DOCSLIB.ORG

Case 2:10-Cv-01078-JFC Document 642 Filed 03/06/14 Page 1 of 81

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Case 2:10-Cv-01078-JFC Document 642 Filed 03/06/14 Page 1 of 81 Case 2:10-cv-01078-JFC Document 642 Filed 03/06/14 Page 1 of 81 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA THE YORK GROUP, INC., MILSO ) INDUSTRIES CORPORATION, and ) MATTHEWS INTERNATIONAL ) CORPORATION, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. 10-1078 ) SCOTT PONTONE, HARRY ) PONTONE, BATESVILLE CASKET ) COMPANY, INC., and PONTONE ) CASKET COMPANY, LLC, ) ) Defendants. ) MEMORANDUM OPINION Conti, Chief District Judge I. Introduction The instant action involves alleged breaches of restrictive covenants executed in connection with the sale of a family business consisting of the manufacturing and distribution of caskets. Pending before the court are five motions for summary judgment including thirty-one claims, including counterclaims, filed by the parties pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. ECF Nos. 462, 463, 467, 472 & 473. All five motions will be addressed in this memorandum opinion. For the reasons that follow, two of the motions will be denied in their entirety (ECF Nos. 462 & 473), and the remaining three motions (ECF Nos. 463, 467 & 472) will be granted in part and denied in part. II. Background1 1 Facts relevant to specific issues will be addressed in the discussion about those issues. 1 Case 2:10-cv-01078-JFC Document 642 Filed 03/06/14 Page 2 of 81 Matthews International Corporation (“Matthews”) is a Pennsylvania corporation maintaining its principal place of business in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ECF No. 70 ¶ 8. The York Group, Inc. (“York Group”), a subsidiary of Matthews, is incorporated under the laws of Delaware. Id. ¶ 6. Like Matthews, York Group operates out of Pittsburgh. Matthews is the second largest casket company in the United States. ECF No. 587 ¶ 1. Harry Pontone (“Harry”) and his son, Scott Pontone (“Scott”), operated Old Milso and its predecessor, the South Brooklyn Casket Company, for several years. ECF No. 587 ¶ 5. Several members of the Pontone family were involved in the business. Id. Old Milso was engaged in the business of manufacturing and distributing caskets. Non-family individuals also worked in the business, including Josephine Pesce (“Pesce”), who worked as Harry’s administrative assistant, id. ¶ 4, and Joseph Redmond (“Redmond”), who served as Old Milso’s warehouse manager, ECF No. 70 ¶ 70. Midnight Acquisition Corporation (“Midnight”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of York Group, acquired Old Milso’s assets on May 28, 2005. The acquisition was effectuated by an asset purchase agreement executed by the parties. ECF No. 4-1. The sale closed on July 11, 2005, and Midnight’s name was changed to Milso Industries Corporation (“Milso”). Members of the Pontone family were paid a lump sum of $95,000,000.00 pursuant to the terms of the agreement. ECF No. 480-1 at 21. The agreement also provided for the payment of contingent consideration under specified circumstances. Id. In the aftermath of the acquisition, Harry and Scott served respectively as York Group’s president and vice president. They both served as members of York Group’s board of directors. To effectuate the arrangement, Harry and Scott executed “key employee” employment agreements with York Group. ECF Nos. 470-1 & 480-2. Section 1.01 of those agreements 2 Case 2:10-cv-01078-JFC Document 642 Filed 03/06/14 Page 3 of 81 provided that Harry and Scott would perform “duties substantially similar to those performed for the [b]usiness” prior to the acquisition. ECF No. 470-1 at 2; ECF No. 480-2 at 1. As the president, Harry was given “exclusive control” over York Group’s operations, including the hiring and firing of employees, employee compensation, product pricing, and the implementation of its business strategy. ECF No. 480-2 at 2. The agreement governing the terms of Harry’s employment provided that his service as the president would “continue until the close of business on September 30, 2010.” Id. Subject to certain conditions, the agreement governing the terms of Scott’s employment provided that he would become York Group’s president for the balance of Harry’s term in the event that Harry ceased to serve in that capacity “for any reason.” ECF No. 470-1 at 3. Section 4.06 of the employment agreements prohibited Harry and Scott from engaging in a “Competing Business” during their terms of employment and for an additional three