Kiphart v. Community Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n

729 S.W.2d 510, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 3830
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 24, 1987
Docket51267
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 729 S.W.2d 510 (Kiphart v. Community Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kiphart v. Community Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n, 729 S.W.2d 510, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 3830 (Mo. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

SIMEONE, Senior Judge.

I

This is an appeal by defendant-appellant, Community Federal Savings & Loan Association, from a judgment entered on November 5, 1985 by the circuit court of the City of St. Louis in favor of the plaintiff, Lisa C. Kiphart for $15,000 actual damages and $75,000 punitive damages for emotional injury under the theory of prima facie tort.

For reversal, appellant contends that the trial court erred in (1) overruling its motion for directed verdict and motion for judgment n.o.v. because (a) plaintiffs exclusive remedy, if any, is under the provisions of the workers’ compensation law, (b) plaintiff did not make a submissible case of prima facie tort, and (2) the court erred in giving an instruction which improperly defines “malice” so as to authorize an award of punitive damages. For reasons hereinafter stated, we reverse.

The principal issue to be resolved is: whether the plaintiff established a submis-sible case of prima facie tort. The other incidental issues are resolved by the resolution of this principal one and need not be discussed in detail.

II

Lisa Carmen Kiphart, an eighteen year old woman, accepted a full-time position as a teller with Community Federal Savings & Loan Company soon after graduation from high school in 1981. Community Federal is a savings and loan institution with its central office in Manchester, Missouri. In March and April, 1982, at the time of the events in dispute, there were at least eight tellers, including Lisa and Dianne Powell, at windows taking and dispensing money and servicing customers. Ms. Lois Willis was the head teller; Linda Novy was assistant manager in charge of teller security and their immediate supervisor; Chris Helle was the manager; John S. Crosby was the senior vice president in charge of personnel and security, and Robert L. Mac-Naughton was an “investigator” for the organization under the authority of Mr. Crosby.

The tellers, in order to service the customers, would start out the day with a certain amount of money in different denominations, and, as needed during the day, would “buy” and “sell” money from and to Lois Willis. Each teller had a “drawer,” which when not in use and at the end of the day, was kept in a vault room. Money would be “bought” and “purchased” from the head teller as the need arose, and specific records were kept by each teller of each transaction according to the denomination of bills “bought” and “sold.” The records of each teller and the records of the head teller were balanced at the end of each day.

The chain of events resulting in this action began at the end of the day on March 30, 1982. When Lois Willis attempted to balance her “working fund” regarding the various denominations of bills “bought” and “sold” that day, she found that there was a $200 discrepancy in her accounts. She notified Linda Novy. Lois knew from the records of each of the tellers the various denominations of bills which were used, and by a process of elimination concluded that it could only be five dollar bills which caused the discrepancy. Only Lisa Kiphart and Dianne Powell had purchased five dollar bills that day. Lisa’s “working fund” record for that day, a copy of which was introduced as an exhibit, showed as to the purchase of five dollar bills the figure “$460,” although the “60” was written over by another number — possibly “$35.” From *512 approximately 5:15 p.m. to after 6:00 p.m., Ms. Willis and Linda Novy audited Lois’s cash drawer to attempt to locate the discrepancy. They checked the records and found that Lisa and Dianne were the only ones to receive five dollar denominations and they went into the vault to examine the cash drawers of Lisa and Dianne. Ms. Novy counted the cash in Lisa’s drawer and found out that Lisa’s cash was “off by twenty-five dollars.” When she counted the fives, she “came up with four hundred thirty-five dollars instead of the four hundred sixty on that [working fund] sheet.” They looked throughout the whole teller area for the missing money, searching the vault completely, looking in the cash drawers and underneath the teller terminals and even in the trash cans. The next morning they reported the matter to the auditing department. Chris Helle, the manager, counted Lisa’s drawer again, while Lisa watched. The drawer still showed “$25.00 off.”

The next morning, March 31, 1982, when Lisa Kiphart came to work, she was asked whether she knew she was $25.00 off. Lisa said, “No.” After all the drawers were counted, everyone returned to work at their stations except Lisa. She was told to sit by the supervisor’s desk. She sat there until after lunch time. She was then advised by Ms. Novy to go to the fourth floor because they wanted to “speak to me.” Lisa went to a small 10' x 12' all-purpose room with no windows and was interviewed by Mr. MacNaughton. According to Lisa’s testimony, Mr. MacNaugh-ton’s “demeanor” was “accusative.” A tape of the interview was played to the jury. MacNaughton began the interview by telling Lisa “[n]ow to be quite candid about it, I may as well lay the cards on the table. The total amount we’re talking about is not $25. The amount, as near as we can determine, is $225.” He informed Lisa of several facts: stealing over $150 is a felony; the funds in Community Federal are insured by the federal government, “which technically places any theft under the jurisdiction of the FBI; if necessary, T will refer the case to the Federal Bureau or other agencies.” He stressed to Lisa that she realize there are “implications herein.” When asked if she “balanced” last night when she closed, Lisa replied, “I thought I did.” He told her that another employee noted that when she put her cash drawer away, she was in the vault “what seemed a long time” and she had a purse with her, and was “zipping it up” when she came out. He informed her that purses are not to be taken into the vault. However, there were no written rules to this effect, and apparently other tellers do so. Lisa admitted taking her purse into the vault. McNaughton also informed her that she was one of only two tellers who had $5’s in packages of $100’s, and that one got $200 too much. He also told her of the policy that one does not leave work if there is an imbalance and that such imbalance should be reported. “To be quite honest about it, if I have to put in just so many words, I am offering you a way out ... providing that you received $200 too much, there’s a way to return it and maybe all that happens is that they might let you go from employment, .... On the other hand, if it’s found later that you received this money ... and the money is not recovered, then it opens you to criminal prosecution.” He then told her that in cases of this kind that it was a policy to request that a person voluntarily submit to a polygraph examination. He explained to her how the examination would be conducted. Lisa consented to the polygraph examination. McNaughton told her that if the results were unfavorable, “we’ll get together on that.” He also informed her that he was a former “FBI” or “OSI” (the tape is inaudible) agent, and that he recently completed a series of cases where one young lady “drew” one year in the county jail and one lady went to jail for seven years for similar offenses. Near the end of this first interview, he told her that if she wished to make a “clean breast” of it, she should get in touch with him. He concluded:

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Bluebook (online)
729 S.W.2d 510, 1987 Mo. App. LEXIS 3830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kiphart-v-community-federal-savings-loan-assn-moctapp-1987.