Horton v. Miller Chemical Co., Inc.
| Citation | 776 F.2d 1351 |
| Decision Date | 27 November 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-3012,84-3012 |
| Parties | 121 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3365, 105 Lab.Cas. P 55,640 William HORTON, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MILLER CHEMICAL CO., INC., Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) |
John E. Cassidy, Jr., Cassidy & Mueller, Peoria, Ill., for defendant-appellant.
James R. Carter, Law Offices of Strodel, Kingery & Durree, Peoria, Ill., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before POSNER and FLAUM, Circuit Judges, and SWYGERT, Senior Circuit Judge.
In this diversity action, plaintiff William Horton sued his former employer, defendant Miller Chemical Company, Inc. ("Miller Chemical"), for retaliatory discharge. He claimed that the defendant discharged him for pursuing his rights and remedies under the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act ("the Act"), Ill.Rev.Stat., ch. 48, paragraphs 138.1 et seq. (1983). The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and awarded him $73,824 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages.
On appeal the defendant argues that the complaint failed to state a claim for relief under Illinois law and that the district judge erroneously refused to grant its motions for a directed verdict and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict ("JNOV"). The defendant also argues that the plaintiff failed to prove that he was entitled either to $73,824 in compensatory damages or any punitive damages. Finally, he argues that a new trial is required because the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence and because the jury instructions on retaliatory discharge were incorrect as a matter of Illinois law. We hold that the district judge should have granted the defendant's motion for JNOV. We therefore do not reach the other three issues presented in this appeal.
At trial the district judge submitted to the jury the parties' stipulation of uncontested facts. The parties stipulated that the plaintiff had a truck driver/delivery job with the defendant and that the plaintiff sustained injuries on April 24, 1981 for which he sought medical treatment. They also stipulated that
[o]n or about April 27, 1981, Plaintiff informed ... [the defendant] that the Plaintiff's ... [doctor] recommended that Plaintiff be excused from work and further recommended that the Plaintiff was to do no more lifting in order to avoid aggravation of his condition which was caused by the incidents on April 24, 1981.
In addition, the following evidence was presented. On January 16, 1978 the plaintiff was hired by his brother-in-law, then manager at the defendant's Peoria, Illinois office, to be a truck driver/delivery man for the defendant. Plaintiff's job consisted of delivering 55-pound bags of product to the defendant's customers in the northern half of Illinois and the southern part of Wisconsin. When he was initially hired, the plaintiff informed his brother-in-law that he had had a series of lower back problems starting in 1955 and that this might interfere with his ability to work because he would have to lift the 55-pound bags. During the first week of February 1978 the plaintiff voluntarily resigned because the work was aggravating his back problems. He returned to work on February 20, 1978, and he was rehired by his brother-in-law. In April 1978 he again quit; he was again rehired by his brother-in-law on August 7, 1978. In neither of the instances did the plaintiff file a worker's compensation claim.
In 1979 the plaintiff began to seek different employment because the job with the defendant increased his back problems. He applied for a job for which he allegedly would have received a higher salary, but he was dissuaded from taking it by Larry Hoffman, the defendant's general manager, who told him he would be better off working for the defendant. In March 1980 the plaintiff strained his back while on the job. He filed a worker's compensation claim without the assistance of an attorney which he settled with the defendant's insurance company for $3,056.84.
On April 24, 1981 the plaintiff injured his back while unloading materials from one of the defendant's trucks. Plaintiff reported the incident to Richard Dunham, the new manager of the defendant's Peoria office and plaintiff's brother-in-law's replacement. Dunham authorized him to see the plaintiff's personal doctor. On April 27, 1981 the plaintiff visited his physician, Dr. Grogg. Dr. Grogg diagnosed the plaintiff as suffering from a disc protrusion at the fifth lumbar vertebra and gave him an "Authorization for Absence" slip in which he recommended that the plaintiff be excused from work for approximately one week and that the plaintiff engage in no lifting. The slip did not indicate whether the plaintiff was only to refrain from lifting for one week or whether he was to forever refrain from lifting.
