Opinion ID: 416974
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: award of employment compensation

Text: 35 In an advisory capacity, the jury found that the amount of employment compensation Miller would have earned until retirement, less amounts he could actually expect to earn, was $70,895.00. The trial court awarded judgment in this amount against the City as an equitable remedy in lieu of reinstatement, based on the jury's findings of liability and the finding that substantial evidence to justify the termination of plaintiff did not exist as of October 15, 1975. Rec., vol. II, at 303. On appeal, the City contends that at most Miller was only entitled to receive employment compensation until May 1976, when his yearly term of employment was due to expire. 36 The trial judge held as a matter of law that Miller was deprived of a property interest when he was discharged. Miller now argues that the property interest extended beyond the one-year term of appointment provided by ordinance because past practice had been for the City to renew his contract routinely each May. He cites Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972), which held that allegations of rules and understandings justifying a claim of entitlement to continued employment were sufficient to withstand the defendant's motion for summary judgment. Perry was remanded to give plaintiff opportunity to present proof of such property interest. However, all that Miller argued in his motion for partial summary judgment was that he had a contract for one year. Hence, all that the trial judge had before him was that discharging Miller mid-term had deprived him of a property right. 37 While Miller might have been able to prove that he had a property interest extending beyond the one-year term, he made no effort to do so below, and the jury was not instructed on the issue. We cannot hold as a matter of law that Miller's property interest in his employment with the City extended beyond his term of appointment. See Wertz v. Southern Cloud Unified School District # 334, 218 Kan. 25, 542 P.2d 339, 346 (1976); see also City of Roeland Park v. Cross, 229 Kan. 269, 623 P.2d 1332 (1981); Riggs v. City of Beloit, 199 Kan. 425, 429 P.2d 821, 824 (1967). Accordingly, the award of $70,895.00 must be reversed. We remand for a determination of the damages due Miller for the period between his discharge and the expiration of his term.