Sires v. Tyson Foods, Inc.

1

DEVIN ANDREW SIRES, Plaintiff, v. TYSON FOODS, INC., and TYSON FRESH MEATS, INC.,^[1] Defendants.

No. C22-2004-LTS

United States District Court, N.D. Iowa, Eastern Division

February 28, 2024

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

LEONARD T. STRAND UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the court on defendants' motion (Doc 67) for summary judgment, along with three motions (Docs. 42, 45, 86) for summary judgment filed by plaintiff Devin Sires.^[2] Oral argument is not necessary. See Local Rule 7(c).

II. RELEVANT PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On January 26, 2022, Sires filed a pro se “Complaint For A Civil Case” (the complaint) in the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County. Doc. 2. The complaint includes three claims, which will be discussed below. On February 16, 2022, defendants removed the case to this court based on diversity of citizenship. Doc. 1.

Defendants filed an answer (Doc. 4) on February 23, 2022. On March 4, 2022, Sires filed a document (Doc. 5) that the Clerk's office docketed as a motion for summary judgment. Defendants filed a resistance (Doc. 8) and Sires filed a reply (Doc. 11). On March 15, 2022, Sires filed a document (Doc. 7) that was titled and docketed as a motion in limine. Defendants filed a resistance (Doc. 14). On May 6, 2022, defendants filed, with leave of court, an amended answer (Doc. 25).

On July 12, 2022, Sires filed a second motion (Doc. 29) that was docketed as a motion for (partial) summary judgment. On August 5, 2022, defendants filed a resistance (Docs. 32, 33). On October 11, 2022, Sires filed his third motion (Doc. 42) for summary judgment. Three days later, on October 14, 2022, Sires filed his fourth motion (Doc. 45) for summary judgment. Defendants filed a joint resistance (Doc. 60) to both motions.

On October 26, 2022, the court granted Sires' request to amend his complaint adding Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc., as a defendant. See Doc. 55. On November 3, 2022, defendants filed a second amended answer. Doc. 59.

On December 14, 2022, defendants filed a motion (Doc. 67) for summary judgment, along with a statement (Doc. 67-1) of material facts and an appendix (Doc. 67-4, 67-5). On January 9, 2023, Sires filed a resistance (Doc. 74), along with a response to the statement of fact (Doc. 74-1) and an appendix (Doc. 74-2). On January 17, 2023, defendants filed a reply (Doc. 76).

On January 17, 2023, Sires filed two motions (Docs. 80, 81) for sanctions. On January 31, 2023, defendants filed two responses (Docs. 82, 83). On February 15, 2023, Sires filed his fifth motion (Doc. 86) for summary judgment and his third motion (Doc. 88) for sanctions. On March 3, 2023, defendants filed a resistance (Doc. 91) to the third motion for sanctions and on March 8, 2023, defendants filed a resistance (Doc. 92) to the fifth motion for summary judgment. On March 20, 2023, plaintiff filed a reply (Doc. 95).

On March 30, 2023, I entered an order (Doc. 96) denying: (1) Sires' first motion (Doc. 5) for summary judgment; (2) Sires' motion (Doc. 7) in limine; and (3) Sires' 2 second motion (Doc. 29) for summary judgment. On April 13, 2023, Judge Roberts denied all three of Sires' motions (Docs. 80, 81, 88) for sanctions. Sires subsequently filed, and then withdrew, a second motion in limine. See Docs. 98, 101, 102.

III. RELEVANT FACTS

A. Allegations from the Complaint

In his complaint (Doc. 2), as amended (Doc. 59), Sires makes three claims. In Claim One, Sires alleges defendants committed “libel per se” and “slander per se.” Specifically, Sires alleges employees of Tyson made defamatory statements about Sires' involvement in an act of vandalism to Sires, other Tyson employees, law enforcement and other potential employers. In Claim Two Sires alleges “negligent misinformation, and fraud.” He contends that Tyson engaged in fraud both by “negligent misinformation” and by “alleging misrepresentation of knowledge of state of mind.” Doc. 2 at 4. However, it is not clear what, exactly, Sires contends was fraudulently or negligently misrepresented. In Claim Three, Sires seems to allege that Tyson breached a contract.^[3]

B. Undisputed Facts

In August 2021, Sires was employed as a general manager in warehousing at a Tyson facility in Waterloo, Iowa.^[4] When he was initially hired in 2015, Sires signed a document confirming that his employment was at will:

The preceding information sets forth general policies and guidelines concerning the position for which you have been hired. These policies and guidelines are subject to change without notice by the Company from time to time to deal with changing situations. In all circumstances employment is at will.

