Minyard Food Stores v. Goodman

• Decision Date: 28 June 2001
• Citation: 50 S.W.3d 131
• Parties: (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2001) MINYARD FOOD STORES, INC., AND LESLIE W. HEFLIN, APPELLANTS v. BRENDA KAY GOODMAN, APPELLEE NO. 2-99-360-CV
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 131

50 S.W.3d 131 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2001)

MINYARD FOOD STORES, INC., AND LESLIE W. HEFLIN, APPELLANTS v. BRENDA KAY GOODMAN, APPELLEE

NO. 2-99-360-CV

Court of Appeals of Texas, Fort Worth

June 28, 2001

FROM THE 16TH DISTRICT COURT OF DENTON COUNTY

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Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart; Bryant S. McFall, Andrew T. Turner, Dallas, Texas, Law Offices of Joel J. Steed, P.C.; C. Timothy Reynolds, for appellant.

Law Office of William Paul Rossini; William Paul Rossini, Dallas, Texas, for appellee.

PANEL A: CAYCE, C.J.; DAUPHINOT and HOLMAN, JJ.

OPINION

LEE ANN DAUPHINOT, JUSTICE

I. INTRODUCTION

Appellants Minyard Food Stores, Inc. (Minyard) and Leslie W. Heflin (Heflin) appeal the trial court's judgment in favor of Appellee Brenda Kay Goodman (Goodman) in an action for slander. The jury found that Heflin slandered Goodman in the course and scope of his employment at Minyard and awarded compensatory damages to Goodman in the amount of $325,000. Minyard brings three points challenging the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's verdict and its corresponding damages award and complaining that the trial court improperly instructed the jury on the issue of ratification. Heflin argues in two points that the evidence is insufficient to support the jury's finding that he slandered Goodman and to support the jury's award of damages. We affirm.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Goodman and Heflin were both employees of Minyard, working in store number 83 in Highland Village. Heflin was the store's manager and Goodman was the POS, or point of sale, coordinator, responsible for ensuring that merchandise was properly and accurately priced in the store. On January 15, 1998, Goodman was in her office at the store when Sheila Hughes, a checker, approached her screaming, "You better pack your bags. I'm fixing to get you fired." Hughes pointed to Heflin and said to Goodman, "There's the man you've been having the affair with." Gary Flowers, the district manager for Minyard, arrived at the store shortly thereafter, having received a telephone message from Hughes saying that she wished to speak with him. Hughes told Flowers that Heflin had confided in her that he and Goodman had kissed and hugged on a few occasions. Hughes felt like Goodman had found out that Heflin told her this information, and that as a result, Goodman was "taking it out on" Hughes. Flowers also spoke with another employee that day, Alejandra Marks, who reported that Heflin had told her that he and Goodman kissed and hugged. Flowers then confronted Heflin, who admitted to kissing and hugging Goodman but denied having a "sexual relationship" with her. Heflin also admitted that he kissed Marks as well. Heflin gave a written statement to Flowers on January 15 outlining these admissions. Goodman told Flowers that she had allowed Heflin to rub her shoulders and that she had given him a "friendly hug," but she denied having ever kissed him.

Marks, Heflin, and Goodman were immediately transferred to different Minyard stores. Rumors spread among other Minyard employees that Heflin and Goodman had been transferred because they were having an affair. After the transfer, Goodman received four to six telephone calls per day from different individuals saying that they had heard she was transferred for having an affair with Heflin. One day, Goodman was buying her groceries at the Minyard store where she was working after the transfer when the checker commented, "I bet it was hard to have to go home and tell your husband you had been accused of having an affair." At that point, Goodman decided that she could no longer work for Minyard and turned in her resignation.

Goodman filed suit against Hughes, Marks, Heflin, and Minyard, seeking damages for slander. The case was submitted to a jury, which found that Goodman had been slandered by Heflin but not by Hughes or Marks. The jury further found that the slanderous statements of Heflin were made in the course and scope of his employment at Minyard. The jury assessed actual damages of $325,000. The trial court entered judgment on the verdict against Heflin and Minyard, jointly and severally.

