Unpublished Disposition, 876 F.2d 897 (9th Cir. 1989)

MEMORANDUM^* 

Edward Soto, Jr., appeals the district court's order granting Coca-Cola's motions for reconsideration and summary judgment in a breach of employment contract action.¹  We affirm.

In Kinoshita v. Canadian Pacific Airlines, 724 P.2d 110 (Haw.1986), the Hawaiian Supreme Court addressed the conditions under which an employer's statements or personnel manuals modify an at-will employment agreement. The court's discussion suggests two conditions must exist. First, the statements or manuals must have been widely distributed to the employees as a class. Second, the employer must have induced employee reliance on the statements or manuals.

In this case, both conditions are absent. Soto bases his argument on Coca-Cola's Standard Personnel Guide ("SPG"). Coca-Cola put forth uncontroverted factual evidence that the SPG went only to managers on a need-to-know basis and was distributed in the form of numbered copies whose reproduction or circulation to other employees was forbidden. Soto has not offered any factual evidence suggesting an intention on Coca-Cola's part to create general employee reliance on the SPG. The limited distribution policy evinces quite the opposite intent.

We affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment.

AFFIRMED.