Spratt v. Northern Automotive Corp., Civil 95-381 TUC RMB.

• Decision Date: 21 June 1996
• Docket Number: No. Civil 95-381 TUC RMB.,Civil 95-381 TUC RMB.
• Citation: 958 F.Supp. 456
• Parties: Amanda SPRATT, Plaintiff, v. NORTHERN AUTOMOTIVE CORP., et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Arizona

958 F.Supp. 456

Amanda SPRATT, Plaintiff, v. NORTHERN AUTOMOTIVE CORP., et al., Defendants.

No. Civil 95-381 TUC RMB.

United States District Court, D. Arizona.

June 21, 1996.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Teresa D. Forst, John Alan Doran, Kandace B. Sheya, Bryan Cave LLP, Phoenix, AZ, for Defendants.

Carol S. Korhonen, Tucson, AZ, for Plaintiff.

MEMORANDUM ORDER

BILBY, District Judge.

The Plaintiff has alleged six state law claims and one federal claim relating to her employment and eventual termination. The Defendants move for summary judgment on all but the federal claim, and seek dismissal of Plaintiff's request for punitive damages. Discovery is closed and the deadline for dispositive motions has now passed. The Court herein grants the Defendants' motions for summary judgement.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Amanda Spratt was employed by Defendant Northern Automotive Corp. (NAC) for eleven years and eventually became a store manager. She had no problems with her employment until November 1993, when Sal Meza became her district manager. That same month, the Plaintiff, being seven and a half months pregnant, requested maternity leave. While she was on leave, Meza reviewed the Plaintiff's work performance. Meza and an NAC human resources manager met with the Plaintiff and placed her on an action plan. The action detailed performance goals and explained that failure to meet the goals could result in termination.

A week later Plaintiff requested that she be demoted two levels, from store manager to assistant manager. The Defendants granted her request, demoting her and reducing her salary. Eight months later, the Plaintiff was placed on suspension. She was accused of theft, of failure to follow company policy regarding the exchange of merchandise, and of failure to report a co-worker's falsification of a time card. The next day she was fired. The Plaintiff submits that those were not the real reasons for her termination. Rather, she insists, those reasons are merely a pretext to discrimination, harassment and retaliation. She alleges that Meza was hostile to her because she was a woman and was pregnant, and headed a smear campaign to get her fired.

DISCUSSION

I. Summary Judgment Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." FED.R.CIV.P. 56(c). The moving party has the burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553-54, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Once the moving party meets this Rule 56 burden, the burden shifts to the resisting party, who "must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2514, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The resisting party cannot "rest on mere allegations or denials of his pleadings." Id. Rather, it must demonstrate the presence of factual issues that "can be resolved only by a finder of fact because they may reasonably be resolved in favor of either party." Id. at 250, 106 S.Ct. at 2511.

Summary judgment is not precluded simply because there remain some factual disputes. To defeat a motion for summary judgment, the resisting party must present facts in support of the issues on which it would bear the burden of proof at trial, there must be probative evidence of those facts, and the facts must be uncontroverted or at least create a genuine issue of material fact. Id. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. at 2510-11. The moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law if the resisting party fails to make a sufficient showing of an element of its case with respect to which it has the burden of proof. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 325, 106 S.Ct. at 2553-54. When "the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party, there is no `genuine issue for trial.'" Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (quoting First Nat'l Bank v. Cities Serv. Co., 391 U.S. 253, 288, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 1592, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968)).

II. Count One: Breach of Contract

In Count One of the First Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that she was promised the right to continued employment absent good cause for firing. The promises and representations regarding her continued employment, the Plaintiff claims, are part of her employment contract with NAC. She alleges that her demotion and eventual termination were a breach of the employment contract and were in retaliation for her complaints about misconduct. The misconduct includes forced demotion, sex discrimination, retaliation, hostile work environment, false claims and violations of company policies regarding pregnancy leave and overtime wages.

