Albritton v. Gandy

• Decision Date: 13 September 1988
• Docket Number: No. 87-1355,87-1355
• Parties: 13 Fla. L. Weekly 2136 Grady ALBRITTON, Appellant, v. Louise GANDY, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 381

531 So.2d 381

13 Fla. L. Weekly 2136

Grady ALBRITTON, Appellant, v. Louise GANDY, Appellee.

No. 87-1355.

District Court of Appeal of Florida First District.

Sept. 13, 1988.

Robert N. Heath, Jr., of Harrell, Wiltshire, Stone & Swearingen, P.A., Pensacola, for appellant.

John Barry Kelly II, of Ray & Kievit, Pensacola, for appellee.

SHIVERS, Judge.

In this case, appellant Grady Albritton (Albritton) appeals the trial court's affirmance of the jury's verdict finding that he tortiously interfered with appellee Louise Gandy's (Gandy's) employment as a relief emergency medical technician with Escambia County. Appellee Gandy cross-appeals the trial court's post-trial order rejecting the jury's verdict finding for Gandy and against Albritton on Gandy's claim that Albritton tortiously interfered with her employment with University Hospital. Additionally, Gandy cross-appeals the trial court's order granting Albritton's motion for new trial on the issue of punitive damages.

The facts relevant to this appeal are as follows. In September of 1983, the citizens of Escambia County voted to elect the Board of County Commissioners. Both Gandy and Albritton were among the six candidates running for the District Five seat. Albritton, a former commissioner, was seeking a return to the Board, whereas Gandy sought political office for the first time. In order to run for the office of county commissioner, Gandy was required to resign her position of Director of Emergency Medical Services for Escambia County. Because none of the candidates obtained a majority of the votes in the September election, the two candidates with the highest number of votes, one of whom was Albritton, were included in a runoff election. Prior to the runoff election, Albritton called upon Gandy at her residence and requested her support in his bid for reelection. During the course of this meeting, Gandy testified that Albritton told her he would get her job back as Director of Emergency Medical Services if she would support him. Gandy testified that she was shocked at this offer and told Albritton that she thought he was dishonest, that he should not be in county government, and that she was not going to support him. According to Gandy:

He [Albritton] got very angry at that point and said well, he was going to win and that when he did he would see I never got another county job for Escambia County, Florida.

On November 1, 1983, before Albritton took office, Gandy obtained a full-time position as Community Ombudsman at University Hospital. At that time, University Hospital was operated by an outside consulting firm. As ombudsman, Gandy acted as a liaison between the hospital administrator and staff as well as the client community. She monitored patient administration and care at the hospital's substation in Century. Moreover, she was charged with the responsibility for disaster preparedness, equipment maintenance and fire safety. In connection with these latter responsibilities, she rewrote the Fire Safety and Disaster Control Manual. The assistant administrator of the hospital testified, as did Gandy's supervisor, that Gandy's responsibilities, particularly in the area of disaster preparedness and fire safety, were "critical" to the operation of the hospital.

Albritton became a county commissioner on November 15, 1983. Thereafter, he called the county administrator, Rodney Kendig, into his office and inquired about Gandy's employment. Kendig responded that Gandy was not working for the county but was employed by an outside consultant at University Hospital. Kendig explained that because of this, "it was not the administrator's prerogative to discharge Ms. Gandy." Kendig testified that Albritton was unhappy with this information and that Albritton expressed strong sentiments that Gandy should not continue in her employment. Kendig testified to his conversation with Albritton as follows:

He indicated he was not at all pleased that Louise Gandy was employed by the hospital.... My recollection of his tone of voice was that he was very distressed, very agitated.... My recollection was that the Commissioner was not at all pleased, that he was very uncomfortable with Ms. Gandy working at University Hospital. He expressed to me his belief that he did not think that she should be an employee of Escambia County, that he did not want Ms. Gandy working in Escambia County.

