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Barker v. State Insurance Fund11/6/2001
__ P.3d __
ON CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS, DIVISION 2
Appellants are former State Insurance Fund employees whose employment was terminated in 1996. They (and other plaintiffs who are not appellants) sued, asserting claims for age discrimination, wrongful discharge in violation of public policy, and blacklisting. The federal district court entered summary judgment against them on the age discrimination claims, dismissed the blacklisting claims and remanded the wrongful discharge claims to state court. Plaintiffs did not appeal from the federal district court's judgment. After remand, the state trial court entered summary judgment against plaintiffs on the wrongful discharge claims. Plaintiffs appealed. The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded.
CERTIORARI PREVIOUSLY GRANTED; OPINION OF THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS VACATED IN PART; COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS OPINION WITHDRAWN FROM PUBLICATION; TRIAL COURT'S SUMMARY JUDGMENT AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART.
The State Insurance Fund (SIF) is an entity created by statute to, among other things, provide workers' compensation insurance to employers, state agencies and other state political subdivisions. 85 O.S. Supp. 1999, ยงยง 131-151. SIF is supervised by a Board of Managers and is administered by a Commissioner. Terry Tyree (Tyree) was SIF's acting Commissioner at all times relevant to this case.
In early 1996, SIF commissioned Alexander & Alexander (A&A;, a consulting firm, to recommend a plan that would allow SIF to provide state of the art services and keep pace with contemporary industry standards. One of SIF's objectives was to expand its practice of outsourcing claim files -that is, to refer more of its claim files to outside claims administrators (third party administrators, or TPAs) for handling and case resolution. In April of 1996, A&A;made its recommendations. A&A;recommended a plan for outsourcing claim files, recommended that SIF reorganize its claims and legal divisions and recommended that SIF conduct a reduction in force (RIF). The Board of Managers approved the recommendations.
John Yoder (Yoder), an A&A;employee, was instrumental in assisting Tyree in the implementation of A&A;s recommended changes during the spring of 1996. Ultimately, in June of 1996, SIF completed the implementation by conducting two RIFs affecting a total of 145 positions: 89 in the claims division, 54 in the legal division and two in the policyholders division.
Appellants Gary Bova, Linda Foreman, Carla Snipes and Greg Valley were among the employees who lost their jobs in the RIFs. They are the only appellants who sought certiorari review concerning the entry of summary judgment in favor of SIF on their wrongful discharge claims. These four, along with appellants Arthur Barker, James Gaston and Anne Livingston, also sought certiorari review concerning the federal district court's dismissal of their blacklisting claims.
Two issues are presented on certiorari: (1) whether appellants' blacklisting claims may be re-litigated in state court after having been dismissed by the federal court and (2) whether the entry of summary judgment was proper against Bova, Foreman, Snipes and Valley on their wrongful discharge claims.
I. STANDARD OF REVIEW
Whether the doctrine of claim preclusion prevents appellants from re-litigating their state claims is usually a mixed question of law and fact. " deferential standard of review applies to resolutions of disputed facts when supported by reasonable evidence; an independent judgment standard of review applies to the ultimate conclus
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