Hart v. Bridges

786 S.W.2d 589, 30 Ark. App. 262, 1990 Ark. App. LEXIS 178
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 21, 1990
DocketCA 89-477
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 786 S.W.2d 589 (Hart v. Bridges) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hart v. Bridges, 786 S.W.2d 589, 30 Ark. App. 262, 1990 Ark. App. LEXIS 178 (Ark. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

Donald L. Corbin, Chief Judge.

This appeal comes to us from Sebastian County Circuit Court, Greenwood Division. Appellant, David Hart, sued appellee, Larry Bridges, alleging that appellee, a principal for the Greenwood School District, had offered him a teaching job, which he accepted, and that, in reliance upon appellee’s promise of a job, he had incurred financial obligations and suffered mental anguish and distress. Appellee moved for and was granted summary judgment. From the order granting summary judgment comes this appeal. We reverse and remand.

Appellant was employed by the Ozark School District in the 1986-87 school year, and appellee was a junior high school principal for the Greenwood School District. At the end of that school year, the Ozark School District terminated appellant’s employment because of his failure to obtain proper certification. Shortly thereafter, he applied for employment with the Greenwood School District and was interviewed by appellee for a position teaching eighth grade science and math. The Greenwood School Board instructed appellee to select an applicant and have the applicant sign an employment contract to be presented for review and approval at the July 1987 school board meeting. Appellee obtained appellant’s signature on a contract and, at the July 1987 meeting, presented it to the school board with his recommendation that appellant be hired. Because of his failure to pass the National Teachers’ Exam and his difficulties with obtaining certification, the school board refused to approve appellant and did not sign the contract.

On February 7, 1989, appellant sued appellee and stated that appellee had offered appellant a job with the school district, which he had accepted, and that, in reliance upon appellee’s promise of a job, appellant purchased an automobile, incurred other financial obligations, and suffered mental anguish and distress. The school district was not included as a defendant in the lawsuit. In his answer, appellee stated that he had not offered appellant a job; that he had no authority to do so; and that teacher contracts can be approved only by the school board.

In his answers to appellee’s requests for admission, appellant admitted that he never received a written contract signed by appellee or any member of the Greenwood School Board.

On May 26,1989, appellee moved for summary judgment on the grounds that he was merely the agent of a disclosed principal (the Greenwood School District) and lacked the power to employ teachers and only written contracts for the employment of teachers are enforceable. The affidavits of appellee, Kenny Bell, a member of the Greenwood School Board, and Gail Martin, president of the Greenwood School Board, were attached to the motion.

In his affidavit, appellee stated:

2. In May of 1987, Mr. Steve Perdue resigned as teacher of Eighth Grade Science and Math at the Raymond E. Wells School.
3. Thereafter, I began reviewing applications and conducted several interviews for the purpose of hiring a replacement for Mr. Perdue.
4. That I interviewed five applicants, including Mr. Dan Lokey and Mr. David Hart.
5. That, however, Mr. Dan Lokey was my first choice and Mr. Hart was my second.
6. That on June 4,1987,1 recommended Mr. Lokey to the Board, and he was approved and hired. Shortly, thereafter, Mr. Lokey informed me that this family had a change in their plans and that he would have to turn down the job.
7. That during the June, 1987, Board meeting, and because of the urgency to get a teacher hired, the Board instructed me to select another applicant, have this applicant sign a proposed employment contract with the District, and present this applicant and his proposed contract at the July, 1987, meeting for the review and approval by the Board.
8. I was not instructed or authorized to hire an applicant, but merely told to obtain his signature on a proposed contract, which would then be reviewed and approved by the Board before it became effective.
9. In early July, 1987,1 met, again, with David Hart. At this meeting, I explained these circumstances to Mr. Hart and I explained to him that I would recommend his hiring to the Board. I did tell Mr. Hart that I was confident that the Board would hire him, and asked him to sign the proposed employment contract so that the contract would be prepared and signed, awaiting Board approval and their signatures.
10. At no time did I ever tell Mr. Hart that he was hired by either me or the School District, or that I had any authority to hire him. Furthermore, I never signed the proposed contract or any other document purporting to be an employment contract with the School District.
11. At the July, 1987 meeting of the Greenwood School Board, I recommended that they hire David Hart and presented his proposed contract. However, the members of the board were unwilling to approve Mr. Hart or sign the proposed contract because of difficulties with Mr. Hart’s certification and his failure to pass the National Teachers’ Exam.

In his response to appellee’s motion for summary judgment, appellant argued that he had not sued appellee for breach of an employment contract but that appellee had misled him into believing that he had a job with the school district. Appellant also argued that a school board is not prohibited from delegating the power to hire teachers to an agent and that appellant reasonably believed that appellee had this power. Appellant attached his affidavit wherein he stated that, during his interview, appellee told him that he had authority to hire a teacher; that appellee had offered him a job; that appellee told him to report for work on August 25, 1987; and that, because appellee had believed he would be employed by the district, he had bought a new car and entered summer school classes to complete his certification requirements.

On June 20, 1989, the Sebastian County Circuit Court entered summary judgment for appellee. In his findings, the circuit judge stated:

2. The Plaintiff alleges that he was misled by the defendant, an agent of the School District, that he had authority to hire the plaintiff as a teacher, the plaintiff relied upon the representations of the defendant, and this reliance caused him resulting damage for mental auguish, lost earnings from the promised contract, and financial loss he incurred in purchasing an automobile and expenses for further education.
3. The Plaintiff did not have a written contract (Ark. Code Ann. Section 6-17-919 (2)) and the offer of a teaching position by the defendant and accepted by the plaintiff was never approved by the Board of Directors of the Greenwood School District. Ark. Code Ann. Section 6-13-620(3)
4.

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Bluebook (online)
786 S.W.2d 589, 30 Ark. App. 262, 1990 Ark. App. LEXIS 178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hart-v-bridges-arkctapp-1990.