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McGarry v. Saint Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church2/11/1998
Plaintiff, John C. McGarry, appeals from the December 20, 1996 order granting summary judgment to defendant, Saint Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church (St. Anthony's). We affirm.
On March 30, 1995, plaintiff filed a complaint in the Law Division against Saint Anthony's alleging breach of employment contract, wrongful discharge, defamation and interference with a prospective economic advantage. Thereafter, counts two and three, which alleged emotional and/or physical injury and defamation, were voluntarily dismissed by plaintiff. Plaintiff's claims for wrongful discharge and breach of contract contained in count one, and tortious interference with a prospective economic advantage found in count four remained.
Defendant moved for summary judgment. On December 20, 1996, an order was executed dismissing with prejudice plaintiff's remaining claims.
The facts are as follows. On September 27, 1994, plaintiff entered into a one-year employment contract with Saint Anthony's and began serving as its Music Minister/Director of Music in October 1993. St. Anthony's Pastor, Father Robert Lynam, who was authorized to hire and fire employees, signed the contract. The contract contained the following provision for termination:
The parties involved shall give notice of termination of employment at least thirty days in advance of the termination. The termination time must be completed by the employee or if the employer does not wish the termination to be completed the employer shall fulfill all contractual financial agreements.
This litigation arose out of the fact that plaintiff had been receiving shipments of illegal anabolic steroids at St. Anthony's. He was arrested on February 1, 1995 in the parking lot of St. Anthony's for possession of anabolic steroids in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10(a)(1). He admitted he was expecting the package and that he knew it contained anabolic steroids. He accompanied the officers into St. Anthony's to retrieve the package. The package was found to contain 290 tablets of methandrostenolone, 240 tablets of oxandrolone, and 9 vials of deca durabolin. Plaintiff stated he had been taking steroids to assist him with bodybuilding even though he knew they were illegal. He admitted he had the steroids delivered to him at St. Anthony's on three prior occasions and that he injected himself with the deca durabolin approximately once a week.
On February 2, 1995, Father Lynam received word of a newspaper article which reported plaintiff's arrest at St. Anthony's for receiving anabolic steroids. That same day, plaintiff met with Father Lynam and, according to the Pastor, agreed to resign and turn in his keys. The following morning, plaintiff called Father Lynam's secretary to arrange removal of his belongings. He arrived at approximately 10 a.m. with a van and two friends, who helped clean out his office.
On February 4, 1995, the pastor sent a letter to plaintiff purporting to memorialize the agreement. The letter states:
Because of this unfortunate incident I believed it absolutely necessary that you and I meet as soon as possible to discuss a resolution to this matter vis-a-vis your continued employment by St. Anthony's Church in the position of Music Director. As you recall, during that meeting I solicited your thoughts on how we might resolve the matter. However, you told me that you were unable to offer any resolution. Because I had all day to reflect on the matter, and because of the gravity of the situation caused by you never informing me of the arrest on Church property, as well as your use of the Church's address to receive these illegal substances, I had arrived at what I considered to be the
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