Goodwyn v. Sencore, Inc.

• Decision Date: 05 February 1975
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 73-4055.
• Parties: Thaddeus GOODWYN v. SENCORE, INC.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of South Dakota

389 F. Supp. 824

Thaddeus GOODWYN v. SENCORE, INC.

Civ. No. 73-4055.

United States District Court, D. South Dakota.

February 5, 1975.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Carleton R. Hoy, Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz & Smith, Sioux Falls, S.D., for plaintiff.

Gale E. Fisher, May, Johnson & Burke, Sioux Falls, S.D., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BOGUE, District Judge.

This is an action in the nature of contract which was tried to the Court on July 24, 25, 1974, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The plaintiff, Thaddeus Goodwyn, a citizen of the state of Pennsylvania, brought this action against Sencore, Inc., a corporation incorporated under the laws of Delaware with its principal place of business in the state of South Dakota, to recover damages for an alleged breach of an employment contract that was entered into between the plaintiff and defendant. The jurisdiction of this Court is based upon diversity of citizenship and the requisite jurisdictional amount. 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a).

During the year of 1970 and up until June of 1971 Thaddeus Goodwyn was in the employ of General Electric Company in the capacity of an electrical engineer. During at least part of the year of 1970 the plaintiff was stationed in Sunnyvale, California, working on one of General Electric Corporation's projects. Sometime during the end of 1970 General Electric Corporation finished its California project, wherefore the plaintiff would be required to relocate back to the G. E. plant at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The plaintiff, instead of moving his family directly to Pennsylvania, decided to move his family to the Sioux Falls area upon the completion of the California project. The plaintiff then continued back to Pennsylvania where he remained in the employ of General Electric, with his family remaining in Canton, South Dakota, where the plaintiff's wife had grown up.

Sometime late in the fall of 1970, or the spring of 1971, the plaintiff saw a newspaper advertisement placed by Sencore, Inc. which described job possibilities for engineers in the Sioux Falls area. The plaintiff contacted Sencore, Inc., by telephone, with respect to the possibilities of their employing more engineers. Pursuant to a telephone conversation with an employee of Sencore, Inc., an appointment was established for April 9, 1971. On April 9, 1971, the plaintiff appeared at Sencore's office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and was interviewed by a Mr. Baum, who is the vice president of the corporation and the director of engineering. Mr. Baum testified that one of his responsibilities was the interviewing and hiring of engineers for Sencore, Inc. During this interview the plaintiff filled out an application for employment with Sencore, gave Mr. Baum a resume of his prior job experience and took a company electronics examination. After the completion of the examination it would appear that Mr. Goodwyn and Mr. Baum engaged in some general conversation about the job and its responsibilities. However, no specific offer was made by the corporation to employ Mr. Goodwyn at that time.

A short time after the initial interview Mr. Goodwyn's wife called the Sencore Corporation and established a second interview, scheduled for May 18, 1971. On this date Mr. Goodwyn again returned to Sioux Falls to the corporation's headquarters and had a conversation with Mr. Baum, at which time Mr. Goodwyn was offered a job with the Sencore Corporation to begin immediately, however by mutual agreement the starting date was changed to June 28, 1971. During the May 18 interview the plaintiff and Mr. Baum discussed the terms of plaintiff's employment, however, there is a conflict as to the substance of that conversation. Mr. Baum, on direct examination, testified that the plaintiff was informed of the trial period of four weeks before there would be a permanent assignment with the corporation, while Mr. Goodwyn testified on direct examination that there was no mention of a trial period at the May 18, 1971, meeting. Mr. Goodwyn testified that his first knowledge of the trial period was on June 28, 1971, the day that he began work with Sencore, Inc., when he was handed the trial period stipulation (defendant's exhibit 5) and an employee's withholding exemption certificate (defendant's exhibit 4). There is also a conflict in the testimony of Mr. Goodwyn and Mr. Baum as to the salary which Mr. Goodwyn would receive from Sencore, Inc. Mr. Goodwyn testified that at the May 18, 1971, meeting, he was asked by Mr. Baum what salary he would require to work for Sencore, Inc., to this Mr. Goodwyn stated that he was interested in a salary somewhere in the $19,000-$15,000 range. Mr. Goodwyn further testified that Mr. Baum offered him a year's employment for $15,000, which Mr. Goodwyn said he would accept. Mr. Baum testified that there was some discussion of the rate at which Mr. Goodwyn would be compensated, and Mr. Baum made a notation on the plaintiff's application for position (defendant's exhibit 1) which shows Mr. Goodwyn's starting date and the notation "@ 15 M" which Mr. Baum testified meant that Mr. Goodwyn would be compensated at a rate of $15,000 per year.

