Warner v. Buck Creek Nursery, Inc.
| Decision Date | 21 May 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV. A. 3:00CV00092.,CIV. A. 3:00CV00092. |
| Citation | 149 F.Supp.2d 246 |
| Parties | David W. WARNER, Plaintiff, v. BUCK CREEK NURSERY, INC., et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia |
John E. Davidson, Davidson & Kitzmann, PLC, Charlottesville, VA, for Plaintiff.
Dexter Brock Green, Jones & Green, Charlottesville, VA, for Defendant.
The Plaintiff, Mr. David Warner, filed a multiple-count complaint in this Court against the defendants, Buck Creek Nursery, Inc. ("Buck Creek"), Robert C. West, Jr., and Kimberly Dickerson, based on alleged conduct arising out of his employment with Buck Creek and the termination thereof. Mr. Warner has asserted the following causes of action in ten separate counts: (1) failure to pay proper overtime compensation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act; (2) interference with and retaliation for the exercise of rights under an employer-provided disability insurance plan in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act; (3) retaliation for having filed a workers' compensation claim and for having the intention to file another; (4) wrongful discharge in violation of Virginia public policy; (5) publication and republication of malicious and false statements in violation of Section 8.01-45 of the Virginia Code; (6) defamation; (7) defamation per se; (8) intentional infliction of emotional distress; (9) tortious interference with business relations; and (10) conspiracy to injure reputation and business reputation. The defendants moved to dismiss certain counts of Mr. Warner's complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. For the reasons stated in this opinion, the defendants' motion to dismiss will be granted in part and denied in part.
What follows are the facts as alleged in Mr. Warner's complaint. Mr. Warner was employed by Buck Creek from March 10, 1994 until November 8, 2000. According to Mr. Warner, during the three years leading up to his termination, he routinely worked more than 40 hours per week. Mr. Warner alleges that during this time he ordinarily worked 50 hours per week and received a regular rate of pay that was between $14 and $17 per hour. According to Mr. Warner, Buck Creek and Robert West, a part owner and general manager of Buck Creek, willfully refused to pay him at a premium hourly rate, or "time and a half" of his regular rate of pay, for the hours that he worked in excess of 40 hours per week. Mr. Warner alleges that the defendants continued this practice with full knowledge that their actions were in violation of federal law governing compensation for overtime.
In 1996, Mr. Warner suffered severe back injuries, including a herniated disc and a bulging disc, while performing manual labor for Buck Creek. After Mr. Warner's injury, Mr. West demanded that he not make a workers' compensation claim. According to Mr. Warner, Mr. West stated that Buck Creek would continue to pay him while he recovered from his injuries if he did not make a workers' compensation claim. Mr. Warner alleges that he was concerned about Mr. West's demand that he not file a workers' compensation claim because a year earlier another employee who was persuaded by the company not to file a claim was subsequently mistreated and forced to leave his employment. Nevertheless, despite Mr. West's demand, Mr. Warner filed a workers' compensation claim and received compensation for his injuries and absences from Buck Creek's insurance carrier.
After recovering from his initial back injury, Mr. Warner returned to work at Buck Creek, but his back continued to cause him pain, and the injury eventually forced him to undergo surgery in May 1998. According to Mr. Warner, again against Mr. West's wishes, he obtained workers' compensation coverage for the surgery and the resulting absences from work. By January 1999, Mr. Warner had recovered sufficiently from his injuries so that he could return to work at Buck Creek.
Upon his return, Mr. Warner alleges that Buck Creek began treating him poorly by giving him undesirable assignments, making snide remarks about him, and being extremely disrespectful towards him. According to Mr. Warner's complaint, the company's actions indicated that it was retaliating against him because he had exercised his right to assert a workers' compensation claim in the face of the company's demand to the contrary. Nevertheless, despite his continued back pain and the defendants' retaliation against him, Mr. Warner alleges that he continued to work at Buck Creek because he need the income to support his family.
