Clampitt v. American University, No. 07-CV-143.

• Decision Date: 25 September 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-CV-143.
• Citation: 957 A.2d 23
• Parties: Susan CLAMPITT, Appellant, v. AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, et al., Appellees.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

957 A.2d 23

Susan CLAMPITT, Appellant, v. AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, et al., Appellees.

No. 07-CV-143.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued June 12, 2008.

Decided September 25, 2008.

Larry P. Rothman, Washington, for appellant.

Steven R. Semler, Washington, with whom W. Gregory Mott, was on the brief, for appellees.

Before RUIZ and THOMPSON, Associate Judges, and FARRELL, Associate Judge, Retired.^*

THOMPSON, Associate Judge:

After appellant Susan Clampitt was terminated from her position as Executive Director of WAMU, a public radio station owned and operated by American University, she sued the University and its then-President Benjamin Ladner, alleging breach of employment contract; tortious interference with contract; breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing; defamation; and a refusal by the University to pay her for accrued but unused vacation benefits. The trial court dismissed all the claims, either on the pleadings or on summary judgment. Clampitt appeals from the orders of dismissal and also seeks review of the trial court's order declining to compel production of a certain document that the University withheld on the ground that the document is attorney work product. We affirm the trial court's rulings as to all claims except the defamation claims against the University and Ladner. We reverse as to the dismissal of those claims, concluding that Clampitt is entitled to present them to a jury.

I.

We briefly summarize the pertinent facts in the light most favorable to Clampitt, relying primarily on the documentary evidence and Clampitt's deposition. This is appropriate because, for purposes of review of an order granting summary judgment, we are to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, drawing all reasonable inferences in that party's favor. Holland v. Hannan, 456 A.2d 807, 815 (D.C.1983); see also Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (in considering a motion for summary judgment, "[t]he evidence of the non-movant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in [the non-moving party's] favor").

The University hired appellant to be the Executive Director and General Manager of WAMU in the Spring of 2000, after conducting a nation-wide search to fill the position. Clampitt alleged in her Amended Complaint and stated in her deposition that during a meeting with then-President Ladner in the spring of 2000, Ladner told her that he wanted to hire a general manager who would make a long term commitment to the station and asked for assurances from Clampitt to that effect. Clampitt, who was fifty-nine years old at the time, told Ladner that if she should get the job, she intended it to be the "capstone of her long career" and the job she would have until she retired. After Ladner offered Clampitt the position, Clampitt met with the University's Vice President of Enrollment Services, Tom Myers, to discuss the terms of employment.¹ Clampitt testified that she asked Myers for a guarantee by the University, in exchange for her willingness to take the job at a lower salary than she had sought, that she could remain in the position until she chose to retire from it, which she expected to be when she could transition to "full" Social Security benefits. Clampitt testified that Myers told her that he could not put such an assurance in writing, but also told her, "you can retire when you're ... in your 70's." Thereafter, Clampitt left her position as an Assistant Administrator of the General Services Administration and abandoned all other job search activities to accept the position at WAMU. She received an April 24, 2000 letter confirming the terms of her employment.²

Soon after her arrival at the station, Clampitt launched an effort to improve station operations in order to increase the size of the listening audience and to attract new and larger contributions from donors. The budgets that she proposed called for use of the station's cash reserves to finance improvements, a strategy that would require the station to incur operating deficits in the initial years. On September 12, 2000, Ladner specifically approved a spending plan that acknowledged that while "reserves are not meant to cover budget deficits," use of reserves to enable the station to invest in fundraising, marketing, programming and salary increases could "cover[ ] overexpenditures and produce larger revenue streams in the future." Clampitt testified that "[t]his is something that President Ladner and I did together, and he signed off on everything."

During Clampitt's tenure at the station, listenership and overall revenues grew significantly, foundation revenue increased substantially, and the station and Clampitt won many awards and recognition. In his annual performance review of Clampitt dated September 10, 2001, Myers said that he would recommend Clampitt for "the highest merit raise possible." In his review dated August 26, 2002, Myers stated that he was pleased with Clampitt's accomplishments and thanked her for her "excellent work during this past year." On August 13, 2003, Myers wrote that he was "pleased with [Clampitt's] performance and management during these trying times."

