Smith v. Douglas Cable Communications

881 F. Supp. 1510, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4666, 1995 WL 150256
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedMarch 13, 1995
DocketNo. 93-4009-RDR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 881 F. Supp. 1510 (Smith v. Douglas Cable Communications) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Douglas Cable Communications, 881 F. Supp. 1510, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4666, 1995 WL 150256 (D. Kan. 1995).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ROGERS, District Judge.

This employment discrimination and breach of contract action is now before the court upon defendant’s summary judgment motion.

The general guidelines for analyzing summary judgment motions were reviewed by the Tenth Circuit in Martin v. Nannie and the Newborns, Inc., 3 F.3d 1410, 1414 (10th Cir.1993):

Summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c); accord Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Russillo v. Scarborough, 935 F.2d 1167, 1170 (10th Cir.1991). The moving party bears the initial burden of showing that there is an absence of any issues of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Hicks v. City of Watonga, 942 F.2d 737, 743 (10th Cir.1991). If the moving party meets this burden, the non-moving party then has the burden to come forward with specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial as to elements essential to the non-moving party’s case. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1355-56, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Bacchus Indus., Inc. v. Arvin Indus., Inc., 939 F.2d 887, 891 (10th Cir.1991). To sustain this burden, the non-moving party cannot rest on the mere allegations in the pleadings. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553; Applied Genetics Int’l v. First Affiliated Sec., Inc., 912 F.2d 1238, 1241 (10th Cir.1990).

The undisputed facts in this case are as follows. Plaintiff is an African-American male born on December 4, 1941. Defendant is a cable television service provider. Plaintiff was hired by defendant as a part-time telemarketer in September 1989. When he was hired by defendant, plaintiff worked solely on a commission basis. He did not have a written employment contract. Plaintiff was an “at-will” employee. Plaintiff signed an employment application for defendant which acknowledged that he could be discharged at any time with or without cause.

On November 9, 1989, Kenneth Proctor, a thirty-one year old white male, was hired by defendant as the new telemarketing director. Plaintiff asserts that no notice for this position was posted where he saw it. On November 30, 1990, Proctor hired Richard Forque, a forty year old white male, as the evening supervisor of the telemarketing department. Plaintiff claims he did not see or hear of this opening before it was filled.

About this time, plaintiff received $100.00 a week in the pay period, rather than payment based solely on commission. Defendant returned to paying plaintiff strictly on a commission basis on or about January 1, 1990.

Proctor resigned as telemarketing director in February 1990. Defendant hired Michael Jaros, a forty-seven year old white male, for the vacancy on or about March 3, 1990. Ja-ros counseled plaintiff regarding poor sales performance on or about March 19, 1990. Plaintiff contends this was a pretext for discrimination because, while his sales production was better than most of the other employees on his shift, only he received a written reprimand from Jaros. However, it appears that most of the employees with worse sales figures left employment with defendant or were discharged shortly after Jaros was hired.

Forque resigned as evening telemarketing supervisor effective March 30, 1990. Plaintiff contends that he mailed a written application for Forque’s position on April 2, 1990. On April 9, 1990, Christopher Hay, a thirty year old white male, was hired as the new evening supervisor. One month earlier Hay had applied for the position of telemarketer. His personnel file does not contain a written application for the position of evening supervisor. His personnel file also indicates that [1513]*1513he had less than one year of supervisory or marketing experience when he was promoted to the position of evening supervisor. Plaintiff asserts that he had management experience operating officers’ clubs when he was in the U.S. Air Force. Plaintiff also has supervisory experience in hotels and nightclubs in Topeka, Kansas. Plaintiff has sales experience selling appliances for Montgomery Ward and insurance with Farmers Insurance Group. Plaintiff claims additional experience as a theater manager with Dickinson Operating Company and as a sales representative for Allied Business Systems.

Plaintiff has three claims for relief. Defendant asks for summary judgment against all three claims.

1. Breach of contract

According to the pretrial order in this case, plaintiff claims that in late October or early November of 1989, he and a supervisor named Jim Metzger agreed to change the basis on which plaintiff would receive compensation as a telemarketer. Plaintiff alleges it was agreed that plaintiff would be paid $100.00 per week in salary, plus commissions. Plaintiff contends that defendant breached this agreement by unilaterally discontinuing the $100.00 weekly salary in the early part of 1990.

Defendant argues that plaintiff’s account of the “agreement” with Metzger is, first of all, unclear, but also preposterous. Defendant also argues that since plaintiff was an “at-will” employee, his compensation could be modified unilaterally by his employer without breaching plaintiff’s contractual rights. Finally, defendant asserts that plaintiffs breach of contract claim is barred by the three-year statute of limitations for oral contracts, because the breach first occurred in October or November of 1989, and this case was not filed until January 1993.

We reject defendant’s arguments. While plaintiff has not brought forth compelling facts in support of the breach of contract claim, the record is sufficient to overcome defendant’s summary judgment motion on the present record. The court will not grant summary judgment upon assertions that the contract is preposterous or that the terms are unclear.

Nor do we believe an at-will employment relationship bars plaintiff from bringing an action for breach of contract. If plaintiff performed work on the promise of $100.00 per week salary plus commissions and, at the time payment was due, defendant failed to pay plaintiff his salary, then we believe plaintiff has a contractual right to payment.

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Bluebook (online)
881 F. Supp. 1510, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4666, 1995 WL 150256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-douglas-cable-communications-ksd-1995.