Knight v. American Guard & Alert, Inc.

• Decision Date: 21 February 1986
• Docket Number: S-809,Nos. S-774,s. S-774
• Citation: 714 P.2d 788
• Court: Alaska Supreme Court
• Parties: 104 Lab.Cas. P 55,566 Jack D. KNIGHT, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. AMERICAN GUARD & ALERT, INC., and Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, Appellees/Cross-Appellants.

Page 788

714 P.2d 788

104 Lab.Cas. P 55,566

Jack D. KNIGHT, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. AMERICAN GUARD & ALERT, INC., and Alyeska Pipeline Service

Company, Appellees/Cross-Appellants.

Nos. S-774, S-809.

Supreme Court of Alaska.

Feb. 21, 1986.

Millard F. Ingraham, Anchorage, and C. R. Kennelly, Kennelly, Azar and Donahue, Anchorage, for appellant/cross-appellee.

Wevley Wm. Shea, Hartig, Rhodes, Norman, Mahoney & Edwards, Anchorage, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant American Guard and Alert, Inc., Lawrence R. Trotter, and Robert I. Shoaf, and Kenneth P. Eggers and Sema E. Lederman, Groh, Eggers & Price, Anchorage, for appellee Alyeska Pipeling Service Company.

Before RABINOWITZ, C.J., and BURKE, MATTHEWS, COMPTON and MOORE, JJ.

OPINION

MATTHEWS, Justice.

INTRODUCTION

Jack Knight worked as a security guard for American Guard & Alert, Inc. (AGA), a security company, guarding the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. In 1980, AGA fired Knight for reasons which are the center of this dispute. AGA contends that it terminated Knight because he was an unfit employee. Knight alleges that AGA fired him in retaliation for informing Alyeska, the pipeline operator, that other AGA security guards were drinking and abusing drugs on the job. He therefore argues that the firing was not for just cause. He also alleges that Alyeska tortiously interfered with his employment contract by concurring in the decision to fire him and refusing to provide him with an alternate job on the pipeline. At the close of Knight's case, the trial court dismissed Knight's complaint against AGA for failure to state a claim and directed a verdict against Knight on his claim against Alyeska. We reverse the dismissal of Knight's case against AGA, but affirm the directed verdict in favor of Alyeska.

FACTS

On October 24, 1980, AGA fired Knight from his job as a security guard for AGA on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Knight testified that prior to his firing he tried to report the alleged drinking and drug abuse of his fellow guards to his superiors at AGA, but gave up because he "wasn't getting anywhere." Knight also claimed that one of the superiors (Lieutenant Bangs) "half-smiled and said, gee, I understand the Troopers are smoking marijuana down at the Academy now." After this conversation, Knight told Alyeska that AGA had a drinking and drug abuse problem. Lieutenant Bangs then visited Knight. According to Knight, Bangs "was very upset and then he got me a little upset too, and he said that we don't need anybody going to Alyeska with our problems. We can take care of our own problems and he said this is a good way to have one less security guard."

Shortly after this incident Knight drove an Alyeska car off a loading ramp while on patrol. Knight testified that he had worked in the area of the ramp only once before during the winter when the terrain was different than at the time of the accident (September). Witnesses testified that the area was poorly lit and poorly marked.

Knight stated that during the hours before the accident he experienced a "tightness, kind of a--like a little constriction across my chest, all the way across. Not a pain or a piercing pain of any kind, and it was more annoying." One witness testified that when he arrived at the accident site he heard Knight say two to three times "can't breathe, can't breathe." Knight testified that he suffered from mild hypertension. However, he also testified that it had never interfered with his work.

Knight was off work for about a week until a physician's assistant cleared him to return. Before AGA would permit Knight to resume work, it insisted that its own doctor clear Knight. The doctor cleared him.

Knight next had a "lengthy interview" with Jonathan Goldsmith, a senior AGA official. According to Knight, Goldsmith told Knight that he would have "to get with Mr. Wellington" (the Alyeska security manager) before allowing Knight to return to work. However, prior to meeting with Wellington Goldsmith decided to terminate Knight. He stated that the decision "was based on many things, including the interview with Jack Knight, the recommendation of his immediate supervisor, the evidence of his physical condition that he had presented to us, the incident involving his [driving off the loading ramp], numerous things."

Goldsmith then informed Wellington of the decision to fire Knight from his job as a regular security guard. He did, however, recommend to Wellington that Knight continue as a guard with a limited assignment, but Wellington rejected the proposal. According to Goldsmith, the AGA-Alyeska contract did not contain provisions for special assignments.

