Terminated city employee, who had worked as a police officer and later as a firefighter and who allegedly had suffered injuries at work, brought action against city based on claim of retaliatory discharge in violation of workers’ compensation statutes.
The Circuit Court entered summary judgment for city after setting aside an initial summary judgment for city. Terminated city employee appealed.
The Supreme Court held that:
- Trial court did not abuse its discretion when it granted terminated city employee’s motion, made pursuant to rule on relief from judgment due to mistakes, inadvertence, excusable neglect, newly discovered evidence, fraud, or any other reason justifying relief, to set aside first summary judgment for city;
- Determination in unemployment-compensation proceedings that city employee had been terminated for misconduct collaterally estopped him from maintaining retaliatory-termination claim; and
- As matter of apparent first impression, use of determination in unemployment-compensation proceedings that city employee had been terminated for misconduct to find that he was collaterally estopped from maintaining retaliatory-termination claim did not violate his right to trial by jury on his retaliatory-termination claim.