Balmer v. Elan Corp.

The trial court properly dismissed the plaintiffs' wrongful discharge suit based on their status as at-will employees and their failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

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This is an interlocutory appeal filed by plaintiffs-appellants Damon E. Balmer, Durrelle Fauntleroy, Shannon L. Garrett, Karen R. Horowitz, Jose A. Quinones, Robin L. Riddle, and Cynthia T. Stewart, former employees of defendants-appellees Elan Corporation, PLC, Elan Holdings, Inc., and Elan Pharmaceutical Research Corporation “Elan”. The appellants, whom Elan terminated from at-will employment on August 1, 2000, appeal, contending that the superior court erred in granting Elan’s motion to dismiss their complaint for money damages insofar as it asserted wrongful discharge for breach of a promise-not-to-fire, promissory estoppel, and fraud.1 The appellants also challenge the trial court’s order dismissing Elan Corporation, PLC from the suit for want of personal jurisdiction. These claims of error as without merit, we affirm. A motion to dismiss should not be granted unless, upon viewing the pleadings in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, it appears to a certainty that the plaintiff would not be entitled relief under any state of facts which might be proved in support of plaintiff’s claim. Bourn v. Herring , 225 Ga. 67, 70 166 SE2d 89 1969; Wehunt v. ITT Business Communications Corp. , 183 Ga. App. 560, 561 2 359 SE2d 383 1987. Our review is de novo. Sidwell v. Sidwell , 237 Ga. App. 716, 717 1 515 SE2d 634 1999.

By their complaint, the appellants aver that, in 2000, Elan promised that they would not be discharged for cooperating with the Food and Drug Administration’s “FDA” inspection of Elan facilities in Gainesville that year. The appellants further aver that they cooperated with and provided truthful information to the FDA; that Elan thereafter fired them for providing the FDA with false information and withholding other information; and that Elan falsely told the FDA that they had been fired in that they had “deviated from procedures, despite their acknowledged training to the contrary.” Held :

Balmer v. Elan Corp.

The trial court properly dismissed the plaintiffs' wrongful discharge suit based on their status as at-will employees and their failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

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