years. ECF No. 470-1 at 14; ECF No. 480-2 at 13. The term “Competing Business” was defined broadly enough to include “any person, corporation or other entity” involved in the manufacture, marketing or selling of “caskets, urns, memorials or cremation equipment.” Id. Each of the employment agreements also contained the following language: 4.07. Non-Solicitation of Customers and Suppliers. Employee agrees that while employed hereunder he shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit the trade of, or trade with, any customer, prospective customer or supplier of [York Group] with respect to the manufacture or sale of caskets, urns, memorials or cremation products for any business purpose other than for the benefit of the Company. Employee further agrees that following the termination of Employee’s employment with [York Group], to the same extent and for the same period (if any) that the Employee continues to be subject to the restrictions of Section 4.06, Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit the trade of, or trade with, any customers or prospective customers or suppliers of [York Group] with respect to the manufacture or sale by [York Group] of caskets, urns, memorials or cremation products, or the supplies necessary to manufacture the same. 3 Case 2:10-cv-01078-JFC Document 642 Filed 03/06/14 Page 4 of 81 4.08. Non-Solicitation of Employees. Employee agrees that following termination of Employee’s employment with [York Group], and to the same extent and for the same period (if any) that the Employee continues to be subject to the restrictions of Section 4.06, Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit or induce, or attempt to solicit or induce, any employee of the Company to leave [York Group] for any reason whatsoever, or hire any such employee. This Section 4.08 will not prohibit Employee from engaging in general advertising or solicitation not specifically targeted at any one or more employees of [York Group] and shall not prohibit Employee from hiring any employee of [York Group] that contacts Employee as a result of such general advertising or solicitation. ECF No. 470-1 at 14-15; ECF No. 480-2 at 13-14. Section 4.01 of the employment agreements prohibited Harry and Scott from misappropriating or disclosing confidential information without York Group’s written consent. ECF No. 470-1 at 12-13; ECF No. 480-2 at 11-12. Under Section 1.07 of the agreements, Harry and Scott were not permitted to “appropriate” York Group’s “business opportunities” for their “own benefit.” ECF No. 470-1 at 9; ECF No. 480-2 at 8. Choice-of-law clauses provided that the agreements were to “be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York.” ECF No. 470-1 at 16; ECF No. 480-2 at 15. At some point, York Group apparently started to exercise some control over Milso’s operations. On March 30, 2007, Harry and Scott sued York Group in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, contending that York Group personnel had breached Section 1.01 of the employment agreement with Harry by undermining his authority and encroaching on his responsibilities as the president. ECF No. 191-2. The case was settled in May 2007. ECF No. 587 ¶ 27. Harry resigned from his position as York Group’s president and became the chairman of its board of directors, a member of Milso’s board of directors, and a member of the executive committees of both York Group and Milso. ECF No. 70 ¶ 51. Scott voluntarily resigned from his positions with York Group. ECF No. 28-3 at 2. York Group, 4 Case 2:10-cv-01078-JFC Document 642 Filed 03/06/14 Page 5 of 81 Matthews and Milso agreed to pay him “severance compensation” in the amount of $300,000.00 per year for a period of three years. Id. The contractual provisions prohibiting Scott from soliciting customers and suppliers were to remain effective through May 30, 2010. ECF No. 587 ¶ 30. The provision prohibiting him from soliciting employees of York Group or Milso was to remain in effect through May 30, 2011. Id. ¶ 31. These terms were expressed in an amendment to Scott’s employment contract executed in connection with the settlement agreement. ECF No. 28-3 at 2-5. In January 2008, Scott became engaged in the business of selling insurance to operators of funeral homes. Civil Action No. 08-6314 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1 ¶ 39. He employed eight individuals to market his insurance products. Id. Seven of Scott’s eight employees had never been employed by York Group. Id. The other employee had apparently left York Group to work for a different employer before joining Scott’s sales force. Id. Several manufacturers and distributors of caskets spoke to Scott about utilizing his sales force to market and sell caskets. Civil Action No. 08-6314 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1 ¶ 40. Scott responded to those communications by informing his prospective business partners about the non-competition and non-solicitation provisions of his amended contract with York Group. Id. ¶ 41. The prospective business partners expressed a willingness to proceed with their proposed ventures only if they could be assured that such conduct would not contravene the restrictive covenants.