Court Opinion

ID: 9523956
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:48:47.381785+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:08:41.639908
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, concurring: I join in the opinion of the court and concur in the result. I write separately to explain my understanding of the limits of our holding. The circuit court allowed the defendant’s motion for a directed verdict at the close of the plaintiffs case. As I view our opinion, it holds only that the circuit court erred in directing a verdict before the defendant had presented its case. The plaintiff testified that she had been told that she was discharged because she had filed a workers’ compensation claim against a previous employer, and there was no testimony or other evidence to the contrary at that point. A discharge for that reason would undermine the statutory scheme for remedies for injured employees. Our opinion does not suggest, however, much less hold, that the defendant could not have discharged the plaintiff for dishonesty if it demonstrated, as it contends was the case, that she had lied on her application. The verdict was directed before the defendant offered any evidence of its reason for discharging the plaintiff. What the reason for the discharge was is a question of fact to be determined by the finder of fact after the defendant has presented its case.