(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Reynolds dismissed as defendant, but wrongful-discharge lawsuit continues [1]
['Clark Kauffman', 'More From Author', '- June']
Date: 2023-06-26
While holding that Gov. Kim Reynolds can’t be sued for the firing of a state agency’s spokesperson, the Iowa Supreme Court is allowing such a lawsuit to proceed against the state itself.
Former Iowa Department of Public Health spokesperson Polly Carver-Kimm sued Reynolds and others in 2020, alleging the governor and her spokesman, Pat Garrett, forced her out because she was being too responsive to the media in fulfilling their requests for public records.
On a 4-3 vote, the Iowa Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Reynolds and Garrett from the case, finding they lacked the authority to have Carver-Kimm fired. At the same time, however, the justices allowed Carver-Kimm’s wrongful termination lawsuit to proceed against the state.
“As a matter of law, the governor and Garrett lacked the power to discharge Carver-Kimm from her job within the Iowa Department of Public Health,” Justice Matthew McDermott wrote for the majority. “The power to appoint or remove Carver-Kimm resided with the (department) director.”
The department’s director is appointed by the governor.
In her lawsuit, Carver-Kimm alleges she was stripped of her responsibilities, which included fielding public-records requests, and given the option of resigning or being fired.
She sued, alleging her termination violated Iowa’s whistleblower law and was contrary to public policy given her statutory obligation to fulfill requests for public records.
Those two elements of her lawsuit can proceed with the Iowa Supreme Court having remanded the case back to district court minus the claims against Reynolds and Garrett.
In their ruling, the majority disagreed with the state’s argument that Iowa’s Open Records Law was not the sort of “well-recognized public policy” that could support a legal claim of a wrongful discharge that violated public policy.
“Failing to recognize the wrongful discharge tort in this case would put at risk the Open Records Law’s implementation, which depends in large part on the lawful custodian being able to perform the tasks imposed on them by Chapter 22,” Justice McDermott wrote. “Carver-Kimm can maintain a cause of action if — and only if — she can show she was terminated for complying with her statutory duty as lawful custodian to produce records that she had an obligation to produce.”
McDermott noted that the importance of the Open Records Law was recognized in a recent decision by the court involving Reynolds and the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“Just this term,” he wrote, “we again recognized the statute’s role in the oversight of our state and its officials, holding that an unreasonable delay in responding to an open records request can constitute a violation of the statute.”
Along with McDermott, the four justices who ruled with the majority included Susan Christensen, Edward Mansfield and Thomas Waterman. Justices Christopher McDonald, Dana Oxley and David May partially concurred and partially dissented.
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https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/06/26/reynolds-dismissed-as-defendant-but-wrongful-discharge-lawsuit-continues/
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