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Managing Contractor – Design and Construction Management – Volume 1 – Tender Requirements
    Managing Contractor – Design and Construction Management – Conditions of Contract Managing Contractor – Design and Construction Management – Stage One with option for Stage Two (Negotiated Guaranteed Construction Sum) Volume 2 of 4 – Conditions of Contract Project name Project number Guide note: Delete this guide note The Conditions of Contract have been developed by Contract Services, Department of Energy and Public Works, but require completion by the project team to meet project specific requirements. Where this document is being used for a Queensland Government building project, Contract Services should be consulted in accordance with the Capital Works Management Framework. 1 March 2021 © State of Queensland (Department of Energy and Public Works) Page 1 of 91 Managing Contractor – Design and Construction Management – Conditions of Contract Contents Contents Volume 2 of 4 – Conditions of Contract Page CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT Error! Bookmark not defined. CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT 4 1. CONSTRUCTION OF CONTRACT 4 2. INTERPRETATION 4 3. NATURE AND SCOPE OF CONTRACT 10 4. EVIDENCE OF CONTRACT 11 5. CONTRACT DOCUMENTS 11 6. COLLUSIVE ARRANGEMENTS, CONFLICT OF INTEREST and CRIMINAL ORGANISATIONS 12 7. COMMITMENT AND GOOD FAITH 13 8. QUALITY ASSURANCE 14 9. SECURITY, RETENTION MONEYS AND PERFORMANCE UNDERTAKINGS 14 10. SERVICE OF NOTICES 16 11. GCS OFFER 17 12. WARRANTIES 19 13. PROJECT ADVISORY GROUP 22 14. DESIGN WORK 24 15. DOCUMENTATION WORK 24 16. CONSTRUCTION WORK 25 17. EARLY WORKS 26 18. CONSULTANTS 26 19. DESIGN CHANGE VARIATIONS PRIOR TO ACHIEVEMENT OF DEVELOPED DESIGN 28 20. SUPPLY OF DOCUMENTS 29 21. ASSIGNMENT AND SUBCONTRACTING 31 22. LATENT CONDITIONS 36 23. PATENTS, COPYRIGHT AND OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS 37 24.
    [Show full text]
  • The Working World Local Solutions, Globally
    Newsletter The Latham & Watkins International Employment and Benefits Newsletter Issue 9 October 2010 The Working World Local Solutions, Globally Austerity Measures — A Snapshot of Labor Law Reform and Cost-Cutting Measures Resulting from the Global Economic Crisis The worldwide economic crisis has prompted governments Yoko Takagi around the globe to consider cost-cutting measures in an Associate, Madrid Office [email protected] attempt to reduce budget deficits. Two of the European counties hit most dramatically by budget deficits are Spain and Greece. In the UK, where the European Commission has predicted the country’s budget deficit will exceed those elsewhere in the European Union, the government is taking steps to try to reign in the benefits given to public sector employees who Javier García Cueto make up about 20 percent of the country’s workforce. Similarly, Associate, Madrid Office in the US, public sector employees have seen their pay and [email protected] benefits targeted by federal agencies as well as state and local governments. In this article, Latham & Watkins’ attorneys in Spain, the UK and the US, along with an attorney from Papagiannakis Mikrouleas & Associates, a Greek firm that works regularly with Latham & Watkins, consider the impact of austerity Juan de Navasqües Associate, Madrid Office measures on local labor laws. [email protected] Spain reform of June 2010, and seeks, among other things: Inside This Issue By Yoko Takagi, Javier García Cueto Austerity Measures — and Juan de Navasqües • To enable employers to reduce A Snapshot of Changes employee working hours The economic crisis has destroyed to Labor Laws Resulting Spain’s labor market, with the rate of • To reduce the burden of severance from the Global unemployment reaching 19.4 percent payments on employers by providing for Economic Crisis .
