Opinion

Mrs. Tobie Brantley v. M.F. Surles, Superintendent of Education, Montgomery County

  • 718 F.2d 1354
  • 14 Educ. L. Rep. 33
  • 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 15362
Court
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Filed
Nov 10, 1983
Status
Published
Author
Garwood
On the bench
Garwood, Tuttle, Politz, Gar-Wood
Cited by
34 cases
Authority
More cited than 25.4%

after individualized meetings with board of education, public school cafeteria manager fired for sending child to private school

How later courts described this case

  • after individualized meetings with board of education, public school cafeteria manager fired for sending child to private school
  • public school cafeteria worker discharged for exercising her constitutional rights need not exhaust state remedies
  • public school employee discharged for child’s attendance at private *174 school
  • public school employee discharged for child's attendance at private school

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge,

concurring:

Respecting the res judicata point, under 28 U.S.C. § 1738 we give the prior Mississippi judgments only such preclusive effect as Mississippi would. See Southern Jam, Inc. v. Robinson, 675 F.2d 94, 97, 98 (5th Cir.1982); Hicks v. Quaker Oats Co., 662 F.2d 1158, 1166 (5th Cir.1982). The only claim we hold Mrs. Brantley to have validly raised in this suit is her privacy right-liberty claim that she was discharged because of her son’s attendance at private school, and would not have been discharged otherwise. As to this claim, the Mississippi court decisions were primarily based on jurisdictional grounds, namely, that in each case the chancery court had no original jurisdiction. In such circumstance, Mississippi apparently does not give preclusive effect to alternative determinations on the merits. City of Jackson v. Creston Hills, Inc., 172 So.2d 215, 219 (Miss.1965). See Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 20, Comment e (last sentence) and Illustration 4 at 173. Therefore, res judicata is not available as to this claim. As to each of the other points presented by this appeal, I concur fully in the holdings and reasoning of the majority.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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