Munoz v. Expedited Freight Systems, Inc.

• Decision Date: 24 October 1991
• Docket Number: No. 89 C 3700.,89 C 3700.
• Citation: 775 F. Supp. 1181
• Parties: Ricardo MUNOZ, Plaintiff, v. EXPEDITED FREIGHT SYSTEMS, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

775 F. Supp. 1181

Ricardo MUNOZ, Plaintiff, v. EXPEDITED FREIGHT SYSTEMS, INC., Defendant.

No. 89 C 3700.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, E.D.

October 24, 1991.

Mary Rose Strubbe, Kevin M. Kane, Brigham, Kane & Strubbe, Waukegan, Ill., for plaintiff.

Richard F. Zehnle, Diane Marie Kehl, Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz, Chicago, Ill., Monica Rimai, Bruce A. McIlnay, Minahan & Peterson, S.C., Milwaukee, Wis., for defendant.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AFTER TRIAL

JOAN HUMPHREY LEFKOW, United States Magistrate Judge:

This action for breach of an employment contract is pending for a determination of appropriate relief after the court entered summary judgment in favor of plaintiff, Ricardo Munoz, on liability issues. The liability of defendant, Expedited Freight Systems, Inc. ("EFS"), was determined in a Memorandum Opinion dated July 20, 1990 on the basis that EFS's employee handbook constituted a binding contract and that defendant breached the contract by failing to follow specific disciplinary procedures contained in the handbook. The damages issues were tried to the court in a one-day hearing. Based on the evidence received, the proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law submitted by the parties as well as arguments of counsel made in post-trial memoranda, the court enters the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff, Ricardo Munoz, is a citizen of Illinois who resides in this judicial district.

2. Defendant, Expedited Freight Systems, Inc. ("EFS"), is a Wisconsin corporation with its principal place of business in Wisconsin.

3. Munoz was an employee of EFS. Throughout his employment, Munoz worked at an EFS facility located in Des Plaines, Illinois. That facility is now closed.

4. Prior to his employment at EFS, Munoz had worked in the transportation industry since he graduated from high school in 1972. He worked at Motor Express of Indiana for 13 years, having begun as a dock worker. There he was promoted a number of times, to an office position dealing with accounts receivable, then to office manager, then to dispatcher/evening operations, and finally to the position of central dispatcher, organization/superintendent of maintenance. In his last position with Motor Express of Indiana he was earning about $40,000 annually.

5. From there he was recruited by a former co-worker, Jeff Stempien, to work for EFS. The president of EFS, Thomas Kurgan, offered him the position of systems operation manager at a salary of $43,000 plus a $1,000 "signing bonus", to begin in June, 1986.

6. Munoz's duties at EFS included "oversight of systems operations" and management of EFS's terminal at Des Plaines. At the time he was hired, Munoz reported to Stempien and Kurgan.

7. Munoz received annual raises in June, 1987 and June, 1988. In June, 1988, his salary was increased to $47,880 annually.

8. In addition to his salary, Munoz received a monthly bonus based on EFS's profitability. The bonus arrangement began in June, 1988. Plaintiff's total bonus for the period June through December, 1988 was $1,969. The monthly average was $281.

9. Munoz also received health insurance coverage for himself and his family, as well as life insurance. The cost of the health insurance to Munoz was $139.64 per month for continued coverage under COBRA.

10. He also had the use of a company car which he valued at approximately $200 a month.

11. In January, 1988, EFS replaced Stempien with Tony Van Der Wielen, Executive Vice-President. (Van Der Wielen left EFS in mid-1989 for reasons not of record.) Munoz then reported to Van Der Wielen and Kurgan. At this time, EFS also hired a friend of Munoz's named Richard Koenig to take over terminal manager duties that had previously been under Munoz's responsibility. Koenig reported to Munoz.

12. In April, 1988, EFS offered Munoz's job to Koenig and indicated to him that Munoz would be demoted to Koenig's job. Apparently because of his discomfort with being promoted over his friend and supervisor, Koenig soon left EFS. Munoz had contemporaneous knowledge of this offer, although he testified that Van Der Wielen told him to forget about it. He also received an annual salary increase after this occurred.

13. Koenig testified that he believed Munoz was "very in tune" with his position at EFS and that the problems at EFS were attributable to other persons, particularly Stempien.

14. In approximately September, 1988, EFS promoted James Packee to regional vice-president and located him at the Des Plaines terminal with Munoz. At that time, EFS's terminal manager was Rich Nichols. Packee has since resumed an earlier position of sales representative.

