Anna Amboree v. Michelle Bonton, Ellis Bonton, Ellis Industries, Inc., the Education Valet, Inc., Sonia Jordan, Danielle Harrison and Decounder Thompson

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided August 25, 2015·No. 01-14-00846-CV·Published

Opinion

Opinion issued August 20, 2015

In The

Court of Appeals

For The

First District of Texas

Jordan, Danielle Harrison, and Decounder Thompson (collectively, “appellees”), in her suit against them for tortious interference, fraud, conspiracy, wrongful termination of her employment under Sabine Pilot, 1 violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act,2 and a declaratory judgment. In two issues, Amboree contends that the trial court erred in granting appellees summary judgment.

We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.

Background

In her fourth amended petition, Amboree alleges that she was employed as The Rhodes School’s Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), Business Manager, and Human Resources Manager (“HR Manager”). Michelle Bonton, “a founding member, the principal[,] and [the] superintendent” of The Rhodes School, was Amboree’s supervisor and the individual to whom she “directly” reported. Amboree “advised . . . Bonton . . . on financial and business matters as they related to the school.” For instance, she “advised” Bonton “that the school was required to obtain permits from Harris County when performing construction on the school”; Bonton could not use the school’s property “for personal use”; fulfilling Bonton’s request to “verify employment” of her daughter would be “fraud[ulent]” because her daughter “was out of state on an internship at the time”; “it [would be] illegal

1 Sabine Pilot Serv., Inc. v. Hauck, 687 S.W.2d 733, 735 (Tex. 1985).

2 TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. §§ 551.001–.146 (Vernon 2012 & Supp. 2014).

[for Bonton] to change [a] student’s grades without teacher involvement”; and Bonton was improperly using grant funds. Bonton continuously “ignored” Amboree’s advice. Also, Bonton wrongfully “took out and paid profit in the form of ‘commissions’ [to] herself as a grant writer on grants,” employed relatives at The Rhodes School, and allowed relatives to serve on the school’s board—actions which Bonton swore on the charter school’s application that she would not do.

Moreover, according to Amboree, the “principal[s]” and “sole shareholders”

of the company that “provide[s] bus transportation [for] The Rhodes School” are Bonton and her husband, Ellis Bonton. Sonia Jordan, Bonton’s “good friend and [a school] board member,” on behalf of The Rhodes School, signed a transportation contract with the Bontons’ company, Ellis Industries, and “a check for $15,000” without approval from the school board. And although Amboree recommended that the school “purchase a bus to transport students,” Bonton decided to use a “van” instead, “in violation of the transportation code.” The Rhodes School, rather than Ellis Industries, also paid certain school employees to “attend driver training” and transport students to school on behalf of Ellis Industries. According to Amboree, Bonton “managed Ellis Industries f[ro]m her office at The Rhodes School . . . and parked the bus [on school property] without compensating the school” or board approval. And Bonton used school staff, equipment, supplies, and funds to run Ellis Industries. The Bontons also “created

and ran the Crayon Club[3] day care on the premises of The Rhodes School . . . without paying rent” to the school. Although Amboree “advised” Bonton that she “could not use the school’s facilities and employees for a for-profit business at no cost,” Bonton “refused to pay a portion of the utilities and space” for the Crayon Club.

Amboree further alleges that Bonton, “[a]gainst the better interest of the school,” “executed . . . and illegally backdated” a lease agreement between The Rhodes School and Jordan’s husband. The lease was intended to pay the Jordans for “board meetings (past and present) that were being held at [their] house,” despite the fact that The Rhodes School was available for such meetings and was “closer and free.”

In July 2010, Bonton “violated the [Texas] Open Meetings Act by posting the [board] meeting without sufficient notice.” At the July meeting, she “added her daughter . . . and her very good friend[,] Mignonne Anderson[,] to the budget as new full time employees.” And Bonton “increased [the school’s] transportation budget to allow her to support her daughter’s and other friend’s salar[ies] by intentionally and willfully and fraudulently inflating the [school’s] enrollment numbers.” When Amboree advised Bonton that using “fabricated enrollment

3 According to Amboree, Education Valet is doing business as the “Crayon Club.”

numbers was illegal” and Amboree “refused to take part in using” the inflated numbers, Bonton became “very defensive.”

In regard to the termination of her employment, Amboree alleges that “[a]t the September 2010 board meeting, the board approved terminations that were not an agenda item” and “were not properly noticed.” Further, Bonton provided false information to the board about Amboree and the discontinuation of certain funding for the school. Bonton used the purported lack of funds as a “pre-textual” reason for recommending the termination of Amboree’s employment. According to Amboree,

After a history of [her] informing . . . Bonton of the illegality, unethical nature and inappropriate business decisions of her actions as they related to The Rhodes School . . . and refusing to participate in such illegal acts . . . [Bonton] determined that [Amboree] was an obstacle in [her] continuing to use The Rhodes School as a conduit or tool for her own for profit businesses by siphoning off government funds and taxes . . . .

Amboree seeks damages for tortious interference with her employment contract, fraud, conspiracy, wrongful termination of her employment under Sabine Pilot, and violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. She also seeks a judgment declaring that appellees “violated the [Texas] Open Meetings Act” and the “termination” of her employment is “void.” Amboree further requests reinstatement of her employment.

Appellees filed a no-evidence summary-judgment motion, asserting, in regard to Amboree’s tortious-interference claim, that she “was not employed” by appellees and “cannot produce competent evidence that . . . [they] willfully and intentionally interfered with her employment contract[,] . . . the interference, if any, proximately caused her injury[,] [or] . . . she incurred actual damage or loss.” In regard to Amboree’s fraud claim, appellees asserted that she “cannot produce competent evidence that . . . [they] made a representation to her which was material and false,” “if a false representation was made, . . . [they] knew it was false or . . . made [it] recklessly, as a positive assertion, without knowledge of its truth,” a representation was made with the requisite intent, or she “relied on” any such representation, “acted on it,” or “suffered damage or a loss as a result.” Appellees further asserted that Amboree’s “‘cause of action’ for civil conspiracy [was] not a cause of action, but, rather, a type of participatory liability to establish joint and several liability for those who agree to participate in an agreement to commit a tort” and “the underlying tort for a conspiracy must be an intentional tort.” And they argued that “[b]ecause [Amboree] cannot produce competent evidence that . . . [appellees] committed an intentional tort against her,” she cannot “establish . . . the . . . elements of conspiracy.” Finally, in regard to Amboree’s Sabine Pilot claim, appellees asserted that she “cannot proffer competent evidence

in support of the third element of her claim,” i.e., that her employment was terminated solely because of her refusal to perform an illegal act.

In her response, Amboree did not direct the trial court to any evidence related to the challenged elements of her claims. Instead, her response and her affidavit attached to the response merely regurgitate the facts Amboree alleges in her fourth amended petition.

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Anna Amboree v. Michelle Bonton, Ellis Bonton, Ellis Industries, Inc., the Education Valet, Inc., Sonia Jordan, Danielle Harrison and Decounder Thompson, (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Anna Amboree v. Michelle Bonton, Ellis Bonton, Ellis Industries, Inc., the Education Valet, Inc., Sonia Jordan, Danielle Harrison and Decounder Thompson (Anna Amboree v. Michelle Bonton, Ellis Bonton, Ellis Industries, Inc., the Education Valet, Inc., Sonia Jordan, Danielle Harrison and Decounder Thompson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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