Marian Opala
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Marian P. Opala (b. 1921) is a justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. He was appointed to the bench by Former Governor Boren, a Democrat. His current term ends in 2012.
Opala was born in Lodz, Poland on January 20, 1921, and was the son of a prominent banker. After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Opala, then a university student, enlisted in the Polish Army, and following Poland's defeat by Nazi Germany, joined the Polish Underground. In 1944 he escaped Poland via Turkey on the orders of his superiors in order to meet with Polish troops enlisted in the British Army in Palestine and Ethiopia to assure them that the struggle against the Nazi occupation was being waged vigorously at home with strong Allied support. After completing his mission, he served briefly with Polish troops in Italy and then parachuted back into Poland to resume his duties with the Underground.[1] In 1944 he escaped Poland via Turkey on the orders of his superiors in order to meet with Polish troops enlisted in the British Army in Palestine and Ethiopia to assure them that the struggle against the Nazi occupation was being waged vigorously at home with strong Allied support.[2]
In 1944 Opala was captured by German forces in the Warsaw Uprising and held in Flossenbürg Concentration Camp in Bavaria. After his liberation by the U.S. Army in 1945, he was befriended by Gene Warr, a captain in the 45th Infantry Division from Oklahoma City. Opala confided in Warr that he could not return to Poland after the Communist takeover and would probably settle somewhere in the British Commonwealth. Warr helped him get a job as a translator for U.S. forces in Occupied Germany, and suggested he emigrate to the US, and offered to help him. Opala settled in Oklahoma City in 1947. Six years later, in 1953, Opala became a U.S. citizen.
Legal background
He graduated from the Oklahoma City University School of Law the same year. In 1957, he earned a BSB degree in economics from Oklahoma City University and in 1968 his master-of-law degree from New York University School of Law.
Legal career
Opala began his legal career as assistant county attorney in Oklahoma County and held this position until 1956 when he entered private practice. He first served the Supreme Court of Oklahoma as a referee from 1960 to 1965. Later he was staff lawyer for Justice Rooney McInerney. For nine years (from 1969 to 1977) Opala directed the state's court system as its first administrative director.[3] Judge Opala was appointed to the Court's District 3 seat by Governor David L. Boren, now President of the University of Oklahoma in 1978, and retained by the voters in 1980, 1982, 1988, 1994, 2000 and 2006. He served as the Court's Chief Justice from 1991 to 1992. He served as judge on the State Industrial Court when it was renamed (in 1977-1978) the Workers' Compensation Court. On November 21, 1978, the then-Governor, now OU President David Boren appointed him to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. Voters retained him in 1980 for the unexpired term of his predecessor. In 1982, 1988 and 1994 he was retained for six-year terms. He served as the court's Chief Justice from January 1, 1991 to December 31, 1992. In addition to his judicial career, Opala is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Tulsa, specializing in British and American legal history and constitutional law.
Awards and associations
In 2000, Opala was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Throughout his career he has been known as a strong advocate of First Amendment rights, a commitment he attributes to his experiences as a youth in Nazi-occupied Poland. A group called "Freedom of Information Oklahoma" presents the "Marian Opala First Amendment Award" every year to an Oklahoman who has "promoted education about or protection of the individual rights guaranteed under the First Amendment."[4]
The author of numerous legal papers, Opala is an adjunct professor in three law schools --- at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City University and the University of Tulsa --- and a frequent lecturer at various national judicial and legal education programs. Since 1982 he has been an Oklahoma commissioner in the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. A member of the Order of the Coif and the American Law Institute, he was appointed in December 1993 as a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
He has been admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit Bar, and U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma Bar. Opala is a member of the American Bar Association, the Oklahoma Bar Association, the Oklahoma County Bar Association, and the Oklahoma City Title Lawyers' Association.[5]
He is the author of the teaching manual Management in the Judiciary, published by the OU Law Center. He has published a variety of articles in such publications as the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Verdict, Oklahoma Bar Journal, and Tulsa Law Journal.