But station revenues were not as high as expected, in part because investments were not generating the "return that was hoped for" and because of a database problem that hampered fundraising efforts, and "it was very hard to get ahead" because the fees that WAMU had to pay to the University were very high. At a meeting in June 2003, one of the station's talk show hosts, Diane Rehm-who, Clampitt testified, was unhappy with a number of programming and staff changes that Clampitt had made and set about "sowing dissension among the staff against" Clampitt — "stood up in a meeting ... and said that [Clampitt] had squandered the station's money." Also in June 2003, a group of WAMU donors and supporters wrote a letter to Ladner asserting that the "current management's spending is out of control" and expressing alarm at "significant financial losses at the station over the last three years that endanger the station's viability." At a meeting in July 2003, Ladner "expressed ... that he wanted a balanced budget in two years."

On October 20, 2003, the Washington Post published a story about WAMU, stating that "[a]fter years of balanced budgets — even financial surplus — the nonprofit [station] has been awash in red ink, with large operating deficits in each of the last three years and an emergency cash fund that has been depleted of millions of dollars."³ The article also reported that major donors had appealed to Ladner, demanding explanations.

Clampitt asserts that neither Ladner nor the University made any effort to inform the public that the University had specifically approved Clampitt's financial and budgetary recommendations. Instead, Clampitt asserts, she was "scapegoated." On October 30, 2003, Ladner met with Clampitt to inform her that he was terminating her employment. He gave her a termination letter, dated October 29, 2003, that cited the reasons for termination as being "an extremely serious management crisis with the staff, a public relations disaster with the Washington media, and three successive years of increasing and unacceptably large financial losses, which have substantially impaired station operations." The letter asserted that Clampitt was fired "for cause." Thereafter, according to one news report dated November 3, 2003, the University's Director of Media Relations told the press that "Clampitt was relieved of her duties ... after the Washington Post exposed a financial deficit and morale problems" at WAMU. The day after the termination, the Post quoted Ladner as saying that "his decision was based on several factors, including the continuing pattern of deficits...."⁴

On June 30, 2004, Clampitt filed her complaint against the University and against Ladner in his personal capacity. As her counsel told the court at a hearing on the University's motion for summary judgment, Clampitt expected to testify at trial that she "was told repeatedly in the weeks and months after her termination that she could not be hired anywhere else. She was radioactive. You Google her name and the first thing that pops up is Clampitt terminated by American University under cloud of financial improprieties and staff mismanagement."

In his deposition on December 16, 2004, Ladner testified that he reviewed a two-page summary of questions or issues prepared by defense counsel in preparation for the deposition. Clampitt then filed a motion to compel production of the two-page document. The trial court denied the motion at oral argument and in a subsequent written order. On October 12, 2006, the trial court granted the University's motion for summary judgment as to the defamation count against the University, having already granted appellees' motion to dismiss on the pleadings Clampitt's claims against Ladner in his personal capacity. By order dated January 9, 2007, the trial court granted summary judgment as to the remaining counts of the Amended Complaint. This appeal followed.

II.

We review a trial court's rulings on discovery for an abuse of discretion. Futrell v. Department of Labor Fed. Credit Union, 816 A.2d 793, 809 (D.C.2003). We may reverse a trial court's ruling on discovery issues only if the ruling goes beyond the reasonable exercise of discretion. White v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 432 A.2d 726, 728-29 (D.C.1981).

We review a trial court's grant of a motion for summary judgment de novo. Kotsch v. District of Columbia, 924 A.2d 1040, 1044 (D.C.2007) (citing Woodland v. District Council 20, 777 A.2d 795, 798 (D.C.2001)). Our standard of review is the same as the trial court's standard for initially considering a party's motion for summary judgment; that is, summary judgment is proper if there is no issue of material...