Christian Claims Conflicts-of-Interest Tainted Religious Freedom Case Outcome
by Jim Brown
March 8, 2005
(AgapePress) - A federal appellate judge is being accused of a conflict of interest in a ruling against an Indiana woman who lost her teaching job at a United Methodist university for passing out Christian magazines in her classroom.
A three-judge panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals recently overturned a jury verdict in favor of DePauw University education program coordinator Janis Price. The panel rejected the jury's finding that DePauw officials discriminated against the university employee by creating a hostile work environment and violating her free-speech rights.
In January, the panel tossed out the jury verdict that awarded the Christian administrative officer more than $10,000 in lost wages. The university had cut Price's pay, stripped her of all her titles, suspended her teaching duties, and placed her on probation, all for passing out Christian literature in class -- material that a university official construed as "anti-gay literature" in violation of the school's anti-harassment policy.
A jury agreed with Price that the Indiana school officials had treated the plaintiff unfairly and violated her rights. But even before the three-judge panel announced it was setting aside the jury's decision, the reprimanded employee says the December 7 online edition of the DePauw newspaper was already reporting that her favorable verdict had been overturned.
"The document that I received -- and that my lawyer received -- that was stamped by the court was dated December 14," Price points out. "So I think you don't have to be too intelligent to connect the dots and to see that there was communication between Judge Crone and the university a week before the document was actually stamped."
But that is only one of the improprieties the Christian administrator sees in the handling of her case. Price also notes that one of the panel members, Judge Terry Crone, is a DePauw alumnus, a fact she feels should have forced the jurist to recuse himself from the proceedings. And, she adds, "He also is well-acquainted with John Neighbors, who is the DePauw lawyer and a 1971 graduate of DePauw University."
In light of the judge's influential role in the matter and in authoring the panel's ruling, Price feels his connections to the school and others involved with the case could be viewed as conflicts of interest. "The other two district judges merely concurred," she notes. "Their names are listed at the end that they concur; but the person who actually wrote the documentation, Terry Crone, is a '74 graduate of DePauw."
Price says the fact that there was apparent communication between Judge Crone and the DePauw University media before the ruling was announced is a strong indicator that the American judicial system is "in big trouble." She is filing an appeal with the Indiana Supreme Court.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