III. MINYARD'S APPEAL

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence

In its first and third points, Minyard argues that the trial court erred in denying its motions for a directed verdict, judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and new trial because the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the jury's verdict. Specifically, Minyard contends that there is no evidence or insufficient evidence to show: (1) Heflin acted in the course of scope of his employment; (2) slander because Heflin's statements were substantially true; (3) harm to Goodman's reputation; or (4) ratification.

Standard of Review--Legal Sufficiency

Legal sufficiency points are addressed as either "no evidence" or "matter of law" points.¹ When the complaining party on appeal did not have the burden of proof at trial, we address the error as a "no evidence" point.² In determining a "no-evidence" point, we are to consider only the evidence and inferences that tend to support the finding and disregard all evidence and inferences to the contrary.³ If there is more than a scintilla of such evidence to support the finding, the claim is sufficient as a matter of law.⁴

A "no-evidence" point may only be sustained when the record discloses one of the following: (1) a complete absence of evidence of a vital fact; (2) the court is barred by rules of law or evidence from giving weight to the only evidence offered to prove a vital fact; (3) the evidence offered to prove a vital fact is no more than a mere scintilla of evidence; or (4) the evidence establishes conclusively the opposite of a vital fact.⁵ There is some evidence when the proof supplies a reasonable basis on which reasonable minds may reach different conclusions about the existence of the vital fact.⁶

Standard of Review--Factual Sufficiency

As with legal sufficiency points, the standard of review on factual sufficiency points depends on who had the burden of proof at trial. When the party attacking the adverse finding did not have the burden of proof, the party must show that the evidence is insufficient to support the adverse finding.⁷ An assertion that the evidence is "insufficient" to support a fact finding means that the evidence supporting the finding is so weak or the evidence to the contrary is so overwhelming that the answer should be set aside and a new trial ordered.⁸ We are required to consider all of the evidence in the case in making this determination.⁹

Slander

In suits brought by private individuals, truth is a complete, affirmative defense to slander.¹⁰ The defendant in a defamation action, therefore, has the burden of proving that the allegedly slanderous statements were true. Because Minyard is attacking the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support an adverse answer to an issue on which it had the burden of proof at trial, Minyard must overcome two hurdles.¹¹ First, the record must be examined for evidence that supports the finding, while ignoring all evidence to the contrary. Second, if there is no evidence to support the finding, then the entire record must be examined to see if the contrary proposition is established as a matter of law.¹²

Similarly, we review Minyard's assertion that the evidence is factually insufficient to support the jury's "failure to find" that Heflin's statements were true as an argument that such answer was "against the great weight and preponderance" of the evidence.¹³ In reviewing a point asserting that an answer is "against the great weight and preponderance" of the evidence, we must consider and weigh all of the evidence, both the evidence that tends to prove the existence of a vital fact as well as evidence that tends to disprove its existence.¹⁴ So considering the evidence, if a finding is so contrary to the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly unjust, the point should be sustained, regardless of whether there is some evidence to support it.¹⁵

During the investigation, Heflin told Flowers that he had hugged and kissed Goodman on four or five occasions. Heflin also told Flowers that he had given Goodman a back rub and that there had been "heavy petting." Heflin testified, "I remember telling him that it was, like, a make-out session." According to Flowers, Goodman confirmed the back massage and also admitted that she hugged Heflin. Goodman, however, "emphatically denied" kissing Heflin. At trial, Goodman testified that she has never kissed Heflin. "I have hugged Mr. Heflin. I wouldn't say it was--I didn't mean anything by it . . . it was a friendly hug."

Minyard argues that Heflin's statements were substantially true and, therefore, not defamatory because Goodman acknowledges hugging Heflin and receiving a massage from him and "adding a kiss to this mix simply does not alter the nature of the relationship. The inferences a reasonable person would draw from the truth do not differ qualitatively from the inferences one might draw with the addition of a kiss." We find this argument unpersuasive. Based upon the evidence before it, the jury could have reasonably concluded that Heflin's statements to Flowers that he kissed Goodman and engaged in "heavy petting" and a "make-out session" with her were false. Furthermore, the jury's finding in this regard is not so contrary to the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly unjust. It is the jury's duty to weigh the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses and to resolve any conflicts and inconsistencies in the testimony. Accordingly, we hold that the evidence is legally and factually sufficient to support the jury's finding that Heflin's statements were untrue and therefore slanderous.

Course and Scope

An action is...