University of Houston v. Barth

265 S.W.3d 607, 2008 WL 2744727
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 13, 2008
Docket01-06-00490-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 265 S.W.3d 607 (University of Houston v. Barth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
University of Houston v. Barth, 265 S.W.3d 607, 2008 WL 2744727 (Tex. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

[609]*609OPINION

LAURA CARTER HIGLEY, Justice.

The University of Houston (“the University”) appeals a judgment rendered pursuant to a jury’s verdict finding that the University violated the Texas Whistleblower Act1 (“the whistleblower act”) by retaliating against Stephen Barth, a tenured professor at the University’s Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel Management, after he reported to university officials that the college’s dean had violated the law. Barth was awarded actual damages and attorney’s fees against the University based on its violation of the whistleblower act.

Of the six issues raised by the University, the dispositive issues that we address are (1) whether the trial court lacked jurisdiction over Barth’s claims because he did not timely initiate the University’s grievance procedure; (2) whether legally-sufficient evidence supports a finding that Barth reported a violation of the law to the appropriate law enforcement authorities; (3) whether legally-sufficient evidence supports a finding that Barth reported a violation of the law in good faith; and (4) whether legally sufficient evidence supports the jury’s finding that Barth’s report of a violation of the law caused the University to take an adverse employment action against him.

We reverse and remand.

Factual & Procedural Background

In February or early March 1999, Barth reported to the University’s chief financial officer and to its general counsel that the dean of the University’s Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel Management (“Hilton College”), Alan Stutts, had engaged in questionable accounting practices, mishandled university funds, and entered into an unauthorized contract for services on behalf of the college. In May 1999, Barth also reported Stutts’s conduct to the University’s internal auditor.

As dean of Hilton College, Stutts was Barth’s supervisor. On June 17, 1999, Stutts completed Barth’s annual evaluation for the 1998-1999 academic year (“the 1999 evaluation”). In the evaluation, Stutts gave Barth a “marginal” rating with respect to “grantsmanship,” which pertained to Barth’s success in obtaining outside grants for the college. The marginal rating adversely affected the merit raise received by Barth.

Also in 1999, Barth was denied funds for travel related to his position. In addition, after Barth reported Stutts’s conduct, Stutts withdrew his participation in a symposium created by Barth from which Barth received $10,000 in annual compensation. After Stutts stopped participating, one of the symposium’s sponsors withdrew its support in December 1999, and the 2000 symposium was cancelled.

On March 10, 2000, Barth filed a grievance with the University’s grievance committee. In the grievance, Barth asserted, “Dean Stutts has retaliated against me for making the university administration aware of inappropriate and/or illegal administrative actions by his administration.” The following were among the “retaliatory actions taken by Dean Stutts” cited by Barth: (1) “denial of travel dollars”; (2) “arbitrary and capricious evaluation (disparately imparting [sic] me by denying at least $600-$l,000 increase in salary)”; and (3) “withdrawing support for my initiatives including the Hospitality Legal Symposium, causing its cancellation and a loss of reputation in the industry.”

On August 17, 2000, Barth filed a second grievance asserting that Stutts had again [610]*610retaliated against him by giving Barth a lower-than-deserved merit evaluation for the 1999-2000 academic year (“the 2000 evaluation”), which adversely affected his salary increase for the year 2001.

Barth’s grievances were not successfully resolved through the University’s grievance process. Soon after, Barth filed suit against the University alleging that it had retaliated against him for reporting Stutts’s conduct. Barth asserted that such retaliation was a violation of the whistle-blower act.

The University filed a plea to the jurisdiction seeking dismissal of Barth’s suit. The University asserted, inter alia, that Barth had not timely initiated the grievance process, as required by the whistle-blower act, thereby depriving the trial court of subject-matter jurisdiction.

The trial court denied the University’s plea to the jurisdiction. We affirmed the denial in University of Houston v. Barth, 178 S.W.3d 157 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2005, no pet.). Recognizing that the “continuing-violation doctrine” has been applied in Texas whistleblower cases, we concluded, “There are sufficient factual allegations in Barth’s pleadings that could invoke the continuing-violation doctrine; whether that doctrine applies and which acts triggered the 90-day limitations period are issues that should be resolved by the trier of fact.” Id. at 163 (citing Univ. of Tex.-Pan Am. v. De Los Santos, 997 S.W.2d 817, 820 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1999, no pet.)).

The case was ultimately tried to a jury, but the jury was not asked to make fact-findings pertaining to whether Barth timely filed his grievances. The jury did find that the University had violated the whis-tleblower act and that Barth was entitled to actual damages totaling $40,000 and $245,000 in attorney’s fees. The trial court rendered judgment on the jury’s findings.

Presenting six issues for review, the University appeals the judgment.

Jurisdictional Issue: Timeliness of Grievances

In its second issue, the University contends that the trial court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over Barth’s claims because he did not timely initiate the University’s internal grievance procedure.

Whistleblower Act Provisions

The whistleblower act provides, “A state or local governmental entity may not suspend or terminate the employment of, or take other adverse personnel action against, a public employee who in good faith reports a violation of law by the employing governmental entity or another public employee to an appropriate law enforcement authority.” Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 554.002(a) (Vernon 2004). The act requires that, before filing suit, an employee must initiate his employer’s grievance procedure not later than the 90th day after the date on which the alleged violation occurred or was discovered by the employee through reasonable diligence. Id. § 554.006(b) (Vernon 2004). If the employee does not timely initiate the grievance procedure, then his claims are juris-dietionally barred. Tex. S. Univ. v. Carter, 84 S.W.3d 787, 792 (TexApp.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2002, no pet.); see Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 311.034 (Vernon Supp.2007) (providing, as amended in 2005, that “[statutory prerequisites to a suit, including the provision of notice, are jurisdictional requirements in all suits against a governmental entity”).

Deemed Findings

As mentioned, we concluded in the earlier interlocutory appeal that, given Barth’s allegations, whether Barth timely initiated the grievance process was a ques[611]*611tion of fact to be determined by the fact finder. Barth, 178 S.W.3d at 163. Nevertheless, the jury was not asked to make fact findings regarding the timeliness of Barth’s grievances.

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