Opinion ID: 1894600
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Plaintiff's Breach of Contract Claims.

Text: We next consider plaintiff's contention that the district court erred in concluding the disciplinary procedures outlined in the employee handbook did not constitute a part of her employment contract. The district court found and concluded that the written contract dated July 1, 1984, and signed by the parties was the complete expression of the employment arrangement. This agreement was interpreted by the court as giving either party a right of termination for any reason on thirty-days notice to the other party. Accordingly, the court relying on McClure v. International Livestock Imp. Services Corp., 369 N.W.2d at 805, limited plaintiff's recovery to the amount of compensation payable under the agreement for a period of thirty days. The fighting issue in the case is whether the July 1, 1984, written contract constitutes an integrated employment agreement or, whether the provisions in the employee manual were also part of the employment contract. Plaintiff correctly notes that the precise intentions of parties to an employment agreement are often left unexpressed and that contractual obligations may be enforced based upon the reasonable expectations of the parties. As we noted in Wolfe v. Graether, 389 N.W.2d 643 (Iowa 1986): [O]ne of the parties (usually the employee) may have had in mind a definite period of employment and the other party had not. Here there is no actual meeting of the minds; and yet there may be a valid contract. Interpreting the elliptical expressions of the parties, the court may find that the expressions, interpreted in the light of the surrounding facts, made the understanding of one of the parties reasonable and made it unreasonable for the other party not to know that such would be the first party's understanding. In such a case, there is a contract in accordance with that understanding. Id. at 653-54 (quoting 3A A. Corbin, Contracts § 684, at 224 (1960)). Based upon the foregoing principles, we conclude that the trial court might have found on the evidence that the conditions set forth in the employee's manual formed a part of plaintiff's contract of employment. Unfortunately for the plaintiff, the district court found otherwise on the evidence presented. Consequently, in order to prevail, plaintiff must establish that her interpretation should prevail as a matter of law. In several cases, we have applied the standard of interpretation contained in Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 212(2) (1979), which provides: A question of interpretation of an integrated agreement is to be determined by the trier of fact if it depends on the credibility of extrinsic evidence or on a choice among reasonable inferences to be drawn from extrinsic evidence. Otherwise a question of interpretation of an integrated agreement is to be determined as a question of law. See Borgen v. Klemm, 391 N.W.2d 252, 256-57 (Iowa 1986); First Nat'l Bank of Creston v. Creston Implement Co., 340 N.W.2d 777, 782 (Iowa 1983); Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sandbulte, 302 N.W. 2d 104, 107-08 (Iowa 1981); Connie's Constr. Co. v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 227 N.W.2d 207, 210 (Iowa 1975). Ordinarily, whether a particular writing has been adopted as an integrated agreement is a question of fact to be determined in accordance with all relevant evidence. Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 209 comment c (1981). Under plaintiff's view of the matter, the provision in the employee's manual would be inconsistent with the provisions of the written contract. Because the evidence strongly suggests that the manual was in existence at the time the employment agreement was signed, this tends to support the district court's finding that its provisions were not intended to be contractual. Moreover, the language in the employee's manual purports to describe steps which shall normally be taken. The district court's ultimate finding was consistent with reasonable inferences to be drawn from the context of the transaction. Consequently, such finding is binding upon us in the determination of this appeal. Borgen, 391 N.W.2d at 257. We have considered all issues presented and find no basis for reversing the district court's judgment. AFFIRMED.