Case Summaries
| Publication year | 1989 |
| Pages | 28 |
| Citation | Vol. 2 No. 8 Pg. 28 |
Clark R. Nielsen, J.
During the first six months of 1989, the Court of Appeals received approximately 400 new filings—260 original filings and 136 referred by the Supreme Court. New cases filed increased almost 12 percent from 1988. Final dispositions of appeals during this period were approximately 360: 111 opinions were issued after oral argument; 25 unpublished opinions issued without oral argument; 35 matters were summarily dismissed, affirmed or reversed under Rule 10; and, 50 matters were summarily heard and decided without opinion under Rule 31. Additional cases were dismissed for administrative reasons such as the failure to prosecute the appeal.
Annualized, the appeals court dispositions also increased by approximately 12 percent over 1988. The increase is a result of the more extensive use of Rule 31 by the court. As of June 30, 1989, approximately 550 appeals remained pending in the Court of Appeals.
During June, July and August the Utah Supreme Court significantly reduced the number of cases argued but awaiting decision. The Supreme Court issued 38 published opinions and the Court of Appeals issued 52 published opinions. Emphasis is given to a brief summary of several cases rather than an extensive discussion of a few cases.
BERUBE—EMPLOYMENT CONTINUED
A detailed analysis of Berube v. Fashion Center Ltd., 104 Utah Adv. Rep. (1989), appeared in September's Utah Bar Journal. Since Berube, the Supreme Court has applied its decision in two additional decisions: Lowe v. Sorenson Research Co., 114 Utah Adv. Rep. 26 (1989) (Justice Zimmerman), and Calwell v. Ford, Bacon and Davis, 114 Utah Adv. Rep. 14 (1989) (Justice Zimmerman).
In Caldwell, the court affirmed a summary judgment denying the employee's wrongful discharge claim. Employment-at-will is a presumption rebuttable by an employer's internal policies and procedures which can become part of the contractual terms of employment. What such policies are and whether they became part of the employment relationship is generally a factual matter for the fact trier. But, in this case, even assuming that defendant's policy manual was an integral part of the employment contract, the terms were not ambiguous. As a matter of law, Caldwell's termination did not contravene these additional terms of employment.
In the Lowe case, the court vacated the trial court's dismissal of the wrongful termination claim and...
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