Hetronic International, Inc. v. Rempe

99 F. Supp. 3d 1341, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46412, 2015 WL 1602081
District Court, W.D. Oklahoma·Decided April 9, 2015·No. Case No. CIV-14-787-C·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ROBIN J. CAUTHRON, District Judge.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff is Hetronic International, Inc. (“Hetronic”), a Delaware corporation that conducts business in the transportation, energy, electronics, and manufacturing industries. Its principal place of business is Oklahoma City. Hetronic is a subsidiary of Methode Electronics, Inc. (“Methode”). Methode is a publicly traded company; Hetronic is not. Defendant was president of Hetronic until September 2013. In November 2013, Defendant incorporated a new business, AZ Control Solutions, Inc. During Defendant’s employment as president, Hetronic had contracts with several German companies (the “Fuchs Compa[1345] nies”) for the distribution and assembly of Hetronic products. Hetronic terminated those contracts and filed suit against the Fuchs Companies in June 2014 after discovering the Fuchs Companies allegedly were engaged in a scheme to compete with Hetronic, which included selling Hetronic systems independently and placing He-tronic’s name on counterfeit parts. He-tronic filed this lawsuit in July 2014, alleging, in part, that Defendant assisted the Fuchs Companies in this scheme and that Defendant planned to use AZ Control Solutions, Inc., as the North American distributor for the Fuchs Companies. In the Answer (Dkt. No. 28), Defendant denies liability for Hetronic’s claims and asserts the following five counterclaims against Hetronic and Methode: two claims of wrongful termination arising out of fraudulent transactions and consumer fraud; slander; tortious interference with prospective economic relations; and abuse of process. Hetronic and Methode now seek dismissal of all Defendant’s counterclaims for failure to state a claim upon which relief may granted pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 26(b). (Mot. to Dismiss Coun-tercls., Dkt. No. 38.) Defendant has filed a Response (Dkt. No. 40). Hetronic and Methode have filed a Reply (Dkt. No. 42). The motion is at issue.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The Supreme Court has made clear that to survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain enough allegations of fact which, taken as true, “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).

A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. The plausibility standard is not akin to a “probability requirement,” but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.

Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (internal citations omitted). At the dismissal stage, the Court will accept all of the claimant’s well-pleaded factual allegations as true and view them in the light most favorable to the claimant. Alvarado v. KOB-TV, L.L.C., 493 F.3d 1210, 1215 (10th Cir.2007). However, “conclusory allegations that lack ‘supporting factual averments are insufficient to state ... claim[s] on which relief can be based.’ ” In re Marsden, 99 Fed.Appx. 862, 866 (10th Cir.2004) (quoting Hall v. Bellmon, 935 F.2d 1106, 1110 (10th Cir.1991)). Dismissal is appropriate when the allegations in the complaint, treated as true, cannot “raise a claim of entitlement to relief.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 558, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

111. ANALYSIS

A. Wrongful Termination

Employers generally may terminate at-will employees with or without cause at any time and without incurring any liability. Burk v. K-Mart Corp., 1989 OK 22, ¶ 5, 770 P.2d 24, 26. However, this standard is not without exception. Oklahoma law recognizes an actionable Burk tort “where an employee is discharged for refusing to act in violation of an established and well-defined public policy or for performing an act consistent with a clear and compelling public policy.” Id., ¶ 19, at 29. This tort also offers protection for both “internal and external reporting of whistleblowers who rely on an employer’s public-policy violation to support an actionable employment termination.” Darrow v. Integris Health, Inc., 2008 OK 1, ¶ 19, 176 P.3d 1204, 1215 (citing Barker v. State Ins. Fund, 2001 OK 94, ¶ 16, 40 P.3d 463, 465). A Burk tort, “is unique: it applies to only [1346] a narrow class of cases and it must be tightly circumscribed.” Barker, 2001 OK 94, ¶ 14, 40 P.3d at 468 (citing Burk, 1989 OK 22, ¶¶ 21-22, 770 P.2d at 29). To assert a viable Burk claim, Defendant must allege the following:

(1) an actual or constructive discharge (2) of an at-will employee (3) in significant part for a reason that violates an Oklahoma public policy goal (4) that is found in Oklahoma’s constitutional, statutory, or decisional law or in a federal constitutional provision that prescribes a norm of conduct for Oklahoma and (5) no statutory remedy exists that is adequate to protect the Oklahoma policy goal.

Vasek v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm’rs of Noble Cnty., 2008 OK 35, ¶ 14, 186 P.3d 928, 932. Hetronic and Methode argue that Defendant’s Burk claims must be dismissed because they do not fit in the “narrow class of cases in which the discharge is contrary to a clear mandate of public policy as articulated by constitutional, statutory or decisional law.” Burk, 1989 OK 22, ¶ 17, 770 P.2d at 28. Public policy is a judicial determination. Pearson v. Hope Lumber & Supply Co., Inc., 1991 OK 112, ¶ 5, 820 P.2d 443, 444.

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Hetronic International, Inc. v. Rempe, 99 F. Supp. 3d 1341, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46412, 2015 WL 1602081 (W.D. Okla. 2015).

99 F. Supp. 3d 1341 (Hetronic International, Inc. v. Rempe) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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