Shaw v. Burchfield, 55061
| Citation | 481 So.2d 247 |
| Decision Date | 13 November 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 55061,55061 |
| Parties | Miles L. SHAW v. Charles BURCHFIELD, Charles E. Thomas, Everett Stringer, Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company, Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, Mississippi Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, and Marion County Farm Bureau (AAL). |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi |
Dixon L. Pyles, Pyles & Tucker, Jackson, for appellant.
Sam E. Scott, William T. May, Heidelberg, Woodliff & Franks, Jackson, for appellees.
Before ROY NOBLE LEE, P.J., and PRATHER and ROBERTSON, JJ.
I.
This case presents us with an all too familiar scenario upon the landscape of corporate America. A man invests twenty-six years of his life in serving a relatively large, and always impersonal, corporate organization, in this case an insurance company. Used up, he is discharged on ten days notice, no cause given and, it is contended, none required. In the end, the attendant rights and burdens are imposed by law, not sympathy or outrage.
Unlike many at will termination cases, this record presents us express written contractual language by its terms legally empowering either party to terminate the contract without cause provided only that ten days advance written notice be given. Conceding as an illusion that the parties are in a posture of economic parity one with the other, particularly in ability to absorb the consequences of termination, we consider it our obligation to enforce the contract as written, as did the trial judge. The employee has made his bargain, in the end an improvident one, yet one, on the facts presented, we regard as beyond our authority to disturb.
II.
Miles L. Shaw, Plaintiff below and Appellant here, was born on April 28, 1925, and is an adult resident citizen of Marion County, Mississippi. Beginning in July of 1955, Shaw began working for a conglomeration of three Farm Bureau Insurance Companies serving as their agent.
Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company, Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, and Mississippi Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company are Mississippi corporations organized for the purpose of meeting the insurance needs of Mississippi citizens, particularly the insurance needs of Mississippi farmers. The three Defendant insurance companies are separate and distinct corporate entities which have a joint, state-wide sales force that commonly serves each of the Companies. Each is an Appellee here.
Two of the named individual Defendants, Charles Burchfield and Charles E. Thomas, are employees in the state-wide sales department which serves the three Farm Bureau Insurance Companies. Burchfield is the State Sales Director and Thomas is a District Sales Manager. Burchfield and Thomas are Appellees here.
Defendant Everett Stringer is the elected President of Defendant Marion County Farm Bureau, but is not an officer or employee of the Farm Bureau Insurance Companies. Stringer is an Appellee here.
Marion County Farm Bureau (AAL), another Defendant, is an organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Mississippi for the purpose of serving the needs of farmers in Marion County, Mississippi. Defendant Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation is an organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Mississippi for the purpose of serving the needs of farmers throughout the State of Mississippi. Each of these Defendants is an Appellee here.
Miles Shaw contracted to work as agency manager for the three Farm Bureau Insurance Companies in Marion County in 1968 and continued in that capacity until his employment was terminated on June 1, 1981. Shaw had signed agency manager contracts with each, most recently on the following dates:
(1) Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company Agency Manager Contract--January 1, 1980.
(2) Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company Agency Manager Contract--March 1, 1974.
(3) Mississippi Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company Agency Manager Contract--March 1, 1974.
The Farm Bureau insurance business in Marion County was, by virtue of Shaw's position under the contracts, primarily under his direction and control. This included the solicitation of insurance applications, the training and supervision of agents and office personnel, and the daily operations and functions of the insurance office.
Each of the three contracts contained a termination clause. Shaw's contract with Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company provided as follows:
We both agree that this contract, together with any and all riders and supplements hereto, shall terminate:
(a) as of the last day of the month in which you attain the age of seventy (70) years;
(b) Ten (10) days following written notice of termination by either party to the other party computed from date of mailing said notice to the last known address of such other party by registered or certified mail. Either party may elect to so terminate this contract, and no cause shall be required; (Emphasis added)
(c) Immediately upon the commission of any act of dishonesty or fraud or any attempt on your part to induce any agent of the Company to terminate his services;
(d) Upon your death or your permanent or otherwise incapacitating disability.
Shaw's contract with Southern Farm Casualty Insurance Company stated as follows:
It is mutually agreed that this contract, together with any and all riders and supplements hereto, shall terminate:
(a) as of December 31 of the calendar year in which you attain the age of sixty-five (65) years;
(b) Ten (10) days following written notice of termination by either party to the other party computed from date of mailing said notice to the last known address of such other party. Either party may elect to so terminate this contract, and no cause shall be required; (Emphasis added)
(c) Immediately upon the commission of any act of dishonesty or fraud.
