Burford v. Accounting Practice Sales, Inc.

In action alleging that defendant breached employment contract by terminating plaintiff from his sales position without good cause, Dist. Ct. did not violate “mend-the-hold” doctrine by allowing defendant to change its legal defense to base plaintiff’s termination on his failure to meet sales goals after defendant had asserted that termination was permissible because contract allowed for at-will terminations. Pursuing at-will defense did not constitute waiver of defendant’s other against plaintiff’s lawsuit, especially where defendant had maintained both defenses from start of lawsuit. Also, record contained sufficient evidence to support jury’s verdict in favor of defendant, where terms of contract allowed defendant to terminate plaintiff if he had failed to meet certain thresholds. Fact that defendant waited over two years to terminate plaintiff in spite of his failure to meet sales goals during said period did not constitute waiver of defendant’s right to terminate plaintiff based on his failure to meet sales goals.