Runyon v. Cal. State Univ. 10/30/08 CA2/1

SUPREME COURT CASES

Laws-info.com » Cases » California » Court of Appeal » 2009 » Runyon v. Cal. State Univ. 10/30/08 CA2/1

State: California

Court: 1st District Court of Appeal 1st District Court of Appeal

Docket No: B195213

Case Date: 01/29/2009

Preview:Filed 10/30/08 Runyon v. Bd. of Trustees, Cal. State Univ. CA2/1

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE

L. RICHARD RUNYON, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY et al., Defendants and Respondents.

B195213 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC340560)

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Jane L. Johnson, Judge. Affirmed. Ganz & Gorsline, Philip J. Ganz, Jr. and Laurie Susan Gorsline for Plaintiff and Appellant. Goldman, Magdalin & Krikes and Robert W. Conti for Defendants and Respondents.

__________________________

A tenured university professor claimed he was removed as chair of a department in retaliation for his whistleblower activities. The university investigated his complaint and found the professor's claim of retaliation without merit. The professor filed suit against the university and the dean of the department seeking damages for the alleged unlawful retaliation. The trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the university and dean, finding the professor's action for damages barred because he had failed to exhaust his judicial remedies by first seeking writ relief to overturn the administrative decision. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Appellant, Richard L. Runyon, has been a professor at respondent California State University Long Beach (CSU) since 1968. In 1991 Runyon was elevated to the position of Chair of the Finance, Real Estate and Law Department of the College of Business Administration. Respondent, Luis Ma Calingo, became the dean of the College of Business Administration in 2000. In the fall of 2000 Dean Calingo awarded merit increases to the College of Business Administration professors, including Runyon. At a December 2000 meeting of department chairs Runyon complained that Calingo's approval of the $500 merit increase to the chair of the search committee was an illegal payoff for selecting Calingo to be the new dean. Calingo and Runyon met after the meeting. According to Runyon, Calingo told him he could either resign his chair or Calingo would fire him. According to Calingo, Runyon told him he would rather resign than to accept the improper payoff. Calingo understood Runyon's comment to be a verbal resignation from the chair position. Calingo declared the chair position vacant on December 8, 2000. Runyon complained to Calingo's superiors who advised Calingo to rescind the termination and Calingo reinstated Runyon as chair in January 2001.

2

Runyon voiced numerous other complaints about Calingo beginning shortly after Calingo's arrival at CSU. Runyon believed many of Calingo's decisions or policies affecting the College of Business Administration were either wasteful or illegal. Runyon complained that: (1) Calingo only spent between three to four days on campus. Calingo commuted to CSU from his home in Fresno and often left the campus on Thursday afternoon or early Friday. (2) Calingo missed numerous CSU related events which had historically required the dean's presence. (3) Calingo made frequent trips to Asia largely at CSU expense, trips which did not have an apparent benefit to CSU's College of Business Administration. (4) Calingo failed to intervene, investigate or punish a professor who got into altercations with personnel in the Finance Department. (5) Calingo countermanded Runyon's order and permitted professors in Runyon's department to attend a conference in Mexico, despite a budget shortfall, and despite the questionable relevance of the conference to the professors' discipline. (6) Calingo permitted the College of Business Administration to incur an operating deficit of $400,000 in the 2003/2004 academic year, allegedly because of Calingo's mismanagement. (7) Calingo refused to reimburse Runyon's department from College of Business Administration funds for the salaries of two professors who requested sick leave for catastrophic health problems. (8) Calingo offered a new hire a tenured full professor position over the negative vote of the department's tenured faculty. (9) Calingo undermined him as chair by refusing to accept his recommendation to add a basic finance class to the MBA program. Four professors in Runyon's department began complaining openly about Runyon's management and leadership skills, in part because Runyon's directives conflicted with Calingo's position. In March 2004, Runyon sent Calingo a series of 3

memoranda, with copies to the provost, senior vice president and others, detailing his complaints about Calingo and Calingo's management of the College of Business Administration. On April 7, 2004 Runyon met with the provost and vice president and they apparently warned him further public criticism of Calingo would not be tolerated. In 2003, Calingo had reappointed Runyon to another three-year term as chair of the Finance, Real Estate and Law Department. In his letter of appointment, Calingo charged Runyon with the task of developing curriculum changes, stating, "As regards your leadership of the Department, I expect you to lead the Department in designing curriculum improvements that will result in changes in the Finance Option's curriculum requirements (including the design of new courses, as appropriate), thereby ensuring that the Finance program is attuned to the needs of the marketplace. I would like to see these processes commence no later than the Fall 2003 semester so that curriculum change proposals could be submitted to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee by the end of Spring 2004." At Runyon's annual performance review on April 26, 2004 Runyon met with Calingo to review his proposed curriculum, and the adequacy of the processes Runyon had employed to vet his proposed curriculum. Calingo expressed dissatisfaction with Runyon's performance and asked him to step down as chair of the Finance, Real Estate and Law Department, stating he had lost confidence in Runyon's ability to chair the department. Calingo's stated reason was that Runyon had failed to meet the conditions of his letter of appointment to the chair position. Runyon refused to resign his chair voluntarily and Calingo terminated his chairmanship. Runyon believed Calingo's stated reason of inadequate curriculum review was merely a pretext for the dean's actual motive of retaliation for his earlier whistleblower activities. Runyon filed a whistleblower complaint under Executive Order No. 822, CSU's internal procedures for addressing whistleblower claims, alleging CSU and Calingo had retaliated against him for his whistleblower activities in violation of the California Whistleblower Protection Act. (Gov. Code,

Download Runyon v. Cal. State Univ. 10/30/08 CA2/1.pdf