Arsenault v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc.
| Decision Date | 17 March 1980 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 76-4275-MA. |
| Parties | Roger ARSENAULT, Plaintiff, v. ALLEGHENY AIRLINES, INC., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Karl G. Spitzer, Peabody, Mass., for plaintiff.
James S. Dittmar, Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, Boston, Mass., for defendant.
The plaintiff brought this defamation action claiming that his former employer, Allegheny Airlines, Inc. (Allegheny), published an employment termination letter which contained false and defamatory remarks and resulted in injury to the plaintiff's reputation. Allegheny has moved for summary judgment, claiming that the publication was privileged and that the plaintiff has failed to prove actual malice so as to overcome Allegheny's conditional privilege. The plaintiff has filed an opposition to this motion with supporting memorandum. The record, including the pleadings, depositions and affidavits, presents the following factual setting.
The plaintiff, Roger Arsenault (Arsenault), was first employed by Allegheny in December, 1967. During the course of his employment, Arsenault was assigned to work at Boston's Logan International Airport and held positions in Allegheny's customer service department. He was first employed as a ramp agent, then as a lost and found agent and, just prior to his termination, again as a ramp agent. During a portion of Arsenault's employment with Allegheny, he was supervised by Frank H. Zuzel, customer service manager for Allegheny's Boston operation.
On January 17, 1976, Arsenault and a female companion flew to San Juan Puerto Rico aboard an Eastern Airlines aircraft using reduced fare passes issued by Allegheny. Having received a representation from Arsenault that he would be traveling with his wife, Allegheny issued these passes to Arsenault and his wife. While in Puerto Rico, Arsenault took advantage of hotel discounts available to airline employees traveling on employee passes.
The use of Allegheny's reduced fare passes and associated discounts is limited to employees of the airline and their immediate families. Upon Arsenault's return to Boston from Puerto Rico, Allegheny personnel discovered (and Arsenault subsequently admitted) that he had not traveled on these flights and shared these hotel rooms with his wife. The woman traveling with him was a security officer at Logan International Airport. Arsenault's actions, therefore, violated Allegheny policy regarding the use of this privilege.
During Arsenault's employment with Allegheny, the airline maintained a set of rules entitled "Personnel Policy Guide" (Policy Guide) which outlined the terms and conditions of employment, the grounds for discharge, grounds for disciplinary action, and outlined a multi-step employee grievance procedure. Arsenault's employment was governed by the Policy Guide. The portion of the Policy Guide relating to misuse of airline pass privileges stated that improper use of these privileges would be cause for suspension of the employee's privilege or immediate termination.
After completing the investigation of this matter, Zuzel met with Arsenault. During this meeting, Zuzel advised Arsenault that, unless he resigned, Allegheny would terminate him. On January 29, 1976, Arsenault resigned.
Following his resignation, Arsenault filed a grievance of his termination pursuant to Allegheny's multi-step grievance procedure. On March 5, 1976, G. Donald Hansbury, Allegheny's vice president for customer services, ordered Arsenault reinstated effective March 8, 1976. Arsenault's termination was, however, conditioned on his acceptance of a Step 4 probationary term for a period of eighteen months.1 Arsenault accepted the terms of his reinstatement. Accordingly, he was reinstated and began work as a ramp agent.
During the summer of 1976 Allegheny's security department began an investigation into misappropriation of company money by airline ticket agents at Allegheny's Logan International Airport operation. During the course of this investigation, Zuzel was informed by Fred Santarpio, a ticket agent, that another ticket agent, Michael Marinelli, may have been involved in stealing funds from cash sales of one-way airline tickets at the Allegheny ticket counter. Later, on August 12, 1976, Robert Day, Allegheny's chief customer service agent, told Zuzel that Michael Curry, a service agent, informed him that Marinelli had asked him to participate in the theft of cash from one-way cash ticket sales and a theft of a camera from the lost and found department.
In a meeting between Robert Day, Joseph E. Rice, an Allegheny security officer, and Zuzel, Rice and Zuzel told Day that Marinelli was under investigation for the theft of funds from one-way cash ticket sales from the Allegheny ticket counter at Logan International Airport. At some point, Day was instructed that the matters discussed were confidential and should not be repeated to anyone other than the participants.
Allegheny security officers and representatives of the Massachusetts State Police planned a "decoy operation" to be executed on Sunday, August 15, 1976. As part of this plan certain plain-clothed Massachusetts State Police were instructed to purchase one-way airline tickets from Marinelli at the Allegheny counter by delivering cash to him. The plan was carried out but nothing resulted which would have implicated Marinelli in a theft.
Prior to the execution of the "decoy operation," Michael Curry told Zuzel that Marinelli had confronted him and told him that he knew that Curry told Allegheny officials of the alleged thefts at the ticket counter and of Marinelli's alleged participation. Curry reported that Marinelli threatened him with bodily harm and possible legal action if he continued to make representations of this nature to the Allegheny authorities.
At the conclusion of the "decoy operation," Allegheny security officials received information which confirmed Curry's representation that Marinelli knew that he was the target of this probe. On August 17, 1976, Allegheny security personnel questioned Marinelli. During this interview, Marinelli told the officers that Arsenault told him that he was the subject of an investigation and that Curry was the source of information concerning his alleged participation. Marinelli also stated that Arsenault had identified Day as the source of Arsenault's information concerning the probe.
On August 18, 1976, Zuzel and other Allegheny officials interviewed Arsenault. Arsenault told them that his friend, Day, telephoned him and told him the details of the investigation into alleged thefts of money by Marinelli. Arsenault told him that Day called him because Day wanted Arsenault, who was still a probationary worker, to avoid trouble. Day told Arsenault to keep their discussion secret. Arsenault also told the investigators that shortly after he spoke to Day, he called Marinelli and told Marinelli that he was the subject of an investigation concerning misappropriation of money from the Allegheny ticket counter. Arsenault also told Marinelli all of the details concerning the probe which were known to him at that time, including the names of sources of information. At the conclusion of this interview, Arsenault signed a statement which summarized his answers to questions.
On August 19, 1976 Marinelli was arrested by state police and charged with a larceny offense concerning property belonging to Allegheny. The following day, he was discharged by Allegheny.2
Arsenault was, again, on August 23, 1976, interviewed by Zuzel. During this interview, Day was present. The discussion revealed that Arsenault told Marinelli that Curry was the source of information about Marinelli's alleged thefts from the ticket counter. Once again, Arsenault signed a statement to that effect.
During the course of this investigation, Zuzel, on several occasions, conferred with his supervisors, Matt Sorts, regional director of ground services, and Raymond Garcia, director of ground services. Sorts and Garcia were based at Allegheny's customer services headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Garcia, in turn, reported developments in the course of this investigation to his superior, G. Donald Hansbury.
Because of Arsenault's interference in the investigation, Zuzel decided to terminate his employment. In accordance with Allegheny's management manual, Zuzel discussed his decision to terminate Arsenault with Sorts and Garcia.3 Sorts and Garcia agreed with Zuzel's position. Zuzel then talked with Garcia about the appropriate grounds for termination and they discussed the company policy guide. They concluded that the following portion of the guide, dated July 5, 1976, was the appropriate basis upon which to terminate Arsenault:
On August 25, 1976, Garcia drafted a termination letter addressed to Arsenault. Garcia gave this draft to his secretary, Agnes Pusateri. Agnes Pusateri then dictated the terms of Garcia's draft to Linda Gayron, Zuzel's secretary. Linda Gayron typed the termination letter. Zuzel reviewed the letter, signed it and directed that it be mailed to Arsenault. Arsenault received the letter, which provided:
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