CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Just days after the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a former Cleveland detective who claimed he was unfairly fired, the court called the city's appeal in a separate termination lawsuit "frivolous."
The cases involve Joshua Keller, a firefighter who was fired in 2012, and Duff Brumley, who was fired from the Cleveland Police Department in 2010.
In an order filed on Oct. 19, Chief Judge Charles D. Susano Jr. and judges John W. McClarty and Thomas R. Frierson II denied Cleveland's request for them to intervene in Keller's Chancery Court case by means of an interlocutory review. The judges sent the case back to Chancery Court.
"Upon due consideration we conclude that the order granting interlocutory review is insufficient to provide this Court with jurisdiction," said the order, citing state law that requires the request to specify "the legal criteria making the order appealable."
The order also referenced a 1999 appellate case, citing an opinion stating that an "appeal with no reasonable chance of success is frivolous."
Keller alleged that the city violated his due process and other rights as well as its own disciplinary policy. One of the issues challenged a policy that made the city manager both the disciplinary officer, with power to hire and fire, and the person who heard appeals from disciplined or fired employees.
Duff Brumley, a former Cleveland Police Department detective, testifies in this 2011 file photo.Chancellor Jeri S. Bryant has ruled in favor of Keller.
However, litigation for the Keller case is not over yet.
"We will have an additional hearing in which it is anticipated we will conclude the matter," said Stacy Lynn Archer, an attorney representing Cleveland in the case.
James McCoon, who represents Keller, said the next step will be to determine the amount of attorneys' fee to be paid by the city.
After that, it will come down to determining remedies and damages for Keller, said McKoon.
The appeals court ordered Brumley's case to be reheard after it was dismissed by a Hamilton County judge. Brumley alleged he was fired in retaliation for attempting to determine whether then-Director Mike Hall of the 10th Judicial District Drug Task Force was abusing prescription medications.
The appellate judges ruled that the case shouldn't have been dismissed before Brumley had a chance to lay out evidence of retaliatory firing.
Two other Cleveland police officers - Lt. Steve Tyson and Officer Jeffrey Griggs - are challenging the city's disciplinary appeal process in court.
Both officers were disciplined in connection with a highly publicized investigation involving Griggs' wife and then-Chief Dennis Maddux earlier this year.
The city is in the process of revising its personnel policies. In September, the employee disciplinary appeal policy was amended to replace the city manager with a third-party attorney in the role of appeals hearing officer.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. Email him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.