Walker v. St. Louis Board of Education
Walker v. St. Louis Board of Education
Opinion of the Court
This case involves an appeal by third-party plaintiffs, Alma Walker, Mona Kozlen, Jittaun Kee, Janice Turley, and Constance Westbrook, [teachers] from an October 7, 1988 order sustaining a motion for summary judgment in favor of third-party defendants Board of Education of the City of St. Louis [Board], Penelope Alcott, Nathanial Johnson, Dr. Joyce M. Thomas, Raymond Decker, Richard K. Gaines, Roy B. Gillyon, John P. Mahoney, Douglas Rush, Juanita Walten, Michael K. Sheehan, Marjorie R. Smith and Dorothy C. Springer, members of the Board of Education of the City of St. Louis. Third-party plaintiffs seek indemnification for an August 1987 verdict entered against the teachers in a suit in negligence for the wrongful death of a sixth grade student, James Warren.
The teachers’ claim against the Board arose out of the Board’s refusal to defend the teachers in a wrongful death suit. This court has been presented with the facts underlying this appeal in previous cases.
The Warren trial began July 6, 1987 before the Honorable Edward M. Peek. On July 9, 1987, the jury returned a verdict in the amount of $800,000 and assessed fault among the teachers. The trial court entered judgment on the verdict.
Thereafter, the third-party breach of contract case resumed. Based on the pleading, depositions, and other materials in the file, defendant Board of Education moved for summary judgment. On October 7, 1988, the circuit court, the Honorable Judge Brendan Ryan, entered summary judgment in favor of the School Board. This appeal timely followed that summary judgment. We affirm.
The sections of the regulations in issue are set out below.
Board Regulation No. 5280 — Protection of Employees Against Liability Claims.
§ A. The board will defend its employees against lawsuits filed against them individually for personal injuries or property damage growing out of their employment duties with the Board of Education. In such lawsuits, the Board will also satisfy money judgments entered against its employees to the extent of $1,000,000 per occurrence.
§ C 2 The Board may deny protection to any employee who causes bodily injury or property damage as a direct result of the employees’ violation of a Board rule or regulation, or of an administrative order or directive, whether verbal or written.
Board Regulation No. 6218 permits a teacher to take students on educational field trips under certain circumstances and requires the teacher in so doing to use reasonable care to look out for the safety of students during the trip.
The principles governing a review of summary judgment are well established. “Review of summary judgment is equivalent to review of a court-tried or equity proceeding, and if, as a matter of law, the judgment is sustainable on any theory, the judgment of the trial court must be sustained.” Roberts Fertilizer, Inc. v. Steinmeyer, 748 S.W.2d 883, 886 (Mo.App. 1988). Also, in order to withstand a motion for summary judgment there must be no genuine issue of fact in dispute. Sands v. James Clinic & Associates, Inc., 668 S.W.2d 273, 275 (Mo.App. 1984).
Teachers assert that the Board Regulations are part of a contract between the teachers and the Board. They submit that § A of Board Regulation No. 5280 and § C 2 of that regulation are contradictory and render illusory the entire contract. In their lengthy and sole point relied on teachers contend that a question of fact for the jury was presented as to whether the parties agreed and intended that any negligent mistake on the part of the teachers would vest, in the School Board alone, the discretion to determine that the teachers were negligent in causing personal injury, and in turn thereby violated a regulation requiring the teachers to use reasonable care.
Whether or not a contract is ambiguous is a question of law for the court. Busch and Latta Painting Corp. v. State Highway Commission, 597 S.W.2d 189, 197 (Mo.App. 1980). Therefore, the question concerning the ambiguity of Regulation No. 5280 was one to be determined by Judge Ryan.
Board Regulation No. 5280 is neither unclear nor ambiguous. The plain language
In denying protection to teachers, the Board based its decision upon earlier findings of fact and conclusions of law that each teacher had violated Board Regulation No. 6218 by failing to exercise reasonable care to look out for the safely of their student, Jamie Warren. The violation of Regulation No. 6218 clearly falls within the limitation placed upon Regulation No. 5280 by § C 2 which gives the Board power to deny protection to any employee who causes bodily injury as a direct result of the employee’s violation of a Board rule or regulation.
We find that as a matter of law, third-party defendants were entitled to summary judgment and affirm the trial court’s judgment.
. For a more exhaustive explanation of the facts see Westbrook v. Board of Education of the City of St. Louis, 724 S.W.2d 698 (Mo.App. 1987) and Bell v. Board of Education of the City of St. Louis, 711 S.W.2d 950 (Mo.App. 1986).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.