DeAngelis v. Weston Associates Management Co.

23 Mass. L. Rptr. 643
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedApril 7, 2008
DocketNo. MICV2007-00662
StatusPublished

This text of 23 Mass. L. Rptr. 643 (DeAngelis v. Weston Associates Management Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
DeAngelis v. Weston Associates Management Co., 23 Mass. L. Rptr. 643 (Mass. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

Fremont-Smith, Thayer, J.

This case arises out of a dispute between plaintiff, Gary DeAngelis (plaintiff), and defendants Weston Associates Management, Co., Inc.; Weston Associates, Inc.; Weston Associates Development Company, Inc.; 39 Beaver, LLC; Paul J. Donahue, Jr.; and Mark J. Donahue (defendants), over the payment of an employment contract. Defendants move for summary judgment on plaintiffs c. 93A claim, arguing that the claim is outside the scope of c. 93A because it arises from an employer-employee relationship. Plaintiff counters by arguing that the misrepresentations giving rise to his c. 93A claim occurred before there was an employment relationship and are therefore actionable under c. 93A. For the following reasons, defendants’ motion for summary judgment is ALLOWED.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Law

Summary judgment is appropriate where there is no genuine issue of material fact, and where viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmov-ing parly, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Mass.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Opara v. Massachusetts Mut. Life Ins. Co., 441 Mass. 539, 544 (2004). The moving party bears the burden of affirmatively demonstrating the absence of a triable issue, and that the summary judgment record entitles the moving party to judgment as a matter of law. Pederson v. Time, Inc., 404 Mass. 14, 16-17 (1989).

The moving party may satisfy this burden either by submitting affirmative evidence that negates an essential element of the opposing party’s case or by demonstrating that the opposing parly has no reasonable expectation of proving an essential element of its case at trial. Flesner v. Technical Comm. Corp., 410 Mass. 805, 809 (1991); Kourouvacilis v. General Motor Corp., 410 Mass. 704, 716 (1991). The nonmoving parly cannot defeat the motion for summary judgment by resting on his or her pleadings and mere assertions of disputed facts to defeat the motion. LaLonde v. Eissner, 405 Mass. 207, 209 (1989).

Plaintiff’s c. 93A Claim

Plaintiff alleges that, prior to his accepting employment with the defendants, defendants intentionally misrepresented the amount of compensation he would receive as an employee. Specifically, plaintiff alleges that defendants promised him an hourly wage of $45 though he was paid significantly less than this amount. Assuming, for the purposes of this motion, that these allegations are true, the issue before the Court is whether this conduct “arose out of an employment relationship” and thus falls outside the scope of G.L.c. 93A because of the private nature of an employment contract. See Manning v. Zuckerman, 388 Mass. 8, 10-13 (1983). In discussing this issue, the Court in Manning, stated:

(E)mployment agreements between an employee and the organization of which he is a member do not constitute “trade” or “commerce” as those terms are defined under § 1 (b) of c. 93A. This statutory definition of trade or commerce includes the act of “offering for sale . . . any services.” [The plaintiff] contends that the sale of his “editorial services” falls within this definition. We conclude, however, that the services contemplated by this definition are those offered generally by a person for sale to the public in a business transaction, not those services sold by an employee to an employer within the same organization . . . Similarly, although a magazine publishing company engages in trade or commerce, the hiring and firing of employees is not part of the company’s commercial activities with regard to consumers, competitors, or other business persons ... An employee and an employer are not engaged in trade or commerce with each other. As a result, disputes arising from an employment relationship between an employee and the organization that employs him, or between an employee and other members of that organization are not covered by the c. 93A remedies afforded in commercial transactions. Thus, although we grant that the company is engaged in trade or commerce, [the plaintiff] was not engaged “in the conduct of trade or commerce" within the meaning of § 11, either in his employment relationship with the company or in his relationship with Zuckerman.

Id. at 13 (footnotes omitted) (emphasis supplied).

Although plaintiff acknowledges that, in general, “claims between an employer and employee fall outside the scope of Chapter 93A,” he relies on Weeks v. Harbor National Bank, 388 Mass. 141, 144 n.2 (1983), in arguing that unfair or deceptive conduct during the [644]*644hiring process is actionable under c. 93A. In Weeks, the Court held that the plaintiff was precluded from recovering on his c. 93A, §11 claim for unfair and deceptive acts in the hiring process because he did not suffer any damages stemming from the defendants’ misrepresentations during pre-employment negotiations. Id. The Court, however, did not express any view as to whether unfair or deceptive acts in the hiring process which had caused damages were actionable under c. 93A, §11. Nevertheless, plaintiff maintains that the fact that the Court decided this issue based on a lack of damages, rather than on the “employment relationship” exemption from Manning, 388 Mass. at 10-12, opens the door for claims under c. 93A, §11 based on unfair or deceptive acts during the hiring process which caused damages.

Specifically, plaintiff relies on the following footnote:

In his complaint, Weeks also alleged that Harbor committed unfair or deceptive acts, or practices in the hiring process. However, the jury in their answers to the special questions found that Weeks suffered no damages from any misrepresentation made by Harbor in the hiring process, and this precludes any relief under c. 93A, §11, since damages are an essential element of the cause of action. General Laws c. 93A, §11, inserted by St. 1972, c. 614, §2, reads in pertinent part: “Any person who engages in the conduct of any trade or commerce and who suffers any loss of money or property, real or personal, as a result of the use or employment by another person who engages in any trade or commerce of an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice ... may. .. bring an action.”

Weeks, 388 Mass. at 144 n.2 (internal citations omitted).

Plaintiff overlooks, however, that the Court also acknowledged:

We have recently concluded that the remedies of G.L.c. 93A, §11, are not available to employees in disputes against their employers, which arise from the employment relationship. Manning v. Zuckerman, ante 8, 11-13 (1983). There are no circumstances in this case that lead us to a different conclusion.

Id. at 144 (emphasis supplied).

Thus, the Court declined to carve out a “hiring process” exception to the Manning holding. The cases that have examined this issue following Weeks similarly indicate that unfair or deceptive acts in the hiring process are not actionable under c. 93A, §11. For example, in Whelan v. Intergraph Corp., 889 F.Sup. 15, 21 (D.Mass. 1995), the court held that Weeks did not open the door for c. 93A claims for misconduct during the hiring process:

While the Supreme Judicial Court’s language does not explicitly foreclose the possibility that such a cause of action might exist, it does not go so far as to approve such a claim.

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Related

Pederson v. Time, Inc.
532 N.E.2d 1211 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1989)
Manning v. Zuckerman
444 N.E.2d 1262 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1983)
LaLonde v. Eissner
539 N.E.2d 538 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1989)
Zimmerman v. Bogoff
524 N.E.2d 849 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1988)
Schinkel v. Maxi-Holding, Inc.
565 N.E.2d 1219 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1991)
Flesner v. Technical Communications Corp.
575 N.E.2d 1107 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1991)
Weeks v. Harbor National Bank
445 N.E.2d 605 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1983)
Riseman v. Orion Research Inc.
475 N.E.2d 398 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1985)
Opara v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
441 Mass. 539 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2004)

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Bluebook (online)
23 Mass. L. Rptr. 643, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deangelis-v-weston-associates-management-co-masssuperct-2008.