King v. Marriott Intern., Inc.

• Decision Date: 07 August 2007
• Docket Number: C.A. No. 9:05-1774-PMD-RSC.
• Citation: 520 F.Supp.2d 748
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of South Carolina
• Parties: Terry S. KING, Plaintiff, v. MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC., Defendant.

520 F.Supp.2d 748

Terry S. KING, Plaintiff, v. MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC., Defendant.

C.A. No. 9:05-1774-PMD-RSC.

United States District Court, D. South Carolina, Beaufort Division.

August 7, 2007.

A. Christopher Potts, Hitchcock and Potts, Charleston, SC, Ray Pratt McClain, Ray McClain Law Firm, for Plaintiff.

Catherine McCabe Templeton, Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak and Stewart, Charleston, SC, Michael Montgomery Shetterly, Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak and Stewart, Greenville, SC, for Defendants.

ORDER

PATRICK MICHAEL DUFFY, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on Defendant Marriott International, Inc.'s ("Defendant" or "Marriott") Motion for Summary Judgment. In accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B), this matter was referred to United States Magistrate Judge Robert S. Carr, who created a report and recommendation ("the R & R"). The Magistrate Judge recommended that Defendant's motion for summary judgment be granted as to Plaintiff's state law claims, and that this case be dismissed. A party may object, in writing, to a report and recommendation within ten days after being served with a copy of that report. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). Plaintiff filed timely objections to the R & R.

BACKGROUND

The facts of this case, as supported by the record and considered in the light most favorable to Plaintiff Terry King ("Plaintiff' or "King"), are set forth as follows:

In early 1987, Terry King went to work for Marriott in Michigan as an engineer. (King depo. at 7.) In 1989, Marriott moved King to Bethesda, Maryland, where Marriott is headquartered. (Id. at 8-9.) In 1997, Marriott offered King a position as the Regional Engineering Manager (REM) for the Mid-Atlantic Region, one of six Marriott regions. The letter offering King the REM position contained the following language: "This offer letter is not a contract of employment. This letter constitutes the full commitments which have been extended to you." King read the letter, accepted the offer of employment, and signed the letter. Except for a period of about nine months, King maintained an office in Maryland and reported to individuals in Bethesda, Maryland from 1989 until the termination of his employment with Marriott. (Id. at 8.) During this time, King resided in and performed a significant portion of his job responsibilities in Hilton Head, South Carolina. (Id. at 14.)

At some point after 1993,¹ Marriott distributed a handbook to its employees describing Marriott's key employment policies (the "handbook"). King received and signed the handbook, but he does not recall when or where it was given to him.² Among other policies, the handbook described Marriott's "Guarantee of Fair Treatment" policy and "Policy on Harassment & Professional Conduct." The handbook also contains a section entitled "Employer at Will," in which Marriott explained that [n]othing in this manual shall be deemed to alter the `at will' status of associates working at the company or create a contract of employment for any specific period of time." King signed a "Statement of Understanding," affirming that he had "read, understood, and agree[d] to adhere to the information contained in this booklet regarding the below referenced topics."

In May of 2002, when he was forty-nine years old, King applied for a position as Director of Facilities at a Marriott hotel scheduled to open on St. Kitts. King's girlfriend, Peg Kinnally, also applied for that position. Neither King nor Kinnally got the job. On July 26, 2002, King complained to Vicki Stille, a human resource representative, that he and Kinnally were not hired despite being extremely qualified. King asked Stille about the procedures for making a complaint under Marriott's Guarantee of Fair Treatment policy. Fifteen minutes after this call, King's supervisor Bob Jones called King and asked King why he thought of making a GFT complaint. Jones told King that if he filed a GFT complaint, King's career at Marriott would be in jeopardy. (King depo. 68-72, 181-182.) King did not pursue the complaint any further at that time.

The St. Kitts position came open again and on January 15, 2003, King posted for it, but was again unsuccessful. On March 21, 2003, King also posted for a Director of Services position at the St. Kitts Marriott; King was told he was not qualified.

