Comerio v. Beatrice Foods Co.
Decision Date | 03 September 1985 |
Docket Number | No. 84-1474C(1).,84-1474C(1). |
Citation | 616 F. Supp. 1423 |
Parties | Mario P. COMERIO, Plaintiff, v. BEATRICE FOODS COMPANY, Defendant. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
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James J. Sauter, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiff.
Anthony J. Sestric, St. Louis, Mo., for defendant.
Mario P. Comerio brought this action under Mo.Rev.Stat. § 290.140 (1978) after leaving employment with Imperial Oil and Grease Company, a division of Beatrice Companies, Inc. during the period of plaintiff's employment. In Count I of his complaint, he claimed that though he requested of his employer a service letter to which he is entitled by Missouri statute, he received no service letter from his former employer. In Count II, Comerio alleged that his employer breached the employment contract by relieving him of his obligations under a restrictive covenant in a dilatory fashion. After a trial on these issues, a jury found for plaintiff on the service letter cause of action, awarding him $1.00 actual damages and $14,700.00 punitive damages, and against him on the contract count. Defendant moved for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, for a new trial on the service letter count. Plaintiff moved for a new trial on the contract count. This Court will consider these matters in turn and set forth the facts relevant to each motion as necessary.
Defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict has two bases: (1) the plaintiff failed to comply with the requirement of the service letter statute; (2) the plaintiff's evidence did not show the requisite malice to submit the issue of punitive damages to the jury.
When ruling on a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, this Court must (a) consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party, (b) assume that the jury resolved all conflicts of evidence in favor of that party, (c) assume as true all facts which that party's evidence tended to prove, (d) give that party the benefit of all favorable inferences which may reasonably be drawn from proved facts, and (e) deny the motion if in light of the above reasonable jurors could differ as to the conclusions that could be drawn from the evidence.1 McGee v. South Pemiscot School Dist. R-V, 712 F.2d 339, 343 (8th Cir.1983). Though verbal formulations of the standard may vary, a federal court asks essentially whether there is evidence upon which the jury could properly find for the party against whom the motion is directed. 9 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2524 (1971).
In arguing that plaintiff failed to comply with the service letter statute, defendant reargues a point decided against defendant in an earlier Order and Memorandum of this Court. Mario P. Comerio v. Beatrice Foods Company, 595 F.Supp. 918 (E.D.Mo.1984) ( ). Nothing during the trial of this case or in defendant's arguments on this motion convinces this Court that plaintiff failed to comply adequately with the service letter statute. Thus, defendant's motion for judgment n.o.v. is denied to the extent it relies upon plaintiff's failure to comply with the statute.
As defendant also contends, the issue of punitive damages should not have been submitted to the jury because the plaintiff failed to show the requisite malice. At trial, plaintiff presented defendant's failure to respond to his request letter as the only evidence of malice. Therefore, the issue to be decided on this motion for judgment n.o.v. is whether defendant's failure to respond to plaintiff's request for a service letter is sufficient evidence of malice to sustain a jury verdict on punitive damages. This Court holds that it is not.
Missouri courts handle service letter cases with some frequency and their decisions are instructive on the issue of punitive damages. In a Missouri service letter case, before a jury may award punitive damages, the plaintiff must show actual or legal malice on the part of the defendant. See Schmidt v. Central Hardware Company, 516 S.W.2d 556, 560 (Mo.Ct. App.1974); Booth v. Quality Dairy Company, 393 S.W.2d 845, 851 (Mo.Ct.App. 1965). The record in this case does not support actual malice; therefore, plaintiff may rely only on legal malice, which exists where a wrongful act is intentionally done without just cause or excuse. 516 S.W.2d at 560. A party may defend against a finding of legal malice by demonstrating lack of knowledge of the service letter statute. Id. In permitting a jury instruction on lack of knowledge as a defense under the service letter statute, the Missouri Court of Appeals noted, as follows:
The party must know that the act is wrongful and must do it intentionally without just cause or excuse. If he acts in good faith and in the honest belief that his act is lawful, he is not liable for punitive damages even though he may be mistaken as to the legality of his act.