The Defendants dispute that any promises or representations were made regarding continued employment. The NAC employment manual specifically states the contrary. It provides that all employees are terminable at will, with or without cause. The manual states that it does not constitute a contract of employment. Therefore, the Defendants conclude, they were free to discharge the Plaintiff. She had no contractual right to continued employment.

Whether a particular personnel manual modifies an at-will relationship is a question of fact. Leikvold v. Valley View Community Hosp., 141 Ariz. 544, 688 P.2d 170, 174 (1984). The Plaintiff claims that her training, representations made to her, and understanding of the manual modified their at-will arrangement. While this may be true, it will not carry the day.

Determining that the Plaintiff had a contractual right to continued employment absent good cause for her termination is but the first step. For a breach to have occurred, the Defendants must have violated the modified contract created by the employment manual. That is, the personnel manual may give rise to a contractual duty, but there is no cause of action without a breach of the contractual obligation.

The parties agreed at oral argument that this case essentially boils down to one of discrimination. If the Defendants did not discriminate against the Plaintiff, they have not breached any contract which is, for this purpose, assumed between them. Breach is an essential element of this cause of action and its proof is the burden of the Plaintiff. As more fully explained below in part V, the Plaintiff has failed to present sufficient evidence of this element, of which she bears the burden of proof at trial. She relies on conclusory, factually unsupported allegations that Meza discriminated against her and retaliated when she complained. She has not presented admissible evidence sufficient to allow this claim to proceed to trial. The Defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law as to Count One.

III. Count Two: Breach of Contract (Failure to Supervise)

Plaintiff alleges in Count Two that NAC's failure to properly supervise Sal Meza is a breach of her employment contract. The poor supervision of Meza violated NAC's own policies and was known to have created a risk of harm to the Plaintiff.

The Defendants assert that there is no evidence that the Plaintiff was contractually promised that Meza would be carefully supervised. The Plaintiff responds that NAC had clear forewarning that Meza had created a hostile work environment for women.

Even if the Plaintiff is correct in that NAC knew of Meza's alleged bad conduct, she has not provided any evidence that she had a contractual right obligating NAC to supervise Meza in any particular way so as to avoid or eliminate a hostile environment. Further, Arizona does not presently recognize a contract claim for failure to supervise. This sounds more in negligence and is probably foreclosed as a tort claim under Mintz v. Bell Atlantic Sys. Leasing Int'l, 183 Ariz. 550, 905 P.2d 559 (App.1995) (limiting employment action tort claims to wrongful discharge). The Defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on this claim because no Arizona law supports it and because the Plaintiff has not met her burden of coming forward with probative evidence creating a material issue of fact.

IV. Count Three: Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

In Count Three, the Plaintiff alleges that the Defendants' conduct constitutes intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Defendants point out that Arizona has established extremely stringent standards for evaluating this type of claim at the summary judgment stage, and argue that Plaintiff has not met the standard. The Defendants are correct.

Intentional infliction of emotional distress consists of three elements. The conduct (1) must be extreme and outrageous; (2) must be causally connected to the emotional distress, and (3) the emotional distress must be severe. Venerias v. Johnson, 127 Ariz. 496, 622 P.2d 55, 58 (App.1980). See also Ford v. Revlon, Inc., 153 Ariz. 38, 734 P.2d 580, 585 (1987) (requiring intent or reckless disregard). It is the duty of the court to determine whether the evidence could allow a finding of severe emotional distress. Venerias, 622 P.2d at 59. The court must also determine whether the conduct complained of can be considered extreme and outrageous. Patton v. First Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n, 118 Ariz. 473, 578 P.2d 152, 155 (1978); Cluff v.. Farmers Ins. Exchange, 10 Ariz. App. 560, 460 P.2d 666, 668 (1969). As such, this Court is called upon to determine the sufficiency of the case. Davis v. First Nat'l Bank of Ariz., 124 Ariz. 458, 605 P.2d 37 (App.1979). Only when reasonable minds could differ does the issue go to the jury. Lucchesi v. Stimmell, 149 Ariz. 76, 716 P.2d 1013, 1016 (1986).

Both of these elements are noticeably lacking in this case. The Plaintiff has not...