The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently handed a victory to a former Cleveland, Tennessee, firefighter who has been challenging his 2012 termination for years, saying his supervisors used an unlawful procedure to fire him.
In an opinion filed Jan. 28, the Court of Appeals said Joshua Keller made reasonable efforts to find a new job after he was terminated by then-City Manager Janice Casteel in January 2012. The appeals court also ruled the procedure was “unlawful” since Casteel fired him and oversaw his appeal, and ordered the case back to Bradley County Chancery Court for a “calculation of damages.”
Janice Casteel“The key fact here is the same person is making the decision, and that is problematic under any due process clause [that’s designed to ensure a person has a fair hearing],” said one of Keller’s attorneys, Sarah Block, of Woodley and McGillivary LLP, a Washington, D.C., firm that serves as general counsel for the International Association of Firefighters labor union.
Chattanooga attorney James McKoon, who has been on the case for many years, did not return a call for comment Tuesday.
But the issue may be far from settled.