Full title: ROBERT GIBBS, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CONSOLIDATED SERVICES, Defendant
Court: Court of Appeal of California, Second District, Division One
Date published: Jul 31, 2003
Facts
The plaintiff became an employee of Atlas Transport, a waste management company, in May 1985. He worked as a driver until 1992 when he was promoted to operations manager of Atlas Transport’s Chatsworth facility. In this position, the plaintiff handled customer relations, coverage of routes, and customer complaints and essentially oversaw the entire operation. He had approximately 25 drivers under his supervision.
The defendant, a large waste management company, acquired Atlas Transport in July 1999. Charles Caspary (Caspary), the former owner of Atlas Transport, remained a consultant for the defendant. The plaintiff retained his position as operations manager. However, the plaintiff knew from experience that reorganization of the acquired company’s operations typically followed an acquisition. He anticipated that the defendant would bring in its supervisors.
Issue
Decision
In summary, the defendant carried the burden of demonstrating that it had a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for terminating the plaintiff’s employment. The plaintiff failed to make a prima facie case of age discrimination and failed to present evidence that the defendant’s proffered reason for termination was a pretext for unlawful discrimination. There consequently are no triable issues of material fact concerning the plaintiff’s causes of action for wrongful discharge due to age discrimination, in violation of public policy, or for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The judgment is affirmed.
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