Shortly thereafter, Fay Wheeler (the AGA personnel manager) called Knight and told him he had been terminated. The reason she gave for the firing was that "Mr. Wellington just wanted you terminated." The trial judge excluded Wheeler's statement, saying that the testimony was inadmissible "until the foundation is laid as to how she obtained the information."

At the close of Knight's case, the court directed a verdict against Knight on his contractual interference claim against Alyeska. It concluded, among other things, that AGA made the termination decision, not Alyeska.

With respect to AGA, the trial court ruled that (1) enough evidence existed for Knight's case to go to the jury on whether his termination was for just cause, but that (2) Knight's complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. The court denied Knight's request to amend the pleadings to conform to the evidence and dismissed the case.

Finally, the court awarded $15,000 in attorney's fees to Alyeska, but awarded no fees to AGA as a sanction for making its motion to dismiss late.

Knight asserts that the court erred in the following four ways: (1) by dismissing Knight's case against AGA, (2) by directing a verdict against Knight on his claim against Alyeska, (3) by refusing to admit Wheeler's testimony on the reason for Knight's dismissal, and (4) by awarding attorney's fees to Alyeska in the amount of $15,000. AGA argues that the court erred by not granting a directed verdict in its favor and by not awarding it attorney's fees.

DISCUSSION

I. Did the Trial Court Err by Dismissing Knight's Case Against AGA?

A. Failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.

At the close of Knight's case, the trial court dismissed the complaint against AGA because "[it], as phrased, does not state a cause of action" and rejected Knight's motion to amend the complaint. The court dismissed Knight's complaint in response to the following argument of counsel for AGA, made just after the court had directed a verdict in favor of Alyeska: "[The complaint] says Alyeska ... had [AGA] summarily terminate in violation of public policy. I don't think there's a cause of action that remains against [AGA]."

The relevant paragraphs of the complaint state:

V.

As a result of Plaintiff's complaint to ALYESKA PIPELINE SERVICE COMPANY about the drug and alcohol abuse of AMERICAN GUARD AND ALERT INC.'S employees and Plaintiff's injury on September 5, 1980, ALYESKA PIPELINE SERVICE COMPANY had AMERICAN GUARD & ALERT, INC. summarily terminate the Plaintiff's employment on October 24, 1980.

VI.

Plaintiff's termination as a result of his complaint and injury is a violation of public policy, a breach of the implied covenant of fair dealing and good faith, not based upon good or just cause, and constitutes malice and bad faith, which give rise to punitive damages.

(emphasis in original).

"The motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is viewed with disfavor and is rarely granted." 5 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1357, at 598 (1969) (hereinafter cited as Wright & Miller). This is because courts are obliged to construe complaints liberally. See 2A J. Moore, Moore's Federal Practice § 12.08 (1985). "Mere vagueness or lack of detail is not ground for a motion to dismiss, but should be attacked by a motion for a more definite statement." Id. Generally, trial courts should give the complaint the benefit of the doubt. In Linck v. Barokas & Martin, 667 P.2d 171, 173 (Alaska 1983) we said: "In determining the sufficiency of the stated claim it is enough that the complaint set forth allegations of fact consistent with and appropriate to some enforceable cause of action." (Emphasis added). Wright and Miller make a similar point: "[T]he court is under a duty to examine the complaint to determine if the allegations provide for relief on any possible theory." Wright & Miller, supra, at 602 (emphasis added).

Had the trial court construed the complaint consistent with these authorities, it would not have dismissed the claim against AGA. Although paragraph V of the complaint alleges that Alyeska caused AGA to fire Knight, the complaint does allege that AGA did, in fact, fire Knight and goes on to allege in paragraph VI that his termination was (1) in violation of public policy, (2) in breach of an implied covenant of fair dealing and good faith, and (3) not based upon good or just cause.

The latter two claims express breach of contract theories which we have previously recognized as enforceable causes of action. See Eales v. Tanana Valley Medical-Surgical, 663 P.2d 958 (Alaska 1983) (certain employment contracts can be terminated only for good cause); Mitford v. de Lasala, 666 P.2d 1000, 1006-07 (Alaska 1983) (good faith covenant is implicit in at-will employment contract). The first claim, concerning alleged termination in violation of public policy, is in accord with a theory of recovery accepted in many states. See generally Lopatka, The Emerging Law of Wrongful Discharge--A Quadrennial Assessment of the Labor Law Issue of the 80s, 40 Bus.Law 1, 6-17 (1984) (twenty-two states prohibit discharges which violate public policy); see generally Note, Protecting Employees at Will Against Wrongful Discharge: The Public Policy Exception, 96 Harv.L.Rev.1931 (1983) (the articl...