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WIGGINS v. HOUSING AUTHORITY OF KANSAS CITY5/17/1996
Appellants Robert L. Wiggins and Michael White were both employees of the Housing Authority of Kansas City.
Appellants were both fired by their employer. They sued the Housing Authority for wrongful termination of their employment, alleging breach of contract and retaliatory discharge.
In 1993, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the Housing Authority on all claims. That decision was appealed to this court, and we affirmed the trial court on all issues with the exception of a claim based on implied contract. Wiggins v. Housing Authority of Kansas City, 19 Kan. App. 2d 610, 873 P.2d 1377, rev. denied 255 Kan. 1007 (1994).
On remand to the trial court, the only issue remaining was whether an implied contract existed as to the term of employment. The court, on remand, granted summary judgment to the Housing Authority on this issue. It held that the Housing Authority had no power to enter into an implied contract with appellants for a stated tenure. Thus, appellants were employees at will and had no basis for an action for wrongful discharge.
Factually, this case is unremarkable. The only real issue is whether the Housing Authority had the power to enter into an implied contract with appellants concerning their job tenure.
Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. All reasonable facts and inferences which may reasonably be drawn from the evidence must be viewed in favor of the party against whom the ruling is sought. Where reasonable minds could differ as to the conclusions drawn from the evidence, summary judgment must be denied. Dickens v. Snodgrass, Dunlap & Co., 255 Kan. 164, 166, 872 P.2d 252 (1994).
In reaching its decision, the trial court relied on the contents of the statute which authorized the creation of a housing authority and on the ordinance of the city which created this particular housing authority.
K.S.A. 17-2340, as enacted in 1957, authorized the city to create an agency known as a "housing authority," and it reads in pertinent part as follows:
"Sec. 4. Creation of housing authorities. Every city in addition to other powers conferred by this or any other act, shall have power, by proper resolution of its governing body, to create as an agent of such city authority to be known as the
`housing authority' of the city. The city may delegate to such authority any or all of the powers conferred on the city by this act, and may authorize it to employ an executive director, technical experts and such other officers, agents and employees, permanent and temporary, as it may require, and to delegate to one or more of its agents or employees such powers or duties as the authority may deem proper." L. 1957, ch. 132, ยง 4.
The City of Kansas City created the defendant Housing Authority by the passage of resolution No. 15872. Insofar as that resolution is pertinent to the issues under consideration, it reads as follows:
"2. The Board of Commissioners of the City of Kansas City, Kansas, pursuant to Section 4 of the Municipal Housing Law, hereby empowers and authorizes the said Housing Authority of the City of Kansas City. Kansas, to employ a secretary (who shall be executive director), technical experts and such other officers, attorneys, agents and employees, permanent and temporary, as such authority may require, to determine their qualifications, duties, and compensation, and to delegate to one or more of them such powers or duties as the authority may deem proper. . . ."
It is of utmost significance that de
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