Fairbanks v. Tulane University
| Decision Date | 31 March 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-CA-1228.,98-CA-1228. |
| Citation | 731 So.2d 983 |
| Parties | Henry D. FAIRBANKS v. TULANE UNIVERSITY, et al., Board of Trustees for Tulane University and The Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
George L. Bilbe, New Orleans, Louisiana, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellant.
Benjamin R. Slater, III, Mark E. Van Horn, Cory R. Cahn, Slater Law Firm, New Orleans, Louisiana, Counsel for Defendant/Appellee The Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund.
Court composed of Judge JOAN BERNARD ARMSTRONG, Judge MOON LANDRIEU, and Judge JAMES F. McKAY, III.
The plaintiff, Henry Fairbanks, appeals the district court's summary judgment in favor of the defendants, collectively referred to as Tulane. We reverse the district court's judgment.
The plaintiffs father, Professor Fairbanks, was employed by Tulane at the medical school as a faculty member from 1958 until his death in December of 1986, at which time he was a tenured associate professor. At the time of his father's death, the plaintiff was enrolled at Tulane as an undergraduate student and was receiving tuition waivers as the son of a faculty member in accordance with Tulane's policy set forth in the 1986 Faculty Handbook. The plaintiff graduated in the spring of 1994, having obtained tuition waivers through graduation. During the summer of 1994, he obtained a tuition waiver for another undergraduate course. He also enrolled in the business school's M.B.A. program and took a graduate-level course that summer. In August of 1994, he was informed that he would not be granted a tuition waiver for either the summer graduate-level course or the M.B.A. program that fall. Tulane's stated reason was that the 1986 Faculty Handbook had been amended in November of 1992 to disallow tuition waivers for students enrolled in graduate programs. Eventually, the plaintiff obtained his M.B.A. in 1996 after paying over $40,000.00 in tuition and fees to Tulane.
In his suit against Tulane, the plaintiff seeks reimbursement of the tuition paid for his graduate schooling. He asserts (1) his father was reasonable in regarding Tulane to have made a legally enforceable commitment to pay for his children's tuition in the event of his death; (2) his father reasonably relied upon Tulane's promise of tuition waivers while working for a modest salary and in the event of his death; and (3) the plaintiff himself relied upon Tulane's promise of tuition waivers in pursuing his studies at Tulane after his father's death. Tulane, however, successfully moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the 1986 Faculty Handbook did not confer enforceable rights upon faculty members and that the tuition waivers were unenforceable gratuities. The trial court reasoned that the tuition waivers were a benefit offered by Tulane and that Tulane had a right to change its policy at any time. The court concluded that the benefit did not rise to the level of a contract.
After adequate discovery or after a case is set for trial, a motion that shows there is no genuine issue as to material fact and the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law shall be granted. La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 966 C(1). The burden of proof remains with the movant. La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 966 C(2). If the movant will not bear the burden of proof at trial, his burden on the motion does not require him to negate all essential elements of the plaintiff's claim, but rather to point out that there is an absence of factual support for one or more elements essential to the claim. Id. If the plaintiff fails to produce factual support sufficient to establish that he will be able to satisfy his evidentiary burden of proof at trial, there is no genuine issue of material fact. Id.
When reviewing a grant of summary judgment, the appellate court considers the evidence de novo, using the same criteria applied by the trial court to determine whether summary judgment is appropriate. Smith v. Our Lady of the Lake Hosp., Inc., 93-2512 (La.7/5/94), 639 So.2d 730. Furthermore, all evidence and inferences drawn from the evidence must be construed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion; all allegations of the party opposing the motion must be taken as true and all doubt must be resolved in his favor. Schroeder v. Board of Supervisors, 591 So.2d 342, 345 (La.1991).
After reviewing the matter de novo, we conclude the district court erred in granting the defendants' motion for summary judgment. The defendants have not carried their burden of proving that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that they are entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. See La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 966.
The plaintiff claims that the tuition waiver provision of the 1986 Faculty Handbook created a contractual obligation pursuant to which Tulane was required to waive tuition for his graduate schooling at Tulane. Thus, to succeed on summary judgment, Tulane had the burden of showing the absence of a contract.
The 1986 Tulane Faculty Handbook, in force at the time of the Professor Fairbanks's death and which continued the policy set forth in the 1979 Handbook, contained a section on "Tuition Waivers." That section provided in pertinent part:
A contract is an agreement by two or more parties whereby obligations are created, modified, or extinguished. La. Civ.Code art. 1906. Four elements are required for confection of a valid contract: (1) the capacity to contract; (2) mutual consent; (3) a certain object; and (4) lawful cause. Babkow v. Morris Bart, P.L.C., 98 0256 (La.App. 4 Cir. 12/16/98), 726 So.2d 423; see also La. Civ.Code arts. 1918, 1927, 1966, and 1971.
A contract is formed by the consent of the parties established through offer and acceptance. La. Civ.Code art. 1927. Unless otherwise prescribed, offer and acceptance may be made orally, in writing, or by action or inaction that under the circumstances is clearly indicative of consent. Id. There need not be conformity between the manner in which the offer is made and the manner in which the offer is accepted. Id. Future things may be the object of a contract. La. Civ.Code art. 1976. Cause is the reason why a party obligates himself. La. Civ.Code art. 1967. A party may be obligated by a promise when he knew or should have known that the promise would induce the other party to rely on it to his detriment and the other party was reasonable in so relying. Id. A contracting party may stipulate a benefit for a third person. La. Civ.Code art. 1978.
With regard to the first element, no one questions the capacity of Tulane or Professor Fairbanks in 1986 when the Handbook was approved. See La. Civ.Code art. 1918.
As to consent, Tulane asserts the handbook provision was created in the absence of mutual consent because Tulane inserted the provision as a mere gratuity for which Professor Fairbanks did not bargain. However, the deposition of Dr. Eamon Kelly, the President of Tulane University indicates that the University Senate, including faculty members, proposed to the university administration the creation of the tuition waiver provision and the preservation of the provision in the 1986 Handbook. Dr. Kelly also stated that faculty members could "rely" upon the terms set forth in the 1986 Handbook, which he had a duty to enforce.
Additionally, other evidence presented by the plaintiff indicates that his father reasonably relied upon Tulane's promise to exempt tuition fees for the children of faculty members who die while employed as full-time professors. Professor Fingerman, who was a member of the faculty in 1986, provided an affidavit in which he stated that he considered the tuition waiver provision to be an unconditional commitment of the university to faculty members. He further stated that he did not believe at the time that the tuition waiver policy could be changed or altered after the faculty member's death. Also, the plaintiff himself attested to his father's representation that his children would be eligible for exemption from tuition fees for both undergraduate and graduate school under the tuition waiver policy for children of deceased faculty members. According to the plaintiff, Professor Fairbanks also said that he had continued to work at Tulane Medical School primarily because of the tuition waivers. Given this evidence produced by the plaintiff, we cannot conclude that Tulane has...
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