On July 13, 2003, King brought an EEOC charge alleging age discrimination in the decisions not to hire him in St. Kitts, retaliation for his trying to report harassment by King's supervisor Jones on the GFT hotline, and retaliation for his girlfriend's EEOC age complaint about St. Kitts. This EEOC charge is the protected activity for which King complains he was subjected to retaliation in breach of his employment contract.

On October 14, 2003, King was informed there was going to be a re-organization within the engineering discipline at Marriott and that all REM positions, including his, were being upgraded and changed to Regional Director of Engineering positions (RDE). As a result of this reorganization, King was told that he would lose his REM position, but could apply for the RDE position in the Mid-Atlantic Region and the RDE positions in the other five regions. The decision to eliminate the REM positions, including King's REM position, was made in 2002 by Clare Kevill, a project assistant in the engineering department. (Kevill Affidavit.) Marriott approved Kevill's decision and she began working with corporate human resources in creating a new job specification and working out the logistics of a reorganization that same year, well prior to King's protected activity. (Id.)

Once these RDE positions were posted on Marriott's internal website, King posted his application for all of these positions. In addition to the RDE position for the Mid-Atlantic Region, King applied for the other RDE positions in the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, South Central, and Western Regions. In each region, he was competing with other REMs who were losing their position, as well as other internal and external candidates. King was not hired for any of the RDE positions.

King also posted for Director of Engineering positions at the following full service hotels: (1) Marriott Miami Biscayne Bay, (2) Marriott Miami South Beach, (3) Marriott Tampa Renaissance, (4) Marriott Curacao, (5) Marriott Jamaica Renaissance, (6) Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne, (7) Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman, and (8) Ritz Carlton Coconut Grove. King was not selected for any of these positions.

On June 21, 2005, King filed a complaint against Marriott International asserting state law causes of action for (1) Breach of Contract/Wrongful Discharge, (2) Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing, and (3) Breach of Contract Accompanied by a Fraudulent Act.³ King alleged that the decision to eliminate his job and the failure to hire him for numerous jobs thereafter were in retaliation for his having filed the EEOC charge. He asserted that the Marriott handbook's "Guarantee of Fair Treatment" policy and "Policy on Harassment & Professional Conduct" created an enforceable contractual obligations that Marriott breached by retaliating against him.

Based on this record, the Magistrate Judge made the following findings: (1) that the choice of law to be applied to determine the validity of the alleged employment contract is the lex loci contractu, the law of the state in which the contract was formed; (2) that the alleged employment contract was formed in Maryland; and (3) that, under Maryland law, the employee handbook contained an effective disclaimer and therefore did not create an enforceable employment contract. Therefore, because no valid enforceable contract existed, the Magistrate Judge found that all of King's state law contract claims fail and recommended that Marriott's motion for summary judgment be granted.

DISCUSSION

Plaintiff enumerates two objections to the R & R. First, King objects that the Magistrate Judge erred in finding that Maryland law applies to interpret the existence of an employment contract. He argues that the lex loci contractu should not govern the validity of the alleged employment contract because the employment contract was substantially performed in South Carolina and was breached in South Carolina. Accordingly, he asserts that South Carolina choice of law dictates that South Carolina law governs this contract dispute. He also argues that, even if the lex loci contractu determines the applicable law, no evidence proves that King received and signed the handbook forming the alleged employment contract in Maryland rather than in South Carolina. Second, King asserts that, under the law of either state, a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the handbook created an employment contract.

The R & R makes only a recommendation to the court. The recommendation has no presumptive weight, and the responsibility for making a final determination remains with the court. Mathews v. Weber, 423 U.S. 261, 269, 96 S.Ct. 549, 46 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976). This court is charged with conducting a de novo review of any portion of the R & R to which a specific objection is registered and may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part; the recommendations contained in that report. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). Accordingly, the court reviews de novo the Magistrate Judge's determination regarding both the choice and the application of state law.

As an in initial matter, the court must determine the applicable state law in this diversity action. Because this case is before a Federal Court in the District of South Carolina, all parties agree that South Carolina choice of law applies to King's state law claims. Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Mfg. Co., 313 U.S. 487, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (1941) (holding that a federal court sitting in diversity must apply the choice of law rules of the state in which it sits). All of King's claims — breach of contract, breach of contract accompanied by a...