Blinn v. Beatrice Community Hospital and Health Center, Inc.

Facts

Plaintiff was an employee at Defendant hospital and health center. He received an offer from another employer for a job with higher pay and a guarantee that he could keep the job until he retired. Plaintiff showed the offer to one of Defendant’s administrator and asked whether Defendant would also guarantee to employ him until retirement. The administrator said “we’ve got at least five more years of work to do.” Plaintiff then spoke to Defendant’s chairman of the board and asked him the same. The chairman said “We want you to stay” and assured Plaintiff he could stay until retirement. Plaintiff was fired six months later and sued Defendant for breach of contract, claiming that the statements made by the administrator and chairman had transformed his at-will employment to an employment contract for at least five years. Plaintiff also made a claim for promissory estoppel, alleging that the statements had caused him to turn down the other job offer. The trial court granted summary judgment to Defendant on both claims. The state intermediate appellate court reversed, finding the evidence created a genuine issue of material fact about both whether Defendant had made an employment contract offer to Plaintiff and whether Defendant’s statements formed the basis for a promissory estoppel claim. Defendant appealed.