393 S.W.2d at 851 (quoting Hall v. St. Louis-San Francisco R. Company, 224 Mo.App. 431, 28 S.W.2d 687, 691 (1930)). More recently, the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed this standard in Stark v. American Bakeries Company, 647 S.W.2d 119, 123 (Mo. banc 1983), where the court held that to be assessed punitive damages, a defendant must not only have intended to perform the act but must have known it was wrongful when performed. Thus, in Missouri courts, lack of knowledge of the requirements of the service letter statute constitutes a defense to a finding of malice.
Generally, Missouri courts require a finding that the defendant knew of his legal obligation in order to award punitive damages. E.g., Pollock v. Brown, 569 S.W.2d 724, 733 (Mo. banc 1978). This requirement implies that evidence of defendant's knowledge of and disregard for the service letter statute be present on the record. In the absence of such evidence, a plaintiff has not presented a submissible case on the issue of punitive damages. As plaintiff argues, punitive damages can be submitted to the jury and the jury can find legal malice merely upon the failure of the employer to respond to a service letter request. To support his argument, plaintiff cites two cases: Schmidt v. Central Hardward Company, 516 S.W.2d at 560; Wuerderman v. J.O. Lively Const. Company, 602 S.W.2d 215 (Mo.Ct.App.1980).
In Schmidt, the Missouri Court of Appeals permitted an award of punitive damages where the defendant failed to respond to plaintiff's service letter request. However, the court also noted that evidence of actual malice was present in the record. 516 S.W.2d at 560. Thus, Schmidt does not support plaintiff's conclusion that mere failure to respond constitutes evidence sufficient to grant punitive damages.
In Wuerderman, the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed a jury award of punitive damages in a service letter case in which the defendant argued, first, that there was no evidence that it knew a failure to respond was wrongful and, second, that testimony as to lack of knowledge established good faith. The court responded, as follows:
Defendant has committed the common error of assuming that because its witness testified ... that defendant did not supply the letter because it was unaware of the statute, the jury was bound by its evidence. Of course the jury was not bound and could accept or reject such evidence as it saw fit.
602 S.W.2d at 222 (quoting Bubke v. Allied Building Credits, 380 S.W.2d 516, 522 (Mo. Ct.App.1964)). Accordingly, the court concluded that mere failure to respond was sufficient evidence to support the submission of punitive damages. However, an examination of the facts reveals other evidence from which the jury could have inferred legal malice. For example, plaintiff was terminated without explanation, plaintiff cited the service letter statute in his request letter, and defendant consulted with a local attorney after receiving the request. Thus, while the court wrote broadly on the requirements for submission of punitive damages, the facts of the case reveal evidence of knowledge not present in the instant case.
Similarly, in a recent service letter case the Eighth Circuit upheld a jury award of punitive damages. Easley v. Empire, Inc., 757 F.2d 923 (8th Cir.1985). In addition to defendant's failure twice to issue a service letter, the court cited evidence of defendant's knowledge that a response letter was required and defendant's pretextual reasons for its failure to issue a service letter as evidence sufficient to support a finding of legal malice. Again, the record in the instant case reveals no such evidence.
In other substantive areas of law, Missouri courts hold fast to lack of knowledge as a defense to an award of punitive damages. Moon v. Tower Grove Bank & Trust Company, 691 S.W.2d 399 (Mo.Ct. App.1985) (garnishment); Ozark Wood Industries v. First National Bank of Doniphan, 625 S.W.2d 651, 654 (Mo.Ct.App. 1981) ( ); Young v. Mercantile Trust Co. National Assoc., 552 S.W.2d 247, 250 (Mo. Ct.App.1977) (conversion). Moreover, Missouri courts consider the sufficiency of the evidence to permit a jury to award punitive damages a question of law within the reasoned discretion of the trial court. Moon, 691 S.W.2d 399; Deck and Decker Personnel Consultants, Ltd. v. Thomas, 623 S.W.2d 90, 92 (Mo.Ct.App.1981); Fordyce v. Montgomery, 424 S.W.2d 746, 751 (Mo. Ct.App.1968). A submissible case must rest upon substantial evidence, that is, evidence which, if true, has probative force upon the issues and from which the trier of fact can reasonably decide the case. Neil v. Mayer, 426 S.W.2d 711, 715 (Mo.Ct.App. 1968). Presumably, in the absence of such evidence the court should not uphold a jury award of punitive damages.
In the instant case, plaintiff argues that Missouri courts have carved out an exception for service letter cases from the usual legal malice rules. The exception would permit submission without...
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