IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 00-60317
(Summary Calendar)
LISA BOWERS, M.D.
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
CHRISTOPHER J. CAMPBELL, M.D.; ANESTHESIA ASSOCIATES OF NORTH
MISSISSIPPI, P.A.
Defendants-Appellees.
- - - - - - - - - -
On Appeal from the United States District
Court for the Northern District of Mississippi
(98-CV-156)
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February 21, 2001
Before HIGGINBOTHAM, WIENER, and BARKSDALE, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
This Mississippi employment dispute is before us on diversity
jurisdiction. Plaintiff-Appellant Dr. Lisa Bowers challenges the
district court’s (1) grant of the motion of Defendant-Appellee
Anesthesia Associates of North Mississippi (“AANM”) for judgment as a
matter of law (“j.m.l.”) and a remittitur regarding Dr. Bowers’s claims
for consequential damages and damages for emotional distress resulting
from AANM’s breach of its employment contract with her and (2) denial
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that
this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except
under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.
of Dr. Bowers’s motion for a new trial regarding her claim of tortious
breach of contract. In the district court, Dr. Bowers sought damages
for employment termination on the ground that the termination violated
the terms of her employment contract and did so in a manner that
inflicted emotional distress on her. As we agree with the district
court’s conclusion that Bowers’s claims for damages for emotional
suffering and tortious breach of contract are without merit and that she
is only entitled to 30 days’ compensation for AANM’s failure properly
to notify her of the termination of her employment, we affirm the
rulings of the district court.
I. Facts and Proceedings
Dr. Bowers was employed as a specialized physician anesthesiologist
by AANM, a small anesthesiologist group founded by Drs. James Cook and
Christopher Campbell. After the death of Dr. Cook in 1996, the group
was owned solely by Dr. Campbell. The employment agreement between the
parties to this litigation was a one-year contract that “would be
extended automatically for successive one year periods” beginning on
August 1, up to and including a third year. It was signed by Dr. Bowers
and Dr. Cook. Dr. Bowers asserts that she began working for AANM with
the understanding that she would be made a partner after three years of
satisfactory performance. The contract contained two paragraphs
allowing AANM to terminate an employee. Paragraph 8B states that:
This contract may be terminated by either party on not less
than 30 days advance written notice thereof. If the employee
violates any of the provisions of the contract, the Group may
terminate the employment immediately without further
2
obligation except to pay the employee for compensation earned
prior to the termination of this contract. However, the
medical group may terminate the employment hereunder
immediately if, in their best judgment, it is necessary to
protect its business or good name. . . .
Paragraph 8D provides that:
This agreement shall automatically terminate at any time, if,
in the sole judgment of the Group, employee becomes unfit to
properly perform the duties set out in the Work Agreement or
employee is deemed unfit for reasons including but not
limited to interpersonal relation difficulties with other
employees or members of the Group, or if Anesthesiologists
skills are found to be severely lacking and patient care is
unacceptable. . . .
Dr. Bowers contends that when a colleague was denied partnership after
completing the third of his three one-year contracts, she became
concerned for her own future with AANM and asked Dr. Campbell whether
she was still on partnership track. According to Dr. Bowers, Dr.
Campbell responded that “I never intended to make you a partner.” After
being thus informed, Dr. Bowers began looking for jobs elsewhere. As
a result of her search, she scheduled an on-site interview with an
anesthesiology group in Florida at the beginning of January, 1998.
On the evening of Friday January 2, 1998, Dr. Campbell called Dr.
Bowers at home and told her to take the job in Florida because she was
to be terminated by AANM; when pressed for a reason, Dr. Campbell
asserted that there had been some complaints about her conduct and her
personality. Dr. Campbell asked Dr. Bowers to clean out her locker at
the hospital over the weekend but she chose instead to keep her
interview with the group in Florida. When she returned and attempted
3
to clean out her locker on Monday morning, she was provided with a
written notice of her termination which contained no specification of
cause. Dr. Campbell then threatened to have Dr. Bowers charged with
trespass for allegedly causing a scene and had her escorted from the
hospital by security guards. AANM paid Dr. Bowers no further salary
under the contract and cancelled her malpractice and health insurance.
Unsuccessful in finding employment with another group, Dr. Bowers moved
to Florida and began building a solo practice. She asserts that, in
doing so, she spent $80,000 of her savings and borrowed an additional
$30,000 to support herself and her daughter until her practice got under
way.
