Schulz v. JTL Grp., Inc.

• Decision Date: 27 November 2018
• Docket Number: DA 18-0225
• Citation: 430 P.3d 528 (Table),2018 MT 285 N
• Parties: Tye SCHULZ, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. JTL GROUP, INC., d/b/a/ Knife-River, Defendant and Appellee.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

430 P.3d 528 (Table)

2018 MT 285 N

Tye SCHULZ, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.JTL GROUP, INC., d/b/a/ Knife-River, Defendant and Appellee.

DA 18-0225

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs: September 26, 2018

Decided: November 27, 2018

For Appellant: Ben T. Sather, Sather Law, PLLC, Billings, Montana

For Appellee: Harlan B. Krogh, Crist, Krogh & Nord, PLLC, Billings, Montana

Justice James Jeremiah Shea delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶ 1 Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(c), Montana Supreme Court Internal Operating Rules, this case is decided by memorandum opinion and shall not be cited and does not serve as precedent. Its case title, cause number, and disposition shall be included in this Court’s quarterly list of noncitable cases published in the Pacific Reporter and Montana Reports.

¶ 2 Tye Schulz appeals the Order of the Thirteenth Judicial District, Yellowstone County, granting JTL Group, Inc.’s Motion for Summary Judgment. We affirm.

¶ 3 Schulz worked for JTL Group, Inc. (known as "Knife-River") in various capacities for twenty-nine years. In 2016, Schulz was working as a Project Superintendent. Schulz reported directly to Project Manager Eric Van Hemelryck, and Van Hemelryck reported directly to General Manager J. Halvor Fuglevand.

¶ 4 On March 21, 2016, Schulz and two other Knife-River employees were working on a job near Lodge Grass, when Schulz discovered that fuel was siphoned from company equipment left on the job site. On March 23, 2016, Schulz arrived on the job site to find wet and muddy conditions due to recent rain and snow. Schulz and another employee got their vehicles stuck, and Schulz stated he "needed to get his pickup unstuck with the [company] bulldozer." Schulz shut down the job site because of the poor conditions. Schulz and the other employee then noticed some of the heavy equipment had again been vandalized: padlocks and battery cables had been cut and fuel and batteries were stolen.

¶ 5 Schulz traveled about a mile from the job site, where there was cellular service, and called Van Hemelryck to report the vandalism. Van Hemelryck instructed Schulz to: (1) report the vandalism to the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Department; (2) take photographs of the damaged equipment; and (3) contact a private landowner to make arrangements to store the heavy equipment on the landowner’s property adjacent to the job site.¹ Schulz called the landowner, who lived roughly a half-mile up the road, but was unable to reach him. At 8:31 a.m., Schulz called the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Department to report the vandalism. Schulz arranged to meet Deputy Mike Colvin at a specific mile marker along the road. While waiting at the designated mile marker, Schulz "did the incident report ... and took some pictures...." Schulz claimed he did not travel the half-mile to the landowner’s property to attempt to make arrangements because he did not want to miss Deputy Colvin’s arrival. It is unclear whether the other employee was still present at the job site, but Schulz did not send any employees to make arrangements with the landowner. At 10:55 a.m., Deputy Colvin arrived. While Schulz conversed with Deputy Colvin, the landowner drove by the job site and stopped to speak briefly with Schulz. Schulz stated that,

I told [the landowner] that I needed to get with him to try and make an arrangement to maybe put equipment on his land, but he had to get to town, and I had to get with the sheriff to do that report, so I never actually got to really meet with [the landowner] on that subject.

At 11:11 a.m., Schulz concluded his report with Deputy Colvin. Schulz then returned to Billings, arriving around 1:00 p.m. Schulz reported to Knife-River’s West End shop and delivered the photographs of the damaged equipment.

