William S. Harris v. Tom Griffith Water Well & Conductor Service, Inc.
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 2007-CA-00639-COA
WILLIAM S. HARRIS
APPELLANT
v.
TOM GRIFFITH WATER WELL AND
CONDUCTOR SERVICE, INC.
DATE OF JUDGMENT:
TRIAL JUDGE:
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED:
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT:
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE:
NATURE OF THE CASE:
TRIAL COURT DISPOSITION:
DISPOSITION:
APPELLEE
04/11/2007
HON. JAMES H.C. THOMAS, JR.
MARION COUNTY CHANCERY COURT
L. CLARK HICKS, JR.
L. GRANT BENNETT
RENEE M. PORTER
CIVIL - CONTRACT
CHANCERY COURT FOUND
EMPLOYMENT TO BE AT WILL AND
DISMISSED COMPLAINT
REVERSED, RENDERED AND
REMANDED – 01/27/2009
MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:
MANDATE ISSUED:
BEFORE KING, C.J., IRVING AND BARNES, JJ.
IRVING, J., FOR THE COURT:
¶1.
William Harris filed a breach of contract lawsuit against his former employer, Tom
Griffith Water Well and Conductor Service, Inc. (Griffith Water Well, alternatively,
Griffith). A trial was held, and the Marion County Chancery Court dismissed the complaint
and entered a judgment in favor of Griffith. Aggrieved, Harris appeals and asserts: (1) that
the chancellor’s findings were against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, (2) that the
chancellor erred in considering the affirmative defenses of statute of limitations and laches
in reaching his decision, and (3) that the chancellor erred in finding that Harris and Griffith
did not have an enforceable contract.
¶2.
Finding error, we reverse and render and remand for further proceedings consistent
with this opinion.
FACTS
¶3.
In 1978, Griffith started Griffith Water Well. He later started an environmental
drilling company that operates out of the same office as Griffith Water Well. Andy Rushing
worked as a salesman for Griffith’s environmental drilling company, and he and Griffith
entered into an agreement whereby Rushing received a commission for sales that he brought
into the company. In 1992, Griffith’s long-time friend, Harris, began working at Griffith
Water Well on a part-time basis. Initially, Harris performed office work for Griffith, but
around 1993 or 1994, Harris expressed an interest in becoming a salesman for Griffith Water
Well. Thereafter, he and Griffith entered into a verbal agreement whereby Griffith agreed
to pay Harris a ten percent commission on all of the gross sales that Harris brought into the
company. Harris left the company in May 2002, after Griffith informed him that he could
no longer afford to keep him on.
¶4.
Harris filed suit on July 11, 2002, seeking to recover: (1) “[a] full and complete
accounting of all sales generated by [him] on behalf of [Griffith] from and after January 1,
1994, through December 31, 2002,” (2) “[c]ompensation in an amount sufficient to satisfy
2
the terms of the agreement of compensation between the parties in an amount no less than
One Hundred Fourteen Thousand Six Hundred Eighty Four Dollars and 99/100
($114,684.99),” (3) “[a]n equitable lien to be placed on all property owned by [Griffith] for
the benefit of the Plaintiff until such time as all sums due have been paid in full,” and (4)
“[p]re-[judgment] and post[-]judgment interest, attorney’s fees, and all costs of court.”1
Although Harris alleges that Griffith owes him money for sales that he made pursuant to
their commission agreement, Griffith contends that he terminated the commission agreement
in either 1995 or 1996. The case went to trial on February 15, 2007.
¶5.
Harris testified that he went to work for Griffith Water Well in December 1992 on a
part-time basis before becoming a full-time employee in January 1993. Harris stated that he
initially performed office duties and began making sales for Griffith Water Well toward the
end of 1993. Harris was not certain whether he approached Griffith in December 1993 or
January 1994 about the two of them entering into an agreement whereby Harris would
continue to perform office work for Griffith Water Well and also would take on the added
duties of a commissioned salesman, receiving a ten-percent commission on all gross sales
that he brought into the company. Harris testified that Griffith accepted his offer and that
the agreement began at that time. Harris also stated that under this agreement, he would be
paid as an independent contractor, per Griffith’s suggestion.
¶6.
According to Harris, after he generated sales, he would present an invoice to Griffith,
1
We quote these issues verbatim from Harris’s amended complaint that was filed on
December 9, 2005.
3
who would issue him two checks each week: one for the administrative work that he
performed as an employee, wherein taxes were taken out, and one for money that he earned
as an independent contractor pursuant to their commission agreement. No taxes were
withheld from the commissions paid to Harris. Harris stated that Griffith paid him
sporadically in the beginning but eventually got to a point where he paid him every week.
Harris recalled that Griffith never paid an entire invoice at one time, but rather, Griffith “paid
on the account weekly over a long period of time, and as the total amount of money that he
had paid in equaled what was owed on an invoice, [that invoice] was retired, and so he was
always paying on his account.” Harris explained that Griffith’s financial problems prevented
him from being able to pay an entire invoice at a time. Harris stated that it was common for
Griffith to get behind on payments, so he would inform him, verbally, approximately twice
a year that the debt was accumulating. Harris stated that, in an effort to catch up, Griffith
would frequently issue him large checks, but that Griffith would later fall back into the same
routine. Further, Harris was clear that Griffith never caught up completely. Harris issued
his last invoice to Griffith on December 31, 2001.
¶7.
