Opinion ID: 1957062
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Argument I: LEGAL SUFFICIENCY

Text: Following the rendering by the jury of a verdict for the plaintiff, ARCO moved, inter alia, for arrest of judgment or, in the alternative, a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. These motions were denied by the trial court in addition to the remaining post-trial relief requested by appellant which we will address in Sections II & III, infra. A motion in arrest of judgment seeks to overturn the verdict because of a defect apparent on the record, while judgment n.o.v. is properly granted where no two reasonable persons could disagree that the verdict was improper. Erkens v. Tredennick, 353 Pa.Super. 236, 240, 509 A.2d 424, 426 (1986); Geyer v. Steinbronn, 351 Pa.Super. 536, 549, 506 A.2d 901, 908 (1986). There is no defect apparent on the record in the instant matter. Judgment n.o.v. is an extreme remedy properly entered by the trial court only in a clear case where, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, no two reasonable minds could fail to agree that the verdict was improper. Scarborough by Scarborough v. Lewis, 359 Pa.Super. 57, 61-62, 518 A.2d 563, 565 (1986); Bryant v. Girard Bank, 358 Pa.Super. 335, 339, 517 A.2d 968, 971 (1986). Considering only the evidence which supports the verdict, the court must give the verdict winner the benefit of all doubt and of every fact and inference deducible from the evidence. Gonzalez v. United States Steel Corp., 484 Pa. 277, 287, 398 A.2d 1378, 1383 (1979); Atkins v. Urban Redevelopment Auth., 489 Pa. 344, 351, 414 A.2d 100, 103 (1980). The existence of a contract, the terms thereof, and the sufficiency of those terms to rebut the at-will presumption were within the province of the jury in the first instance, their finding reviewable by the trial court thereafter. In interpreting a contract to ascertain the intention of the parties the court may consider the totality of the surrounding circumstances, the situation of the parties, the objects they apparently had in mind, and the nature and subject matter of the agreement. Lucacher v. Kerson, 158 Pa.Super. 437, 440, 45 A.2d 245, 247 (1946). A review of the record indicates evidence sufficient to support the jury's conclusion that a contract of employment was made on or about February 9, 1982, whereby Robertson agreed to undertake the Newark position in exchange for a promise of reassignment if his job performance there proved unsatisfactory at the end of the specified duration. Robertson understandably did not wish to jeopardize his career with ARCO by failing in an attempt to master a new assignment, one for which both parties recognized he was not fully qualified. Therefore, the parties agreed to a trial period which was originally contemplated to last between three and six months, was later extended by the company, and ultimately lasted approximately fifteen months. At the end of this trial period, when Robertson's performance had still not reached the level desired by the company, Robertson was, by the terms of the contract, entitled to reassignment for a reasonable period of time, since the contract did not specify a duration of the reassignment. Only after the passage of this reasonable period of time would Robertson have reverted to at-will status. Further, the evidence supports a reasonable inference that, by leaving a position where his performance enhanced his career prospects and moving to the Philadelphia area, Robertson provided sufficient additional consideration to rebut the at-will presumption. As to appellant's argument that the discharge was for just cause, specifically for unsatisfactory performance in the Newark position, it was reasonable for the jury to conclude that the contract prevented discharge for this reason and provided that reassignment was the proper remedy for this particular unsatisfactory performance. In fact, testimony by appellant's personnel showed that the company attempted to reassign Robertson, citing company-wide cutbacks due to a reorganization as the reason they were unable to find Robertson a new position. It is a reasonable inference that ARCO's attempt to reassign Robertson acknowledged its obligation to do so. There was evidence from which the jury could reasonably find that Robertson had proven by a preponderance of the evidence the existence of a contract of employment for the definite term of a trial period supported by sufficient additional consideration, thereby rebutting the at-will presumption and, further, that termination of Robertson's employment was not for just cause but constituted a breach of the contract by ARCO entitling Robertson to a verdict. The test for sufficiency of the evidence does not ask this court to decide whether it agrees with the trial court; the question is whether the evidence is sufficient to support recovery as a matter of law. While we adhere to the well-settled principle that employment is to be considered at-will absent a contract supported by sufficient additional consideration, in the instant case the jury found a contract and the trial court did not err in concluding that the evidence supported the verdict. For the foregoing reasons we find that the trial court committed no error in regard to the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting the verdict for Robertson. We turn now to appellant's second argument.