Court Opinion

ID: 9685396
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:36:08.115428+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:05.445246
License: Public Domain

MILLER, Justice
(concurring specially).
I agree with my colleagues regarding the reversal of the summary judgment on appellant’s claim for breach of contract.
Unlike the Chief Justice, I would affirm the summary judgment on the wrongful termination claim of appellant on its merits rather than upon procedural grounds. I agree with Justices Morgan and Sabers that said issue was not waived by appellant nor that he “failed to argue these matters in his brief or cite authority for his position.”
The wrongful termination count of appellant’s complaint alleges tortious conduct on the part of appellee. This court has yet to firmly recognize such a tort claim.1 This court has only recognized wrongful termination claims that sound in contract. See, e.g., Osterfcamp v. Alkota Mfg. Co., 332 N.W.2d 275 (S.D.1983). However, appellant makes no such allegation here and it would be improper to reverse the trial court’s ruling on the wrongful termination theory absent a contract-based claim.
Even if this court were to recognize the tort of wrongful termination, the record before the trial court would still have required the granting of summary judgment. The record merely contains conclusory pleadings together with many incomplete, vague, evasive, and nonresponsive answers to interrogatories which are not sufficient to overcome a summary judgment motion.2

. We have instead adhered to the doctrine that one’s employment is generally terminable at the will of the employer. See, e.g., Tombollo v. Dunn, 342 N.W.2d 23 (S.D.1984) and SDCL 60-4-4. This rale is subject to certain statutorily enumerated exceptions and is not applicable to contracts of employment for a specified period of time. SDCL 60-4-4.

. For a review and critique of South Dakota’s position on wrongful discharge, see Comment, The Status of the Wrongful Discharge Cause of Action in South Dakota, 31 S.D.L.Rev. 689 (1986).