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Murcott v. Best Western International8/31/2000
be, the Arizona Supreme Court described a whistle-blower as an employee "who exposes wrongdoing on the part of his employer and is then discharged." 150 Ariz. 82, 88, 722 P.2d 250, 256 (1986). For a whistle-blowing employee to succeed on a public policy-based wrongful discharge claim, the court must find "some 'important public policy interest embodied in the law' has been furthered by the whistleblowing activity." Id. at 89, 722 P.2d at 257 (quoting Wagenseller, 147 Ariz. at 380, 710 P.2d at 1035). The Wagner court accordingly reversed summary judgment entered against a discharged police officer who took "affirmative remedial action" by reporting an illegal arrest to a city manager and whose actions were "not merely private or proprietary, but instead [sought] to further the public good." Id.
Best Western argues that Murcott's complaints concerning its practices escape the whistle-blowing public policy exception because he admitted that he was merely attempting to protect the company and himself from liability. Best Western further argues that no actual antitrust violations occurred. It points out that the alleged illegal influences at issue in the Page, Arizona applications lacked any anti-competitive effect and that the market actually expanded when it approved the Wang application.
An actual antitrust violation need not be proven. The Wagner decision did not turn on whether a law or regulation had been violated but rather on whether an important public policy interest embodied in the law benefitted from the whistle-blowing. Similarly, Wagenseller found that discharge wrongful because the plaintiff refused to participate in illegal behavior. See 147 Ariz. at 380, 710 P.2d at 1035. Accordingly, the relevant inquiry here is not whether Best Western committed an actual antitrust violation or how Murcott chose to characterize the company's activities but instead whether Murcott's complaints addressed an important public policy interest.
Wagenseller provides guidance about public policy protecting whistle-blowers from wrongful discharge. There the supreme court explained that the matter must "'strike at the heart of the citizen's social rights, duties and responsibilities.'" 147 Ariz. at 377, 710 P.2d at 1032 (quoting Palmateer v. International Harvester Co., 421 N.E.2d 876, 878-79 (1981)). Although public policy need not always derive from a criminal statute, Wagenseller stated that the criminal code is a clear expression of state public policy. See id. at 380, 710 P.2d at 1035.
The Arizona Legislature has enacted a Uniform State Antitrust Act in A.R.S. section 44-1401 (1974) wherein the underlying purpose is to establish a "public policy of first magnitude" in furthering a competitive economy. See United Nuclear Corp. v. General Atomic Co., 597 P.2d 290, 310 (N.M. 1979). Arizona's antitrust statutes parallel criminal statutes in some respects. Enforcement of antitrust law is delegated to the state through the Attorney General rather than being reserved to individual parties. The penalties employed go well beyond compensatory and remedial relief. See A.R.S. § 44-1407. Moreover, private parties may be entitled to treble damages, a punitive sanction. See A.R.S. § 44-1408(B). Accordingly, these laws form a public policy basis for Murcott's claim.
Best Western also argues that Murcott is not entitled to relief because he "covered up" the alleged antitrust violations. For example, Murcott testified that in the Irving, Texas matter, after learning that Unruh wanted to deny an application to protect an existing member, he himself contrived a benevolent rationale. Best Western does not argue that the rationale was frivolous. With respect to the Portland,
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