Dr. Bowers brought this suit, alleging that Dr. Campbell, acting
individually and on behalf of AANM, breached the employment contract
between the parties by terminating Dr. Bowers without cause with five
months remaining on the one-year contract. She also advanced a claim
for tortious breach of contract, and she sought compensatory damages for
loss of income, costs incurred in relocating and establishing her own
practice, and mental anguish and emotional distress, as well as punitive
damages. At the conclusion of the presentation of all the evidence, the
district court granted AANM’s motion for a j.m.l. rejecting Bowers’s
claim for tortious breach of contract against both Dr. Campbell and
AANM. The jury was then instructed to determine whether Dr. Campbell
had breached Paragraph 8D of the contract in terminating Dr. Bowers, to
which the jury responded affirmatively. It was also asked to assess
compensatory damages, including “emotional distress and mental anguish,”
4
for which the jury awarded Dr. Bowers $175,000. She then filed a motion
for a new trial on her claim for tortious breach of contract, which
motion the district court denied. The district court granted AANM’s
motion for remittitur and a j.m.l., concluding that Dr. Bowers was
entitled only to 30 days’ pay ($15,660) for AANM’s failure to furnish
her with 30 days’ advance notice of termination pursuant to Paragraph
8B. Dr. Bowers appeals both decisions of the district court.
II. Analysis
A. Standard of Review
“‘A motion for judgment as a matter of law . . . in an action
tried by jury is a challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence
supporting the jury's verdict.’”1 We apply the same standard as does the
district court, i.e., “[a] jury verdict must be upheld unless ‘there is
no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find’
as the jury did.”2
Remittitur is allowed if the damages awarded by the jury are
excessive.3 “A verdict is excessive if it is ‘contrary to right reason’
or ‘entirely disproportionate to the injury sustained.’”4 Finally, we
1
Harrington v. Harris, 118 F.3d 359, 367 (5th Cir. 1997)
(quoting Hiltgen v. Sumrall, 47 F.3d 695, 699 (5th Cir.1995)).
2
Harrington, 118 F.3d at 367 (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P.
50(a)(1)).
3
Eiland v. Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 58 F.3d 176,
183 (5th Cir. 1995) (citing Westbrook v. General Tire and Rubber
Co., 754 F.2d 1233, 1242 (5th Cir. 1985)).
4
Eiland, 58 F.3d at 183 (quoting Caldarera v. Eastern
Airlines, Inc., 705 F.2d 778, 784 (5th Cir. 1983)).
5
review the district court’s interpretation of an unambiguous contract,
a question of law, de novo.5
B. Discussion
1. Interpretation of the Contract
Dr. Bowers insists that the district court erred in granting AANM’s
motion for a j.m.l., thereby overturning the jury’s verdict in her
favor. She contends that Dr. Campbell purported to terminate her
employment for cause when no cause existed, and that in doing so he
violated paragraph 8D of the contract, as the jury found. As such, she
claims, Dr. Campbell, individually, and AANM are liable for damages for
lost salary, relocation costs, and emotional and mental distress, for
which the jury awarded her $175,000.
After the jury had rendered its verdict, the district court granted
AANM’s motion for a j.m.l., concluding that Dr. Bowers’s employment was
subject to an at-will provision, as set forth in paragraph 8B of the
contract, requiring only 30 days’ notice. Under Mississippi law, when
an employment contract “‘stipulates for, or where usage requires, a
certain period of notice, the employment may be cancelled on shorter
notice or with none at all, upon payment of wages or salary for the
period of notice.’”6 Applying that rule, the district court properly
found that Dr. Bowers was entitled only to 30 days salary. As a result,
5
Stinnett v. Colorado Interstate Gas Co., 227 F.3d 247, 254
(2000).
6
Fusilier, Ott, & McKee, P.A. v. Moeller, 507 So.2d 63, 67
(Miss. 1987) (quoting 9 Williston, A Treatise on the Law of
Contracts, § 1017 (1967)).
6
the district court correctly granted AANM’s motion for remittitur and
reduced the jury’s damages award from $175,000 to $15,660, which
represents 30 days’ salary under the employment contract between Dr.
Bowers and AANM. The trial court’s reduction of the damage award was
appropriate because any amount of compensatory damages awarded by the
jury in excess of 30 days’ salary, such as, for example, damages for the
emotional distress suffered by Dr. Bowers or the relocation costs she
incurred, is by definition excessive under the contract’s provision
allowing at-will termination on 30 days’ notice.
2. Tortious Breach of Contract
Dr. Bowers advances that the district court erred in dismissing her
claims for tortious breach of contract against AANM and Dr. Campbell in
his individual capacity because, she contends, there was sufficient
evidence to support her claim that Dr. Campbell knowingly breached the
contract. Under Mississippi law, when such evidence is presented at
trial, the court must allow the jury to resolve the factual question
whether such a breach occurred.7 Dr. Bowers insists that Dr. Campbell
knowingly breached the terms of the contract in terminating her
employment for cause when no cause existed. The district court
correctly found, however, that Dr. Campbell did not terminate Dr. Bowers
pursuant to the “for cause” provision but rather under a separate
provision allowing for at-will termination on 30 days’ notice. And even
though Dr. Campbell failed to provide Dr. Bowers with the requisite
7
Eselin-Bullock & Assocs. Ins. Agency, Inc. v. Nat’l Gen.
