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Dickerson v. Cajun Communications of Texas8/17/2005
Before BROWN, GASKINS and PEATROSS, JJ.
The defendant, Cajun Communications of Texas, Inc. ("Cajun"), appeals from an adverse judgment awarding the plaintiff, N. Gene Dickerson, severance pay, penalty wages and attorney fees. For the following reasons, we affirm.
FACTS
Cajun, whose president and chief stockholder is Roger Cavaness, owns radio stations in and around Alexandria, Louisiana. The company's "flagship" station is KLAA, an FM country music station. In the fall of 2002, according to the Arbitron radio market report, KLAA had a 3.1 share, meaning that only 3.1 percent of radio listeners in the station's market listened to KLAA.
Early in 2003, a mutual friend introduced Cavaness to Dickerson, a broadcasting professional with over 40 years of experience in the radio business. Dickerson, who was working as a consultant in Shreveport at the time, had performed "turnarounds" on radio stations in the past during his management career. Cavaness and Dickerson began discussing the possibility of Dickerson's employment with Cajun with the goal of improving the ratings and sales performance of Cajun's stations.
Dickerson said that from "day one," he insisted that a severance package be a required part of the proposed employment contract. He explained:
Well, it's possible to go in, and . . . to move the dynamics of the radio station forward. And as you get them up to a point where you are beginning to see if you -- some light at the end of the tunnel, you can be dismissed and sent on your way.
In the process of negotiating an employment agreement, Dickerson made three handwritten pages of notes for himself and included, in a section of his notes titled "Terms," a "90 day severance due any time during first year." Dickerson said that Cavaness agreed to this term during negotiations.
On or about March 20, 2003, Cavaness signed a letter of intent agreement directed to Dickerson containing numerous proposed terms of employment and delineating Dickerson's compensation package. The document defined itself as a letter of intent and specified that a formal agreement would follow within 30 days. Included in this agreement is this sentence:
During the first 6-9 months of association, Roger agrees to 90 days of compensation if he decides that he and Gene cannot work together, 4 months if after 12 months, 24 months, and 6 months [thereafter].
Dickerson moved to Alexandria and commenced working for Cajun in March 2003, earning $6,000.00 per month.
Subsequently, Cajun sent Dickerson a draft of a formal employment agreement containing the following paragraph:
During the first six (6) to nine (9) months of association, EMPLOYER agrees to ninety (90) days of compensation; four (4) months of compensation if after twelve (12) to twenty-four (24) months, and six (6) months of compensation after twenty-four (24) months, if the EMPLOYER decides that the employment relationship is not appropriate.
Cavaness had used a pen to mark through the first word - "during" - and wrote in the word "after" in its place. Cavaness testified that this was in accord with his interpretation of the March 20 letter of intent that severance pay would be due only upon termination after the first six months of employment. Dickerson said that he never agreed to this term. Dickerson further testified that he would not have gone to work for Cajun in the absence of an agreement that the severance pay was effective upon employment. Dickerson never signed the formal employment agreement.
According to the Arbitron ratings for Spring 2003, KLAA increased its market share to 7.2,
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