Court Opinion

ID: 9519510
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:17:52.306345+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:28.585854
License: Public Domain

O’Connor, J.
(dissenting). The Superior Court judge explained in her memorandum of decision that “[w]ere there no evidence of bad faith by Scarbeau in applying the lay off cuts to Chapman, as opposed to other hospital employees, UMMC’s decisionmaking process would remain undisturbed by this Court. Here, however, there was sufficient credible evidence that Chapman’s termination, concededly discretionary with her supervisor, was motivated by Scarbeau’s desire to rid himself of Chapman.” It follows that, if the judge was mistaken in concluding that there was evidence sufficient to warrant an inference of bad faith on Scarbeau’s part in applying the layoff cuts to Chapman, judgment should be entered for UMMC.1 In my opinion, there was no evidence of bad faith on Scarbeau’s part.
*113The term “bad faith” “imports a dishonest purpose or some moral obliquity. It implies conscious doing of wrong. It means a breach of a known duty through some motive of interest or ill will. It partakes of the nature of fraud.” Spiegel v. Beacon Participations, Inc., 297 Mass. 398, 416 (1937). As the court says, ante at 110, the judge’s finding of bad faith was based primarily on one brief discussion between the plaintiff and Scarbeau concerning the purchase of equipment. The plaintiff testified that, in response to her criticism that the purchase had been made without competitive bidding “when we were counting every dollar,” Scarbeau “told [her] just to mind [her] own business, that it was going to happen; and he said that he hoped he would spare [her] in the next layoff.” There was no evidence that, following that exchange, the plaintiff disregarded Scarbeau’s advice to “mind [her] own business” by again mentioning the equipment purchase to Scarbeau or anyone else. The evidence of Scarbeau’s displeasure with the plaintiff was slim at best. In any event, it did not warrant a finding that the elimination of the plaintiff’s position was done in bad faith.
There is not a scintilla of evidence that Scarbeau thought that retention of the plaintiff’s position would have served UMMC’s interest better than the retention of a position that was in fact retained. There also is no evidence that retaining the plaintiff’s position rather than one of the positions actually retained would in fact have better served UMMC. The absence of such evidence is critical. Even if the judge would have been warranted in finding that Scarbeau was displeased with the plaintiff, the evidence does not warrant a finding that Scarbeau was motivated by that displeasure rather than by an honest judgment that the required reduction in payroll expenses could be accomplished with the least damage to UMMC’s legitimate interests by eliminating Chapman’s position. It is of no consequence that “Scarbeau could have *114saved Chapman’s position by selecting another employee or employees to be laid off.” Ante at 109. Scarbeau owed fidelity to UMMC, not just to the plaintiff. The discussion between the plaintiff and Scarbeau, the evidence the judge principally relied on to find bad faith, was insufficient to show dishonesty or wrongdoing on Scarbeau’s, and therefore UMMC’s, part.
Perhaps the court would agree that, if the evidence the judge principally relied on was legally insufficient to warrant a finding of bad faith, no discussion of the so-called “supporting evidence” is necessary. I mention it only briefly. The court states that “[t]he evidence that Chapman had helped train one of the associate hospital directors and had substituted for them when needed supports the judge’s finding that Chapman’s position was similar to the position held by the three associate hospital directors. The finding of similarity of positions was a basis of the finding that Chapman was sufficiently qualified to be eligible to ‘bump’ others in her department.” Ante at 111. The fact that, in accordance with the usual operation of UMMC’s legitimate seniority system, a system that preexisted Scarbeau’s decision, Chapman had no “bumping” rights after her position was eliminated, says nothing about whether Scarbeau’s decision was motivated by a desire to cut payroll expenses in a way most beneficial to the legitimate interests of UMMC, or by a desire to hurt the plaintiff. The total evidence in this case was, as a matter of law, insufficient to warrant a finding of bad faith. Therefore, in keeping with the judge’s advice that, if there had been no evidence of bad faith, the judge would have left “UMMC’s decisionmaking process . . . undisturbed,” I would order the entry of judgment for the defendant.

The court states, ante at 110, “We give due weight to the findings of the judge who has heard the testimony and who has had an opportunity to weigh the credibility of the witnesses. Seder v. Gibbs, 333 Mass. 445, 446 (1956). The judge’s findings of fact will not be set aside unless clearly erroneous. Mass. R. Civ. P. 52 (a), 365 Mass. 816 (1974).” “A finding is ‘clearly erroneous’ when although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed” (emphasis added). Kendall v. Selvaggio, 413 Mass. 619, 620-621 (1992), quoting J.A. Sullivan Corp. v. Commonwealth, 397 Mass. 789, 792 (1986). In determining whether the evidence was legally sufficient to warrant a finding that Scarbeau acted in bad faith, which is the critical question on appeal due to the trial judge’s *113statement that, if the evidence were insufficient, she would have found for UMMC, it is inappropriate to “give due weight to the findings of the judge.”