Opinion ID: 1308260
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Propriety of District Court's Ruling on Motion in Limine Excluding Evidence of Plaintiff's Improper Performance of His Duties as Central United's President.

Text: As part of the discovery in this case, Wooldridge's counsel took the deposition of David Harris. This examination disclosed Harris's intention to claim that Wooldridge had been deficient in his performance as president of Central United after learning of the proposed disposition of that company. Harris asserted a general inattentiveness to the job on Wooldridge's part and specifically claimed that Wooldridge had leaked sensitive policyholder data to a person or persons outside of the company. Wooldridge filed a motion in limine seeking to preclude Harris from testifying about these claims at trial. The motion contended that these matters, even if true, did not affect Wooldridge's right to severance benefits under the February 5, 1992 agreement. The district court sustained this motion. Central United urges on appeal that Wooldridge's right to severance benefits under the February 5, 1992 agreement was not only dependent on his compliance with the six conditions set forth in the contract but was also dependent, under the language of the introductory sentence of the agreement, upon proper performance of his usual duties as President. The district court rejected that contention as do we. The controlling contract provision concerning Wooldridge's entitlement to the prescribed severance package is found in the following language: [I]f we terminate your employment for reasons other than your breach of items 1-6, then we will provide you with the severance benefits listed on the attached Exhibit A. At no time has Central United contended that Wooldridge was terminated for a breach of any of the six conditions listed in the agreement. If Central United had acted in a timely manner, it could have asserted that any monetary loss caused it by the alleged failure of Wooldridge to properly perform his duties was a setoff against his claims under the severance agreement. Its attempt to do so was rejected on the basis that it came too late. We have upheld that ruling in an earlier portion of this opinion. As a result, the evidence kept from the jury in the ruling on the motion in limine was both factually and legally beyond the issues to be tried to the jury. The district court did not err in granting the motion in limine and rejecting the subsequent offer of proof. In order to escape the conclusion to which the contract language leads, Central United asserts that Wooldridge opened the door to evidence concerning his performance of the usual duties of company president. We have carefully considered the testimony upon which this claim is made within its context and find no basis for concluding that it opened the door for evidence not relevant to the requirements for obtaining the severance benefits.