Heiskell v. Roberts
Annotate this CaseIn 2010, Judge C. Donald Peppers, Sr. was reelected to the State Court of Walker County for a term of office from Jan. 1, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2014. Peppers decided to retire after the term began, effective June 30, 2011. On Oct. 3, 2011, the governor appointed Bruce Roberts for the remainder of Judge Peppers' term. On Sept. 30, 2011, prior to taking office, Roberts met with Bebe Heiskell, the sole Commissioner of Walker County, to discuss his salary. Heiskell explained that $60,000 was the minimum salary set by local statute but she didn’t want him to make less than he was presently earning. She asked Roberts what he currently made; he said $94,000; and she said she would start him at $100,000. He asked for $110,000 but she said budget constraints would prevent that. Roberts claims he never agreed to this salary and objected to it several times, recognizing that Peppers had earned $172,102.80. Roberts was sworn into office on Oct. 3, 2011 and had to run for election in the nonpartisan primary in July 2012, but he lost, meaning that his term of office was set to end Dec. 31, 2012. Following his defeat, Roberts sued Heiskell and Walker County, seeking a “writ of mandamus” to force the County to pay him $89,881.88 for the difference between what it would have paid Peppers and what it had paid him. The Supreme Court concluded the trial court erred in concluding that Roberts was entitled to the same compensation his predecessor received because he had been appointed to the previous judge’s “unexpired term:” “[u]nlike persons appointed to fill vacancies in most other public offices, appointees to state, superior, and appellate judgeships do not serve out the ‘unexpired term’ of their predecessors.” Roberts relied on cases involving the salaries of magistrate judges who were appointed to fill vacancies. Roberts did not be
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