Shaw's contract with Mississippi Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company stated as follows:
It is mutually agreed that this contract, together with any and all riders and supplements hereto, shall terminate:
(a) Ten (10) days following written notice of termination by either party to the other party computed from date of mailing said notice to the last known address of such other party. Either party may elect to so terminate this contract, and no cause shall be required; (Emphasis added)
(b) Immediately upon the commission of any act of dishonesty or fraud.
(c) Upon your death or upon determination by the Company that you are unable to continue your duties;
(d) As of December 31 of a calendar year in which you attain the age of sixty-five (65) years.
In addition to these provisions, each contract contained express provisions that the particular contracts cancelled and superseded any prior contracts between the particular company and Shaw, and that failure of either party to insist upon strict performance of any condition of the contract could not be construed as a waiver of any such condition. Finally, each contract contained a provision to the effect that it could be modified only
by agreement in writing, executed on behalf of the Company by a duly authorized officer or representative of the Company.
Throughout much of the time he worked with these companies, Shaw has had a series of health problems sometimes requiring hospitalization. Beginning in 1980, Shaw suffered and was treated for a sinus problem, arthritis, a cardio-vascular problem, high blood pressure and tularemia. In December of 1980 he had a heart catheterization. He was hospitalized for ten days from the latter part of April to the first week of May. By his admission, for the period of one year just prior to his termination in May, he was either hospitalized or at home sick for sixty days.
On May 13, 1981, Shaw was informed by certified letter that the Agency Manager Contracts between him and the Defendant Farm Bureau Insurance Companies were terminated effective June 1, 1981. No cause was given. Three days later, on the 15th or 16th of May, Shaw was again admitted to the hospital for his heart condition and depression.
Miles L. Shaw commenced this civil action on March 31, 1982, by filing his complaint in the Circuit Court of Marion County, Mississippi. The Defendants are named above. Suffice it to say that Shaw has sued everyone in sight.
In his complaint, Shaw demanded of the Defendants damages said to have arisen from termination of his employment, asserting three theories of liability:
(1) Breach of contract;
(2) Intentional interference with existing contracts and prospective contractual relations; and
(3) Conspiracy to involuntarily deprive Shaw of his position as agency manager and to deprive him of his business properties.
One count of the Complaint alleges that the Defendants failed and refused, and still fail and refuse, to perform the contracts which Shaw entered into with the corporate Defendants, i.e., that the corporate Defendants breached their contracts with Shaw.
Count Two of the Complaint alleges that the "individual" Defendants intentionally and improperly interfered with the performance of the existing contracts between Shaw and the Defendant insurance companies by inducing and otherwise causing the insurance companies not to perform the contracts. Count Two further alleges that the "individual" Defendants intentionally and improperly interfered with Shaw's prospective contractual relations with the insurance companies and that the "individual" Defendants induced and otherwise caused the insurance companies not to enter into or continue the prospective relations with Shaw and prevented him from continuing the prospective relations.
The final count of Shaw's Complaint alleges that all of the Defendants conspired together from an unspecified date in 1975 until May 13, 1981, to have Shaw illegally placed in the status of involuntarily retired...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Cromwell v. Williams
...administrator, and there is no genuine issue of material fact as to whether either party was acting in bad faith. See Shaw v. Burchfield , 481 So. 2d 247, 255 (Miss. 1985). Therefore, we affirm the circuit court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Defendants.FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HIS......
-
Lofton v. City of West Point
...with his principal's contractual relationship with a third person.'" Morrison, 798 So. 2d at 574 (¶ 24) (quoting Shaw v. Burchfield, 481 So. 2d 247, 255 (Miss. 1985)). The Mississippi Court of Appeals has stated "[t]he word 'unlawful' in the third element of the tort is somewhat redundant, ......
-
Smith v. St. Regis Corp., 3:85-cv-140WS.
...is a combination of persons for the purpose of accomplishing an unlawful purpose or a lawful purpose unlawfully. Shaw v. Burchfield, 481 So.2d 247, 255 (Miss.1985). In order to avoid summary judgment, the plaintiffs must offer evidence which supports a finding at trial that the defendants a......
-
Texas Beef Cattle Co. v. Green
...Beane v. McMullen, 265 Md. 585, 291 A.2d 37, 47 (1972); Tuttle v. Buck, 107 Minn. 145, 119 N.W. 946, 948 (1909); Shaw v. Burchfield, 481 So.2d 247, 255 (Miss.1985); Huskie v. Griffin, 75 N.H. 345, 74 A. 595, 598-99 (1909); Leslie Blau Co. v. Alfieri, 157 N.J.Super. 173, 384 A.2d 859, 867 (C......