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Riddle v. Wal-Mart Stores2/18/2000
Appeal from Shawnee district court; TERRY L. BULLOCK, judge.
Reversed and remanded.
Plaintiff/employee appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant/employer after the court's finding that the doctrine of after-acquired evidence was a complete defense to the employee's claim of wrongful discharge and, as a matter of law, that the employer was entitled to judgment on the employee's defamation claim.
Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The trial court is required to resolve all facts and inferences which may reasonably be drawn from the evidence in favor of the party against whom the ruling is sought. Bergstrom v. Noah, 266 Kan. 847, 871-72, 974 P.2d 531 (1999).
First, we note that in granting summary judgment, the district judge erroneously weighed material conflicting evidence. The evidence most favorable to the party against whom the ruling was sought includes evidence that Helen Riddle worked for 4 years for defendant Wal-Mart, Inc., (Wal-Mart) in Topeka, Kansas. On April 6, 1996, Riddle was injured in the course of her employment. The injury required time off from work, surgery, and accommodations. When Riddle was released by her treating physician, permanent restrictions precluded her from performing her former work. Wal-Mart accommodated her restrictions by assigning her to a greeter position. Approximately 1 week after returning to work as a greeter, Riddle's employment with Wal-Mart was terminated due to allegations of theft.
The theft allegations arose when Riddle purchased plants from Wal-Mart. While working as a greeter, Riddle had assisted a customer who purchased plants at 25 cents each. Riddle inquired of the cashier as to the cost of the plants. The cashier informed Riddle that Wal-Mart was selling the plants for 25 cents each. Later that morning, Riddle went to the garden center and purchased six plants identical to those the customer had purchased. Riddle paid 25 cents for each plant and took them to her car.
The following day, Riddle was called into the office of Patricia Paradise, an assistant store manager. Paradise asserted that Riddle had stolen the plants and terminated Riddle's employment.
Riddle filed suit against Wal-Mart and Paradise for wrongful discharge, alleging retaliatory discharge because she had made a workers compensation claim, and defamation of character. During discovery, Wal-Mart found that Riddle had made false statements on her employment application as to her employment history. Riddle had failed to inform Wal-Mart when she was employed that she had been fired by a former employer for gross misconduct.
After discovery was complete, Wal-Mart moved for summary judgment, claiming that if it had known of Riddle's misrepresentations on her employment application, it would have discharged her prior to terminating her for theft and that Riddle had failed to establish that her reputation was actually harmed by its false statement. The district court granted Wal-Mart's motion for summary judgment, finding that the after-discovered evidence of resume misrepresentations was a complete defense to Riddle's wrongful discharge claim and that Riddle had failed to provide evidence of actual harm caused by the employer's defamation. Riddle appealed, claiming that the after-acquired evidence doctrine does not apply where public policy concerns are involved and that the district judge improperly granted summary judgm
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