Shahrdar v. Global Housing, Inc.

983 S.W.2d 230, 1998 Tenn. App. LEXIS 254
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 15, 1998
StatusPublished
Cited by120 cases

This text of 983 S.W.2d 230 (Shahrdar v. Global Housing, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shahrdar v. Global Housing, Inc., 983 S.W.2d 230, 1998 Tenn. App. LEXIS 254 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

CRAWFORD, Presiding Judge, Western Section.

This case involves the alleged breach of an oral employment contract and the inducement of that breach by a third party. Defendants Global Housing, Inc. and Mohammed Sharifpour appeal the order of the trial court granting the plaintiff Alfredo Shahrdar a default judgment and also the jury’s award of damages. Plaintiff Alfredo Shahrdar assigns error to the trial court’s refusal to send the issue of punitive damages to the jury, as well as the $205,009 remittitur suggested by the court.

Defendant Global Housing, Inc. (Global) owns and operates a Holiday Inn hotel and a Howard Johnson’s hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Global is a corporation headquartered in Georgia and owned by brothers Ja-vad and Jalal Sharifpour. Plaintiff Alfredo Shahrdar alleges that while living in Reno, Nevada, he was recruited by defendant Mohammed Sharifpour (Sharifpour), on behalf of Global, to move with his family to Nashville and take over management of Global’s hotel properties. Mohammed Sharifpour is not officially connected with Global, which is owned by his two sons, but it is apparent that he has some involvement with, or at least influence over, the activities of the corporation. The complaint alleges that “plaintiff was to be a permanent employee, paid at the rate of $65,000 per year, plus bonus, benefits, lodging, food and transportation, and was to be paid his expenses in moving himself and his family.” In the alternative, the complaint alleges that “plaintiff was hired as a temporary employee as general manager of the two properties and was to be paid at the rate of $1,800 per week, plus the above stated benefits.”

Plaintiff alleges that he moved with his family to Nashville and took over management of one of the hotel properties on July 1, 1993, but that he was never paid by Global for his services. He received two $2,500 “advances” for expenses, but despite repeated requests and assurances was never placed on Global’s payroll. After working for approximately five months without pay, plaintiff was forced to quit on December 8, 1993. The complaint further alleges that “[i]n addition, defendants have refused to acknowledge plaintiffs employment at all, causing plaintiffs reputation within the travel services community to be damaged, and preventing him from obtaining other employment.”

Plaintiffs suit against Global asserts theories of breach of contract, intentional and/or negligent misrepresentation, promissory fraud, and intentional and/or negligent infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiff seeks treble damages from Sharifpour individually for inducement of breach of contract in violation of T.C.A. § 47-50-109. Plaintiff alleges that Sharifpour had instructed Behzad Com-pani, another Global employee, not to pay plaintiff, and that he later instructed his sons to deny that plaintiff was ever employed by Global.

A substantial portion of the nearly 500 pages in the Technical Record chronicles plaintiffs year and a half long battle to receive adequate responses to his discovery requests. Defendants’ responses to interrogatories and requests for production of documents were slow in coming, generally inadequate, and contained what the plaintiff described as “boilerplate objections,” despite various orders of the court to compel compliance. As a result, plaintiff was forced to file several different motions to compel discovery and for sanctions. Plaintiff moved for partial summary judgment on the issue of whether plaintiff was an employee of Global for the time period in question. The motion was granted by the trial court based upon the affidavit of Behzad Compani, a former employee of Global, and the deposition testimony of Javad Sharifpour in which he admitted that plaintiff had been an employee.

*234 On June 30,1995, approximately seventeen months after litigation began, plaintiff moved for a default judgment due to the defendants’ failure to comply with discovery orders. The trial court granted plaintiff a default judgment for breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation and promissory fraud, and set the matter for a jury trial on the issue of damages only. On the day set for the damages hearing, and over four months after entry of the default judgment, defendants moved to set aside the default judgment and continue the hearing. Both motions were denied. The jury awarded plaintiff $45,000 in damages. Defendants moved for a new trial asserting (1) that the verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence, (2) that it was error for the court to exclude defendants’ evidence of telephone and restaurant charges incurred by plaintiff that should be set off against any award to plaintiff, (3) that the court erred in refusing to set aside the default judgment, and (4) that the court erred in instructing the jury that damages were recoverable for intentional misrepresentation.

The plaintiff also moved for a new trial asserting, inter alia, (1) that the court erred in ruling that the allegations of the complaint did not support claims of procurement of breach of contract, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, (2) the court erred in failing to allow evidence of economic losses suffered by the plaintiff after December 8, 1993, and (3) that it was error to keep the issue of punitive damages from the jury. The court granted both motions and a second trial was held on December 3, 1996.

The jury awarded damages against Global for breach of contract in the amount of $40,-403. The jury also assessed damages against both Global and Mohammed Sharifpour, jointly and severally, for intentional misrepresentation and promissory fraud in the amount of $270,009. This amount was based on expert testimony presented by plaintiff for damages incurred for the three year period between trial and plaintiffs last day of employment with Global, December 8, 1993. In addition, the jury awarded plaintiff treble damages against Sharifpour for inducement of breach of contract pursuant to T.C.A. § 47-50-109, with Global and Sharifpour jointly and severally liable for the first $40,-403. The total damages award in favor of plaintiff equaled $391,218. Upon defendants’ motion for a new trial, the court, acting as thirteenth juror, suggested a remittitur of $205,009 on the award for misrepresentation and fraud. In making this suggestion, the court stated “the award of two hundred seventy thousand nine dollars ($270,009.00) in addition to the other damages is too speculative and evidences passion and caprice on the part of the jury.” The resulting award for fraud and misrepresentation is $65,000, or one additional year’s salary. The plaintiff accepted, under protest, the court’s suggestion of remittitur.

The defendants appeal the judgment of the trial court and present the following issues for review:

1. The trial Court erred in failing to set aside a partial summary judgment finding that Plaintiff was an “employee” of Defendant Global Housing, Inc.
2. The trial Court erred in granting and then failing to set aside a Default Judgment in favor of the Plaintiff and against the Defendants for ostensibly not responding to Plaintiffs discovery.
3.

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Bluebook (online)
983 S.W.2d 230, 1998 Tenn. App. LEXIS 254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shahrdar-v-global-housing-inc-tennctapp-1998.