Opinion ID: 1633331
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Bad Faith Breach of Contract

Text: Next, ULL argues it is entitled to summary judgment on Mr. Cyprien's bad faith breach of contract claim. In support, it maintains it had good cause for terminating Mr. Cyprien's contract based on his misrepresentation of his academic qualifications. Mr. Cyprien counters that he did not violate any specific provisions of the contract at any time during performance of his duties; rather, all of the acts which allegedly form the basis for termination of his employment contract (i.e., the resumé misrepresentations) occurred prior to entering into a contract. According to Mr. Cyprien, ULL simply used the resumé issue as a pretext to terminate his contract. As a threshold issue, we note that ULL disputes whether it entered into a formal employment contract with Mr. Cyprien. Nonetheless, for purposes of its motion for summary judgment, ULL is willing to assume a contract exists. Assuming a contract exists, the next question presented is whether ULL had a valid basis to rescind that contract due to a failure of cause resulting from Mr. Cyprien's misrepresentation of his academic credentials. Cause is the reason why a party obligates himself. La. Civ. Code art.1967. Error can vitiate consent, so that a contract may be rescinded based upon error. La. Civ.Code art.1948. Article 1950 of the Civil Code describes an error which may concern cause as anything which the parties should in good faith have regarded, as a cause of the obligation. Further, [e]rror vitiates consent only when it concerns a cause without which the obligation would not have been incurred, and that cause was known or should have been known to the other party. La. Civ.Code art.1949. In support of its motion for summary judgment, Mr. Schexnayder indicated that Mr. Cyprien was terminated because he did not have a bachelor degree from an institution accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). He stated, in pertinent part: The only other degrees listed on Glynn Cyprien's resumé were from LaCrosse University. UL relies on the Commission on Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to determine whether schools in the southeast region are accredited. LaCrosse is not recognized by the Commission on Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as an accredited University. After determining that Glynn Cyprien did not have a degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio, UL decided to terminate Glynn Cyprien.    A degree from an accredited university is a requirement for the coaching position for which Glynn Cyprien applied. Had I known Glynn Cyprien did not have a degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio, he would not have been offered the head coaching position at UL. Similarly, Mr. Broussard's affidavit states that the reason ULL terminated Mr. Cyprien's employment was because he had not received a degree from an accredited four year institution, [and therefore] Cyprien failed to qualify for the position he was initially hired to fill. These affidavits establish that ULL would not have incurred the obligation if it had known that Mr. Cyprien did not have a degree from an accredited university. Mr. Cyprien clearly knew or should have known that his academic qualifications were an important factor in ULL's decision to hire him. Under these circumstances, we find ULL has established that it had a valid ground to rescind Mr. Cyprien's contract based on error in the cause. Thus, Mr. Cyprien will be unable to establish a bad faith breach of contract claim. The district court erred in denying ULL's motion for summary judgment on this claim.