Tipton County ex rel. Tipton County Council v. State ex rel. Nash

731 N.E.2d 12, 2000 Ind. App. LEXIS 898, 2000 WL 793964
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 21, 2000
DocketNo. 48A02-9912-CV-810
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 731 N.E.2d 12 (Tipton County ex rel. Tipton County Council v. State ex rel. Nash) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tipton County ex rel. Tipton County Council v. State ex rel. Nash, 731 N.E.2d 12, 2000 Ind. App. LEXIS 898, 2000 WL 793964 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

OPINION

SHARPNACK, Chief Judge

Tipton County appeals the trial court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of Judge Dane P. Nash, who is acting ás a relator on behalf of the State. The county raises one issue, which we restate as whether the trial court erred when it determined that Tipton County violated the Indiana Constitution by: ending its voluntary supplemental wage payments to Judge Nash. Judge Nash raises one issue on cross-appeal, which we restate as whether the trial court erred when it determined that Judge Nash is not entitled to liquidated damages and attorney fees. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

The relevant facts follow. On. January 1, 1991, Judge Nash began serving a six-year term of office as a circuit court judge in Tipton County. As a circuit court judge, Judge Nash’s salary was paid in part by the State and in part by Tipton County from 1991 until July 1995. Furthermore, from 1991 until July 1995, the county voluntarily paid Judge Nash a supplemental wage in addition to its state-mandated salary obligations. On May 5, 1995, the General Assembly enacted, and the Governor signed into law, an act that amended the judicial pay statute. Broadly speaking, the amendments provided, inter alia, that counties were no longer required to pay a salary to their trial judges because the State was assuming sole responsibility for their salaries. However, if counties chose to continue providing voluntary supplemental wages to their trial judges, the counties could not pay them more than $5,000 per year. The amendments took effect on July 1,1995.

In September 1994, Tipton County budgeted $4,400 for voluntary supplemental wages to be paid to Judge Nash in 1995. At the time that the amendments to.the judicial pay statute took effect on July 1, 1995, the county had already paid him $2,219.89 in supplemental wages for the year. After the amendments took effect, Tipton County stopped paying voluntary supplemental wages to Judge Nash. He did not receive any supplemental payments from July 1, 1995, through all of 1996.

[15]*15On September 25, 1998, Judge Nash filed a petition for writ of mandamus and damages against Tipton County in which he sought to compel Tipton County to pay him the unpaid supplemental wages. He also sought liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees. Thereafter, the county filed a motion for summary judgment, and Judge Nash filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the question of the payment of wages. The trial court granted Judge Nash’s motion and ordered the county to pay him $6,600 for the supplemental wages. In addition, the trial court granted Tipton County’s motion in part and denied Judge Nash’s claims for liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees.

I.

The issue raised by Tipton County is whether the trial court erred when it determined that Tipton County violated the Indiana Constitution by ending its voluntary supplemental payments to Judge Nash. The county claims that if Judge Nash’s state wages and county supplemental wages are considered together, then,his overall pay has actually increased rather than decreased, even though the county has stopped paying voluntary supplemental wages to Judge Nash, and therefore no constitutional violation has occurred. Judge Nash replies that the state wages and county supplemental payments must be considered separate sources of income. Consequently, he concludes that the county’s failure to pay him any supplemental wages from July 1, 1995, to December 31, 1996, violates the Indiana Constitution because the county decreased his salary while he was in office.

Initially, we note our standard of review. When we review a trial court’s ruling on a motion for summary judgment, we are bound by the same standard as the trial court. See Ayres v. Indian Heights Volunteer Fire Dep’t, Inc., 493 N.E.2d 1229, 1234 (Ind.1986); see Ind. Trial Rule 56. The appellant bears the burden of proving that the trial court erred in determining that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that the moving party was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Rosi v. Business Furniture Corp., 615 N.E.2d 431, 434 (Ind.1993). Any doubt as to the existence of an issue of material fact, or an inference to be drawn from the facts, must be resolved in favor -of the nonmovant. Cowe v. Forum Group, Inc., 575 N.E.2d 630, 633 (Ind.1991). A genuine issue of material fact exists where facts concerning an issue, which would dispose of the litigation, are in dispute or where the undisputed facts are capable of supporting conflicting inferences on such an issue. Scott v. Bodor, Inc., 571 N.E.2d 313, 318 (Ind.Ct.App.1991). We will affirm the grant of summary judgment if it is sustainable on any theory or basis found in the record. Pyle v. National Wine & Spirits Corp., 637 N.E.2d 1298, 1299 (Ind.Ct.App.1994).

The governing state constitutional provision in dispute is article VII, § 19, which provides: “The Justices of Supreme Court and Judges of the Court of Appeals and .of the Circuit Courts shall at stated times receive a compensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.” Ind. Const, art. VII, § 19. Judges are officers of the state, and the General, Assembly establishes the salaries and benefits of judges.' See Board of Trustees of Pub. Employees’ Retirement Fund v. Hill, 472 N.E.2d 204, 209 (Ind. 1985), reh’g denied. The legislature may delegate its authority to establish judicial salaries to county governments, but without such a delegation of its authority, only the legislature may raise or lower judicial salaries. See Mance v. Board of Dir. of Pub. Employees’ Retirement Fund, 652 N.E.2d 532, 537 (Ind.Ct.App.1995), reh’g denied, trans. denied.

In order to determine whether Tipton County violated art. VII, § 19, we must decide whether the state wages and county supplemental wages should be considered one source of income or two separate salaries. Therefore, we must refer to [16]*16the statutes that govern judicial salaries. Before we do so, a review of our relevant rules of'statutory construction is necessary. We' independently determine as a matter of law a statute’s meaning and apply, it to the facts of the case at bar. Skirzypczak v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 668 N.E.2d 291, 295 (Ind.Ct.App.1996). Our foremost objective in construing a statute is to determine and give effect to the intent of the legislature. Walling v. Appel Serv. Co., 641 N.E.2d 647, -651 (Ind.Ct.App.1994). It is presumed that our legislature intended its language to be applied in a logical manner consistent with the statute’s underlying policy and goals. Id.

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TIPTON COUNTY v. State Ex Rel. Nash
731 N.E.2d 12 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2000)

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Bluebook (online)
731 N.E.2d 12, 2000 Ind. App. LEXIS 898, 2000 WL 793964, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tipton-county-ex-rel-tipton-county-council-v-state-ex-rel-nash-indctapp-2000.