15. Munoz and Nichols had difficulty fulfilling Van Der Wielen's and Packee's expectations. Van Der Wielen, Kurgan and Packee testified that there were a number of meetings at which these problems were discussed. At one meeting, Kurgan told Nichols and Munoz that they must either resolve their differences with Van Der Wielen or leave. Packee testified that Nichols and Munoz came to him with their dissatisfaction with Van Der Wielen and Kurgan, and in the fall of 1988 they threatened to quit. Munoz, however, denied these particular incidents and denied statements that he had allegedly made criticizing Van Der Wielen and Kurgan. He testified that Packee might have misunderstood him but that Van Der Wielen was lying.

16. During December, 1988, Van Der Wielen telephoned Munoz about a problem and at the end of the conversation told Munoz to go home "and think it over". Munoz did not go home, however, and at about 2:00 that afternoon telephoned Van Der Wielen and told him that he had not left. Van Der Wielen testified that Munoz said that if EFS was dissatisfied with him, he should be fired rather than suspended. Van Der Wielen believed at that time that Munoz understood that EFS was dissatisfied with his job performance. Munoz denied that this incident occurred.

17. Kurgan testified that at some time during 1988 he had a conversation with Munoz in which Kurgan warned Munoz that Munoz was "asking" to be fired. This incident concerned Munoz's failure to locate a facility in Grand Rapids as he had been directed to do.

18. Kurgan testified that he believed in January, 1989, that Munoz was not capable of handling the position assigned to him. Munoz stated that although Kurgan criticized him from time to time, he never understood that his job was in jeopardy.

19. Van Der Wielen testified that Munoz told him in the fall of 1988 that Kurgan questioned his judgment and integrity and was concerned about his future with the company. Munoz also denied that he made any statements to this effect.

20. On January 20, 1989, Munoz was called to Milwaukee to meet with Van Der Wielen. Van Der Wielen told Munoz that he was being fired. In notes that Van Der Wielen made of that interview, he wrote that Munoz "indicated he had been frustrated on the job for over a year", that he "couldn't get the job done Tom Kurgan's way," that he "couldn't change his personality to be more aggressive" and that he "threw the towel in a long time ago". Van Der Wielen also noted that Munoz had admitted that Van Der Wielen had warned of this action on several occasions. Munoz denied all of these statements.

21. Lorie Munoz, plaintiff's wife, testified that her husband expressed shock when he was fired and indicated that he could not understand the reasons.

22. As of January 1, 1990, EFS closed its terminal in Des Plaines and consolidated the business of its Milwaukee and Des Plaines terminals in Kenosha, Wisconsin. EFS's consolidation was not motivated by Munoz's legal action against the company. As a result of the consolidation, however, Munoz's former position at EFS was eliminated. Nevertheless, EFS's president, Kurgan, testified that there are now two persons functioning as systems operations directors which is approximately the same position Munoz held. Kurgan also testified that all employees in the closed facilities were invited to move to Kenosha.

23. It is stipulated that after he was fired, Munoz diligently searched for comparable employment. While seeking full-time employment, he did casual dock labor at Preston Trucking Company, working for Rich Koenig, whom Munoz had supervised at EFS. There he earned $3,468.80 in 1989.

24. In May, 1989, a dock coordinator position became available at Preston on the 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift. The salary range of that job was considerably lower than Munoz had been earning, about $32,000-$35,000 annually. Health insurance benefits would also have been provided, but no car or bonus plan was included. The managerial level of this position was considerably lower than the position Munoz had held at EFS.

25. Whether or not the job was actually offered is a point in dispute. At Munoz's deposition, he testified that he had been offered the job but turned it down. He also stated that he had rejected an offer of employment from Preston in answers to interrogatories, stating, "It would require him to work nights and because it paid so much less than his position with EFS had." At trial, however, Munoz denied receiving an actual offer from Preston. His friend, Koenig, also testified that the offer had never been formally made because Munoz was unwilling to promise that he would transfer anywhere in the country if promoted.

26. Munoz continued to look for a comparable position without success. By late July, he began to help his father-in-law and brother-in-law in a fledgling painting business. In approximately August or September, Munoz made a decision to quit looking for work in the transportation industry and to work at building the family painting business.

27. Munoz reported an income of $2,500 in 1989 from the painting business on his tax return for that year. He reported in answers to interrogatories, however, that he had earned approximately $300 a week from mid-July to...