On that same day the plaintiff presented the authorization slip to Dunham. Dunham called his supervisor, Hoffman, in Omaha and told him that the plaintiff had received doctor's instructions not to do any more lifting. Dunham informed him of the plaintiff's medical history of back problems and absences from work. Hoffman authorized Dunham to discharge the plaintiff because the plaintiff could not return to work and to hire another truck driver. When plaintiff went to the company the next day, Dunham called him into his office and told him, 1
Hoffman testified that the company had no set policy concerning sick leave; the local manager--Dunham--had discretion over granting such leave. He also testified that he never gave any thought to recommending that the plaintiff take vacation time, nor did he advise Dunham to tell plaintiff that his medical bills should be submitted to the company for payment. He further testified that no one at the company made any independent effort to discuss the plaintiff's medical condition with his doctor and no one later contacted the plaintiff to see if his condition had improved. Finally, he testified that a good employee who was injured on the job "very possibly" would not be terminated as long as he could come back and perform the work, but his understanding was that the plaintiff "could do no more lifting."
Dunham also testified that he understood the "Authorization of Absence" slip to indicate that the plaintiff could do no more lifting and that he told Hoffman about this. He agreed with Hoffman that no one at the company conducted an independent investigation of the plaintiff's medical condition, told the plaintiff that he would be entitled to make application for temporary total disability benefits, told the plaintiff to submit his medical bills to the company for payment, told the plaintiff if his condition improved he could come back to work, or told the plaintiff to take some vacation time. 2 Dunham also testified that the plaintiff had been a very good employee and that an employee who became injured or sick while on the job might be off work indefinitely before losing his job. Dunham further testified, and the plaintiff did not dispute, that he never said anything to the plaintiff about filing a worker's compensation claim. Dunham hired the plaintiff's replacement within two weeks after the plaintiff was discharged. The plaintiff never returned to the company again or contacted any officials there about reemployment.
Plaintiff subsequently retained an attorney and, in July 1981, filed a claim for worker's compensation which was settled by Aetna Casualty and Surety Company on October 9, 1981, for $6,800 plus reimbursement for any additional medical expenses personally paid for by the plaintiff. 3 In a letter written to the plaintiff's attorney, Hoffman explained that the plaintiff had been terminated because he could no longer do any lifting and his job with the company required frequent heavy lifting.
In addition to the foregoing testimony, the deposition of Dr. Dennis J. Garwacki, one of the plaintiff's treating physicians, was read to the jury. At his deposition, Dr. Garwacki testified concerning the plaintiff's general physical condition in July 1981 and October 1983. As to his condition in July 1981, Dr. Garwacki stated the plaintiff "was improving ... [but] he could not return to the heavy lifting that he described." As to his condition in October 1983, he stated that the plaintiff "was normal." With respect to the plaintiff's ability to perform the work as a truck driver for the defendant, the doctor stated
At that time [October 1983] he told me that he returned to work ... [as] a security officer and was not going to do any more heavy lifting and bending and I thought that he could probably return to work to that kind of occupation without any problems.... He could certainly have [a] recurrence of his [back] problem ... [if he returned to his job where he was lifting fifty and hundred pound barrels].
At trial the plaintiff said he did not disagree with the testimony given by Dr. Garwacki at his deposition. The plaintiff further testified that in October 1981 he believed he could return to work with the defendant and that, at the time of trial, he believed that his back was in as "good a condition" as it was when he was originally hired by the defendant. He also stated that he had continued to see his regular physician, Dr. Grogg, until at least January 1982 for lower back adjustments.
On February 11, 1983 plaintiff filed the instant action against the defendant alleging that he had been discharged in retaliation for pursuing his rights and remedies under the Act. The defendants removed the action to the United States District Court for the Central Division of Illinois because of diversity of citizenship.
In his complaint, the plaintiff alleged that, in violation of ...
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...him was to deter him from exercising his rights under the Act or to interfere with his exercise of those rights." Horton v. Miller Chemical Co., 776 F.2d 1351, 1356 (CA7 1985) (summarizing Illinois state-court decisions), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1122, 106 S.Ct. 1641, 90 L.Ed.2d 186 (1986); s......
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...his rights under the Act or to interfere with his exercise of those rights. Id. at 407, 108 S.Ct. 1877 (citing Horton v. Miller Chemical Co., 776 F.2d 1351, 1356 (7th Cir.1985)) (summarizing Illinois state-court decisions). Having reviewed these elements, the Supreme Court concluded that pu......
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