C. J. Huff- You've been served

A Jasper County Sheriff's deputy officially served Superintendent C. J. Huff with papers at 12:02 p.m. July 30 officially notifying him that he faces a lawsuit which accuses him of conspiracy and lying to the Joplin R-8 Board of Education.

Unofficially, Huff already knew, since the news appeared in June on the Turner Report.

Jasper County Circuit Court records indicate that a co-defendant in the case, former Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer, now chancellor of Western Governors University Missouri, has not been served.

The following was originally printed in the June 13 Turner Report:

.The lawsuit alleges that three top administrators conspired to ruin a principal's character and cost him his job.

The action, filed by former Royal Heights Principal Larry Masters, charges Huff and former Assistant Superintendents Angie Besendorfer and Stephen Doerr with "making false representations about plaintiff and plaintiff's character to the Joplin Schools Board of Education."


These allegations, the lawsuit says, caused the board to rescind the contract it had already offered for Masters to be Royal Heights principal for the 2010-2011 school year.

The four-count petition, includes individual counts of tortious interference against Besendorfer, Doerr, and Huff and a civil conspiracy count against all three.

The civil conspiracy count reads as follows:

"Defendants knew that the Board of Education had voted to offer Plaintiff continued employment as a principal.

"Defendants intended for the Joplin Schools Board of Education to rescind its offer of continued employment as a principal to the plaintiff.

"Defendants had a meeting of the minds on the aforesaid object.

"Defendants knowingly made false and injurious statements to the Board of Education about Plaintiff's conduct and character.

:"As a result of the defendants' actions and statements, the Board of Education rescinded its offer to Plaintiff.

"As a result of defendants' actions, Plaintiff has suffered damages, including lost wages, mental and emotional distress.

"Defendants' actions were willful, wanton, and made with the knowledge that they would cause damage to the plaintiff."

Masters is asking for "damages, including lost wages, mental and emotional damage, punitive damages, the costs of this action, and to grant such other and further relief as the court deems just and proper."

The lawsuit was filed as a replacement for an earlier action in which only Besendorfer was named as a defendant. That action was dismissed eight days ago by Judge David Dally at the request of Masters' attorney, Raymond Lampert of Springfield.

The first lawsuit was hampered by interference from the Huff Administration, which had Board of Education Attorney John Nicholas intervene, requesting that he be permitted to be at all depositions and that no witnesses be allowed to talk about anything that happened during a closed board session.

The Board of Education does not appear to have anything to do with Nicholas' actions since no meetings were held between the time a deposition was scheduled for Board Member Jim Kimbrough and Nicholas' motion to intervene.

In the last filing made before the first lawsuit was dismissed, Lampert asked that Besendorfer be required to answer questions about what she said or what had been said by others during those closed sessions since she was not on the board and thus could not be covered by the rules that govern school board members.