Casale v. Nationwide Children's Hosp.

• Decision Date: 07 March 2017
• Docket Number: No. 16-3906,16-3906
• Parties: ANTHONY J. CASALE, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

ANTHONY J. CASALE, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 16-3906

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

March 7, 2017

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION

File Name: 17a0146n.06

ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO

BEFORE: SILER, MOORE, and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges.

GRIFFIN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Anthony Casale appeals the district court's order of summary judgment in favor of defendant Nationwide Children's Hospital (NCH) on his Ohio law contract and tort claims. Casale, a successful physician, alleges NCH persuaded him to leave a stable career in Kentucky for the promise of a prominent hospital leadership position, but "pulled the rug out from under him" and withdrew its offer before he started. Like the district court, however, we must acknowledge "the law does not provide redress for every act of unfairness." Finding no error requiring reversal, we affirm.

I.

In early 2010, with its Chief of Urology set to retire, NCH reached out to Dr. Anthony Casale to gauge his interest in running its urology program. Initially, Casale was a reluctant candidate. He already had "a pretty good job" as a tenured professor and acting Chair of the Department of Urology at the University of Louisville's School of Medicine, and he "intended to stay at the University of Louisville." Still, knowing his position as acting Chair remained "quite unsettled," plaintiff decided to pursue the offer. After two days of interviews, NCH's Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Rick Miller, informed Casale that NCH planned to make him an offer.

Defendant sent Casale a draft offer letter in late July. Miller emphasized the letter was just "the first offer." "[I]f it's something that's not adequate," he added, "I want you to come back and ask for it, and we'll probably meet it." Over the next few days, he and Casale discussed salary and bonuses. NCH proposed that Casale's annual bonus be tied to his productivity, including the number of patients he treated. Casale recognized it would take him time to build his practice as a doctor new to the Columbus area, and instead asked that NCH guarantee his bonus for the first two years of employment. NCH agreed. It also agreed to plaintiff's request for "academic support," including funding for educational conferences and research.

In its final form, the offer letter included no express durational term, or limit on defendant's ability to terminate Casale's employment—a topic plaintiff acknowledged he did not discuss with Miller. Casale was also free to terminate his employment under the agreement, provided he repay his signing bonus and relocation expenses "if for some reason [he] decided to leave NCH prior to eighteen months of service." Plaintiff signed the offer letter and faxed it to NCH on August 4, 2010.

Shortly after Casale's acceptance, NCH sent him an information packet regarding its medical staff credentialing procedure and instructions for obtaining an Ohio medical license. Casale's offer letter specified his employment was "contingent upon verifying [his] Ohiomedical license and obtaining and maintaining medical staff privileges at NCH." The packet warned that securing a license and staff credentialing was a "lengthy" process which could take 10 to 12 weeks to complete. Given his January 1, 2011, start date, Casale understood he had limited time to submit his application materials.

Yet by early December, plaintiff was neither licensed to practice in Ohio, nor credentialed as an NCH medical staff member. The parties "vigorously dispute[d]" the cause of the delay before the district court, and dispute it further on appeal. Defendant faults Casale for failing to submit complete application materials in a timely manner. Plaintiff maintains he did "everything within his power" to provide the necessary information, and instead pins the blame on Pam Edson—an NCH employee whose assistance with the process was "so inadequate" and "erroneous[]," it resulted in "[m]onths of licensing delay." Whatever the cause, defendant told Casale it could not "employ [him] until [his] licensure and credentialing is complete," and delayed his start date until February 1, 2011.

Meanwhile, plaintiff's former colleague Dr. Stephen Wright sent NCH a peer review reference to be considered as part of the credentialing process. Karen Allen, a member of NCH's medical staff services team, flagged the review as "very poor" and forwarded it to Drs. Brilli (NCH's Chief Medical Officer), Teich (NCH's Staff President), and Rothermel (Chair of NCH's credentials committee). Plaintiff contends the disclosure of this information outside the credentialing process violated Ohio's peer review confidentiality restrictions. See Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.251-52. He also suspects that NCH improperly relied on the reference in withdrawing its offer of employment, and suggests Allen's characterization of Dr. Wright's comments "poison[ed] the well" against him. "In my opinion," Allen wrote in an email to Rothermel, "there is no way we should hire this man!!"

