Coleman v. Winning

• Decision Date: 31 March 1998
• Docket Number: No. 72085,72085
• Citation: 967 S.W.2d 644
• Parties: Darriel D. COLEMAN, Appellant, v. William T. WINNING and Winning Equipment Company, Respondents.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 644

967 S.W.2d 644

Darriel D. COLEMAN, Appellant, v. William T. WINNING and Winning Equipment Company, Respondents.

No. 72085.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Eastern District,

Division Two.

March 31, 1998.

Philip C. Graham, St. Louis, for appellant.

Thomas O. McCarthy, Geoffrey M. Gilbert, St. Louis, for respondents.

RHODES RUSSELL, Judge.

Darriel D. Coleman ("employee") appeals from the trial court's order granting his former employer's motion for summary judgment. Employee's suit alleged he was fired for exercising his rights under the Workers' Compensation Act, section 287.780, RSMo 1994. ¹ Employee argues that the trial court erred in granting employer's summary judgment motion in that he established a prima facie case of retaliatory discharge, and he was entitled to a jury determination as to whether employer's reasons were pretextual. We reverse and remand. ²

In June 1990, employee was hired by Winning Equipment Company ("employer") as a mechanic and truck driver. On July 19, 1990, employee was working on a gear box when a piece of metal broke off and hit him in the corner of his nose by his eye. Employee was examined by a doctor who concluded he had a piece of metal in his left eye and that it had to be removed. On February 27, 1991, employee's doctor surgically removed the piece of metal from employee's eye.

Employer filed a report of injury on March 5, 1991, with the Division of Workers' Compensation. Three days later, employee's doctor addressed a letter to William Winning ("employer's president") stating that the injury to employee's eye was work related and would qualify for workers' compensation coverage. On March 22, 1991, employee began receiving compensation payments for his injury.

Three weeks later, employee received a letter from employer's president terminating his employment. The letter provided in pertinent part:

Effective April 15, 1991, I have terminated your employment with our company.

I am sympathetic to your physical condition and have anticipated that you stay in touch with us during your recuperation.

Since we have had no contact with you and therefore do not know what your condition is, and since we have continued your medical insurance without your participation we feel this must stop.

Your medical insurance (John Hancock) and life insurance will continue in force through April 30, 1991.

Ten months later, on February 19, 1992, employee filed a claim for compensation with the Division of Workers' Compensation. Thereafter, employee filed his petition in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County alleging that employer and its president violated section 287.780 by firing him in retaliation for exercising his rights under the Workers' Compensation Laws.

In response to employee's first set of interrogatories, the employer's president claimed that employee was terminated because he failed to maintain contact with him. In his depositional testimony, the employer's president testified that employee was terminated because "[w]e were in severe financial straits, and I could no longer afford to pay his health insurance premium." The employer's president testified that after he sent the termination letter to employee, he met with two of his other employees to discuss the reasons for employee's termination. During that meeting, the employer's president told the two other employees that employee had a job waiting for him as soon as he was released by his doctor to return to work.

In response to employer's second set of interrogatories, employee stated that he was fired due to his filing of a workers' compensation claim. Employee further stated that the employer's president told his supervisor to fire him because the president did not want to pay employee's health insurance benefits while he was off work.

Employee testified at deposition that he did not have any conversations with the employer's president after receiving his letter of termination. He also testified that the only reasons the president gave him for his termination were set out in the letter. After his termination, employee stated that he discussed his termination with some of his former co-workers. He stated that one of the employees told him that he was fired because employer did not want to pay his medical insurance. Employee acknowledged that he could return to work for employer after he was released by his doctor. He stated that he did not contact employer about returning to work after he was released by his doctor because he did not care to work for employer.

Employer moved for summary judgment stating that it was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law in that the evidence irrefutably established that the exercise of employee's rights under the Workers' Compensation Laws was not the exclusive reason for his discharge. Employer maintained that employee's pleading, his answers to the second set of interrogatories, his deposition testimony, and the employer's president's deposition testimony established that employee was discharged because employer could not afford to pay employee's health insurance premium. Employer asserted that employee admitted he was discharged because employer could not afford to pay his health insurance premium while he was off work. As such, employer argued that employee could not maintain a cause of action under section 287.780 because his exercise of his rights under the Workers' Compensation Laws was not the exclusive reason for his discharge. ³

In response to employer's motion for summary judgment, employee argued that there was a genuine issue of material fact of whether he was terminated in retaliation for exercising his rights under the Workers' Compensation Laws. Employee admitted that he testified at his deposition that he assumed employer was struggling financially, and that the only reason that he had been given for his discharge was that employer could not afford to pay his health insurance premium while he was off work. Employee, however, denied the implication that the reason given by the employer's president was the true reason for his discharge.

The trial court granted employer's motion for summary judgment, finding that employee could not show an exclusive causal relationship between the exercise of his workers' compensation rights and the employer's decision to terminate him. The trial court found that employee could not establish an exclusive causal relationship because he had admitted that one of the reasons for his termination was the fact employer did not want to continue to pay his health insurance benefits while he was off work. This appeal follows.

In his sole point, employee contends the trial court erred in sustaining employer's motion for summary judgment in that he established a prima facie case of retaliatory discharge under section 287.780, and that the reasons given by employer for his discharge present a jury question whether those reasons were pretextual. Specifically, employee argues that he is entitled to present and argue his case to a jury that the inconsistent reasons given by employer were pretextual and were created to conceal the truth that he was fired for exercising his rights under the Workers' Compensation Laws,and not because of the reasons offered by employer.

In response, employer argues that the trial court did not err in sustaining its motion for summary judgment in that employee could not establish an exclusive causal relationship between the exercise of his rights under the Workers' Compensation Laws and employer's decision to terminate him. Employer contends that employee could not establish an exclusive causal relationship because employee has admitted the reason he was terminated was because employer did not want to pay his health insurance premium.

In considering an appeal from the entry of a summary judgment, an appellate court reviews the record in the light most favorable to the party against whom the judgment was entered. ITT Commercial Finance Corp. v. Mid-America Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). We accord the non-movant the benefit of all reasonable inferences from the record. Id. The review is essentially de novo with the appellate court employing the same tests as should be employed by the trial court in deciding whether to grant the motion. Id. The propriety of a summary judgment is purely an issue of law. Id. "Summary judgment is granted only where no genuine issue of material fact exists, and judgment is proper as a matter of law." Cash v. Benward, 873 S.W.2d 913, 915 (Mo.App.1994) (citing Rule 74.04(c)(3), Missouri Rules of Civil Procedure (1994)). A genuine factual dispute exists when the record contains competent evidence of two plausible, but contradictory accounts of the essential facts. ITT, 854 S.W.2d at 382. The key to summary judgment is the undisputed right to judgment as a matter of law; not simply the absence of a fact question. Cash, 873 S.W.2d at 916.

To prevail in an action for retaliatory discharge under section 287.780, the plaintiff must establish four elements: (1) plaintiff's status as an employee of the defendant before injury; (2) plaintiff's exercise of a right granted by the Workers' Compensation Law; (3) employer's discharge of or discrimination against the plaintiff; and, (4) an exclusive causal relationship between plaintiff's actions and defendant's actions. Wolfe v. Central Mine Equipment Co., 895 S.W.2d 83, 87 (Mo.App.1995) (citing Hansome v. Northwestern Cooperage Co., 679 S.W.2d 273, 275 (Mo. banc 1984)). The burden of proof of a prima facie case of...