    [Show full text]
  • Federalizing Contract Law
    LCB_24_1_Article_5_Plass_Correction (Do Not Delete) 3/6/2020 10:06 AM FEDERALIZING CONTRACT LAW by Stephen A. Plass* Contract law is generally understood as state common law, supplemented by the Second Restatement of Contracts and Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. It is regarded as an expression of personal liberty, anchored in the bar- gain and consideration model of the 19th century or classical period. However, for some time now, non-bargained or adhesion contracts have been the norm, and increasingly, the adjudication of legal rights and contractual remedies is controlled by privately determined arbitration rules. The widespread adoption of arbitral adjudication by businesses has been enthusiastically endorsed by the Supreme Court as consonant with the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). How- ever, Court precedents have concluded that only bilateral or individualized arbitration promotes the goals of the FAA, while class arbitration is destruc- tive. Businesses and the Court have theorized that bilateral arbitration is an efficient process that reduces the transaction costs of all parties thereby permit- ting firms to reduce prices, create jobs, and innovate or improve products. But empirical research tells a different story. This Article discusses the constitu- tional contours of crafting common law for the FAA and its impact on state and federal laws. It shows that federal common law rules crafted for the FAA can operate to deny consumers and workers the neoclassical contractual guar- antee of a minimum adequate remedy and rob the federal and state govern- ments of billions of dollars in tax revenue. From FAA precedents the Article distills new rules of contract formation, interpretation, and enforcement and shows how these new rules undermine neoclassical limits on private control of legal remedies.
    [Show full text]
  • Sports and the Law: a Comprehensive Bibliography of Law-Related Materials Frank G
    Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal Volume 2 | Number 1 Article 5 1-1-1979 Sports and the Law: A Comprehensive Bibliography of Law-Related Materials Frank G. Houdek Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/ hastings_comm_ent_law_journal Part of the Communications Law Commons, Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, and the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation Frank G. Houdek, Sports and the Law: A Comprehensive Bibliography of Law-Related Materials, 2 Hastings Comm. & Ent. L.J. 177 (1979). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_comm_ent_law_journal/vol2/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sports and the Law: A Comprehensive Bibliography of Law-Related Materials By FRANK G. HOUDEK Reference Librarian, Los Angeles County Law Library. B.A., University of Californiaat Los Angeles, 1971; J.D. (Order of the Coif), UCLA School of Law, 1974; M.L.S., UCLA Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 1976. Member, State Bar of California. The author gratefully wishes to acknowledge the assistance of William T. Ford, Alaska State Law Librarian, in the preparationof an earlier version of this work. [The table of contents below has been prepared to facilitate use of the following Bibliography] TABLE OF CONTENTS I. BOOKS ....... 178 II. PRACTISING LAW INSTITUTE PROGRAM MATERIALS ............................... 181 III. GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS A. Antitrust and Sports ...........
