Addison v. Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union of America
| Decision Date | 23 September 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 860297,860297 |
| Citation | 236 Va. 233,372 S.E.2d 403 |
| Parties | Claude J. ADDISON v. AMALGAMATED CLOTHING AND TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA. Record |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
Raymond R. Robrecht, Salem, for appellant.
James E. Cornwell; George A. Kirschenbaum (Cornwell & Spangler, P.C., Pearisburg, on brief), for appellee.
Present: All the Justices.
Claude J. Addison sued the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Amalgamated), alleging that Amalgamated had discharged him from his employment as one of its international representatives in breach of its employment contract with him.
After Addison responded to Amalgamated's requests for admissions and for production of documents, Amalgamated filed a motion for summary judgment. Amalgamated contended that Addison's responses established, as a matter of law, that (1) Amalgamated was not the entity that employed Addison, and (2) that in any event, Addison's alleged employment contract was terminable at will. The trial court sustained Amalgamated's motion for summary judgment on both grounds.
We granted Addison an appeal from the trial court's decision. Because the trial court has sustained Amalgamated's motion for summary judgment, we state the facts averred in Addison's bill of complaint and the facts admitted by him during the pre-trial proceedings in the light most favorable to him. Macaulay v. Home Beneficial Life Ins. Co., 235 Va. 649, 650, 369 S.E.2d 420, 420 (1988).
Addison had been an employee of Celanese Fiber Company (Celanese) from February 1965 until April 1983. In October 1972, he became the full-time business agent for the local union at Celanese's plant in Narrows, Virginia, but retained his seniority rights with Celanese under its agreement with the local union. In 1976, the local union, which was a part of the Textile Workers Union of America, merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union.
Addison alleges that in May 1981, during a reorganization of Amalgamated and its local unions, "it was agreed between [Amalgamated], represented by one Bruce Dunton, and your complainant that he would be given the pay and status of an International Representative with [Amalgamated]." In the course of the contractual negotiations in June 1981, Addison alleges that Dunton assured him that he "would have a job in his proposed new capacity as long as he wanted it." Beginning in September 1981, Addison assumed the duties of an international representative in charge of the local union at Celanese's plant at Narrows and of three local unions in other companies at Galax, Wytheville, and Pulaski.
Because Addison was no longer working exclusively for the local union at Celanese's plant, in February 1982, Celanese required Addison to relinquish his seniority rights and related benefits after April 1, 1982, should he decide to continue his union job. At some time prior to April 1, 1982, Addison had additional discussions with Dunton, who was acting for Amalgamated, in which Addison "was again assured that he would have a job with the Joint Board as long as he wanted one and as long as one existed." Acting in reliance upon those representations, Addison relinquished his benefits with Celanese, and Addison avers that "[e]ffective April 1, 198 he was employed by [Amalgamated] at a weekly salary." Addison's services were terminated on November 9, 1983. We will assume that Addison was discharged without cause.
A motion for summary judgment should not be granted unless "there is no material fact genuinely in dispute." See e.g., Shevel's Inc. v. Southeastern Assoc., 228 Va. 175, 181, 320 S.E.2d 339, 342 (1984). In this case, however, we are of opinion that there is no genuine dispute that Addison's contract was an employment contract terminable at will.
Even if Addison had been...
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...Virginia law that would support the application of the Burgermeister ruling to this case. In Addison v. Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers Union of Am., 236 Va. 233, 372 S.E.2d 403 (1988), the Supreme Court of Virginia held that the promise of employment to an individual for "as long as......
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