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Torts Keyed to Duncan
Lewis v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc’y of the United States
Citation:
389 N.W.2d 876 (Minn. 1986)Facts
In 1980, Carole Lewis, Mary Smith, Michelle Rafferty, and Suzanne Loizeaux (plaintiffs) were hired as dental claim approvers for Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States (defendants) in the defendant’s St. Paul office. A few months later, they were selected to work in the defendant’s Pittsburgh office for two weeks, but were not provided detailed instructions regarding travel expenses. The plaintiffs each spent the travel advance in full and did not learn until they returned that they would need to submit a detailed expense report. The plaintiffs submitted their reports twice, and were twice asked to resubmit the reports. On the third time, the plaintiffs refused and were terminated for gross insubordination. The plaintiffs sued the defendant for defamation, on the grounds that they have had to repeat the reason for their termination when searching for new employment.
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