    [Show full text]
  • A Day in the Life of a JOA – Selected Daily Operational Issues By: Nicholas P. Laurent MCGINNIS, LOCHRIDGE & KILGORE, L.L
    A Day in the Life of a JOA – Selected Daily Operational Issues1 By: Nicholas P. Laurent MCGINNIS, LOCHRIDGE & KILGORE, L.L.P. 600 Congress Ave., Suite 2100 Austin, Texas 78701 (512) 495-6081/(512) 505-6381(fax) [email protected] South Texas College of Law 2011 Energy Law Institute September 1, 2011 1 The author wishes to thank Greg Mathews, Senior Counsel, Negotiations and Legal, Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company, for his thoughts and assistance in preparing this paper. All errors and omissions are the responsibility of the author. TABLE OF CONTENTS A. Basic JOA functions ................................................................................................................1 B. History of the JOA ...................................................................................................................1 C. Important JOA provisions ........................................................................................................1 D. JOA issues ................................................................................................................................2 1. Other operations clause .....................................................................................................2 a. Paint Rock Operating, LLC v. Chisholm Exploration, Inc., 339 S.W.3d 771 (Tex. App.—Eastland 2011, no pet.) – operator breaches the JOA if it doesn’t provide an AFE before issuing a JIB .............................................................4 b. Cone v. Fagadau Energy Corp., 68 S.W.3d
    [Show full text]
  • In the United States District Court for the District of Kansas Tripoli
    IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS TRIPOLI MANAGEMENT, LLC, d/b/a DWIRE EARTHMOVING AND EXCAVATING, INC., Plaintiff, Vs. No. 10-1062-SAC WASTE CONNECTIONS OF KANSAS, INC., Defendant. MEMORANDUM AND ORDER This case is primarily a contract dispute over the construction of a landfill cell in Harper County, Kansas. This order will address the following motions that are fully briefed and ripe for decision: Defendant Waste Connections of Kansas, (“WCK”) Inc.’s motion for partial summary judgment on liability against certain claims asserted by the Plaintiff Tripoli Management, LLC d/b/a Dwire Earthmoving and Excavating (“Dwire”) (Dk. 55); Dwire’s motion to sever WCK’s counterclaims in negligence (Dk. 67); WCK’s motion for partial summary judgment on its counterclaims (Dk. 96); and Dwire’s motion for partial summary judgment on WCK’s counterclaim in negligence (Dk. 98). Summary Judgment Standards Rule 56 authorizes judgment without trial “if the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(2). Substantive law governs the elements of a given claim or defense and reveals what issues are to be determined and what facts are material. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). A material fact is one which would affect the outcome of the claim or defense under the governing law. Id. If the movant would not have the burden of proof at trial on the particular claim or defense, then the motion must point to the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.
    [Show full text]
  • Interpreting Contracts Via Surveys and Experiments
    University of Chicago Law School Chicago Unbound Journal Articles Faculty Scholarship 2017 Interpreting Contracts via Surveys and Experiments Lior Strahilevitz Omri Ben-Shahar Follow this and additional works at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Lior Strahilevitz & Omri Ben-Shahar, "Interpreting Contracts via Surveys and Experiments," 92 New York University Law Review 1753 (2017). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Chicago Unbound. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of Chicago Unbound. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 39714-nyu_92-6 Sheet No. 4 Side A 12/19/2017 13:54:27 \\jciprod01\productn\N\NYU\92-6\NYU602.txt unknown Seq: 1 18-DEC-17 7:55 ARTICLES INTERPRETING CONTRACTS VIA SURVEYS AND EXPERIMENTS OMRI BEN-SHAHAR† & LIOR JACOB STRAHILEVITZ‡ Interpreting the language of contracts may be the most common and least satisfac- tory task courts perform in contract disputes. This Article proposes to take much of this task out of the hands of lawyers and judges, entrusting it instead to the public. The Article develops and tests a novel regime—the “survey interpretation method”—in which interpretation disputes are resolved through large surveys of representative respondents, by choosing the meaning that a majority supports. This Article demonstrates the rich potential for this method to examine variations of contractual language that could have made an intended meaning clearer. A similar survey regime has been applied successfully in trademark and unfair competition law for decades to interpret precontractual messages, and this Article shows how it could be extended to interpret contractual texts.
