COLUMBUS — Jacob T. “Jack” Falfas is not entitled to be reinstated as chief operating officer of Cedar Fair, owner of Sandusky’s Cedar Park, the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled today.
The high court reversed decisions by an arbitration panel and the Toledo-based Sixth District Court of Appeals, both of which said Mr. Falfas should be reinstated.
It sent the case back to Erie County Common Pleas Court. That county court had determined that Mr. Falfas was instead entitled to “his back pay and other benefits he enjoyed” before it was overturned by the Sixth District.
In a brief 2010 phone conversation apparently revolving around the budget for one of Cedar Fair’s shows, Mr. Falfas, chief operating officer since 2005, and Richard Kinzel, chairman of the board, had different opinions of the outcome.
Mr. Falfas said he’d been fired. Mr. Kinzel said the chief operating officer had resigned. Eight months later, an arbitrator panel sided with Mr. Falfas, determining he had not resigned, had been fired without cause, and was entitled to be reinstated.
The Supreme Court found that the binding arbitration panel exceeded its authority and that reinstatement was not an authorized remedy under terms of the contract. The question was instead about what pay and benefits Mr. Falfas was still entitled to.
“Nearly eight months passed between Falfas’s termination and the arbitration panel’s award,” wrote Justice William M. O’Neill. “How could a large business entity like Cedar Fair function properly if an arbitration panel was authorized to force it to reemploy an unwanted senior officer after it had obviously moved on?
“Why would any such entity or employee agree to give an arbitration panel the power to cause such disruption?” he asked.
Before his leaving the company, Mr. Falfas had been widely seen as the probable successor to Mr. Kinzel as board chairman. The position of chief operating officer had been created for him.
He was with the company for nearly 35 years, serving as general manager of Knott's Berry Farm, vice president of Cedar Fair Management Co., and head of West Coast operations.
The case was argued in April when the high court convened at the University of Toledo as part of its occasional sessions on the road.
First Published September 18, 2014, 3:13 p.m.
