Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Employment Case of Interest

The Mississippi Court of Appeals decided Southern Health Corp. of Houston v. Carol Crausby  yesterday.  The issue dealt with whether a business can have a conspiracy to fire its own employee.   Crausby worked as an ER nurse at Trace Regional Hospital in Houston, Mississippi.  Another employee, Dr. Victor Horn, demanded that she be fired.  Crausby sued and was awarded  $80,000 from the hospital on her claim that its administrators had conspired with Dr. Horn to tortiously interfere with her employment relationship with the hospital. The hospital argued that  it cannot be held liable for interfering with its own contract because tortious interference can occur only when the contract is “between another and a third person.” The Court of Appeals agreed but did not grant relief on this issue because it was not raised in the lower court.  However, the Court reversed and rendered on the sufficiency of the evidence.  The Court found that there was no unlawful purpose in seeking to have her fired and so there could be no tortious interference. 

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