Rohde v. First Deposit Nat. Bank, 84-059
| Decision Date | 15 August 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-059,84-059 |
| Citation | 127 N.H. 107,497 A.2d 1214 |
| Parties | , 120 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2360 John ROHDE v. FIRST DEPOSIT NATIONAL BANK, f/k/a The Citizens National Bank. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Nighswander, Martin, Kidder & Mitchell P.A., Laconia (David L. Harrigan, on brief and orally, and Patrick H. Wood, Laconia, on brief), for plaintiff.
Wadleigh, Starr, Peters, Dunn & Chiesa, Manchester (Eugene M. Van Loan, III, on brief and orally), for defendant.
The plaintiff, John Rohde, seeks damages under an employment contract as a result of the termination of his employment as Vice-President of the First Deposit National Bank of Tilton.
The plaintiff had originally been employed by the defendant, First Deposit National Bank (then known as The Citizens National Bank) from 1966 to 1971, and became Cashier of the bank by 1971. He subsequently left on good terms to work as Vice-President and Treasurer of the Londerderry Bank and Trustr Co. (which is not a national bank).
In 1980, the President of Citizens National Bank asked the plaintiff to return to work there and offered as an inducement to him a three-year employment contract under which, should the bank elect to discharge him, he would be paid compensation for a thirty-six month period unless the dismissal was due to fraud, forgery, or other breach of trust on his part. Relying upon the offered terms of the contract, the plaintiff accepted the bank's offer of employment and moved from Londonderry to Tilton.
In January 1982, the defendant terminated the plaintiff's employment without notice (for reasons other than fraud or forgery) and refused to pay the amount stipulated as "compensation" under the contract (thirty-six months compensation at the plaintiff's annual salary rate of $25,000).
The plaintiff filed suit, seeking in six separate counts to enforce his rights under the contract (Count I), to recover damages under RSA 275:44 for unpaid compensation (Count II), and to recover damages for negligent misrepresentation and deceit, attorney's fees, and compensatory damages. The defendant moved to dismiss all counts claiming that the plaintiff's writ failed to state a cause of action. In January 1984, upon the recommendation of a Master (Mayland H. Morse, Jr., Esq.), the Superior Court (Dunn, J.) dismissed the suit. In reaching its decision the superior court relied upon 12 U.S.C. § 24, para. Fifth (1976), which empowers a national bank to "elect or appoint directors, and by its board of directors to ... dismiss such officers or any of them at pleasure ...," and our decision in McGeehan v. Bank of New Hampshire, 123 N.H. 83, 455 A.2d 1054 (1983).
In McGeehan, supra at 86, 455 A.2d 1054, we referred to cases in other jurisdictions interpreting 12 U.S.C. § 24, para. Fifth...
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