Opinion ID: 2671306
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Count 4—Tortious Interference with Office

Text: ¶ 64. Plaintiff’s final claim was for tortious interference with performance of office. The court granted the Town summary judgment, concluding that plaintiff had failed to raise a factual dispute about whether the selectboard acted maliciously and improperly in attempting to oust plaintiff from office. Just as for count 3, the court’s decision here was based on a procedural shortcoming. For similar reasons, we conclude that this decision was incorrect. Because the Town did not set forth facts in its undisputed statement of fact to establish that the decisions the selectboard made relating to raising plaintiff’s bond as treasurer lacked any malicious motivation, the burden to demonstrate a factual dispute on this point did not shift to plaintiff. Therefore, plaintiff’s failure to respond in her reply did not warrant judgment in favor of the Town of this count. ¶ 65. We conclude, however, that the Town was entitled to judgment on other grounds. See In re Cabot Creamery Coop., Inc. , 164 Vt. 26, 29, 663 A.2d 940, 941-42 (1995) (explaining that this Court can affirm on different grounds than relied upon by trial court). Even when the facts are viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff, she has failed to make a prima facie case of tortious interference. ¶ 66. Tortious interference generally refers to interference with performance of an existing contract or a prospective contractual relationship. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 766 (2013). Under this tort, a person is liable if he “intentionally and improperly interferes with the performance of a contract . . . between another and a third person by inducing or otherwise causing the third person not to perform the contract.” Id . While plaintiff styles her claim as one for “tortious interference with performance of office,” there is no such enumerated tort in our case law, or in the law of other jurisdictions. The closest analogy, although imperfect, is tortious interference in the employment context, which has been recognized in some states. See Fellhauer v. City of Geneva , 568 N.E.2d 870, 877-78 (Ill. 1991) (setting out elements of tortious interference with prospective economic advantage in an employment relationship). While the elements are described by courts in various ways, under any definition of this tort, the interference with the contract or prospective advantage must come from a third party. See Applied Equip. Corp. v. Litton Saudi Arabia Ltd. , 869 P.2d 454, 480 (Cal. 1994) (delineating elements of intentional interference claim and emphasizing that tort requires interference from third party, who has no interest in contract); Diederich v. Yarnevich , 196 P.3d 411, 418 (Kan. Ct. App. 2008) (affirming dismissal of tortious interference claim on grounds that claim requires interference from third party unrelated to employment contract); Farrow v. St. Francis Med. Ctr. , 407 S.W.3d 579, 602 (Mo. 2013) (setting forth elements of tortious interference with contract or business expectancy and explaining that action will lie against third party only); Rutherfoord v. Presbyterian-Univ. Hosp. , 612 A.2d 500, 507-08 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1992) (explaining that cause of action “requires three separate parties; parties to a contract or employment relationship cannot assert this cause of action against each other”). ¶ 67. Here, to the extent that we can apply tortious interference with an employment relationship to plaintiff’s allegation of tortious interference with performance of her office, we conclude that plaintiff has failed to meet the elements of that tort. Plaintiff alleges that selectboard members interfered with plaintiff’s performance of her duties as treasurer. Because the selectboard members are agents of the Town and not third parties, plaintiff has failed to allege interference by a third party, and has not pled a prima facie case for tortious interference. See Farrow , 407 S.W.3d at 602-03; see Puchalski v. Sch. Dist. of Springfield , 161 F. Supp. 2d 395, 411 (E.D. Pa. 2001) (holding that employees acting within scope of employment were not third parties for purposes of tortious interference claim). Therefore, the court was correct to grant judgment to the Town on this count. ¶ 68. In sum, the rulings of the trial court are affirmed in part and reversed in part. Regarding the first summary judgment order, we reverse the judgment in the Town’s favor on count 2, the civil rights violation, and affirm judgment for the Town on count 5, the claim for attorney’s fees under 24 V.S.A. § 901. As to the second summary judgment decision, we affirm summary judgment on count 1, the violation of Article 8 of the Vermont Constitution, reverse judgment on count 3, common law defamation and affirm on count 4, tortious interference. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for proceedings consistent with this decision . FOR THE COURT: