Murphy v. Publicker Industries, Inc.

• Decision Date: 06 October 1986
• Citation: 516 A.2d 47,357 Pa.Super. 409
• Parties: , 107 Lab.Cas. P 55,774, 2 IER Cases 1795 Thomas R. MURPHY, Appellant, v. PUBLICKER INDUSTRIES, INC., Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 47

516 A.2d 47

357 Pa.Super. 409, 107 Lab.Cas. P 55,774,

2 IER Cases 1795

Thomas R. MURPHY, Appellant, v. PUBLICKER INDUSTRIES, INC., Appellee.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued May 29, 1986.

Filed Oct. 6, 1986.

David C. Harrison, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Harry Lore, Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before WIEAND, BECK and JOHNSON, JJ.

BECK, Judge:

Appellant Thomas R. Murphy ("Murphy") was employed by appellee Publicker Industries, Inc. ("Publicker") from September 1951 until his dismissal in April 1979. In March, 1981, Murphy instituted suit for wrongful dismissal against Publicker, alleging that Publicker dismissed him without cause and in breach of Murphy's alleged lifetime employment contract with Publicker. After a jury trial conducted before the Honorable Leon Katz, the jury returned a verdict for Murphy and awarded him $94,000 in damages. On September 9, 1985, Judge Katz granted Publicker's motion for a new trial on the ground that the court's instructions to the jury had not accurately and completely reflected the law of Pennsylvania concerning lifetime employment contracts. This appeal followed.

The issues before us are whether jury instructions that equate the concepts of "lifetime" employment contracts and employment contracts for a "definite" period of time are in error and, if they are, whether that error is harmless.

We hold that a contract for employment for life does not, without more, constitute an enforceable contract for employment for a specific, definite duration and, therefore instructions that direct the jury to equate these concepts are in error. We further hold that such error was sufficiently prejudicial to Publicker to justify the trial court's grant of a new trial. We affirm the order of the common pleas court.

Approximately three years after Murphy began work at Publicker, Publicker's New York district supervisor offered Murphy a promotion. Acceptance of the new position would require Murphy to move his young family to Philadelphia from the New York metropolitan area where they had recently purchased a home and had friends and family. Murphy alleges that the supervisor assured Murphy that if he accepted the new position, he "would be working for the company forever." Allegedly in reliance on this assurance, Murphy accepted the promotion and moved to Philadelphia where he continued in Publicker's employ until his dismissal in 1979.

Murphy contends that this course of events gave rise to an enforceable employment contract pursuant to which Publicker agreed to employ Murphy for life, presumably unless he gave them just cause to fire him by not performing in accordance with the requirements of his position. Although Publicker contends that they did have such cause to fire, the jury apparently believed Murphy's allegation that Publicker fired him without cause. However, Publicker further contends that even if there was no cause to fire, they nevertheless had the legal right to discharge Murphy at any time and for any or no reason because he was an at-will employee with no contract for employment for any definite period of time. Henry v. Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Co., 139 Pa. 289, 21 A. 157 (1891).

This case is another in a now long series of cases in which the courts of this Commonwealth have recently been called upon to award a discharged employee with no written employment contract relief based on a wider theory of what constitutes an enforceable agreement between an employer and an employee under which the employee has a right to continued employment. Darlington v. General Electric, 350 Pa.Super. 183, 504 A.2d 306 (1986); Banas v. Matthews International Corp., 348 Pa.Super. 464, 502 A.2d 637 (1985).

In reviewing the trial court's grant of a new trial, we must affirm unless the trial court abused its discretion or committed a clear error of law. Simmons v. St. Clair Memorial Hospital, 332 Pa.Super. 444, 481 A.2d 870 (1984). In this case, application of this standard of review requires us to analyze Pennsylvania law regarding oral "lifetime" employment contracts to determine whether the trial court committed a clear error of law in deciding that it had improperly charged the jury as to that issue.

