Chandler v. Allen, WD 61061.
| Decision Date | 24 June 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. WD 61061.,WD 61061. |
| Citation | 108 S.W.3d 756 |
| Parties | Ronald D. CHANDLER, Appellant, v. Mark ALLEN, Dave Mosby, Linward Appling, and Ronald Molteni, Respondents. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Ronald D. Chandler, Jefferson City, pro se.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Carolyn G. Vasterling, Jefferson City, for Respondents.
Before JAMES M. SMART, JR., P.J., ROBERT G. ULRICH and RONALD R. HOLLIGER, JJ.
Ronald Chandler appeals the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Mark Allen, Dave Mosby, Linward Appling, and Ronald Moteni (Respondents) on his claims of tortious interference with employment relationship, wrongful termination, and denial of equal protection. Mr. Chandler is a convicted violent sex offender whose job was terminated because of his conviction. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Ronald Chandler was an employee of the vendor operating a cafeteria, the Broadway Deli, in the Broadway State Office Building in Jefferson City. The vendor was selected by the Rehabilitation Services for the Blind (RSB) pursuant to the RSB's contract with the Board of Public Buildings, which has general supervision and charge of certain state buildings including the Broadway State Office Building. The Division of Facilities Management is the executive arm of the Board of Public Buildings. Lin Appling is the Director of the Office of Administration Division of Facilities Management; Mark Allen is the Assistant Director of the Office of Administration Division of Facilities Management; Dave Mosby is the Capitol Complex Operations Manager of the Office of Administration Division of Facilities Management and Ronald Molteni is an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Missouri.
Like the Broadway Deli, the Missouri Attorney General's office is a tenant in the Broadway State Office Building. On October 29, 2001, Mr. Molteni communicated to Mr. Allen that the Broadway Deli was employing Mr. Chandler, a registered sex offender, who had an extensive criminal background that included sex offenses involving the use of weapons and coercive force against women who were strangers to him. Thereafter, Mr. Allen made a request by letter to the RSB that Mr. Chandler be removed from service. Mr. Mosby signed the letter on Mr. Allen's behalf. Mr. Allen made such request based on safety concerns resulting from the violent nature of Mr. Chandler's past conduct and his access to the building and its employees and access to various culinary tools in the cafeteria where he worked that could be used as weapons. Thereafter, the vendor terminated Mr. Chandler's employment.
Mr. Chandler sued Respondents claiming interference with his employment relationship, wrongful termination, and denial of equal protection. Respondents filed an answer to Mr. Chandler's petition and a motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted Respondents' motion for summary judgment. It found that (1) Respondents were entitled to summary judgment on the tortious interference with employment relationship claim because Mr. Allen was justified in requesting that Mr. Chandler be removed from service; (2) Respondents were entitled to summary judgment on the wrongful termination claim because Mr. Chandler was neither employed nor terminated from his employment by Respondents; (3) Respondents were entitled to summary judgment on Mr. Chander's claim that Respondents denied him equality under the law because Mr. Chandler failed to allege any similarly situated person treated differently than himself; and (4) Respondents were immune from Mr. Chandler's claims under the official immunity doctrine. This appeal by Mr. Chandler followed.
Appellate review of the grant of summary judgment is de novo. ITT Commercial Fin. Corp. v. Mid-Am. Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. bane 1993). Summary judgment will be upheld on appeal if the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law and no genuine issues of material fact exist. Id. at 377. The record is reviewed in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered, according that party all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the record. Id. at 376. Facts contained in affidavits or otherwise in support of a party's motion are accepted as true unless contradicted by the non-moving party's response to the summary judgment motion. Id.
A defending party may establish a right to judgment as a matter of law by showing any one of the following: (1) facts that negate any one of the elements of the claimant's cause of action; (2) the non-movant, after an adequate period of discovery, has not and will not be able to produce evidence sufficient to allow the trier of fact to find the existence of any one of the claimant's elements; or (3) there is no genuine dispute as to the existence of each of the facts necessary to support the movant's properly-pleaded affirmative defense. Id. at 381.
