School Board of Palm Beach County v. Groover
Florida District Court of Appeal
337 So. 3d 799 (2022)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
The principal of Boynton Beach High School demoted Gary Groover (plaintiff) from assistant principal to teacher. Groover brought a complaint against the School Board of Palm Beach County (defendant) under Florida’s whistleblower statute, seeking equitable relief in the form of reinstatement as assistant principal or five years of front pay. Groover alleged that his demotion was due to his participation in an investigation of an apparently unauthorized use of the school gym. The school board countered that Groover was demoted for performance-related reasons. At trial, it was established that the school board had no openings for an assistant principal and was on a pandemic-related hiring freeze. The jury awarded Groover $140,000 for lost wages and $30,000 for mental anguish, but the trial court declined to order reinstatement or front pay. Both parties appealed, the school board challenging the judgment in favor of Groover and Groover challenging the denial of equitable relief.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Gross, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.