In other words, the issue here is not whether the trial court abused its discretion, but whether the sole and exclusive reason that the trial court assigned for its grant of a new trial has legal merit. ¹ Keefer v. Byers, 398 Pa. 447, 159 A.2d 477 (1960). If the trial court did deliver a fundamentally erroneous charge that was prejudicial to Publicker, the grant of a new trial must be affirmed. Pavorsky v. Engels, 410 Pa. 100, 188 A.2d 731 (1963) (erroneous jury charge merits award of new trial); Eldridge v. Melcher, 226 Pa.Super. 381, 388, 313 A.2d 750, 754 (1973). We note that "[i]n determining whether fundamentally erroneous instructions require the grant of a new trial, whether such instructions did or did not bring about the complained of verdict is not the question. If it appears that such instructions might have been responsible for the verdict, a new trial is mandatory [citation omitted]." Vaughn v. Philadelphia Transportation Co., 417 Pa. 464, 468, 209 A.2d 279, 282 (1965). If the charge is erroneous in a basic sense and the extent to which it might have been prejudicial to the complaining party cannot be determined, the grant of a new trial is proper. Kelly v. Crawford, 137 Pa.Super. 197, 205, 8 A.2d 449, 452 (1939).

The pertinent sections of the charge that give rise to this inquiry are as follows:

The plaintiff contends that the evidence establishes, by a fair preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant agreed to employ him for the rest of his life. That's what he testified to. I think he called it lifetime. The defendant doesn't buy that concept. They disagree with the plaintiff's version, in that the Publicker corporation says that there was no definite time period for the agreement. That's an important phrase in the case, that it was a contract for employment or promotion, but there wasn't any definite time. Now, you have a conflict there.

Now, contracts may be either in writing or they may be oral and they are just as effective whether they are writing or oral. Where an oral contract is claimed, as in this case, you must determine, since you don't have anything in writing to look at, you must determine from the spoken language of the parties to the contract and the surrounding circumstances at the time of the alleged contract to determine whether the parties had a binding agreement concerning the duration of the employment contract.

Now, what do I mean by surrounding circumstances? Certain things were testified to by the plaintiff. ... [H]e testified that he lived in Bergen County. I think he said he had an office in the Empire State Building and he had two or three children, I think, and his wife was pregnant at the time and that, as part of this discussion he had with Mr. Foy [the supervisor], he moved into the Philadelphia area, relocated.

* * *

An agreement, is the meeting of the two minds, if there are two people, as there are here, to the same thing. When a contract does not state, does not state a definite term for the duration of the employment relationship, the law presumes that either party can end the employment at any time for any reason.

* * *

Therefore, if you find that the contract involved in this case was not for a definite term then your verdict must be for the defendant. For the plaintiff to be successful in this case he must prove to you that his employment contract was for a definite term. Now, if you believe that at the time the contract was created the parties intended that the plaintiff's employment would continue for a definite term, in this case, lifetime, then plaintiff has proven that his employment was not based on an at will contract.

When a contract is for a definite term an employer cannot discharge an employee before the end of that term without a legitimate reason.... Therefore, if you find that the plaintiff was hired for any definite term and the defendant discharged him without justifiable cause then your verdict should be for the plaintiff....

(N.T. 188-91).

In reviewing a grant of a new trial based on an allegedly erroneous jury charge, we must read the charge in its entire context. Keba v. Pickett, 434 Pa. 148, 252 A.2d 675 (1969). In this case, such a reading reveals that at several points, the trial judge communicated the concept that if the jury found that Publicker had agreed to employ Murphy for his lifetime, that alone would establish that Murphy had an employment contract for a definite period which, if breached, gave rise to a right to relief.

This misleading concept was first conveyed to the jury when the trial court contrasted Murphy's and Publicker's views of the case by stating that Murphy alleged he had a lifetime contract, whereas Publicker contended "that there was no definite time period for the agreement." (N.T. 188). This clearly suggests that a lifetime contract is a definite one. The trial court reiterated this misconception of the law later in the charge when it told the jury that they should find that Murphy had proven he was not an at-will employee if they found that "the parties intended that the plaintiff's [Murphy's] employment would continue for a definite term, in this case, lifetime...." (N.T. 190).

Further, in instructing the jury as to the importance of appraising the "surrounding circumstances" of the alleged oral contract, the trial judge stated that the surrounding circumstances were pertinent to whether the parties had reached an agreement and what its terms were. In the instant case, where the plaintiff is attempting to remove himself from the at-will-employment presumption and establish a lifetime contract, the trial judge should also have specifically instructed the jury to consider the surrounding circumstances as they relate to that issue....