On August 1, 2000, Mr. Warner again fell victim to serious injury-this time by accidently shooting himself in the upper chest while at home cleaning his 22 caliber gun. The injury from the gunshot kept Mr. Warner from working for roughly one month, during which time he received a percentage of his ordinary income from Buck Creek's employee disability insurance plan. According to Mr. Warner, the defendants made it clear to him that they did not want him to exercise his right to receive disability benefits. As an example, Mr. Warner alleges that Mr. West visited him at his home a few days after the accident and indicated that he wanted him to return to work immediately, stating that Mr. Warner "still [had] one good arm." In addition, Mr. Warner alleges that during the same visit Mr. West attempted to persuade Mr. Warner's wife to tell him to go back to work instead of remaining on disability. Subsequently, Mr. Warner alleges that Mr. West sent him a letter in which he stated that "I am relieving you of your duties for [your] position and terminating the wage rate that you have received for that position effective immediately." Mr. West's letter did indicate, however, that he "presume[d]" that there would be another position at Buck Creek for Mr. Warner upon his return. The letter also claimed that Mr. West had "received no communication from [Mr. Warner] regarding [his] work status since [his] last day of work on August 1, 2000," but Mr. Warner alleges that he had in fact told Mr. West on two different occasions that his surgeon had indicated that his gunshot wound would not allow him to return to work until after September 1, 2000.
Mr. Warner returned to work at Buck Creek on September 5, 2000, and he performed the same job duties that he had performed before his injury, but he was paid only $14 per hour, whereas he had received $16.50 per hour before his accident. According to Mr. Warner's complaint, the pay cut was in retaliation for his having claimed disability benefits as a result of his gunshot injury. Mr. Warner also alleges that the defendants again treated him poorly upon his return to work and indicated by "hints and behavior" that he was being punished for having gone on disability after his gun accident.
In early October 2000, Mr. Warner alleges that he was summoned to Mr. West's office for a meeting with Mr. West and Tony Bennett, another part owner of Buck Creek. At this meeting, Mr. West and Mr. Bennett accused Mr. Warner of having stolen an automotive part from Buck Creek. In support of the charge, Mr. West informed Mr. Warner that on September 29, 2000 someone had bought automobile ball joints from an auto parts store for his or her personal use and had charged the purchase to Buck Creek. In addition, Mr. West and Mr. Bennett showed Mr. Warner a receipt from the auto parts store, but according to Mr. Warner the signature line was blank. Mr. Warner vehemently denied having stolen from the company, and he alleges that Mr. West and Mr. Bennett knew or should have known that the accusation was false. According to Mr. Warner's complaint, Kimberly Dickerson, the office manager of Buck Creek, in conjunction with Mr. West and Buck Creek, fabricated the theft charges against Mr. Warner because of her personal dislike for him.
According to Mr. Warner, despite the false accusations and mistreatment, he continued to work for Buck Creek in order to provide for his family, but, in late October 2000, his back condition deteriorated, forcing him to make two separate visits to the emergency room on October 25 and to miss several days of work. Mr. Warner again received coverage from Buck Creek's workers' compensation carrier, but Mr. Warner alleges that Mr. West again "indicated his extreme displeasure" with Mr. Warner's having claimed workers' compensation.
On November 8, 2000, Mr. Warner was fired by Buck Creek. The termination letter that Mr. Warner received indicated that he was being fired because he had committed theft by purchasing auto parts for his personal use and then charging those parts to Buck Creek. The letter also accused Mr. Warner of "deliberately lying" to his superiors when asked about his involvement in the theft. Mr. Warner alleges that, both before and after his termination, the defendants told many people, including employees of Buck Creek, that he committed theft and that he was being fired as a result of the theft. According to Mr. Warner's complaint, the defendants made these statements with malice or with reckless disregard for their truth and with the intent to destroy his reputation in the community. Mr. Warner alleges that defendants Buck Creek and Mr. West made the statements in order to disguise their true reason for terminating him, which was to retaliate against him for exercising his rights under the workers' compensation laws of Virginia and under the ERISA-governed disability insurance plan provided by Buck Creek to its employees. Mr. Warner alleges in his complaint that Ms. Dickerson made the statements because of her "personal dislike" for him. It is out of the facts stated above that the numerous causes of action alleged in Mr. Warner's complaint arose.
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