Court Opinion

ID: 217427
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2011-05-25 17:21:18+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:28:32.387724
License: Public Domain

PER CURIAM:
  
   *
  

  Shelton Hall sued his employer for wrongful termination, claiming he was fired because he reported to the company that he had been assaulted by a co-worker. This is a diversity case based on Mississippi common law.
 

  The company moved to dismiss, maintaining that Mississippi is an employment-at-will state and that Hall had not shown entitlement to the only exception to the at-will doctrine, which is discharge for reporting illegal acts of the employer. The district court granted the motion, correctly reasoning as follows:
 

  The only factual allegations in the complaint are that a co-worker assaulted plaintiff, that plaintiff reported the assault, and that he was terminated in retaliation for reporting the assault. There is no allegation that [the employer] authorized the assault or any facts alleged to support an inference that it ratified the assault or that the assault occurred in the course and scope of employment.
 

  The district court carefully explained its reasons in a succinct but sufficiently thorough Memorandum Opinion and Order. We AFFIRM, essentially for the reasons given by the district court.
 

   *
  

   Pursuant to 5th Cm. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cm. R. 47.5.4.