Casale also attended two meetings at NCH in late 2010—one to assist with his licensing and credentialing applications, and another to meet with future NCH colleagues. At the first, plaintiff met with NCH employees Kelly Wheatley and Julie Zaremski. Both employees described the meeting as uncomfortable and unproductive; plaintiff appeared "visibly frustrated" and did not answer their questions concerning certain "holes" and "discrepanc[ies]" in his work history. Plaintiff agreed the meeting was "a negative experience for everyone," but attributed this to Wheatley and Zaremski, who "had no experience" with NCH's credentialing process. At the second meeting, plaintiff spoke with some of NCH's surgeons, including those "who might refer [patients] to him." Upon leaving, Casale purportedly told another NCH staff member "this is a waste of my time." Plaintiff admits he made this statement, but says NCH takes his remark out of context: "I told her it was a waste of what time we had at that point."

After the meetings, Miller had second thoughts about plaintiff. Casale had been "somewhat ambivalent" about joining NCH from the beginning. Plaintiff seemed more "focus[ed] on his issues in Louisville" than on his license and credential paperwork, which he took roughly three months to complete, resulting in a delayed start. Then, when he arrived for meetings at NCH, Casale had difficulty connecting with defendant's staff. One employee assigned to help with his credentials described their interaction "as the most difficult meeting she has ever had with a physician." "Any one of these [issues] we'd probably ignore," Miller observed, "but in aggregate, they are perhaps very concerning."

Ultimately, NCH asked plaintiff to withdraw his acceptance. Casale refused. Having "given up everything in Louisville in order to keep [his] commitment to NCH," he requested an in-person meeting with Miller to resolve NCH's concerns. NCH declined his request andformally withdrew its offer of employment. Thereafter, the University of Louisville accepted Casale back onto its faculty as acting Chair of Urology, but with a lower salary and no tenure.

II.

Casale filed suit against NCH in 2011, alleging its actions cost him significant damages and impaired his future employment prospects. After the district court granted its motion to dismiss two of plaintiff's claims, NCH moved for summary judgment on the remaining five: breach of express contract, breach of implied contract, anticipatory repudiation, promissory estoppel, and defamation. While it acknowledged defendant had treated plaintiff "quite shabbily," the district court granted the motion.

Casale timely appeals.¹ He also moves to supplement the record on appeal, while NCH moves to strike "certain portions" of plaintiff's brief.

III.

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Keith v. Cty. of Oakland, 703 F.3d 918, 923 (6th Cir. 2013). "Summary judgment is proper 'if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.'" Id. (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)). A dispute is "genuine" if the evidence permits a reasonable jury to return a verdict in favor of the nonmovant, and a fact "material" if it may affect the outcome of the suit. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party, our task is to determine "whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to requiresubmission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law." Id. at 251-52.

A.

Ohio recognizes the doctrine of at-will employment, meaning the "relationship between employer and employee is terminable at the will of either" and "an employee is subject to discharge by an employer at any time, even without cause." Wright v. Honda of Am. Mfg., Inc., 653 N.E.2d 381, 384 (Ohio 1995). It also recognizes two exceptions tempering the general at-will rule: (1) the existence of an express or implied contract altering the terms of discharge; and (2) promissory estoppel, where the employer makes representations or promises of continued employment. Id.; see also Clark v. Collins Bus Corp., 736 N.E.2d 970, 973 (Ohio Ct. App. 2000) (citing Mers v. Dispatch Printing Co., 483 N.E.2d 150, 154-55 (Ohio 1985)). Plaintiff here relies on both, asserting claims for breach of express or implied contract, anticipatory repudiation, and promissory estoppel. Neither party disputes the district court's finding that the offer letter between plaintiff and NCH is a "valid contract" for employment; the only question is whether it guarantees employment for a specific term.

For an individual hired under contract, "there is a strong presumption of at-will employment, unless the terms of the agreement clearly indicate otherwise." Padula v. Wag...