196 Pa. 580 | Pa. | 1900
Opinion by
The contract between the parties to this contention was clearly, as held by the learned president judge of the court below, one of employment. Its first clause is as follows: “ Said company hereby employs said Peniston to be manager of its publishing department for the term of two years from this date, with reasonable and proper authority to conduct said department ; and said Peniston hereby accepts said employment.”
It is true that the appellee was to receive a proportion of the profits of the business, and, at the expiration of the contract, one third of the value of the stock, copyright and plates. He was not, however, to receive an interest in the latter, but to be paid a sum of money equal to one third of their value, to be ascertained in the manner stated in the agreement. He was an employee, engaged for a definite period at a compensation agreed upon by him and his employer, and was to be manager of its publishing department for the term of two years from July 16, 1890, “with reasonable and proper authority to
Damages are claimed by the appellee for his alleged improper discharge by the appellant. This is his allegation, and notwithstanding the appellant’s shifting position, a careful review of the evidence has satisfied us that there was a discharge. The first question, then, that arises is, was the discharge proper ? Disputed facts connected with such a discharge, and alleged by the employer to have been reasonable cause for it, are for the jury; but whether it was proper, under undisputed or admitted conditions, relied upon as justifying it, is for the court: Matthews v. Park Brothers, 146 Pa. 384. There is no dispute as to the conduct of the appellee that led to his discharge. He admits that, when directed by the president of the company that had employed him to change his room from the second story of the building to the first, he declined, for the reason that he felt he had a partner’s interest in the business, instead of a position as a clerk, and subsequently refused to deliver or submit to the president, until he could consult his counsel, the contracts that had been made for the sale of the books, published by the company employing him. This was insubordination and misconduct fully justifying his discharge, and the learned
Having been properly dismissed from his employment, the only remaining question is, whether the appellee is entitled to recover anything. The contract provides that, during its continuance, settlements were to be made every three months, “commencing as of the first day of November, 1890, and one third of the accrued net profits, as shown by said settlements, shall then be paid over to said Peniston.” As he was discharged about the time the first settlement ought to have been made, in reversing this judgment we will order a new trial, that it may be determined, under evidence more satisfactory than has been produced, what profits, if any, had accrued to November 1,1890, to one third of which he is entitled. All other compensation under the contract he forfeited by his misconduct and lost when he was properly discharged.
The error called to our attention in the fifth assignment was inadvertently made and will be avoided on the retrial.
Judgment reversed and a venire facias de novo awarded.