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Cecil v. Cardinal Drilling9/6/1990
Submitted on Briefs July 20, 1990.
Plaintiff Donald Cecil (Cecil) appeals the order of the Montana Thirteenth Judicial District Court, Yellowstone County, granting summary judgment to the defendant, Cardinal Drilling Company (Cardinal) on Cecil's claim of wrongful discharge. The Court granted summary judgment to Cardinal on the grounds that there were no facts to dispute that Cecil's termination was for other than legitimate business reasons. We affirm.
Cecil raises a sole issue on appeal:
Did the District Court err in granting summary judgment to Cardinal on Cecil's claim of wrongful discharge under § 39-2-904(2), MCA?
Cardinal is a subsidiary of Ocelot Industries, a Canadian Corporation. Cecil, age 57, was recruited and hired in 1981 by Otto Jensen, who acted as Cardinal president until January 1988. When Jensen announced his plans to retire in December of 1987, an Ocelot employee , Bill Kelsay, informed Cecil that as the highest ranking employee after Jensen, he would likely be the next president of Cardinal. However in January, 1988, Kelsay hired Kurt Burris, former president of a competing drilling company, as president instead.
Ocelot informed Cecil that he was not named as president because he would have attempted to do all the work by himself and that it would take two people to carry out Ocelot's plans for Cardinal's future. Kelsay asked Cecil to stay on and help Burris run the company and promoted him to executive vice president. Kelsay allegedly told Cecil that Ocelot planned to infuse additional capital into Cardinal and that he expected great things for Cardinal and Cecil in the upcoming year.
In early 1988, after rumors concerning Ocelot's solvency, Kelsay came to Billings to reassure Cardinal employees that their jobs were secure. In April Burris gave all Cardinal employees raises, including Cecil. Burris allegedly informed Cecil that he was pleased with his work and that Cecil would get more raises later. In May 1988, Burris prepared a revised budget for Cardinal, budgeting upward because it looked like it would be a good year for Cardinal.
During the first months of Burris' presidency at Cardinal Cecil alleges that he worked diligently to familiarize Burris with the operations of Cardinal and ease Burris into his new position. Cecil alleges that by July of 1988, he had familiarized Burris with most, if not all, of his personal knowledge relating to Cardinal marketing activities.
Cecil alleges that on July 18, 1988, he was summoned into Burris' office and told without any prior warning or other indication of poor performance by him or the company, that he was being terminated. He alleges that he was told that his termination was effective immediately but that he might be given some severance pay. Cecil alleges that when he went to pick up his final paycheck Burris offered him an additional check for severance pay, conditioned upon Cecil signing a release of any claims against Cardinal. Later Burris presented a second release drafted by an attorney. Cecil declined to sign either release and has never received any severance pay.
Between July and December of 1988, Burris gave the remaining salaried staff of Cardinal in Billings an additional raise. At the end of 1988, Cardinal gave its field employees cash bonuses. Cardinal was able to meet its expenses through its own revenues in 1988. In March, 1989 within eight months of Cecil's termination, Cardinal spent $225,000.00 to expand its drilling operations and allegedly hired a new employee for marketing and bidding, with duties identical to Cecil's.
Another Cardinal employee, the safet
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