SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The Indiana Supreme Court has issued a ruling in the case of a former teacher who had sued the school for wrongful termination and won a large settlement back in 2023.

At that time, a jury trial resulted in a ruling against the South Bend Community School Corporation in favor of former teacher Connie Grabowski and SBCSC was ordered to pay her $600,000 in restitution.

That ruling was appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court and justices ruled on on June 24 in favor of SBCSC, eliminating the $600,000 payment to Grabowski.

The case stems from an incident with a second-grade child during the 2015-2016 school year when Grabowski taught at SBCSC.

The child complained to his mother of a pattern of harassment from Grabowski which led to paid administrative leave and an agreement as a "last chance" for her to remain employed.

The investigation began in late April of 2016 and resulted in the agreement on May 24. She resigned from SBCSC on June 14.

Soon after, Grabowski filed two separate lawsuits, one of racial discrimination and one of wrongful termination. This is notable because Grabowski is white, and the child who made the complaint is black.

His mother contacted the NAACP after the results of SBCSC investigation into the alleged harassment, which never came to fruition because Grabowski resigned.

Grabowski alleged that SBCSC fired her because she sought workers' compensation after bumping into the same child back in April and reportedly stumbling, injuring her ankle.

SBCSC reviewed video from the hallway to find that she did not fall and the contact with the child was not forceful, despite Grabowski's claims that she was pushed. She was asked at the time to correct her behavioral report of the child to show he did not run into her deliberately.

During the original case, the SBCSC argued that Grabowski failed to show workers' compensation was the "only reason" she was fired. The trial court denied SBCSC's motion for judgement on the evidence and the jury ruled in favor of Grabowski.

SBCSC appealed, arguing the trial court was wrong to deny its motion for judgement on the evidence. The court of appeals then rejected the motion, finding SBCSC's actions could reasonably be viewed as retaliatory discharge.

Now, in June of 2025 the Indiana Supreme Court states:

"We reverse the trial court’s denial of the school corporation’s motion for judgment on the evidence. The evidence at trial did not show—and Grabowski did not contend—that her injury (constructive retaliatory discharge) was caused solely because the school corporation was trying to avoid workers’ compensation liability. Thus, this case should not have gone to the jury.

"Grabowski acknowledges that hers is not a typical Frampton claim, where the claimant files for workers’ compensation and then is fired by her employer. Neither of these things happened here. Grabowski did not file a claim for workers’ compensation; she merely filled out an accident report form with her employer. And she was not fired; she resigned when presented with the school corporation’s 'last chance agreement.

"In sum, the fatal flaw in Grabowski’s case is her acknowledgment, consistent with the evidence adduced at trial, that the school corporation’s adverse employment action was not motivated solely by its desire to avoid workers’ compensation liability. It was motivated, in part, by its desire to insulate the board member’s grandson from further scrutiny. Though the school corporation’s treatment of this former teacher of the year likely influenced the jury’s verdict, this case should not have gone to the jury."