¶ 6 Around 3:30 p.m., Schulz went to Knife-River’s administrative offices, also located in Billings. There, Fuglevand and Van Hemelryck questioned Schulz about whether he had secured the heavy equipment. Schulz stated that he had not, and he suggested hiring a night watchman to guard the equipment. Fuglevand and Van Hemelryck rejected that suggestion and instructed Schulz to return to the job site to make an agreement with the landowner and to move the equipment onto the private property. Schulz objected, arguing the ground was "slop" and not suitable for moving heavy equipment. Fuglevand disagreed, and stated that it would not be a problem to move "tracked and all-wheel-drive construction equipment over muddy ground...." Fuglevand again instructed Schulz to return to the job site and secure the equipment. Schulz responded, "I can’t do that." Following this refusal, Fuglevand told Schulz, "[y]ou’re done then." Schulz demanded a termination slip, which Fuglevand provided to him. The termination slip stated that Schulz was terminated because he had refused to perform his duty to secure company equipment. That evening, Van Hemelryck went to the job site. Van Hemelryck made a verbal agreement with the landowner that Knife-River would blade the landowner’s road in exchange for allowing Knife-River to move the equipment onto the landowner’s property. Van Hemelryck and another employee then moved the heavy equipment to the property.

¶ 7 On February 15, 2017, Schulz filed a wrongful discharge suit against Knife-River, alleging Knife-River lacked good cause to terminate his employment.² On December 29, 2017, Knife-River moved for summary judgment. On February 14, 2018, the District Court granted Knife-River’s Motion. Schulz appeals.

¶ 8 This Court reviews de novo a district court’s grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment pursuant to M. R. Civ. P. 56. Schuff v. Jackson , 2008 MT 81, ¶ 14, 342 Mont. 156, 179 P.3d 1169. Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue of material fact, and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. M. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(3) ; Wendell v. State Farm. Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. , 1999 MT 17, ¶ 9, 293 Mont. 140, 974 P.2d 623. The evidence, as well as all justifiable inferences drawn from it, must be viewed in a light most favorable to the non-moving party. Svaldi v. Anaconda-Deer Lodge County , 2005 MT 17, ¶ 12, 325 Mont. 365, 106 P.3d 458 ; Rosenthal v. County of Madison , 2007 MT 277, ¶ 22, 339 Mont. 419, 170 P.3d 493. Once the moving party has met its burden of establishing an absence of genuine issues of material fact and entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, the non-moving party must present material and substantial evidence, rather than mere conclusory or speculative statements. Smith v. Burlington N. & Santa Fe Ry. Co. , 2008 MT 225, ¶ 10, 344 Mont. 278, 187 P.3d 639 (quoting Hiebert v. Cascade County , 2002 MT 233, ¶ 21, 311 Mont. 471, 56 P.3d 848 ). A non-moving party "cannot create a disputed issue of material fact by putting his own interpretations and conclusion on an otherwise clear set of facts." Koepplin v. Zortman Mining , 267 Mont. 53, 61, 881 P.2d 1306, 1311 (1994).

¶ 9 Under the Montana Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act (WDEA), discharge from employment is wrongful if it is not for good cause. Section 39-2-904(1)(b), MCA. "Good cause" is defined as "reasonable job-related grounds for dismissal based on a failure to satisfactorily perform job duties, disruption of the employer’s operation, or other legitimate business reason." Section 39-2-903(5), MCA ; Davis v. State , 2015 MT 264, ¶ 10, 381 Mont. 59, 357 P.3d 320.

¶ 10 "Reasonable job-related grounds for dismissal" may include an employee’s failure to obey an order given by a supervisor, failure to report for work, failure to complete work, or a violation of employee handbook polices. See Fenger v. Flathead County , 277 Mont. 507, 513, 922 P.2d 1183, 1186 (1996) (affirming a district court’s grant of summary judgment for the county employer where an employee repeatedly ignored written and oral directives in violation of his employer’s policies); Davis , ¶¶ 14–16 (affirming a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of state employer where the employee repeatedly failed to report for work, refused to attend meetings, and failed to satisfactorily perform her job duties); Becker v. Rosebud Operating Servs., Inc. , 2008 MT 285, ¶¶ 2830, 345 Mont. 368, 191 P.3d 435 (affirming a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an employer where an employee hurdled profanity-laced verbal assaults at his supervisors in direct contravention of employee standards of conduct set forth in the employee handbook); Mysse v. Martens , 279 Mont. 253, 262–63, 926 P.2d 765, 770–71 (1996) (affirming a district court’s dismissal of employee’s wrongful discharge claim where the employee refused to complete tasks not explicitly within the job description but still reasonable employer directives based on her position). "A legitimate business reason" is a reason that is not "false, whimsical, arbitrary,...