    [Show full text]
  • Insurance Booklet Third Party Liability
    Insurance Booklet Third Party Liability Insure4Boats® is a trading name of Ripe Insurance Services Limited which is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. No. 313411 CONTENTS Section ............................................................................. Page numbers Important Features ..................................................................................3 Claims.........................................................................................................5 Important Information ............................................................................6 Definitions .................................................................................................7 Section 1 - Liability to Third Parties ..................................................8 General Exclusions ..................................................................................9 General Conditions .............................................................................. 10 Complaints ............................................................................................. 11 www.insure4boats.co.uk INSURANCE BOOKLET - THIRD PARTY LIABILITY | 2 IMPORTANT FEATURES: Effected with Accelerate Underwriting Ltd on behalf of Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Ltd by Ripe Insurance Services Ltd, The Royals, Altrincham Road, Manchester M22 4BJ. If the Insured shall make any claim knowing the same to be false or fraudulent, as regards amount or otherwise, this policy shall become void and all claims hereunder shall be
    [Show full text]
  • Agreement Between Owner and Contractor for Construction Contract (Stipulated Price)
    This document has important legal consequences; consultation with an attorney is encouraged with respect to its use or modification. This document should be adapted to the particular circumstances of the contemplated Project and the controlling Laws and Regulations. AGREEMENT BETWEEN OWNER AND CONTRACTOR FOR CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT (STIPULATED PRICE) Prepared By Endorsed By EJCDC® C-520, Agreement between Owner and Contractor for Construction Contract (Stipulated Price). Copyright © 2018 National Society of Professional Engineers, American Council of Engineering Companies, and American Society of Civil Engineers. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2018 National Society of Professional Engineers 1420 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-2794 (703) 684-2882 www.nspe.org American Council of Engineering Companies 1015 15th Street N.W., Washington, DC 20005 (202) 347-7474 www.acec.org American Society of Civil Engineers 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, VA 20191-4400 (800) 548-2723 www.asce.org The copyright for this EJCDC document is owned jointly by the three sponsoring organizations listed above. The National Society of Professional Engineers is the Copyright Administrator for the EJCDC documents; please direct all inquiries regarding EJCDC copyrights to NSPE. NOTE: EJCDC publications may be purchased at www.ejcdc.org , or from any of the sponsoring organizations above. EJCDC® C-520, Agreement between Owner and Contractor for Construction Contract (Stipulated Price). Copyright © 2018 National Society of Professional Engineers, American Council of Engineering Companies, and American Society of Civil Engineers. All rights reserved. GUIDELINES FOR USE OF EJCDC® C-520, AGREEMENT BETWEEN OWNER AND CONTRACTOR FOR CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT (STIPULATED PRICE) 1.0 PURPOSE AND INTENDED USE OF THE DOCUMENT This Agreement form is specifically intended for stipulated price (fixed price) contracts—that is, contracts in which Owner and Contractor identify specific lump sums and unit prices as Contractor’s compensation for performing the Work.
    [Show full text]
  • Quick Reference
    Employment MARCH 2005 Team Members Michael Quigg Partner DDI: 474 0766 [email protected] Quick Reference: SERIOUS MISCONDUCT – COMPANY POLICIES – EVENHANDED TREATMENT – REINSTATEMENT Serious Misconduct 1 Company Policies – Evenhanded Treatment A recent decision of the - Reinstatement Employment Court in Chief Best Policy 4 Executive of the Department of Jol Bates Inland Revenue v Buchanan is DDI: 474 0759 Anton Piller Orders – important for its consideration of: Civil Search Warrants 5 £7.5m Sex • what constitutes serious misconduct, Discrimination Case 7 • the need to show staff have read policies and procedures Mandatory Discretionary • the availability of reinstatement (even where Bonus Payments 8 the employee’s conduct contributes to the dismissal). Contractor/Employees 9 Sean Heywood The Facts DDI: 474 0752 Holiday Surcharges 10 The case concerned two employees of the Department Competition Winner 10 of Inland Revenue (IRD), Gillian Buchanan and Lynn Symes, who were summarily dismissed in July 2003. Further Information 11 Both were long-serving employees with very good service records. They were dismissed after a general Employment Seminar 12 audit of employees’ use of the department’s database Programme 2005 of taxpayer records. The general audit generated 35 disciplinary investigations. In this case it revealed Deirdre Marshall that they had accessed, on multiple occasions, the DDI: 474 0765 Quigg Partners files of family members. It was found that the Level 7, The Bayleys Building employees had changed addresses, issued and 28 Brandon Street P O Box 3035, Wellington confirmed personal taxation summaries, issued Phone: 04 472 7471 stationery, and in Ms Buchanan’s case, transferred a Fax: 04 472 7871 credit from one tax year to another.
