State ex rel. Yost v. Burns
Annotate this Case
The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals reversing the judgment of the trial court finding Robert Burns strictly liable as a public official for the misappropriation of public money, holding that Burns was not strictly liable for the embezzled funds.
Burns contracted with New City Community School, a charter school, to be its chief executive officer, and Carl Shye was an independent contractor hired by New City to be the school's treasurer. After the auditor of state concluded that more than $50,000 of New City's state and federal grants had been misappropriated the Attorney General filed a complaint against Burns, Shye, and other defendants, alleging that they were jointly and severally liable as public officials. The trial court found Burns strictly liable. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Burns was not strictly liable for the embezzled funds because he did not receive or collect the public money that was misappropriated.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.