Edward Almada, Husband Mary Almada, Wife v. Allstate Insurance Company, a Foreign Corp.

Plaintiff Edward Almada brought this action in Arizona state court against Allstate Insurance Company, alleging that Allstate breached his contract of employment by discharging him for alleged sexual harassment. Allstate removed the case to the federal district court on the ground of diversity of citizenship. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332 , 1441. The district court granted summary judgment for Allstate, in part on the ground that there was no genuine dispute of fact that Almada was an at-will employee who could be terminated without cause. We affirm.

Factual Background

In 1967, Allstate hired Almada and entered into an Allstate Agent Compensation Agreement [“Agreement”] with him. The Agreement provided in part:

In October 1996, two of Almada’s former secretaries alleged that Almada had sexually harassed them. Almada denied the allegations and Allstate commenced an investigation. After investigating the allegations and interviewing the parties, Allstate Corporate Security concluded that Almada had made unwelcome advances and had sexually harassed his former secretaries. Allstate terminated Almada’s employment in January 1997.

Almada appealed the termination to a review board.…