Anderson v. Anderson Tooling

CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 7, 2018
Docket15-1766
StatusPublished

This text of Anderson v. Anderson Tooling (Anderson v. Anderson Tooling) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Anderson Tooling, (iowactapp 2018).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 15-1766 Filed February 7, 2018

JEFFREY ANDERSON, Plaintiff-Appellant,

vs.

ANDERSON TOOLING, INC., DEAN E. ANDERSON, and CAROL A. ANDERSON, Defendants-Appellees. ___________________________

ANDERSON TOOLING, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee,

LORI J. ANDERSON and FABRICATION AND CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, INC., Defendants-Appellants. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jefferson County, Myron L. Gookin,

Judge.

Appellants appeal from adverse parts of the jury’s verdicts and the district

court’s denial of their motion for a new trial in this civil action. AFFIRMED IN

PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.

Steven Gardner of Denefe, Gardner & Zingg, P.C., Ottumwa, for appellants.

Steven E. Ballard and Abigail L. Brown of Leff Law Firm, L.L.P., Iowa City,

for appellees.

Heard by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and McDonald, JJ. 2

DOYLE, Judge.

Appellants Jeffrey Anderson, his wife Lori Anderson, and their business

Fabrication and Construction Services, Inc. appeal adverse parts of the jury’s

verdicts found in favor of Anderson Tooling, Inc. and its owners, Dean and Carol

Anderson. Appellants challenge several aspects of the jury’s verdicts and the

court’s denial of their motion for a new trial, among other things. We affirm in part,

reverse in part, and remand.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Dean Anderson and Jeff Anderson are brothers. Dean is married to Carol

and Jeff to Lori. In or about 1996, Dean and Carol started their business, Anderson

Tooling, Inc., also called ATI for short. ATI has many facets, but its primary focus

is “rigging”—moving large and heavy manufacturing machines around the country.

The company does more than just move machinery, it also provides turnkey

machine installation. ATI also operates what is essentially a salvage yard for big,

unwanted manufacturing machinery and parts. Unlike many of its competitors, if

a client needs a big machine removed and no longer wants it, ATI may accept the

machinery as a portion of its compensation for the machine’s removal.

In 2005, Dean asked Jeff to come work for ATI. ATI was in need of

organization—particularly with respect to its bookkeeping—and Jeff, who had a

master’s degree in business administration, had experience managing

manufacturing facilities. Jeff had also performed some consulting work for ATI in

the past. Dean, Carol, Jeff, and Lori met at Jeff and Lori’s home to talk about

details of Jeff’s employment. Jeff took notes of the conversation in a note book. 3

Jeff’s and Dean’s initials appear on the first page of the notes.1 The notes indicate

a base salary of $52,000 and provide:

The notes do not define profit or otherwise explain the use of the word.

Jeff began working for ATI. Lori also began working for ATI as a

bookkeeper. Jeff worked for ATI until Dean fired him in 2011.

Jeff subsequently sued ATI, Dean, and Carol, asserting four

claims: violation of Iowa Wage Payment Collection Law, breach of contract,

tortious discharge, and interference with contractual relations. ATI, Dean, and

Carol answered, asserted affirmative defenses, and made counterclaims against

Jeff for conversion, intentional interference with contracts, interference with a

prospective business advantage, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of

trade secrets. ATI then sued Jeff’s wife Lori and Jeff’s business Fabrication &

Construction Services, Inc., also called “FabCon,” asserting claims of breach of

fiduciary duty by Lori, conversion, intentional interference with contracts,

interference with prospective business advantage, and conspiracy. The lawsuits

were consolidated for trial.

A jury trial commenced May 13, 2015. Differing accounts of events leading

to Jeff’s firing were given by Jeff and Dean, among others. Jeff claimed ATI, by

way of Dean and Carol, concealed profits to keep from having to pay Jeff a

percentage of that profit. Jeff asserted that when he called Dean and Carol out on

1 Both Dean and Carol deny that Dean initialed the notes. 4

this, they fired him rather than paid him, in breach of his contract and Iowa law.

Conversely, Dean and Carol claimed Jeff was fired for mismanaging ATI and

taking money from ATI he was not due. They also asserted he gave ATI’s

customer list and rate information to FabCon, Jeff’s business, which FabCon, Jeff,

and Lori used to compete with ATI and later sold to another competitor. After

hearing almost two weeks of testimony and receiving over one hundred and sixty

exhibits, the matter was submitted to the jury on June 3, 2015. The jury was given

two verdict forms with some sixty-eight special interrogatories, along with the

court’s instructions. The first verdict form concerned Jeff’s claims against ATI,

Dean, and Carol. With respect to Jeff’s claim that ATI violated the Iowa Wage

Payment Collection Law, the jury found ATI did not owe Jeff for unpaid profit-

sharing or for accrued vacation. On Jeff’s breach-of-contract and intentional-

interference-with-a-contract claims, the jury found Jeff did not have a contract with

ATI with which to breach or interfere. However, the jury did find Jeff was an

employee of ATI and was discharged by ATI for pursuing unpaid wages, causing

Jeff damages. On the line for “lost earnings from discharge to present,” the

foreperson wrote, “$52,000 + 37,387.01 = 89,387.” The jury also awarded Jeff

$5000 for past emotional-distress damages on the claim. The jury found ATI owed

Jeff money, but that neither Dean nor Carol abused the corporate privilege.

Finally, the jury awarded Jeff $52,000 in punitive damages against ATI, Dean, and

Carol.

The second verdict form concerned ATI’s claims against Jeff, Lori, and

FabCon. The jury found no conversion of ATI’s property by Jeff, Lori, or FabCon.

However, the jury found ATI had prospective business relationships with which Jeff 5

intentionally and improperly interfered to ATI’s detriment and caused ATI damages

of $336,072.54. Though the jury found that both Lori and FabCon knew of ATI’s

prospective relationships, the jury found only FabCon intentionally and improperly

interfered with the potential relationships, but that the interference did not cause

ATI not to enter into any of the prospective relationships. Additionally, the jury

found no breach of fiduciary duty by Lori, but it found Jeff breached his fiduciary

duty to ATI and caused ATI damages of $436,225.18. The jury also found Jeff

misappropriated ATI’s trade secrets, but the misappropriation did not cause ATI

damages. On ATI’s conspiracy claim, the jury answered as follows:

The jury found the conduct of Jeff, Lori, and FabCon constituted willful and

wanton disregard of the rights of ATI, Dean, and Carol, but it awarded no punitive

damages. Lastly, the jury found the conduct of Jeff, Lori, and FabCon was not

directed specifically at ATI, Dean, and Carol. 6

Thereafter, the court entered a judgment in favor of Jeff against ATI of

$94,387.10 in compensatory damages plus $52,000 in in punitive damages. The

court also entered judgment in favor of ATI against Jeff of $772,297.72 in

compensatory damages. Several post-trial motions were subsequently filed,

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