Former Kansas Highway Patrol leader, ousted by the governor, must be reinstated to a lower rank, ruled a federal judge on Friday.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree sided with former KHP superintendent Mark Bruce, who filed suit against Gov. Laura Kelly and members of her administration following his resignation.
“Plaintiff succeeds in his procedural due process claim against Governor Kelly and Superintendent Smith,” Crabtree stated, referring to current KHP superintendent Erik Smith, also named in the lawsuit. “Therefore, he is entitled to be reinstated in the KHP as a Major. However, he is not entitled to receive increased retirement benefits.”
Attorneys representing Bruce did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday afternoon.
“We acknowledge the court’s ruling and are currently assessing it to determine our next course of action,” said Grace Hoge, a spokesperson for the governor.
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Upon assuming office in January 2019, Kelly initially kept Bruce as KHP superintendent. However, by March, she sought a change in leadership and instructed her chief of staff, Will Lawrence, to effect this. Following a meeting with Lawrence, Bruce resigned and later filed a lawsuit.
By the time the case went to trial in February, only one claim remained. Judge Crabtree summarized it as follows: “Plaintiff alleges that Governor Kelly violated his procedural due process rights by pressuring him to resign through Mr. Lawrence and failing to reinstate him to his previous rank of Major, as required by Kansas law.”
“The core issue in this case is whether the plaintiff resigned voluntarily,” Crabtree wrote.
To address this, Crabtree convened an advisory jury for the February trial to determine if a reasonable person would have felt compelled to resign under the circumstances. Six out of seven jurors sided with Bruce.
Kelly’s legal team later requested the judge to disregard the jury’s verdict, arguing that “the findings of an advisory jury are non-binding and merely advisory.”
“The court declines this request,” Crabtree stated. “The court reviewed the same evidence as the jury. Both sides presented evidence supporting their respective positions. The advisory jury found in favor of the plaintiff, concluding that a reasonable person in his position would have felt coerced to resign. The court accepts this verdict. In fact, the court sees no better measure of whether resignation was reasonable than the opinion of a jury.”
