Court Opinion

ID: 9895190
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-06 13:11:45.363184+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:41.440867
License: Public Domain

In the
                           Court of Appeals
                   Second Appellate District of Texas
                            at Fort Worth
                                 No. 02-22-00266-CV

ZACHARY D. LEONARD, Appellant               §   On Appeal from the 30th District Court

                                            §   of Wichita County (DC30-CV2021-0581)

V.                                          §   November 2, 2023

CITY OF BURKBURNETT, TEXAS,                 §   Memorandum Opinion by Justice Womack
LAWRENCE CUTRONE; EDDIE STAHR;
MICHAEL GUEVARA; AND
FRED TILLMAN, Appellees

                                     JUDGMENT

      This court has considered the record on appeal in this case and holds that there

was error in part of the trial court’s judgment. It is ordered that the judgment of the

trial court is affirmed in part and reversed in part. We reverse that portion of the trial

court’s judgment dismissing the following claims:          (1) that Appellees violated

Appellant Zachary D. Leonard’s rights to free speech and assembly by wrongfully

terminating his employment because of his support of civil-service implementation at

the City of Burkburnett Police Department and his involvement with the Burkburnett
Police Association and (2) that Appellee Lawrence Cutrone failed to comply with

Section 614.023(c) of the Government Code before terminating Leonard’s

employment. We also reverse the judgment on the following claims, solely for the

trial court to allow Leonard an opportunity to replead them: the equal-protection and

due-course-of-law claims and the claim that Leonard is entitled to additional rights

pursuant to the “formal appeal procedure” delineated in the City’s Personnel

Handbook. But we affirm the remainder of the trial court’s judgment. We remand

this case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion and

judgment.

      It is further ordered that all parties shall bear their own costs of this appeal, for

which let execution issue.

                                       SECOND DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

                                       By /s/ Dana Womack
                                          Justice Dana Womack