May v. Tide Water Power Co
Decision Date | 08 November 1939 |
Docket Number | No. 380.,380. |
Citation | 216 N.C. 439,5 S.E.2d 308 |
Parties | MAY. v. TIDE WATER POWER CO. |
Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from Superior Court, Lenoir County; Frizzelle, Judge.
Action by J. S. May against the Tide Water Power Company for wrongful discharge of the plaintiff as an employee of the defendant. From an order overruling demurrer to the complaint, the defendant appeals.
Reversed.
Civil action for recovery of damages resulting from wrongful discharge of plaintiff, heard upon demurrer.
The complaint alleges in part:
The plaintiff prays judgment in the sum of $15,000 actual damages, and for $10,000 punitive damages.
Defendant demurs to the complaint for that it does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action in that: "The alleged cause of action is predicated upon allegations that the defendant, employer, discharged the plaintiff, employee, under circumstances whereby the fact of discharge became known publicly, the plaintiff in his complaint seeking to recover damages for this alleged tort; whereas, as a matter of law, an action in tort does not lie against an employer for discharging an employee under the circumstances set forth and alleged in the complaint."
The court below, being of opinion that a cause of action is stated, entered order overruling the demurrer, from which defendant appeals to the Supreme Court and assigns error.
Charles F. Rouse, of Kinston, for appellant.
Allen & Allen and John G. Dawson, all of Kinston, and L. E. Maxwell, of Pink Hill, for appellee.
Careful consideration of the allegations in the complaint lead to the conclusion that the demurrer should be sustained.
If we consider this an action in tort for wrongful discharge, which we think it is, the liability must grow out of the violation of some legal duty by the defendant, not arising out of contract, and "the complaint should state facts sufficient to show such legal duty and its violation resulting in injury to plaintiff". Mcintosh P. & P., 394.
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