Miss. Ass'n of Educators v. TRUSTEES JMSSD

510 So. 2d 123
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 29, 1987
Docket56457
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 510 So. 2d 123 (Miss. Ass'n of Educators v. TRUSTEES JMSSD) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miss. Ass'n of Educators v. TRUSTEES JMSSD, 510 So. 2d 123 (Mich. 1987).

Opinion

510 So.2d 123 (1987)

MISSISSIPPI ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATORS, et al.
v.
TRUSTEES OF the JACKSON MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al.

No. 56457.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 8, 1987.
On Petition for Rehearing July 29, 1987.

Patricia Hancock, Hancock & Hancock, Jackson, for appellants.

Kenneth E. Milam, Gary E. Friedman-Miller, Milam & Moeller, W. David Watkins, J. Perry Sansing-Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, Ben J. Piazza, Jr., Keyes, Moss, Piazza & Woods, Jackson, Clell G. Ward, Greenville, Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen. by Stephen J. *124 Kirchmayr, Deputy Atty. Gen. and Frankie Walton White, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellees.

Before WALKER, C.J., and DAN M. LEE and GRIFFIN, JJ.

GRIFFIN, Justice, for the Court:

This is an appeal from a temporary restraining order, preliminary and permanent injunctions, declaratory judgment, and citations for criminal contempt issued by the Hinds County Chancery Court which determined that a strike by public school teachers was illegal and contrary to public policy. Because the Mississippi Legislature subsequently addressed the problem of the right of public school teachers to engage in a strike, concerted work stoppage or concerted refusal to perform lawfully contracted for duties, the question of the propriety of the entry of the trial court's orders is moot.

I.

In response to a threatened strike by its teachers, Jackson Municipal Separate School District ("JMSSD"), the Trustees of JMSSD and JMSSD Superintendent of Education, Dr. Robert A. Fortenberry, (collectively JMSSD and Appellees herein), filed a complaint on February 22, 1985, in the Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, alleging that appellants were advocating an imminent strike against the JMSSD, that a strike would be illegal, and that the JMSSD would suffer various injuries as a result. JMSSD requested that the Chancellor issue a temporary restraining order without notice, a declaratory judgment delineating the rights of the parties, and other appropriate preliminary or permanent equitable relief. Named as defendants (appellants herein) was Mississippi Association of Educators ("MAE"), an unincorporated labor organization doing business in Mississippi, Alice Harden, president of the MAE, the Jackson Association of Educators (JAE), an organized local chapter of the MAE, and Carol Bunger, president of the JAE.

Based on allegations in the complaint of JMSSD, the Chancellor issued a temporary restraining order. By this order, appellants, their agents and members acting in concert with them, were enjoined from participating in a strike or concerted work stoppage against the JMSSD, and from using force, violence, intimidation or threats to coerce teachers to participate in a strike or concerted work stoppage against the JMSSD. The Chancellor scheduled a hearing for March 4 on the JMSSD's request for declaratory and preliminary injunctive relief. On February 23, the State of Mississippi, through the Attorney General, intervened as a plaintiff in the instant suit and was granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting appellants and those acting in concert with them from engaging in a strike or concerted work stoppage against any school district in the state.

On March 2, the first of fourteen school districts (appellees herein) from across the state filed application for intervention and requested temporary restraining orders similar to the order granted to the JMSSD. In each case, the chancellor allowed intervention and granted the requested temporary restraining order.

On March 4, the Chancellor conducted a hearing to determine whether a preliminary injunction should issue.

On March 11, the Chancellor entered a preliminary injunction prohibiting the MAE, its local affiliates, its President, its Executive Director, its members and agents, and all persons acting in concert with them from (1) engaging or participating in a strike or concerted work stoppage, (2) engaging in the use of force, violence, intimidation or threats to force members of the JMSSD or the intervening school districts to engage in a strike or concerted work stoppage, and (3) interfering in any manner with any persons attempting to report to work or to apply for employment with the JMSSD or the intervening school districts. The preliminary injunction was made permanent on March 15.

After allowing an opportunity for introduction of additional evidence and hearing legal arguments by counsel on March 15, the Chancellor granted a declaratory judgment *125 in favor of the State and the JMSSD and the intervening school districts. In his order, the Chancellor declared that, as a matter of law, a strike, concerted work stoppage, or concerted refusal to perform duties in any manner by the Defendants or teachers of the various school districts in Mississippi would be illegal, unprotected, and contrary to the public policy of the State of Mississippi. Furthermore, the Chancellor concluded that because teachers of the various school districts are public employees, they had no right to strike under the common law of Mississippi.

This case did not, however, end with the granting of the declaratory judgment and injunction. Based on a call by the MAE union for a statewide strike after the injunction had been obtained, the JMSSD and the intervening school districts sought a contempt citation against Appellants. This motion was filed in direct response to a vote taken by the MAE Board of Directors on March 12 and made public on March 13 in which the Board called for a statewide strike of all teachers to begin on Monday, March 18.

On March 18, the Chancellor conducted a hearing on the Motion for Contempt. At the hearing, counsel for Appellants, acting on behalf of Alice Harden, Herman Coleman, and the MAE Board, stipulated that on March 13, Harden, with the consent of the MAE Board, called for a statewide teachers' strike. Counsel for MAE indicated that a call for a statewide strike was not intended to apply to the fifteen school districts in the present litigation.

Based on this stipulation, the Chancellor found that Harden, Coleman, and the MAE Board were in contempt of court for willfully violating the preliminary injunction. Each defendant was sentenced to two days in jail, suspended, and fined $250 for attorney's fees.

In direct response to the 1985 teachers' strike, the Mississippi Legislature enacted S. 2876, which became effective on May 1, 1985. This law states in pertinent part:

(2) It is hereby declared that a strike, concerted work stoppage or concerted refusal to perform lawful duties in any manner by certified teachers against public school districts within the State of Mississippi shall be illegal, unprotected and contrary to the public policy of the State of Mississippi.
(3) No certified teacher, group of certified teachers or teacher organization shall promote, encourage or participate in any strike against a public school district, the State of Mississippi or any agency thereof.

S. 2876, 1985 Miss.Leg., Reg.Sess., enacted as Chapter 351, § 31, 1985 Miss. Laws.

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Bluebook (online)
510 So. 2d 123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miss-assn-of-educators-v-trustees-jmssd-miss-1987.