On July 21, 2021, when Sires was promoted to warehouse manager, the promotion document stated that it “is not intended nor should it be considered a contract of employment for a definite or indefinite period. If employed, you will be considered an employee at will.” Sires affirmed during his deposition that he was an “at will” employee who could be terminated for “any lawful reason.”

Tyson has numerous employee policies. They include an internal investigations policy, a separation policy, team member rules of conduct and an anti-retaliation policy. Prior to the incident that led to his discharge, Sires was disciplined by Tyson on three occasions. Additionally, while employed by Tyson, Sires had a criminal history that included convictions for drunk driving, failure to pay child support, burglary and domestic abuse.

On August 17, 2021, Sires and his wife AnnMarie, who worked at Tyson as a nurse manger, encountered John Roddy, another Tyson employee, in the Tyson parking lot. AnnMarie was ticketing cars, which was not her job, and ticketed Roddy's car. Roddy objected and Sires interceded. Roddy alleged that a verbal altercation ensued and that it continued until Roddy was in his car. Sires denies the exchange he had with Roddy was hostile. Regardless, video footage confirms that Sires and Roddy had an exchange in the parking lot, as do additional witness statements.

Roddy immediately reported the incident to Tyson's human resources (HR) department. The next day, Roddy's car's tires were slashed while his car was in the Tyson parking lot. Roddy reported the vandalism to Tyson and told Tyson officials he believed Sires was the culprit. He also reported it to law enforcement. Roddy reported, and other employees confirmed, that there was a history of hostile feelings between Roddy and Sires.^[5] Roddy stated he believed his tires were slashed in retaliation for the confrontation he had with Sires the previous day. Tyson's policies prohibit retaliation and also prohibit destruction/vandalism of employee property.

Lee Avina, a Tyson supervisor, interviewed Roddy and then assigned the vandalism investigation to Teri Rottinghaus, an HR manager. At the time of the investigation, Rottinghaus had been an HR manager at Tyson for 13 years and had conducted at least 20 investigations related to potentially-criminal conduct. Avina also communicated to Rottinghaus that Roddy had alleged Sires engaged in retaliation by slashing his tires.

Rottinghaus did not personally interview Roddy but did review parking lot video footage. The video showed a dark vehicle, believed to be a Mitsubishi Eclipse, driving into the parking lot and parking near Roddy's vehicle.^[6] The video then shows an individual getting out of the passage side of the car, approaching Roddy's vehicle, bending down and making “slashing” motions. Comparing that video to the security video of Sires' and Roddy's confrontation the previous day, Rottinghaus believed the tireslasher to be approximately the size and stature of Sires, with the same type of gait. However, the person's ethnicity could not be ascertained from the video.

The video showed the person getting back into the passenger side of the dark car, with the car then driving away. The video does not show the vehicle's license plate.

Rottinghaus speculated the car was a Mitsubishi Eclipse. Rottinghaus stated that Sires' management team, Mike Herber and Mike Eyestone, indicated that Sires had that type of vehicle. Rottinghaus then drove past Sires' home and confirmed the presence of a dark colored Mitsubishi Eclipse with the license plate number JEM118. Rottinghaus asked another human resource manager, Katie Schoepske, to drive to Sires' home and take a picture of the vehicle, which she did.^[7]

Along with Sires' management team, Rottinghaus also conferred with Plant Manager Petersen. Rottinghaus interviewed Sires and told him she believed Sires vandalized Roddy's vehicle. Sires denied doing so. Nonetheless, based on her investigation, Rottinghaus concluded that Sires committed the vandalism of Roddy's car. At Tyson, the discharge of a manager requires the approval of an HR director. Rottinghaus conferred with her supervisor, HR director Lonny Jepsen, who approved Sires' discharge.^[8]

On September 9, 2021, Rottinghaus, along with Sires' direct supervisors Herber and Eyestone, met with Sires and told him that the investigation concluded he engaged in gross misconduct by committing property vandalism and that Tyson was terminating his employment. Gross misconduct is a term of art Tyson uses for discharged employees who are not eligible to be rehired. A specific example of gross misconduct in the Tyson Rules of Conduct is “intentional destruction/misuse of company or team member property.” Because the vandalism investigation resulted in Sires' discharge, an additional retaliation investigation was not completed.

Sires met with Jepsen and asked that he review the investigation. Sires told Jepsen that law enforcement had indicated to him that he was not a suspect in the vandalism. Jepsen gave Sires a week to provide documentation...