Judge clears the way for Mullin to enforce contract – February 3, 2012

Two important rulings today pave the way for Turkia Mullin to pursue her claims against the Wayne County Airport Authority.

This morning, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Colombo threw out a claim of Robert Davis that sought to invalidate Turkia Mullin’s employment contract. The judge ruled that Davis’s claim bordered on the “frivolous” (which means not having any serious purpose or value) and cautioned Mr. Davis and his attorneys that they were lucky not to be sanctioned.

Judge Colombo also issued a ruling on the Airport’s attempt to invalidate its three-year employment contract with Ms. Mullin. The judge denied the attempt to invalidate the contract, ruling that the Airport could make its arguments to the Arbitrator, but not to the court. The judge similarly ruled that Ms. Mullin could pursue her Open Meeting Act claims in the arbitration proceedings, but not in court at this time.

Ms. Mullin will be filing her arbitration case shortly seeking to enforce her three-year employment contract with the Airport. The Airport terminated her abruptly after only two months on the job, despite a board member’s protest that she did an excellent job for the Airport. The Airport is required to pay her for the entire three-year term unless it can show it fired her for “cause,” but has not identified any cause for her termination.