Gibbs

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Robert Gibbs appeals only from that portion of a summary judgment entered in favor of defendant Consolidated Disposal Service, LLC that adjudicates plaintiff’s causes of action for wrongful termination due to age discrimination, wrongful termination in violation of public policy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He contends there are triable issues of material fact as to whether he was terminated due to age discrimination. Inasmuch as defendant proved it had a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for terminating plaintiff’s employment and plaintiff failed to make a prima facie case of age discrimination, we disagree and affirm the judgment.

FACTS

Plaintiff became an employee of Atlas Transport, a waste management company, in May 1985. He worked as a driver until 1992, when he was promoted to operations manager of Atlas Transport’s Chatsworth facility. In this position, plaintiff handled customer relations, coverage of routes, customer complaints and essentially oversaw the entire operation. He had approximately 25 drivers under his supervision.

Defendant, a large waste management company, acquired Atlas Transport in July 1999.…