Hamann v. Park Nicollet Clinic

792 N.W.2d 468, 2010 Minn. App. LEXIS 186, 2010 WL 5292605
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 28, 2010
DocketNo. A10-658
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 792 N.W.2d 468 (Hamann v. Park Nicollet Clinic) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hamann v. Park Nicollet Clinic, 792 N.W.2d 468, 2010 Minn. App. LEXIS 186, 2010 WL 5292605 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

WRIGHT, Judge.

In this action for the recovery of wages, appellant challenges the district court’s dismissal of his case for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e). Appellant argues that the district court erred by (1) determining that his claims for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and unjust enrichment are time-barred; and (2) dismissing his unjust-enrichment claim. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

FACTS1

Appellant Arlyn Hamann, M.D., began his employment with respondent Park Ni-collet Clinic in 1974. In 1995, Park Nicol-let adopted a Length of Service Recognition Policy that applied to all physicians in Dr. Hamann’s department. The policy’s stated purpose was “[t]o reward length of service at Park Nicollet Clinic.” Under the policy, physicians who met certain criteria would be exempt from working night call without incurring any salary reduction. The eligibility criteria required physicians to be 60 years of age, to have worked night call for at least 15 years, to work at least two-thirds of full time, and to receive the approval of all physicians in the call rotation. Park Nicollet reaffirmed the policy in 2002, and at least one physician in Dr. Hamann’s department elected the policy’s night-call exemption.

In spring 2004, several months before he turned 60, Dr. Hamann advised his department chair that he intended to elect the night-call exemption. At the request of the department chair, Dr. Hamann agreed to defer his exemption until April 2005 because several physicians in the department would be on maternity leave. When Dr. Hamann renewed his exemption request in April 2005, he was advised that the policy no longer existed and that he was required to work night call or his salary would be reduced. Dr. Hamann chose to continue working night call at his full salary until February 2008. When Dr. Hamann discontinued working night call for health reasons, Park Nicollet reduced his salary. Dr. Hamann continues to work for Park Nicollet.

[470]*470Dr. Hamann initiated this action on October 30, 2009,2 claiming breach of contract, promissory estoppel, unjust enrichment, misrepresentation, and failure to pay wages. He voluntarily dismissed his claims for misrepresentation and failure to pay wages. Park Nicollet moved to dismiss the remaining claims under Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e). The district court granted the motion, finding that Dr. Hamann’s claims are time-barred under MinmStat. § 541.07(5) (2008) and that his allegations do not satisfy the elements of an unjust-enrichment claim. This appeal followed.

ISSUES

1. Did the district court err by dismissing appellant’s claims for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and unjust enrichment as time-barred under Minn.Stat. § 541.07(5)?

II. Did the district court err by dismissing appellant’s unjust-enrichment claim for failure to state a claim as a matter of law?

ANALYSIS

I.

On a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e), the district court may consider only the complaint and the documents referred to in the complaint. Martens, 616 N.W.2d at 739 n. 7. In doing so, the facts as alleged in the complaint are accepted as true, and all reasonable inferences are construed in favor of the nonmoving party. Bodah v. Lakeville Motor Express, Inc., 663 N.W.2d 550, 553 (Minn.2003). The district court must “review the complaint as a whole, including the documents upon which [the plaintiff] rel[ies], to determine whether as a matter of law a claim has been stated.” Martens, 616 N.W.2d at 740. We review de novo the district court’s decision to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Bodah, 663 N.W.2d at 553.

A.

Dr. Hamann challenges the district court’s decision to dismiss his claims against Park Nicollet as time-barred. The limitations period for these employment-based wage claims is governed by Minn. Stat. § 541.07(5). Although Dr. Hamann alleges that Park Nicollet’s conduct was willful, which extends the limitations period from two years to three years, the district court concluded that the limitations period had expired regardless of whether it was two or three years.

An action shall be commenced within two years

for the recovery of wages or overtime or damages, fees, or penalties accruing under any federal or state law respecting the payment of wages or overtime or damages, fees, or penalties except, that ... if the nonpayment is willful and not the result of mistake or inadvertence, the limitation is three years.

Minn.Stat. § 541.07(5). The term “wages” is defined as “all remuneration for services or employment, including commissions and bonuses and the cash value of all remuneration in any medium other than cash, where the relationship of master and servant exists[.]” Id. Park Nicollet argues that the limitations period began, at the latest, in April 2005 when Dr. Hamann learned that he would not be permitted to elect the policy and thus that the three-year limitations period for the alleged will[471]*471ful conduct expired in April 2008, more than one year before Dr. Hamann served the complaint. Dr. Hamann asserts that a separate breach occurred for statute-of-limitations purposes each time he was required to work night call between April 2005 and February 2008 and each pay period in which his salary was reduced after February 2008. Because Park Nicol-let continues to breach the terms of the policy, Dr. Hamann argues, his claims are not time-barred.

“[U]nder Minnesota law, a contractual cause of action for lost wages arises each time a payment is due, but is not paid.” Guercio v. Prod. Automation Corp., 664 N.W.2d 379, 387 (Minn.App.2003). This rule originated in Levin v. C.O.M.B. Co., 441 N.W.2d 801 (Minn.1989), which guides our analysis here. The plaintiff in Levin entered into a two-year employment agreement with his employer under which the employee would receive an annual salary plus a monthly commission. 441 N.W.2d at 802. The contract renewed automatically for successive one-year terms absent a written notice of termination. Id. Two years later, the employer amended the compensation plan. Id. Although the employee received a commission payment at the end of the first year under the amended plan, he did not receive a commission payment in subsequent years. Id. at 803. When the employee first inquired about the cessation of commission payments three years after the change in the compensation plan, the employer advised the employee that he would no longer receive commission payments. Id. Two years later, the employee brought an action to recover the unpaid commissions, which were a form of wages. Id. The Minnesota Supreme Court held that, although the employer’s renunciation and repudiation of the contract gave the employee the right to sue immediately, the employee could elect to sue based on any of the annual commission-payment due dates that fell within the two-year limitations period. Id. at 803-04.

Dr.

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Related

Park Nicollet Clinic v. Hamann
808 N.W.2d 828 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
792 N.W.2d 468, 2010 Minn. App. LEXIS 186, 2010 WL 5292605, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hamann-v-park-nicollet-clinic-minnctapp-2010.