Reihmann v. Foerstner

• Decision Date: 16 October 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-753,84-753
• Citation: 375 N.W.2d 677
• Parties: Ivan W. REIHMANN, Appellant, v. George FOERSTNER, Alex Meyer, Elmer Dittrich, Amana Refrigeration, Inc., a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Raytheon Company, the Merchants National Bank of Cedar Rapids, a National Banking Association and Dittrich-Meyer Corporation, an Iowa Corporation, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 677

375 N.W.2d 677

Ivan W. REIHMANN, Appellant, v. George FOERSTNER, Alex Meyer, Elmer Dittrich, Amana Refrigeration, Inc., a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Raytheon Company, the Merchants National Bank of Cedar Rapids, a National Banking Association and Dittrich-Meyer Corporation, an Iowa Corporation, Appellees.

No. 84-753.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 16, 1985.

Ross H. Sidney, Henry A. Harmon and Mark J. Wiedenfeld of Grefe & Sidney, Des Moines, for appellant.

Thomas M. Collins, Patrick M. Roby, Richard S. Fry and Diane Kutzko of Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.C., Cedar Rapids, for appellee bank.

Robert C. Tilden, Stephen J. Holtman and David A. Hacker of Simmons, Perrine, Albright & Ellwood, Cedar Rapids, for the other appellees.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C.J., and UHLENHOPP, McCORMICK, McGIVERIN and SCHULTZ, JJ.

McCORMICK, Justice.

Plaintiff Ivan W. Reihmann appeals from judgment on directed verdicts for defendants on several claims against them. The determinative issues are the sufficiency of evidence to support submission to the jury of claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, slander, intentional interference with plaintiff's employment contract, wrongful discharge, and breach of an option contract. We hold that the trial court was correct in finding the evidence was insufficient to support jury submission of any of the claims. Therefore we affirm the judgment.

The issues can best be understood against the background of the relationship of the parties. Plaintiff Reihmann is a lifelong resident of the Amana Colonies. At the times material to this case he was farm manager of defendant The Merchants National Bank of Cedar Rapids (the bank), a job he had held for approximately eighteen years. He was also a director of the Amana Society, a corporation headquartered in the Amana Colonies that owns farm land and various Amana enterprises. Defendant George Foerstner is also an Amana resident. At the times material here he was chairman of the board of defendant Amana Refrigeration, Inc. and a director of the bank. Defendant Alex Meyer is Foerstner's son-in-law, also an Amana resident, and at the times material here was president of Amana Refrigeration, Inc. and a director of the bank. Defendant Amana Refrigeration, Inc. was one of the bank's largest customers. Meyer and defendant Elmer Dittrich, also an Amana resident, were majority stockholders of Dittrich-Meyer Corporation, a corporation that invested in farm land in which plaintiff held a minority interest and for which he did farm work.

Plaintiff's various claims are based on events starting in May 1976 and culminating with his resignation from the bank on March 20, 1979. They all relate to his activities in the Amana Colonies. In reciting these events, because plaintiff's appeal is from directed verdicts, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to plaintiff.

In May 1976 the Amana Society initiated a lawsuit against certain private landowners in the Amana Colonies seeking to enforce land use deed restrictions. Plaintiff was elected to the Amana Society board later in 1976 and voted consistently to support the litigation. Foerstner opposed the lawsuit, alleging it was too costly and without merit. A close friend of his was a defendant in the case. In July 1978 Foerstner called plaintiff at work and expressed his opposition to the litigation. When plaintiff reaffirmed his position, Foerstner told him, "I thought you were a pretty smart fellow but now I think you're stupid."

In August 1978 bank president James Coquillette called plaintiff to a meeting with Foerstner in his office. At this meeting Foerstner again berated plaintiff for his role in the litigation and told him to remember that Foerstner was responsible for him having his job with the bank. After Foerstner left the meeting, Coquillette told plaintiff to follow his conscience. The Amana litigation was tried in September 1978, with plaintiff testifying for the society and Foerstner for the defendants.

Plaintiff separately was working on arrangements to move his farm management department from the main bank in Cedar Rapids to the bank's office in Amana. He wanted to office in Amana so he would be closer to home and to much of the land he was managing. The move was an exception to the bank policy of not employing Amana residents in its Amana office based on privacy interests of Amana customers. Out of concern that the move might create a problem with Amana customers, Coquillette had cleared the move with Alex Meyer, whom he viewed as a representative of Foerstner. Plaintiff moved his office to the Amana office on January 12, 1979. At that time Foerstner was at his winter residence in Florida.