Kendig explained that he had a subsequent conversation with Albritton after Albritton learned that Gandy was working at University Hospital's Century substation. Kendig testified that Albritton "again expressed his discomfort or the fact that he was not comfortable with Ms. Gandy working for the hospital. I again responded that she was functioning through the management firm." During these discussions, Kendig testified that Albritton gave no reason why Gandy should not be working at University Hospital, and Kendig testified that he was aware of nothing detrimental in Gandy's performance or prior work experience that would make her an unsuitable employee.

Regarding the role of a county commissioner, Kendig explained that the county commission is the "policy-making body for the Escambia county government" and that the county administrator was responsible for county employment matters. Commissioners Junior, Kelson, and Waltrip all testified that the county commission is responsible for making policy, while the county administrator is solely responsible for the hiring, firing and disciplining of county personnel. Each of these commissioners expressed his opinion that it would be improper for a county commissioner to step over the line of his authority and responsibility to induce a county administrator to discharge an employee.

On September 7, 1984, Gandy obtained part-time employment with the county as a relief emergency medical technician (EMT). In that capacity, Gandy was one of 17 relief EMTs who made themselves available for duty when full-time EMTs were ill or on vacation. Although this was a civil service position, Gandy had no employment contract, and Gandy waived certain benefits such as sick leave, annual leave, and seniority. Although she was not guaranteed work or a specific number of hours, Gandy testified that she was told she would be rotated for work with the other relief EMTs on a fair and equal basis.

In November of 1984, Kendig resigned his position as county administrator and Charles Bates became acting county administrator. Sometime thereafter, Albritton discussed Gandy's employment with Bates. According to Bates, Albritton told him "that he would rather she [Gandy] did not do any work for Escambia County." Bates testified that "[i]t was quite evident to me that [Albritton] was rather serious about that.... I'm not sure that I know how to describe his tone of voice. It was firm." The day after his conversation with Albritton, Bates spoke with the county Emergency Medical Services Director, Bruce Yelverton. Bates testified that he asked Yelverton not to call Gandy for any more service as a relief EMT. Bates testified that he had no intention of initiating plans to stop Gandy's part-time relief work prior to his discussion with Albritton and that he knew nothing about Gandy's job performance or personal life which would make her unsuitable for such employment. However, on cross-examination, Bates testified that he initially concurred with Albritton's preference that Gandy not work as a relief EMT and that he was aware that other commissioners expressed concern about Gandy's employment as a relief EMT.

Yelverton described his conversation with Bates as follows:

He [Bates] advised me that a couple of county commissioners were aware of Ms. Gandy working for the Emergency Medical Services as an EMT relief.... and at their direction Mr. Bates advised me that--they requested that she be terminated. He advised me just not to work her.

According to Yelverton, Bates did not tell him who had directed Bates to terminate Gandy, and Yelverton never asked the identity because "I didn't really want to know at that time." On cross-examination, Yelverton testified that Bates told him that the commissioners wanted Gandy terminated because of an audit performed by the comptroller and Gandy's involvement in that audit. However, neither Bates nor Robert Sims, an emergency medical services operations manager who was present at the meeting between Bates and Yelverton, recalled any discussion about an audit.

Immediately after his conversation with Bates, Yelverton wrote an instruction, dated January 25, 1985, in the emergency medical services supervisor's log book to the effect that Gandy was not to be scheduled for any relief work. Gandy's name was later crossed off the EMT roster by Sims with the notation "not to be called." Gandy was not called to work as a relief EMT after January of 1985. Yelverton testified that he would not have written the order in the log book if county administrator Bates had not instructed him to do so. He further testified that he was aware of nothing in Gandy's background that would have made her not qualified to continue working as a relief EMT.

After Bates' conversation with Albritton regarding Gandy's employment as a relief EMT, Bates testified that Albritton had another discussion with him concerning Gandy's full-time employment at University Hospital. This conversation took place while the hospital was being operated by the outside management firm. Bates testified that when he informed Albritton that Gandy was employed by the consulting firm, Albritton responded that "[w]e will have to do something about that."

In March of 1985, Escambia County cancelled the contract with the consulting firm that had been operating University Hospital, and the county took direct control over the operation of the hospital. Bates was responsible for the operation of the hospital until his successor, August Ellis, became the county administrator in April of 1985....