Contract ~ Noncompete ~ Trade Secrets ~ Wrongful Termination *Donez v. Leprino Foods, Inc. (10th Cir., February 18, 2022) (affirming summary judgment for Leprino on Donez’s claims for wrongful-termination against public policy and discrimination: even if Colorado recognized self-defense as an exception to at-will termination, Donez failed to show that he was fired due to […]
You opened a new business. It is taking off. You need to hire somebody quickly. You think you’ve found the perfect person and want to hire him. You quickly realize, however, you don’t know whether to prepare a letter or just make a verbal offer. If you write a letter, what should you include? The […]
Contract/Noncompete/Trade Secret/Wrongful Termination Ray v. Wal-Mart Stores (Utah S.Ct., September 17, 2015) (answering question certified by the federal district court in the affirmative: “We conclude that the policy favoring the right of self-defense is a public policy of sufficient clarity and weight to qualify as an exception to the at-will employment doctrine,” limited to situations in […]
Disability *Cochranv. Colvin (10th Cir., August 3, 2015) (affirming denial ofdisability insurance benefits) Workers Compensation Martinezv. Angel Exploration, LLC (10th Cir., August 4, 2015)(affirming summary judgment as to employer’s intentional tort liability) Discrimination and Retaliation Pang v.International Document Services (Utah, August 5, 2015) (affirmingdismissal: Utah Rule of Professional Conduct 1.13(b) does not reflect a clearand […]
Contract Tomlinson v. NCR Corporation (Utah, November 25, 2014 ) (reversing Court of Appeals determination that NCR’s corporate management policy manual established an implied-in-fact contract (rebutting Tomlinson’s status as an at-will employee); no implied covenant where no contract exists) Discrimination Melin v. Verizon Business, Inc. (10th Cir., November 25, 2014) (upholding summary judgement in favor […]
On September 3, 2014, the Utah Supreme Court heard argument in the case of Ray et al. v. Wal-Mart. The plaintiffs—Ray, Dallin, Holt, Hunter, Poulsen, and Stewart—were Wal-Mart Employees terminated for, of all things, self-defense. As at-will employees, of course, plaintiffs could have been terminated at any time for any reason, or for no reason […]
The Utah Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s summary judgment dismissal of a former employee’s claim against Target for breach of contract, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and defamation. In a twenty page opinion, the court said that the employee, who had been caught on camera taking a customer’s wallet, had no […]
In Kocherhans v. Orem City, the Utah Court of Appeals upheld the decision of a trial court dismissing the claim of a former Orem City Treasury Division Manager for wrongful termination. The court ruled that the former employee’s failure to appeal the Employee Appeal Board’s decision to the Utah Court of Appeals precluded him from […]
On April 23, 2010, the Utah Supreme Court substantially expanded the rights of employees to bring claims for emotional distress against former employers. In Cabanese v. Thomas, the Court ruled that the date the statute of limitations is triggered is “at the time the last injury occurred or the tortious conduct ceases.” Accordingly, in repeated […]
In a decision filed July 30, 2009, the Utah Court of Appeals said that the proper place to appeal a city’s employee appeal board’s determination of the at-will status of one of its employees is a state district court. In Pearson v. South Jordan Employee Appeals Board, the Court stated that despite relevant statutory language […]
