v. Meskill, 172 Conn. 615, 623, 376 A.2d 359 (1977); Textron, Inc. v. Wood, 167 Conn. 334, 339, 355 A.2d 307 (1974). The protection afforded by this doctrine has been extended to agents of the state acting in its behalf. Balter v. Ives, 162 Conn. 295, 297, 294 A.2d 290 (1972); Somers v. Hill, 143 Conn. 476, 480, 123 A.2d 468 (1956). Town boards of education, although they are agents of the state responsible for education in the towns, are also agents of the towns and subject to the laws governing municipalities. Cheshire v. McKenney, 182 Conn. 253, 258, 438 A.2d 88 (1980); Mase v. Meriden, 164 Conn.
IY
The defendants also challenge the jurisdiction of the court on the basis that a suit against a board of education cannot be maintained except under provisions created by statute. If the plaintiff’s suit had been based solely on the alleged wrongful
Y
The defendants’ final argument is that the trial court lacked jurisdiction as a matter of law because of the plaintiff’s failure to exhaust administrative remedies. This contention is without merit. Among the rights, responsibilities, and prerogatives of the board listed in Preamble (D) of the agreement are the rights “to employ, assign and transfer teachers . . . .” This section further provides that “ [n] o action taken by the Board with
There is no error.
In this opinion Peters, Healey and Parskey, Js., concurred.
General Statutes § 10-151 (b) provides in relevant part: “[T]he contract of employment of a teacher , . . may be terminated at any time for one or more of the following reasons: (1) Inefficiency or incompetence; (2) insubordination against reasonable rules of the board of education; (3) moral ^misconduct; (4) disability . . . (5) elimination of the position to which the teacher was appointed or loss of a position to another teacher ... or (6) other due and sufficient cause . . . provided . . . prior to terminating a contract, a board of education . . . shall vote to give the teacher concerned a written notice that termination of such teacher’s contract is under consideration and, upon written request filed by such teacher with such board . . . within five days after receipt of such notice, shall within the next succeeding five days give such teacher a statement in writing of its reasons therefor. Within twenty dáys after receipt from a board of education ... of written notice that contract termination is under consideration, the teacher concerned may file with such board ... a written request for a hearing, which shall be held within fifteen days after receipt of such request. . . .”
24 Spec. Acts 705, No. 310, entitled “an act providing for TENURE OF OFFICE FOR SCHOOL TEACHERS IN THE TOWN OF STAMFORD,” provided in relevant part: “SEC. 3. A teacher shall be dismissed after due hearing by the board of education only for incompetence, immorality or conduct unbecoming a teacher, or by reason of the permanent abolition of the position to which he was appointed or the department in which he served .... Notice of the hearing on such dismissal, by registered letter together with a copy of the charges preferred or the reason for dismissal, shall be served upon such teacher not less than six days nor more than twelve days prior to the date of such hearing. Such teacher shall have full opportunity to be heard in person and by counsel and to give and furnish evidence under oath in his defense. If said board shall find such charges proven, such teacher may be dismissed. Such teacher may appeal from the decision of said board to the state board of education .... The party adversely affected by the decision of the state board of education may appeal from such decision to any judge of the superior court for Eairfield county, which appeal shall be made returnable not more than twelve days nor less than six days after such decision of the state board of education . . . .”
General Statutes §10-151 (d) provides that: “The provisions of any special act regarding the dismissal or employment of teachers shall prevail over the provisions of this section in the event of conflict.”
Article XVI (3) of the agreement.
The defendants sought to transfer the plaintiff from her position at Rippowam High School to one of two middle schools within the system.
The court has interpreted only one particular aspect of the agreement in order to apply the facts peculiar to this case. We do not feel it necessary to comment further on the construction or interpretation of the agreement.
Concurring Opinion
(concurring). I concur without reservation in the disposition of the plaintiff’s appeal in which the majority opinion finds no error.
Although I agree with the result, I disagree with the interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement adopted by the majority in deciding the defendants’ cross appeal, in which the failure of the plaintiff to exhaust the grievance procedure established by the bargaining agreement is claimed to bar any of the relief sought in this action. The agreement defined “[gjrievance” to mean “a claim by a teacher . . . that there has been a violation,
At variance with the claims of the parties, the majority opinion adopts a construction of the agreement that the plaintiff’s dispute, which involved her transfer to another school, was not subject to the grievance procedure. Reliance is placed upon a clause in the preamble which reserves to the board of education the full right to operate the schools, including the authority “to employ, assign and transfer teachers,” and which excepts from the grievance procedure any action of the board exercising such right, “other than as there are specific provisions herein elsewhere contained . . . .” The opinion points then to a provision that changes in teacher assignments within a building unit made by the supervisory principal are “subject to appeal through the grievance procedure . . . .” There is no other reference in the entire agreement to the availability of the grievance procedure for a particular subject matter. The majority relies upon the failure to mention the grievance procedure in the article of
My reading of the agreement is that the preamble clause reserving to the board of education its statutory prerogative of full authority for the operation of the schools and excepting the exercise of this power from the grievance procedure “other than as there are specific provisions herein elsewhere contained” does not narrow the definition of grievance in the agreement but seems merely to stress that only those disputes falling within that definition are subject to that procedure. A preamble cannot be given the effect of overriding an operative provision of a document.
It cannot be questioned that the controversy between the plaintiff and the defendants fits the definition of a grievance as “a claim by a teacher ... that there has been a violation, misinterpretation or misapplication of the provisions of this Agree
My interpretation of the agreement as making the grievance procedure available to the plaintiff
In her brief the plaintiff refers to the pages of the transcript wherein the trial court submitted to the jury the question of whether she had exhausted her contractual remedy, charging that she could not recover if she failed to avail herself of the grievance procedure. No exception to this portion of the jury instruction was taken by either party. Although the defendants in their brief state that the failure of the plaintiff to utilize the contractual grievance procedure is “undisputed,” there is no reference to the transcript or the record supporting this assertion. Upon appeal the parties may not rely upon any fact not supported by such references. Practice Book §§ 3060P (b), 3060G- (b). In any event, the failure of the defendants to except to the charge leaving the issue to the jury precludes their belated claim that there was no factual dispute concerning this special defense. Practice Book § 3063.
My conclusion that the verdict resolving the issue of exhaustion of contractual remedies in favor of the plaintiff cannot now be challenged makes it unnecessary to consider her second claim that, where the final outcome of the grievance procedure is merely an advisory opinion by an arbitrator, a party may bypass it and proceed directly with a lawsuit. See Alloy Cast Steel Co. v. United Steel
I concur in the result reached by the majority.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Eileen Cahill v. Board of Education of the City of Stamford Et Al.
- Cited By
- 95 cases
- Status
- Published