De Angeles v. Roos Bros., Inc.
| Decision Date | 27 May 1966 |
| Citation | 51 Cal.Rptr. 638 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | John DE ANGELES, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ROOS BROS., INC., a Delaware corporation, and Robert S. Atkins Company of San Francisco, a California corporation, Defendants and Appellants. Civ. 22327. |
For Opinion on Remand see 52 Cal.Rptr. 783.
Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, Caspar W. Weinberger, M. Laurence Popofsky, David Livingston, San Francisco, for appellants.
Joseph L. Alioto, San Francisco, for respondent.
Plaintiff, John De Angeles (hereafter De Angeles), filed this action for breach of his contract of employment as the execu tive vice-president of defendants, Roos Bros., Inc. and Robert S. Atkins Company (hereafter Roos-Atkins). On this appeal from a judgment in his favor entered after a court trial, and from the order denying the motion for a new trial, the questions are: 1) the sufficiency of the evidence to support the findings on the issue of liability; 2) the trial court's alleged abuse of discretion in denying defendants' motion to vacate the submission; and 3) the sufficiency of the findings to support the judgment on the amount of damages awarded and the application for new evidence on appeal to mitigate damages.
Viewing the record in favor of the judgment, as we must, and disregarding the conflicts and contradictions in the evidence, the following appears: On January 9, 1959, the parties entered into a written agreement for the employment of De Angeles as executive vice-president of Roos-Atkins for a period of ten years starting January 1, 1958, at a salary of $35,000 per year.
De Angeles and Edward H. Gauer, the chairman of the board of Roos-Atkins, had been associated in the men's clothing business since 1944 when they formed a partnership to buy the Atkins Company. In 1958, they negotiated a transaction whereby atkins acquired all of the stock of Roos Bros.; Gauer became chairman of the board of Roos-Atkins and De Angeles, executive vice-president and men's clothing buyer; Gauer owned 51 percent of the stock of Atkins; De Angeles 38 percent; the balance was owned by Colburn, the president of the corporation. Since 1944, De Angeles had regularly made two or three trips to New York City annually in connection with the men's clothing buying programs of Atkins and then Roos. In this field, customarily, the major portion of the annual requirement was purchased in January and more or less completed in March; the trips later in the year merely supplemented the earlier purchases.
In January 1962 De Angeles became critically ill with ulcers, was away from his office from January 9 until February 7 and thus was unable to participate in the January buying trip. After his return, Gauer suggested that he purchase some additional merchandise to supplement the December-January sales. Between March 11-15, De Angeles attended a meeting of merchandising executives in Gauer's office to discuss the balance of men's clothing purchases to be made in New York that month. De Angeles testified that Gauer expressed solicitude for De Angeles' health and suggested that it was not necessary for him to make the March buying trip to New York. De Angeles indicated that he had recovered and that it was his responsibility to complete the buying. Gauer suggested that De Angeles should take care of his health and stay out of the 'rat race' but did not order De Angeles not to go to New York. On March 16, 1962, De Angeles made the trip to New York and carried on the business of Roos-Atkins.
On March 20, 1962, Gauer sent a telegram informing De Angeles of his immediate discharge 'by reason of your acting contrary to my specific instructions as chief executive officer [of Roos-Atkins] * * * in going to New York.' On March 26, 1962, the discharge was ratified at a board meeting of Roos-Atkins. De Angeles was not paid anything after March 31, 1962.
The trial court found that the discharge of De Angeles was wrongful and without just or adequate cause; that De Angeles had sought but had not obtained or been offered any employment comparable to that under his contract with Roos-Atkins and that prior to his wrongful discharge, De Angeles faithfully performed all of his duties. Accordingly, the court entered its judgment for breach of contract, awarding respondent damages of $201,256, representing $35,000 per year from April 1, 1962, to January 1, 1968, with the portion form the date of judgment, March 20, 1964, to January 1, 1968, reduced to its present value by application of a six percent factor.
The first and major contention on appeal is that the evidence does not support the judgment because the dismissal of De Angeles was justified by his deliberate violation of Gauer's order not to go to New York.
When a finding of fact is attacked on the ground that there is no substantial evidence to sustain it, the power of an appellant court begins and ends with a determination of whether there is any substantial evidence, contradicted or uncontradicted, which will support the finding (Lipka v. Lipka, 60 Cal.2d 472, 475, 35 Cal.Rptr. 71, 386 P.2d 671; italics supplied by the Supreme Court). The duty of an appellate court is not to seek out and analyze conflicts or to substitute its own appraisal for that of the trial court in the absence of an obvious abuse of discretion. When two or more inferences can be reasonably deduced from the facts, a reviewing court is without power to substitute its deductions for those of the trial court. In the absence of prejudicial error of law or violence to reason, it is the duty of an appellate court to uphold the trial court (Schmedding v. Schmedding, 240 A.C.A. 324, 327, 49 Cal.Rptr. 523; Crawford v. Southern Pacific Co., 3 Cal.2d 427, 45 P.2d 183).
The uncontroverted evidence indicates that Roos-Atkins operated under a double structure and chain of command, one relating to the corporation as such and the second relating to its merchandising operations. In the first, De Angeles was executive vice-president, responsible to Gauer; in the second, De Angeles was in charge of buying men's suits and overcoats, responsible to Gauer as well as to the merchandising manager who set up the budget. De Angeles' responsibilities as a buyer represented about $5,000,000 of Roos-Atkins annual business of $22,000,000. He was a member of the executive group that made policy decisions for Roos-Atkins. In keeping with his position, De Angeles had a travel allowance and expense account and did not have to get Gauer's or anyone else's permission before making a trip. There are also the undisputed facts of his many years of close association with Gauer on a business as well as personal level and his ownership of 38 percent of the stock of Roos-Atkins.
Appellants more or less concede that these facts support an inference that the position of De Angeles was such that he did not operate under anyone's orders or supervision in relation to his buying trips, but argue that this inference is overcome by the alleged order issued by Gauer at the meeting of executives. We think that the facts discussed above concerning De Angeles' high position and responsibilities, and his long-standing close relationship with Gauer, demand evidence of an unequivocal order from Gauer. While conflicting, the evidence is clearly sufficient to support the trial court's finding that no such order was given.
Appellants contend that the fact that De Angeles consulted his attorney before going to New York and asked him to write a letter, received by Gauer before he sent the telegram of discharge, indicated that De Angeles understood Gauer's friendly suggestion that he not go to New York as an unequivocal order. The contents of the letter are set forth in full below. 1 The evidence indicated that the letter also referred to a number of past disagreements between Gauer and De Angeles concerning the merchandising policies of Roos-Atkins, the treatment of young De Angeles, and the corporate structure of the organization. Unquestionably, the weight to be accorded the letter and its contents was a matter for the trial court. Under the evidence presented, the judge could reasonably have concluded that, because of various disagreements between them, Gauer used the March 1962 trip to New York as nothing more than an excuse to fire De Angeles.
Appellants attach significance to the fact that De Angeles made his own travel arrangements for the March 1962 trip to New York instead of going through company channels. However, there is ample evidence that the travel regulations for Roos-Atkins executives did not apply to Gauer and De Angeles, that De Angeles had a travel allowance and air credit card supplied by the Company, and had in the past made his own travel arrangements.
Appellants contend that the...
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