Opinion
No. 71-154 (Supreme Court No. 24134)
Decided July 7, 1971.
Discharged teacher brought action for breach of employment contract. Trial court entered judgment for defendant; plaintiff appealed.
Affirmed
1. CONTRACTS — Teacher — Private School — Hearing — Prior to Discharge — Not Required. Although teacher's contract of employment at private school provided for hearing upon discharge, due process does not require such a hearing to be prior to discharge, and school fulfilled its contractual obligation by scheduling a post-termination hearing.
Error to the District Court of Adams County, Honorable Oyer G. Leary, Judge.
John W. Lentz, for plaintiff in error.
Berger, Rothstein Gehler, David Berger, for defendant in error.
This case was transferred from the Supreme Court pursuant to statute.
Plaintiff Kay L. Lillie brought this action against defendant Commerce City Kindergarten, Inc., to recover damages for breach of an employment contract. The case was tried to the court, and judgment was entered in favor of the defendant. Kay L. Lillie, appearing here as plaintiff in error, seeks reversal of judgment.
On September, 1, 1970, plaintiff entered into a written contract of employment with the defendant to teach pre-school children at a private school owned and operated by the defendant. The contract provided for the employment of plaintiff from September 5, 1967, until June 6, 1968. The contract further provided:
"4. Said Board of Directors, without liability to said Board, may terminate this contract if in their judgment the teacher is incompetent or unfit for the position. It is agreed that the teacher shall be given a fair opportunity to be heard in a public or private hearing, in accordance with her request."
Plaintiff taught at the school from September 5, 1967, until November 28, 1967, on which date the Board delivered to her the following notice of termination:
"Please be notified that the Contract dated September 1, 1967 between Commerce City Kindergarten, Inc. and Kay L. Lillie, Teacher is hereby terminated as of 11:45 November 28, 1967.
"A hearing has been set for Thursday December 14, 1967 at The Adams City High School Library at 7:30 p.m., at which time you may appear in person or be represented by Counsel."
The plaintiff did not attend the hearing scheduled for December 14, 1967, but, treating the contract as breached, commenced this action on December 13, 1967.
The trial court did not construe the contract as reposing in the Board the arbitrary or unqualified option to terminate the contract, and required the defendant to produce evidence of incompetence or unfitness on the part of the plaintiff. On the basis of the evidence so presented, the court found that the Board had reasonable grounds to terminate the contract because of the teacher's incompetence.
[1] It is the plaintiff's position that the defendant breached the contract by discharging her without first conducting a hearing. Neither the contract itself nor the evidence at the trial established what the parties intended by the provision for a "hearing." We do not construe the contract as requiring a quasi-judicial hearing with the safeguards of procedural due process. Even in those instances where the right to discharge is limited by statute to discharges for cause, it has been held that due process does not require a hearing prior to the discharge. Cain v. Civil Service Commission, 159 Colo. 360, 411 P.2d 778; Harrison v. Denver, 175 Colo. 249, 487 P.2d 373. The rationale of these cases is applicable to the provision for a hearing in the contract in question. The Board complied with its contractual obligation to afford plaintiff an opportunity to be heard by scheduling the post-termination hearing.
Judgment affirmed.
CHIEF JUDGE SILVERSTEIN and JUDGE PIERCE concur.