Justia Virginia Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In 2005, Southwest Emergency Physicians, Inc. (SWEP) and Alldredge entered into a contract under which SWEP's physician-employees staffed Lewis-Gale's emergency department. The contract provided that it could be terminated by either party without cause. In 2008, Alldredge became involved with some signatories to a letter addressed to the Lewis-Gale administration voicing work-related concerns. Certain Lewis-Gale administrators expressed concern that Alldredge had become involved in the hospital's personnel matters, and SWEP later terminated Alldredge's employment. Alldredge sued Lewis-Gale for tortious interference with her employment contract with SWEP, and the circuit court found in favor of Alldredge. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the administrators' statements of intimidation and animus toward Allredge did not rise as a matter of law to the level of "improper methods"- such as fraud, deceit, or defamation - necessary to establish a cause of action for tortious interference with contract expectancy when a contract is terminable at will. View "Lewis-Gale Medical Center v. Alldredge" on Justia Law

Robert Bennett signed a one-year employment agreement with Sage. That summer, Bennett communicated to Sage that he would require an increase of almost triple his salary or he would transition out of the company. When Sage did not meet his demands, Bennett continued working for Sage but pursued other employment opportunities. Bennett's employment was terminated that fall. Bennett filed a complaint against Sage seeking severance payments. During trial, the circuit court granted Sage's motion to amend its pleadings to include a defense of repudiation and submitted the issue of repudiation to the jury. The jury ruled against Bennett, and Bennett appealed. At issue was whether a party may repudiate his contractual duties after performance has commenced. The Supreme Court held that (1) repudiation may apply to a contract that has been partially performed when future obligations under the contract are repudiated, and (2) the circuit court properly rejected Bennett's argument that he did not repudiate the contract as a matter of law. Based on the evidence, the jury was entitled to conclude that Bennett's communications while he attempted to transition out of the company constituted a repudiation of his future obligations under the contract. View "Bennett v. Sage Payment Solutions, Inc." on Justia Law

Prior to November, 2006, Grievant Tammy Estep worked for the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) as a Superintendent of the Central Virginia Correctional Unit. She had consistently been given good performance reviews until November 13th, when she was involuntarily demoted to a lower position. She filed a grievance that ultimately came before a hearing officer. The officer found the demotion was unwarranted, and ordered the DOC to reinstate Estep to a comparable position as either a Superintendent or Assistant Warden, and that she be reimbursed for any lost pay as a result of the demotion. Estep's former position had been filled; in an attempt to comply with the hearing officer's order, the DOC transferred Estep to a different location, and into a newly-created position with the same rate of pay, but different duties, responsibilities and authority. Estep brought suit at the circuit court seeking implementation of the hearing officer's order. The court held that the DOC failed to implement the hearing officer's order, and ordered Estep be reinstated to her old position since the DOC could not find an adequate substitute. The DOC appealed. The Supreme Court had jurisdiction over the matter, and found that the record supported the circuit court's decision to reinstate Estep to her former position.