Once the movant has established a right to judgment as a matter of law, the non-movant must demonstrate that one or more of the material facts asserted by the movant as not in dispute is, in fact, genuinely disputed. Id. The non-moving party may not rely on mere allegations and denials of the pleadings, but must use affidavits, depositions, answers to interrogatories, or admissions on file to demonstrate the existence of a genuine issue for trial. Id. The material facts in this case are not in dispute. The issue on this appeal, therefore, is whether Respondents established a right to judgment as a matter of law on Mr. Chandler's claims against them.
In the first point addressed on appeal,1 Mr. Chandler claims that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Respondents on his claim of tortious interference with employment relationship. Mr. Chandler argues that Mr. Allen's request that his employment in the Broadway State Office Building be terminated violated section 561.016, RSMo 2000, and his prior conduct was not a basis for the safety concerns of others within the building.
To establish a claim for tortious interference with a contract or business relationship, a plaintiff must prove: (1) the existence of a contract or a valid business relationship; (2) defendant's knowledge of the contract or relationship; (3) defendant's intentional interference inducing or causing a breach of the contract or relationship; (4) absence of justification; and (5) damages. Baldwin Props., Inc. v. Sharp, 949 S.W.2d 952, 956 (Mo.App. W.D. 1997). In granting summary judgment in favor of Respondents, the trial court focused on the fourth element — absence of justification. A plaintiff has the burden of producing substantial evidence to establish an absence of justification. Id. An absence of justification is the absence of any legal right on the part of the defendant to take the action about which a plaintiff complains. Taylor v. Zoltek Cos., 18 S.W.3d 541, 547 (Mo.App. E.D.2000); Sharp, 949 S.W.2d at 956. Typically, the issue of justification arises in situations where a defendant has a legitimate economic interest to protect. Sharp, 949 S.W.2d at 956. In such situations, the defendant is justified in interfering with another's business expectancy for the purpose of protecting his own economic interest as long as the defendant does not employ improper means. Id. A defendant does not, however, necessarily need to have an economic interest at stake to be justified in interfering with a contract or business expectancy. Id. at 957. Justification also exists if a defendant has an unqualified legal right to do the action of which the plaintiff complains. Taylor, 18 S.W.3d at 547; Sharp, 949 S.W.2d at 957.
Respondents alleged in their motion for summary judgment, and the trial court agreed, that Mr. Allen's request that Mr. Chandler be removed from his job within the Broadway State Office Building was justified by section 8.110, RSMo 2000, and the vending facility contract between the Board of Public Buildings and the RSB. Section 8.110, RSMo 2000, provides in pertinent part that the Director of the Division of Facilities Management "shall exercise all diligence to ensure that all facilities within his management and control ... are clean, safe and secure." The relevant part of the vending facilities contract provides that all new employees of the vendor selected by the RSB to operate the cafeteria must have security clearance prior to beginning work and that "[t]he Board reserves the right to restrict the vendor's employees to specified areas in the building." The trial court found that, based on the legal right of the Director of the Division of Facilities Management to ensure the safety and security of the buildings under his control and the fact that Mr. Chandler was a registered sex offender who was known to have an extensive criminal background that included sex offenses involving the use of weapons and coercive force against women who were strangers to him, and that Mr. Chandler's position gave him access to the building and its employees and access to various culinary tools in the cafeteria that could be used as weapons, Mr. Allen's request that Mr. Chandler be removed from service was justified.
Mr. Chandler asserts that section 561.016, RSMo 2000, precluded his employment termination because the statute limits the disqualifications and disabilities that may be imposed on him as a convicted felon. Section 561.016 states in pertinent part:
1. No person shall suffer any legal disqualification or disability because of a finding of guilt or conviction of a crime or the sentence on his conviction, unless the disqualification or disability involves the deprivation of a right or privilege, which is
(1) Necessarily incident to execution of the sentence of the court; or
(2) Provided by the constitution or the code; or
(3) Provided by a statute...
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