Court Opinion

ID: 9797225
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:15:40.858522+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:53:31.020099
License: Public Domain

DURHAM, Chief Justice,
dissenting:
¶ 26 I respectfully dissent. I do not agree with the majority’s conclusion that Dr. Hardy met his burden of showing that the reasons advanced by UBMC for Dr. Hardy’s termination were arbitrary, capricious, or pretex-tual.
¶ 27 Dr. Hardy attempted to meet his burden by identifying what he characterized as deficiencies in UBMC’s termination process. For example, Dr. Hardy noted that UBMC’s chief financial officer testified in a deposition that, at the time of Dr. Hardy’s termination, UBMC had not conducted an investigation into the financial impact of hiring Dr. Allred. Dr. Hardy also noted that UBMC failed to contact the National Practitioner Databank to inquire whether Dr. Allred had any malpractice claims pending against him until after Dr. Hardy had been terminated. I do not share the majority’s conclusion that these facts give rise to any inferences supporting the presence of an improper pretextual termination. UBMC’s investigation and discussions regarding whether to hire Dr. Allred took place prior to the Board’s unanimous vote to terminate Dr. Hardy’s employment agreement. While UBMC’s investigation may not have been perfect, or even reached the correct result, Dr. Hardy, in my opinion, failed to produce evidence that UBMC made its decision to terminate Dr. Hardy or conducted its investigation of Dr. Allred in bad faith, or that such actions constituted pretext or capricious or illegal behavior.
¶28 UBMC presented the district court with uncontroverted evidence of good faith business reasons why it terminated Dr. Hardy’s agreement, see supra. ¶ 15, and Dr. Hardy failed to produce evidence discrediting those reasons. Thus, in my view, the district court correctly concluded that UBMC terminated Dr. Hardy’s agreement for just cause. I would affirm.
¶ 29 Associate Chief Justice Wilkins concurs in Chief Justice Durham’s dissenting opinion.