Ex-Teacher Wins Suit Over Termination

VENTURA COUNTY —  A jury has awarded $486,158 to a former teacher who sued administrators for firing him after he complained about understaffing at a county-run school.

Robert LeVine, 50, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit three years ago after he was dismissed for not reporting for work for several days.

The lawsuit accuses the Ventura County superintendent of schools office and four administrators, including Supt. Chuck Weis, of retaliating against

LeVine after he raised concerns about staffing levels at the McBride School at Ventura County Juvenile Hall.

LeVine also alleged that he was let go after telling the county grand jury that money allocated for one school was being spent on students in other programs.

During a monthlong trial, attorneys for the administrators argued that LeVine was fired because he stopped coming to work.

After about five hours of deliberations, the jury awarded LeVine $350,000 for emotional distress, $86,158 for back pay and $50,000 in other losses.

The panel also returned a special finding that the conduct of the four administrators--Weis, Sandi Shackelford, Cary Dritz and Dale Strayhorn--involved malice, oppression or fraud. Dritz and Strayhorn no longer work for the county schools office.

Investigations by the state and the district attorney’s office found LeVine’s allegations could not be substantiated, and the lawsuit was dismissed in Ventura County Superior Court in mid-1997.

But the 2nd District Court of Appeals reinstated the suit last year after ruling that the lower court had erred. The appeals court held that the events leading to LeVine’s firing could indeed be viewed as retaliatory.