Ins. Co., 604 So.2d 236, 240 (Miss. 1992).
7
notice, that failure is remedied by the district court’s award of 30
days’ salary in compensation, which we agree is proper here.
Dr. Bowers also appeals the district court’s dismissal of her claim
for tortious breach of contract and her request for punitive damages,
urging that Dr. Campbell intentionally inflicted emotional distress on
her by the manner in which he terminated her employment and the manner
in which he treated her when she returned to the hospital to clean out
her locker. Under Mississippi law, punitive damages are only to be
awarded if the breach of contract is accompanied by an “intentional
wrong, insult, abuse or such gross negligence as to constitute an
independent tort.”8 We agree with the district court that the evidence
adduced here is insufficient to prove that such an independent tort was
suffered by Dr. Bowers.
Although Mississippi law allows “damages for intentional torts even
where they are not accompanied by physical or bodily injury,”9 it does
so only in limited circumstances, under the rubric of intentional
infliction of emotional distress (“i.i.e.d.”). “‘In such instances, it
is the nature of the act itself —— as opposed to the seriousness of the
consequences —— which gives impetus to legal redress.’ The law
intervenes only where the distress inflicted is so severe that no
8
Fusilier, 507 So.2d at 69.
9
Burroughs v. FFP Operating Partners, L.P., 28 F.3d 543, 549
(5th Cir. 1994).
8
reasonable man could be expected to endure it."10
[A] plaintiff must prove that defendant's conduct is "extreme
and outrageous." It has not been enough that the defendant
has acted with an intent which is tortious or even criminal,
or that he has intended to inflict emotional distress, or
even that his conduct has been characterized by "malice," or
a degree of aggravation which would entitle the plaintiff to
punitive damages for another tort. Liability has been found
only where the conduct has been so outrageous in character,
and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds
of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly
intolerable in a civilized community. Though plaintiff need
not prove cognizable physical injuries, the emotional stress
must be genuine and severe.11
Although the behavior of Dr. Campbell, if it was as represented by Dr.
Bowers, would be deplorable, it would not be so egregious as to
constitute an independent tort under Mississippi law. Dr. Bowers
complains that in the wake of her termination, she suffered from anxiety
over both her finances and possible damage to her reputation, and that
she was humiliated by being escorted out of the hospital by security
guards in the presence of her former colleagues and friends. We
nevertheless agree with the district court that these claims, even when
viewed in the light most favorable to Dr. Bowers as the non-movant, were
insufficient as a matter of law to sustain her claim for tortious breach
of contract.12
10
Id. (citations omitted).
11
Id. at 546 (citations omitted).
12
In Burroughs, we applied Mississippi law in holding that
emotional injuries described as leaving the plaintiff “jittery,
upset, unnerved, depressed, crying, emotional, mortified, terribly
upset, bothered tremendously, and very badly hurt” and resulting in
9
Dr. Bowers contends further that Dr. Campbell should be held liable
individually for tortious breach of contract. “[W]hen a corporate
officer directly participates in or authorizes the commission of a tort,
even on behalf of the corporation, he may be held personally liable.”13
Because we find that no tort was committed by Dr. Campbell in
terminating Dr. Bowers, he is protected from liability by the legal
fiction of the corporate veil. As such, we agree with the decision of
the district court to grant Dr. Campbell’s motion for a j.m.l.,
rejecting those claims against him in his individual capacity.
III. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the district court
correctly granted AANM’s motion for a j.m.l. and remittitur, and
correctly limited the damages to Dr. Bowers to $15,660. We also
conclude that the district court was correct in dismissing Dr. Bowers’s
claim for tortious breach of contract against both AANM and Dr. Campbell
in his individual capacity because she failed to adduce sufficient
evidence to support that claim. Therefore, the judgment of the district
court is, in all respects,
AFFIRMED.
her “poor church attendance in the period following the incidents
of this case and to her overall lower level of participation in
community affairs” but not including “medical testimony describing
any clinical manifestations of depression or other mental
infirmities” were “insufficient to sustain damages for i.i.e.d.”
Burroughs, 28 F.3d at 549.
13
Mississippi Printing Co., Inc. v. Maris, West and Baker,
Inc., 492 So.2d 977, 978 (Miss.1986).
10
11