For the third time, Guthrie police officer Mark Bruning, who was terminated from the Guthrie Police Department, has won his civil case against the City of Guthrie. The latest victory came on Wednesday morning in the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals.
In February 2016, the Guthrie City Council unanimously voted to appeal a district court’s decision on an arbitration hearing of Bruning. This came after the City refused to accept an arbitrator’s ruling. Both the arbitrator and district court ruled in favor of Bruning. Related story: Judge upholds arbitrator’s ruling on police officer Mark Bruning
Court papers show the Appeals Court conclusion as, “we affirm the trial court’s order enforcing the arbitration decision. AFFIRMED.” View the document here.
“We had to go through arbitration, we won there. We now have had to go through district court and we won here,” Bruning’s attorney Scott Adams said after the district court’s decision in Dec. 2015. “I’m assuming that the City wants to continue to throw money at this thing. The sad part is the only one who is going end up paying all of this is all the tax payers in Logan County.”
Related story: Fired police officer wants his job back; case going to arbitration
Related story: No decision made on the future of a Guthrie police officer
Bruning was accused of abusing his power when he had his wife’s ex-husband (Kyle White) arrested at the Sept. 2013 Mumford & Sons concert. Related story: Guthrie police officer terminated on Monday
White requested $125,000 from the City in compensation for the arrest. The two parties reached an agreement, but those details have never been released publicly.
In Nov. 2014, arbitrator Mark Reed found fault in both parties and ruled the City of Guthrie wrongfully terminated Bruning and that he be suspended for six months without pay. In addition, the City was to reinstate Bruning back to the department in the same position (lieutenant) when he was terminated along with back pay. Related story: Arbitrator finds fault in firing of police officer; Bruning cleared to go back to work
Despite the arbitrators ruling, the Guthrie city council voted unanimously not to reinstate Bruning back onto the police force in a December 2014 council meeting. Related story: City rejects arbitrator’s decision to reinstate Lt. Mark Bruning The City appealed the arbitrator’s decision in district court.
In December 2015, District Judge Philip Corley ruled the arbitrator did not go outside his scope or the collective bargaining agreement in making his decision.
A decision that the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals also agreed with.
Guthrie News Page attempted to reach Guthrie City Attorney Randel Shadid by phone for comment, but was unable to immediately reach him.
Ultimately, the city council could decide to make a third appeal and have the Oklahoma Supreme Court decide on the case. If so, that could hang the case up another 10-12 months in the court system.
“We are going to be victorious in the end. We are victorious every time we show up. They can’t stop us. They’re not going to stop Lt. Bruning from getting back on the streets and protecting this community, Adams said.”
A year ago in February, KFOR-TV reported they found four invoices with price tags of $35,000, $31,000, $19,000 and $4,000 for the court case. Adding up to $89,000 since Oct. 2013.
So much for Oklahoma being an “at will” employment state. That only applies to regular folks I suppose. Maybe they should hire his lawyer for the next appeal. His is obviously better than theirs.