Wrongful Termination Cases

APPELLATE REVIEW/CIVIL – JURISDICTION – SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY – SUMMARY JUDGMENT – R.C. 2744.02: An appellate court is without jurisdiction to review an order that does not qualify as a final appealable order under R.C. 2744.02(C): the trial court's order allowing plaintiffs to amend their complaint against defendant political subdivision and its employee to include allegations of recklessness did not foreclose the political subdivision's ability to demonstrate alleged immunity, and therefore, it was not a final order. The trial court did not err in denying summary judgment to an employee of a political subdivision where genuine issues of material fact as to whether the employee acted recklessly precluded summary judgment. The trial court did not err in denying summary judgment to a political subdivision where the political subdivision did not meet its burden on summary judgment to establish affirmative defenses to an exception to the general grant of immunity to reinstate sovereign immunity.

Despite respondent-appellee's failure to follow the statutory termination procedures prior to terminating relator-appellant's teaching contract, relator-appellant had an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law by way of an appeal to the court of common pleas under R.C. 3319.16. Therefore, the trial court did not err by granting respondent-appellee's motion for summary judgment or by declining to issue a writ of mandamus.