    [Show full text]
  • Northern Ireland Audit Office Examination of Procurement Breaches in Northern Ireland Water N I
    Northern Ireland Audit Office Examination of Procurement Breaches in Northern Ireland Water 9 December 2010 N I A O Northern Ireland Audit Office Examination of Procurement Breaches in Northern Ireland Water Part 1: Background Introduction 1.1 In April 2007 responsibility for the delivery of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland transferred from Water Service to Northern Ireland Water (NIW). NIW is a limited company owned solely by government, with the Department for Regional Development (DRD) representing the government’s shareholder interests through its Shareholder Unit. Internal Audit reviews of procurement in NIW 1.2 In September 2009 the new Chief Executive Officer1 (CEO) of NIW commissioned an Internal Audit review of the procurement of Contracting Out LLP (Contracting Out). Contracting Out had been appointed by NIW to assist with the termination of the Steria2 Contract. The review concluded that: appropriate DRD Shareholder Unit approvals had not been obtained; and there was a potential breach of EU procurement requirements and of the Regulatory Licence. 1.3 As a result of the Contracting Out review, the CEO commissioned a second ‘Contracts Approval’ review which was carried out by NIW’s Internal Audit. The Contracts Approval review examined all contracts recorded on NIW’s Contracts Database and all suppliers where expenditure exceeded £100,000 in the preceding 12 months (1 December 2008 to 8 December 2009)3. The review identified significant instances of non compliance with the company’s financial delegation policy, the Shareholder Governance Letter of March 2007 and potential breaches of the Regulatory Licence. 1.4 The CEO relayed the findings and implications of the Contracts Approval review to DRD, the NIW Board, and the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation (NIAUR).
    [Show full text]
  • Civil Law and the Fight Against Inflation - a Legal and Economic Analysis of the Quebec Case Ejan Mackaay
    Louisiana Law Review Volume 44 | Number 3 January 1984 Civil Law and the Fight Against Inflation - A Legal and Economic Analysis of the Quebec Case Ejan Mackaay Claude Fabien Repository Citation Ejan Mackaay and Claude Fabien, Civil Law and the Fight Against Inflation - A Legal and Economic Analysis of the Quebec Case, 44 La. L. Rev. (1984) Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol44/iss3/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CIVIL LAW AND THE FIGHT AGAINST INFLATION- A LEGAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE QUEBEC CASE Ejan Mackaay and Claude Fabien* Inflation is currently perceived in all Western economies as public enemy number one. As recently as May 31, 1983, the leaders of the seven largest industrialized economies, in their final communiqu6 following the Williamsburg summit meeting, maintained the fight against inflation among their top priorities.' The fight against inflation has led governments to fix interest rates at unparalleled heights, 2 causing Western economies to slide into severe recessions from which they have only recently begun to emerge. Unemployment has reached levels comparable to the 1930s. In spite of all this, inflation has not yet abated, and unemployment is still rising. Although all social classes appear to be affected, low in- come families, the unemployed, and the elderly have undoubtedly been the most seriously affected.
    [Show full text]