On February 19, 1979, four employees of Amana Refrigeration, Inc. were elected to the Amana Society board. With their election the balance of power on the board shifted to directors opposing the society's litigation. On the afternoon of February 20, however, before the new directors took office, the district court issued its decision in favor of the society's position in the lawsuit.

The following events subsequently occurred:

February 22--Plaintiff was called by Coquillette who told him he had been getting telephone calls from Foerstner accusing plaintiff of looking at the files of Amana bank customers. Although Coquillette said he knew the charge was untrue plaintiff would have to move his office to another place in Amana or back to Cedar Rapids. Coquillette told plaintiff Foerstner was "a very vindictive, vengeful person."

February 23--Plaintiff was called by Dittrich who told him a meeting of Dittrich-Meyer shareholders would be held at Dittrich's home on February 24.

February 24--At the meeting in Dittrich's home, Dittrich and Meyer told plaintiff they wanted plaintiff out of the Dittrich-Meyer Corporation but did not give what plaintiff considered a valid reason.

February 25--Dittrich called plaintiff in an effort to arrange a meeting to discuss terms to purchase plaintiff's interest, but plaintiff refused to meet.

February 27--A bank official called plaintiff and told him the bank would move his office back to Cedar Rapids the following day. At plaintiff's request the move was delayed pending his meeting with Coquillette on March 5.

February 28--Dittrich again called plaintiff in an effort to arrange a meeting but plaintiff had other commitments that interfered.

March 1--Dittrich and Meyer went to plaintiff's bank office and offered him $12,000 for his Dittrich-Meyer Corporation stock. When he refused the offer, they sought to discuss alternative settlements, but plaintiff declined.

March 5--Plaintiff met with Coquillette in Cedar Rapids to protest being moved. Coquillette acknowledged that the move was precipitated by the complaints of Foerstner and Meyer. Plaintiff was emotionally upset and took the rest of the week off at Coquillette's suggestion.

March 13--The bank notified plaintiff he would be moved back to Cedar Rapids the next day.

March 14--Upon his return to work at the Amana bank office, plaintiff discovered the bank had disconnected his phone.

March 15--The bank moved plaintiff's secretary and office equipment back to Cedar Rapids.

March 16--Plaintiff called Coquillette from his home and, in a conversation that he tape recorded, he stated he was not going to move because the complaints of Foerstner were invalid. Coquillette said the move was nevertheless necessary to stop the complaints. When plaintiff said he would not move, Coquillette urged him to take some time and reconsider.

March 20--Plaintiff resigned his position with the bank. He also sent a letter to the Dittrich-Meyer Corporation in which he refused to sell his stock and sought to exercise a 1973 option to purchase additional stock. He subsequently brought the present lawsuit.

This court eventually reversed the decision of the trial court in the Amana litigation. See Amana Society v. Colony Inn, Inc., 315 N.W.2d 101 (Iowa 1982). That result, however, is not relevant here.

Plaintiff's petition contained nine counts in which he sought actual and punitive damages against defendants on various theories. After a lengthy trial, the trial court sustained defendants' motions for directed verdict on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence. Even though plaintiff presents twelve issues for review, we find that the outcome of the appeal is controlled by his failure to demonstrate error in the court's ruling on five of his theories of action.

I. Intentional infliction of emotional distress. The elements of the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress have been discussed in recent cases, including Vinson v. Linn-Mar Community School District, 360 N.W.2d 108 (Iowa 1984), and Harsha v. State Savings Bank 346 N.W.2d 791 (Iowa 1984). In the present case the trial court found that plaintiff failed to adduce substantial evidence on the elements of outrageous conduct and extreme emotional distress. We need address only the outrageous conduct element.

For conduct to be outrageous, it must be "so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 46, Comment d (1965) (approved and applied in Harsha, 346 N.W.2d at 801, and Vinson, 360 N.W.2d at 118). It is for the court in the first instance, on a motion for directed verdict, "to determine whether the relevant conduct may reasonably be regarded as outrageous." See Vinson, 360 N.W.2d at 118.

Plaintiff's strongest case was against Foerstner. His claim is that Foerstner threatened him with job reprisals if he continued to support the Amana litigation. He asserts Foerstner carried out his threat by forcing the bank to move him back to Cedar Rapids and having him expelled from the Dittrich-Meyer Corporation.

No evidence was presented that connected Foerstner to the Dittrich-Meyer events. In an effort...