Binder

Plaintiff employee sued defendant employer for 1) breach of an implied-in-fact contract not to terminate except for “good cause,” and 2) age discrimination. The trial court granted summary judgment for the defendant employer. The plaintiff employee appeals.

The evidence suggests a strong possibility, perhaps a strong likelihood, that a trier of fact would resolve the issues in favor of the defendant employer on the “good cause” termination issue. It is not so clear from the evidence presented, however, that a reasonable trier of fact would necessarily have to resolve the issues in favor of the defendant employer. To assist in further development of the issues, we authorized further briefing. Both sides presented skillfully prepared and helpful letter briefs. Although the issue is close, we conclude that the evidence did not conclusively establish that there were no triable issues of material fact regarding the meaning of the parties’ implied agreement and whether what the plaintiff employee did amounted to “good cause” to terminate within that meaning. In the published portion of this opinion, we will therefore reverse the summary judgment on plaintiff’s claim of breach…