Court Opinion

ID: 9620813
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:48:14.118159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:54.639011
License: Public Domain

WOLFE, Chief Justice
(concurring).
I concur in the result.
I see merit in the so-called modern rule that any threat which actually puts the victim in such fear as to compel him to act against his will constitutes duress but it has reaches which ramify into the realm of psychology and, in its practical application, may encounter difficulties of discernment between the sly and the timid. The brash and robust mind may easily later on take a sensitive hue. “The devil a monk would be” if if might aid recovery.
The sort of contemplation this question requires is the type one might indulge in while reading Aristotle’s “Ethics.” Time forbids the sort of consideration it merits.
It is not necessary for us to determine at this time whether we approve the modern rule of subjective test, that is, its effect upon the person to whom the threat is directed because the opinion correctly holds that under the findings of the lower court the words used by Piercey were admonitory and advisory only. The court did not find that the statement by Piercey to Fox that unless he, Fox, resigned, Piercey would be compelled to discharge him was made for an ulterior purpose. Being consistent with Piercey’s duty it must be' so interpreted rather than to read into it a wrongful motive.
The part about the effect of the publication of Fox’s discharge on his future welfare as found by the court must *378be taken as advisory designed to place before Fox that aspect for consideration in making his decision as to whether to choose resignation or subject himself to discharge. That an employer may place before the employee the employer’s idea of the various effects which may flow from the decision of the employee may be an attempt by the employer to persuade such employee to choose the method of a voluntary severence of the employer-employee relationship because such choice would be easier on the employer; but coupled with that motive may be the one also of making it easier for the future of the employee. We cannot probe the mind of the employer in order to determine such niceties of distinction in motives and the comparative weight which each may have had with such employer.
Suffice it for us that there was a substantial reason for discharge or at least that the Chief honestly concluded that there was. If the Chief told Fox of his intention to discharge Fox but did not go beyond a statement of that intention except a suggestion or even advise that Fox should resign and thereby avoid discharge, it cannot be held to be a threat and duress would not be present despite a secret motive on the part of the Chief, if any. More than the above is not necessary to the decision. Consequently, I concur in the result.