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Whitt v. Harris Teeter, Inc.

Supreme Court of North Carolina
Jul 1, 2005
359 N.C. 625 (N.C. 2005)
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Summary

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Carmon v. Dance
See 17 Summaries

Opinion

No. 416A04

Filed 1 July 2005

Employer and Employee — constructive wrongful discharge — sexual harassment — public policy — directed verdict for employer

The decision by the Court of Appeals that the trial court erred by granting a directed verdict for defendant employer on a claim for constructive wrongful discharge in violation of public policy based upon sexual harassment is reversed for the reasons stated in the dissenting opinion that (1) a claim of constructive discharge based upon either a hostile work environment or in retaliation is not authorized under the public policy exception to the employee-at-will doctrine, and (2) even if a constructive discharge claim is so authorized, plaintiff presented insufficient evidence on the element of the claim that defendant employer's handling of plaintiff's complaints of sexual harassment amounted to a deliberate attempted to make her workplace so intolerable that she would resign.

Appeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2) from the decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, 165 N.C. App. 32, 598 S.E.2d 151 (2004), reversing a judgment entered upon a directed verdict on 2 April 2002 by Judge Sanford L. Steelman, Jr. in Superior Court, Forsyth County. Heard in the Supreme Court 18 May 2005.

Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy and Kennedy, L.L.P., by Harvey L. Kennedy, Harold L. Kennedy, III, and Annie Brown Kennedy, for plaintiff-appellee. Womble Carlyle Sandridge Rice, by Lucretia D. Guia, and J. Mark Sampson, for defendant-appellant Harris Teeter, Inc. Patterson Harkavy LLP, by Burton Craige, for North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys, North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, Southern States Police Benevolent Association, Inc., North Carolina Police Benevolent Association, Inc., and North Carolina Association of Educators; Suzanne Reynolds for North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys, and Charles E. Daye for North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, amici curiae.

PER CURIAM.

For the reasons stated in the dissenting opinion, the decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed.

REVERSED.

Summaries of

Whitt v. Harris Teeter, Inc.

Supreme Court of North Carolina
Jul 1, 2005
359 N.C. 625 (N.C. 2005)

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Carmon v. Dance

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Sempowich v. Tactile Sys. Tech.

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Swindell v. Cacinss, Inc.

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Miller v. Gerber Collision (Ne.), Inc.

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Carr v. United States

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Coleman v. Altec, Inc.

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Ricketts v. Logics, LLC

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C.App. 32, 43–50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159–63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Howard v. Coll. of the Albemarle

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Onwe v. Waste Indus., Inc.

adopting dissenting opinion below at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Hadley v. Duke Energy Progress, Inc.

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from White v. Rite Aid of N.C., Inc.

adopting dissenting opinion at 165 N.C. App. 32, 43-50, 598 S.E.2d 151, 159-63 (McCullough, J., dissenting)

Summary of this case from Warren v. Smithfield Packing Co.

adopting the reasoning of dissenting opinion in the court below, which noted that a wrongful-discharge claim "require some affirmative demand of an employee by the employer to violate public policy"

Summary of this case from Phillips v. Sheetz, Inc.

adopting Judge McCullough's dissent

Summary of this case from Baldwin v. Tradesmen Int'l, Inc.

addressing claims for "constructive termination" due to hostile work environment or retaliation

Summary of this case from Cox v. Conduent, Inc.

noting that North Carolina courts have yet to adopt a hostile work environment constructive discharge claim

Summary of this case from Johnson v. North Carolina

In Whitt, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued a per curiam decision that reversed the North Carolina Court of Appeals decision "for the reasons stated in the [appellate decision's] dissenting opinion."

Summary of this case from Hughes v. Hewlett Packard Corporation
Case details for

Whitt v. Harris Teeter, Inc.

Case Details

Full title:WENDY WHITT v. HARRIS TEETER, INC. and RANDY SHULTZ

Court:Supreme Court of North Carolina

Date published: Jul 1, 2005

Citations

359 N.C. 625 (N.C. 2005)
614 S.E.2d 531

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