An alias summons is issued when the original summons is unable to be served.
Masters is suing Besendorfer, Doerr and Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff for wrongfully dismissing him from his position at Royal Heights after he had already been issued a contract for the 2010-2011 school year.
A Jasper County Sheriff's deputy served Huff at 12:02 p.m. July 30 at the Administration Building at 32nd and Duquesne. The lawsuit accuses Huff and the former assistant superintendents of conspiracy and lying to the Joplin R-8 Board of Education.
In his response to the lawsuit, Huff said he knew nothing of any plot to remove Masters, and wasn't a mind reader so he had no way of knowing what Besendorfer and Doerr did.
The lawsuit was described 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:"As a result of the defendants' actions and statements, the Board of Education rescinded its offer to Plaintiff.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.
Mr. Master's, if you read this, I believe these people lied to get you fired. I so hope you win, and justice is served to all three of them.
ReplyDeleteRoyal Height parent from 2007 to present!
How hard can it be to find Doerr? He is always at the Gryphon Building. Doesn't he live here in Joplin? They must not be looking too hard. If he's really being that evasive, he must be guilty of something.
ReplyDeleteLast time I heard anything about dear old Bess, she was peddling her wares (WGU, I'm sure) on a barstool in KC and was supposedly headed to St. Louis to bait potential students with her WGU swag there. She lives in KC.
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ReplyDeleteShe does a lot of "peddling" at the Capitol, also, but what is being traded is a mystery. She's there all the freaking time. How much lobbying has to be done for an invisible university?
You can find Doerr at Forest Park Baptist Church every Sunday greeting people as they walk in the door. His annoying i think i am holier then everyone else wife is there as well. I personally have issues with Doerr when my child went to Columbia Elementary and was threatened by a classmate who in turn brought bullets to school. The principal at the time Lori Musser and Doerr said oh he has family issues. Sorry about that but he brought bullets to school which meant he had access to those and potentially a gun! He threatened to stab another student too. I told Doerr and Musser its on your heads WHEN this kids hurts someone because you could have done something back in 2nd grade. Needless to say i pulled my son out of that school.
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