Court Opinion

ID: 9522447
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:25:52.900076+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:02:48.851134
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE WARD delivered the opinion of the court: The question here is whether the complaint of David N. Price stated a cause of action for retaliatory discharge. The circuit court of Vermilion County held that it did, and the defendant, Carmack Datsun, Inc. (Car-mack), appealed to the appellate court. That court reversed (124 Ill. App. 3d 979), and we granted the plaintiff’s petition for leave to appeal under our Rule 315 (94 Ill. 2d R. 315). The plaintiff’s complaint against Carmack, filed January 5, 1982, contained these allegations: The defendant Carmack was in the business of selling new and used automobiles in Danville. Price was a sales representative for Carmack from December 1977 until May 1978, when he left to establish a locksmith business. In July 1980, Price returned to Carmack as a full-time sales representative. On August 18, 1980, Price was in an automobile accident and suffered two fractured ribs, a fractured pelvis and a fractured coccyx. He was hospitalized for three weeks and used crutches for two months thereafter. As an employee of Carmack, the plaintiff was covered under Carmack’s group health insurance plan with Massachusetts Life Insurance Company. The plaintiff’s medical expenses were more than $7,000. When Price returned to work on November 26, 1980, Donald Carmack, the president of Carmack, asked him whether he was going to submit a claim under the health insurance plan and sought to discourage him from filing a claim. Three days later, the plaintiff informed Carmack that he intended to file a claim. Carmack informed the plaintiff at that time that he was discharged. The plaintiff alleged that his filing the claim was the ground for his discharge. The jury found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded him $5,525 in compensatory damages and $2,762 in punitive damages. The appellate court, in reversing, held that the plaintiff had not stated a cause of action for retaliatory discharge. The plaintiff contends that the health insurance provisions of the Illinois Insurance Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 73, par. 613 et seq.) show that there is a public policy against the discharge of employees for filing health insurance claims. The defendant’s position is that the filing of a health insurance claim is founded on a private contractual right and is not a matter supported by public policy. The accepted general rule is that in an employment at will there is no limitation on the right of an employer to discharge an employee. An exception to this, however, arises where there has been a retaliatory discharge of the employee. A cause of action for retaliatory discharge is recognized by this court only when the employee’s discharge is in violation of a “clearly mandated public policy.” (Barr v. Kelso-Burnett Co. (1985), 106 Ill. 2d 520, 525; Palmateer v. International Harvester Co. (1981), 85 Ill. 2d 124, 128-30.) In Palmateer, this court discussed the meaning of “clearly mandated public policy”: “There is no precise definition of the term. In general, it can be said that public policy concerns what is right and just and what affects the citizens of the State collectively. It is to be found in the State’s constitution and statutes and, when they are silent, in its judicial decisions. [Citation.] Although there is no precise line of demarcation dividing matters that are the subject of public policies from matters purely personal, a survey of cases in other States involving retaliatory discharges shows that a matter must strike at the heart of a citizen’s social rights, duties, and responsibilities before the tort will be allowed.” 85 Ill. 2d 124, 130. The tort of retaliatory discharge was first recognized and applied by this court in Kelsay v. Motorola, Inc. (1978), 74 Ill. 2d 172, where it was alleged that the employee had been discharged in retaliation for having filed a workers’ compensation claim. This court determined that the Workers’ Compensation Act showed a strong public policy in favor of the exercise of an employee’s rights under the statute. This policy would be frustrated if employers would be permitted to discharge employees for filing claims for injuries with impunity. Public policy required that the employer be made additionally liable for the wrongful discharge. In Palmateer, this court held there was a cause of action for an employee’s discharge in retaliation for furnishing police with information regarding possible criminal conduct of a fellow employee. We considered that “[t]here is no public policy more important or more fundamental than the one favoring the effective protection of the lives and property of citizens. *** Public policy favors [the employee’s] conduct in volunteering information to the law-enforcement agency.” 85 Ill. 2d 124, 132-33. The question here is whether there is a clearly mandated public policy regarding the plaintiff’s health insurance coverage to' support a cause of action for retaliatory discharge. The plaintiff notes that employers commonly provide group health insurance for employees and thus a great many workers in this State have this coverage. To demonstrate a clearly mandated public policy to prohibit the discharge of an employee for the filing of a health insurance claim, the plaintiff cites the sections of the Insurance Code that regulate health insurance. (See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 73, pars. 964, 982d.) The entire insurance industry, however, is a regulated industry. The Insurance Code regulates all types of insurance and all policies issued are required to have State approval. It should be noted, too, that the Code was designed to govern operations of insurance companies, not insureds, such as the defendant. The filing of a claim under a policy of insurance is pursuant to an individual contract between the insurer and the insured. We consider that the discharge of an employee for filing a claim under a policy in which he is a beneficiary does not violate a clearly mandated public policy. This court in Palmateer said that for a matter to be a matter of “clearly mandated public policy” it “must strike at the heart of a citizen’s social rights, duties, and responsibilities *** .” (85 Ill. 2d 124, 130.) The matter here is one of private and individual grievance rather than one affecting our society. For the reasons given, the judgment of the appellate court, reversing the circuit court, is affirmed. Judgment affirmed.