Political affiliation
Democrat.[6] He is listed as "nonpartisan," as the Oklahoma Supreme Court is determined by appointments by the governor. He was appointed by Governor Boren, a Democrat.[7]
Files age bias lawsuit
In January, 2005, Opala, then 83 years old, and in line once again to become Chief Justice, filed a federal lawsuit against his colleagues, alleging that they changed Oklahoma Supreme Court rules for succession to chief justice thereby arbitrarily allowing Chief Justice Joseph M. Watt to serve unprecedented consecutive terms. In July, 2006, a federal appeals court dismissed Opala's lawsuit "with prejudice." [8] "My colleagues," Justice Opala explained in a telephone interview, "cannot do to me what they would not permit a corporate employer to do."
Attorney General Drew Edmondson asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit in which Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Marian P. Opala accused fellow justices of discrimination.[9] Edmondson's motion, filed in U.S. District Court, states that Opala does not have a "federal case" against his colleagues and that even if he did, state Supreme Court justices have legal immunity from Opala's lawsuit. "In short, Justice Opala has no federal claim, and his 'federal case' should be dismissed," a brief filed in support of the motion states. Edmondson's office represents Chief Justice Joseph Watt and the seven other justices Opala sued.
On the issues
Contract enforcement
2007
Justice Opala concurred in the majority opinion of Justice James Winchester, which invalidated a clause in a contract between defendant, a cellular phone provider, and defendant, a customer who entered into a contract with defendant.
On Education
2007
Justice Opala concurred in the majority opinion of Justice Rudolph Hargrave. That opinion affirmed the trial judge's finding that the school district did not adequately demonstrate that a teacher who slapped and otherwise physically attacked a special-needs child deserved to have his employment terminated.
Justice Opala concurred in the majority opinion of Justice Rudolph Hargrave. That opinion affirmed the trial judge's finding that the school district did not adequately demonstrate that a teacher deserved to have his employment terminated for instructional ineffectiveness and unsatisfactory teaching.
On Elections Law
2006
Justice Opala concurred in the result in this case, where opinion of Justice Joseph M. Watt invalidated citizens' efforts to place a Tax Payer Bill of Rights (TABOR) on the Oklahoma ballot due to the use of out-of-state petition circulators by the initiative's supporters.
Justice Opala, along with Justices Lavender and Hargrave dissented from the majority opinion of Justice Yvonne Kauger and five others, which invalidated a property-rights based voter initiative what would have protected private property from economic-development and regulatory takings.
2002
Justice Opala concurred in the majority opinion upholding the legal and numerical sufficiency of an initiative petition that sought to ban cock-fighting in the state of Oklahoma.
Employment issues
2007
Justice Opala concurred in the opinion of Justice James E. Lavender finding that an employer had the right to terminate the employment of an employee who insisted on pursuing a claim against a third party under Oklahoma's Open Records Act, as there was no "public policy exception" to such a firing.
Negligence
2007
Justice Opala concurred in the opinion of Justice Steven W. Taylor finding Dish Network was not responsible for the injuries of a customer who fell off the roof of her home while trying to repair her Dish Network satellite dish, even though Dish Network refused to make the repairs, and encouraged the customer to climb up onto the roof and make the repairs herself.
On Property Rights
2006
Justice Opala, along with Justices Lavender and Hargrave dissented from the majority opinion of Justice Yvonne Kauger and five others, which invalidated a property-rights based voter initiative what would have protected private property from economic-development and regulatory takings.
External links
- Oklahoma Supreme Court Biography
- "Opala celebrates 40 years in state" (Edmond Sun)
- Marian Opala First Amendment Award
- Judge, 83, alleges age discrimination (www.courttv.com)
- Opala Discusses his Case
- Richard M. Bernard (1980) The Poles in Oklahoma , University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK.
References
- ↑ Wikipedia: Marian P. Opala
- ↑ [www.oscn.net/oscn/schome/opala.htm The State of Oklahoma Supreme Court]
- ↑ The Supreme Court of the State of Oklahoma
- ↑ The Supreme Court of the State of Oklahoma
- ↑ The University of Oklahoma College of Law
- ↑ NNBD.com
- ↑ Follow the Money
- ↑ New York Times
- ↑ Ardmoreite.com
Portions of this biography were taken from Wikipedia on December 12, 2007.
