Of former administrator
By Stan Welch
More than seven years down a long and winding legal road, former Anderson County Administrator Michael Cunningham’s legal efforts to reclaim that job came to an end, at the South Carolina Supreme Court last week. The Court reversed an earlier ruling by the appellate court, which had in turn reversed the original decision by Summary Court Judge Alex MacCaulay.
MacCaulay had ruled in favor of the County’s position on all counts in the original ruling.
Cunningham subsequently prevailed on the issue of wrongful termination in the appellate court; but the County, despite a split Council and considerable controversy, voted to take the fight to the state Supreme Court.
The origins of the case lie in the actions taken during a November 18, 2008 Council meeting, during which the lame duck Council approved a $1.2 million severance package for administrator Joey Preston; followed immediately by the hiring of Cunningham to fill the job.
Early in 2009, when the new Council was installed, they quickly voided the contract and offered Cunningham a different arrangement, minus the generous severance provisions and employment protections included in the original contract.
Cunningham declined the offer, and was subsequently terminated by a majority vote of the Council. He then filed a lawsuit alleging breach of contract, wrongful discharge, and violation of the Payment of Wages Act. As stated, Judge Alex MacCaulay ruled in favor of the County, and the long legal battle was joined.
The litigation proceeded concurrently with a flurry of lawsuits brought against the County in regards to the actions of November 18, 2008.
Candy Kern Fuller, an Easley attorney who would also represent Preston on occasion, filed a lawsuit seeking to stop an internal investigation into Preston’s administration, initiated by the new Council. Her claims that only the administrator could employ such personnel to investigate the performance of the administrator were quickly thrown out of court by Judge Williams who described the claims as ‘ patently absurd.”
Following that ruling, several prominent citizens, including former publisher of the local daily newspaper, disassociated themselves from the case. Other plaintiffs, however, including Michael and Doreen Montepara, associates of Councilwoman Gracie Floyd, continued to pursue the case.
Kern Fuller quickly appealed the decision. How she would have fared at the appellate court is unknown, because the Supreme Court, in an unusual move, asserted jurisdiction over the case and expedited its arrival in the Supreme Court chambers.
Again, the claims that only Preston had the authority to initiate an investigation of his own administration were quickly discounted. The phrase patently absurd was also heard in the chambers several times during the argument.
Cunningham’s case, lacking the flamboyance of some of the various cases brought against the County by Kern Fuller, moved through the courts more decorously.
Finally, in a decision filed on September 2, the Supreme Court reversed the appellate court’s ruling that Cunningham had been wrongfully discharged.
Chief Justice Jean Toal concurred with the dissent which Justice Beatty authored, but it was not enough to prevail.
