CLEVELAND, Tenn. – A former Cleveland police detective will get a chance to make his case in court that he was fired for blowing the whistle on what he said was criminal activity by the police chief.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled last week that a lower-court judge shouldn’t have thrown out a lawsuit by Duff Brumley, who was fired in 2010. He filed a lawsuit claiming retaliatory discharge for reporting official misconduct and official oppression by then-Cleveland Police Chief Wes Snyder.
Brumley had filed a separate appeal of his firing, but the appeals court upheld the city’s administrative process. The city then asked for summary judgment on the retaliation claim, saying the issues had already been disposed of in the administrative appeal of termination, and that he could not prove his firing was retaliation.
Brumley argued that because the court upheld the termination appeal, he had not been allowed discovery to substantiate his retaliation claim. The appeals court agreed, saying Brumley had presented it with “a plethora” of “compelling” evidence supporting retaliation.
” [W]e conclude that there was material evidence from which the trier of fact could conclude that Plaintiff’s employment was terminated solely for his refusal to remain silent about Chief Snyder’s alleged illegal actions,” the appeals court opinion said, while making clear the appellate judges themselves were not ruling on the validity of the evidence.
The appeals court sent the case back to Circuit Court for additional action and ordered Cleveland to pay the costs of the appeal.