The testimony further indicated that Mr. Goodwyn terminated his employment with General Electric Corporation and commenced working for Sencore on June 28, 1971, and was assigned to the service department. About an hour after he was on the job, Mr. Baum approached Mr. Goodwyn with an employee's withholding exemption certificate (defendant's exhibit 4) and a trial period form (defendant's exhibit 5). Mr. Goodwyn testified that this was the first time that he had been advised of the trial period form, and contends that there was no mention of any trial period when the previous interview and offer of employment was made, and said that he took particular issue with the first paragraph of the trial period form which states as follows:

All new Sencore employees will be given a four-week trial period before being permanently assigned. (They will be informed of this trial period at the time of interview, and before advising them of their selection to work for Sencore).

Mr. Goodwyn testified that he told Mr. Baum that since he had no knowledge of the trial period that he would not sign defendant's exhibit 4, however, Mr. Goodwyn testified that Mr. Baum told him that unless he signed the trial-period form he would not be able to be paid, and that therefore he reluctantly signed it. Mr. Baum on direct examination testified that he did not receive Mr. Goodwyn's signature on the trial-period form until June 28, 1971, the first day of plaintiff's employ, however he disagrees with the fact that Mr. Goodwyn did not have knowledge of the trial period until that date.

After four weeks had passed, Mr. Goodwyn met with Mr. Baum and they had a conversation concerning his performance in the service department. At this time Mr. Baum assigned Mr. Goodwyn to engineering and was given a specific task to build an R.F. Attenuator as a component in an AM-FM stereo analyzer, which Sencore was developing. Mr. Goodwyn testified that there was a conversation at the end of the four-week period, however, he disagrees with Mr. Baum's testimony that a new four-week trial period was provided and agreed upon by the parties. During the second four weeks Mr. Goodwyn worked on the development of the R. F. Attenuator and various progress reports were made (defendant's exhibit 12).

On August 20, 1971, approximately eight weeks after Mr. Goodwyn began his employment with Sencore, Inc., he had a meeting with Mr. Baum, at which meeting he was told that the corporation was not satisfied with his work and he would not be permanently assigned as an engineer with Sencore. On August 20, 1971, Mr. Goodwyn was given a separation notice signed by Mr. R. E. Baum, (defendant's exhibit 6) which states the reason for separation as "discharged", and under remarks states, "Could not finish a project."

After leaving the employ of Sencore, Inc., Mr. Goodwyn testified that he tried to gain employment in the area with several different organizations, including the South Dakota Employment Service, all of which indicated that there was no need at that time for the employ of anyone in an engineering capacity. Being unsuccessful in locating a job with a firm in South Dakota, Mr. Goodwyn testified that he began working on some ideas that he had for the marketing of various electronics devices. Mr. Goodwyn tried unsuccessfully to develop various fire detector and warning devices for use in nursing homes and farms, and lost a considerable amount of money in this endeavor. Finally in the fall of 1972 Mr. Goodwyn was able to secure a job which would start in January of 1973 with his old employer General Electric Corporation.

The first issue this Court must decide is whether or not a contract was entered into between Mr. Goodwyn and Sencore, Inc., which was for a definite specified term of one year. It is uncontroverted by the evidence that there was no written contract in the present case. The plaintiff therefore relies upon the conversations had between Mr. Baum and himself, and a statutory presumption codified in 60-1-3 of the South Dakota Compiled Laws (1967). The presumption that is created by S.D.C.L. § 60-1-3 is as follows:

A servant is presumed to have been hired for such length of time as the parties adopt for the estimation of wages. A hiring at a yearly rate is presumed to be for one year; a hiring at a daily rate, for one day; a hiring by piece work, for no specified term.

The...