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Court rules in favor of Kay

Arizona Summer Wildcat

Appeal ruling states superior court has power to reinstate

An Arizona court of appeals ruled Monday that it is within the jurisdiction of the Pima County Superior Court to order the reinstatement of fired UA Alzheimer's researcher Marguerite Kay.

Kay's attorney Don Awercamp said the ruling is "absolutely a victory" for Kay. "We have taken the position that (university officials) have to put her back."

University of Arizona President Peter Likins declined comment yesterday.

Kay was fired in July 1998 after the Committee of Academic Freedom and Tenure found her guilty of scientific misconduct. In December, Pima County Superior Court Judge Stephen Villarreal ruled the UA took "arbitrary and capricious action" in firing Kay, and returned her case to university jurisdiction.

But Villarreal's decision also said that the court did not have the power to grant back pay or return Kay to her job.

"The rationale behind it is pretty simple. The university is going to have to put her back to where she was before it all happened," Awerkamp said. "And then there's the whole back pay issue."

Awercamp said the appeal concerned the interpretation of a statute as to whether the superior court had the jurisdiction to order Kay's reinstatement. University attorneys argued that the court did not have the jurisdiction.

"Once again the university is wrong," Awerkamp said.

He added that the case will go back before the Pima County Superior Court sometime in late August or early September, and that he expects the court to order reinstatement.

Judge William E. Druke's decision stated that "the superior court had the jurisdiction to entertain, in its discretion, Kay's request for reinstatement and, if it exercised that discretion, to determine the extent of any reinstatement."

Kay was reinstated to her position as a microbiology and immunology professor Feb. 4, but Likins issued orders to keep her away from the campus.

In a Feb. 4 letter to university department heads, Likins said that Kay was "restored to her former status," and pledged to follow the "appropriate process" for handling Kay's case.

She was granted a yet-undetermined amount of back pay following reinstatement, and placed on administrative leave so that her case can be re-judged by university committees.

In January, Kay offered to settle her lawsuit against the Arizona Board of Regents to the tune of $3 million.