Harris testified that in May 2002, Griffith informed him that he could not afford to
continue paying him pursuant the terms of their commission agreement. However, Harris
was adamant that prior to this time, he and Griffith had not engaged in any discussion with
respect to changing the terms of compensation to provide for compensation on a fixed
weekly-salary basis rather than the percentage-of-gross-sales-commission basis to which
4
they had initially agreed. Harris further testified that he then asked Griffith about the money
that Griffith owed him and that Griffith informed him that he did not plan to pay him.
¶8.
On cross-examination, Harris denied being party to a conversation with Griffith
wherein Griffith asked him to accept payment of $1,000 per week in lieu of the ten percent
commission on gross sales that he had been receiving. Harris also stated that he continued
to issue invoices to Griffith because Griffith never told him to stop doing so. Harris admitted
that he never gave Griffith anything in writing to let Griffith know that Griffith was behind
in his payments; however, Harris contended that Griffith was aware that he was behind
because Harris would inform him of such from time to time. Griffith’s attorney pointed out
that Harris did not have any record from Griffith indicating that Griffith owed Harris any
back commissions.
¶9.
Harry Kenneth Lefoldt Jr., a certified public accountant hired by Harris, testified as
an expert and concluded that Griffith owes Harris $144,638.07, plus prejudgment interest
of $56,597 though February 15, 2007, the date of trial.2 Lefoldt further testified that he took
2
Actually, Lefoldt testified that the amount owed was $171,938.07 but that Harris
gave Griffith a one hundred dollar per week credit, which totaled $27,300 ($5,200 per year
for five and a quarter years). It is not clear in the record what this credit was for. However,
during oral argument, Harris’s attorney seemed to indicate that Harris offered this credit as
a gesture of goodwill, apparently because the volume of the separate administrative work
that Harris was performing for Griffith had been a bit low for the amount of salary being
paid. In arriving at the $144,638.07 figure, Lefoldt used records supplied by both Harris and
Griffith Water Well. However, he stated that he relied on the company’s records for a
determination of how much Harris had been paid. He testified that the documents that he
reviewed are consistent with Harris’s deposition testimony that Harris was an independent
contractor, as the records show that the payments made to Harris were coded as sales
expenses.
5
the sum of the payments that Griffith had made and subtracted them from the sum of
invoices from two categories: (1) invoices submitted to Griffith from 1995 to 2001, and (2)
invoices for commissions earned but not submitted in the amount of $11,142.13.3 Lefoldt
testified that he used a “first in/first out” methodology to arrive at the balance. He explained
that the first in/first out methodology is a method whereby payments that are received are
applied against the earliest invoices first.
¶10.
Griffith testified in his defense. He stated that he and Rushing entered into an
agreement whereby Rushing would receive a ten percent commission on gross sales that he
brought into the company. Thereafter, Harris, who was not working for him when he made
the agreement with Rushing, asked him if he they could enter into the same agreement.
Griffith agreed, and the two of them entered into the same agreement that Griffith had with
Rushing. Griffith testified that, in either 1995 or 1996, he informed Harris and Rushing that
from that point forward he would pay each of them a “set amount” of $1,000 a week.
Griffith stated that at the time that they reached this new agreement, he was behind in
payments to both Harris and Rushing. However, he stated that he paid Harris back in full
over the following two years.
¶11.
Griffith recalled an incident when Harris attempted to give him an invoice after he
had informed Harris that he could no longer pay him the ten percent commission. Griffith
3
During oral argument, Harris’s attorney stated that his client was willing to forgive
the $11,142.13 in earned but unbilled commissions. Therefore, the amount that Harris
contends he is owed is $133,495.94, plus prejudgment interest in the amount of $56,597, for
a total of $190,092.94.
6
stated that he told Harris not to give him the invoice after explaining to Harris that they were
no longer “on this.” According to Griffith, Harris responded by saying, “Well, I just want
to keep score. I want to keep up with it.” Griffith stated that he then told Harris, “okay, but
we’re not on it.” Griffith stated that Harris continued to work for him and never mentioned
that he felt as though Griffith owed him money pursuant to the commission agreement.
¶12.
Griffith stated that he learned for the first time at the hearing that Harris did not
consider his payroll check to be a part of his sales commission. Griffith also stated that he
did not know that Harris was under the impression that he owed him money until he received
notice of the lawsuit. Griffith stated that in early 2002 he informed Harris that he could no
longer afford to pay him. Griffith stated that it was at this point that Harris left his
employment.
¶13.
On cross-examination, Harris’s attorney pointed out that even though Griffith testified
that he paid Harris all of the money that he owed him pursuant to the commission agreement,
Griffith does not have documentation to reflect this. Harris’s attorney asked Griffith how
he knew when the money that he owed pursuant to the ten percent commission agreement
had been paid in full. Griffith responded by saying that Harris “kept up with it” and that he
kept paying until Harris told him that it was paid in full. Harris’s attorney pressed Griffith
to explain how he could say with certainty that he paid Harris in full when there is no
documentation to support his assertion. Griffith responded by stating that the ledgers and
invoices were created by Harris. Harris’s attorney then posed the following question to
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Griffith, “[y]our testimony is that you were relying on him, were you not?” Griffith
responded by saying that he relied on Harris until Harris began saying that he owed him
money. Griffith vehemently denied that Harris ever told him that he owed Harris money
pursuant to the commission agreement.
¶14.
Harris’s attorney pointed out that Griffith’s trial testimony differed from his
deposition testimony on this issue. During his deposition, when asked whether he had paid
Harris all of the money relating to the commission agreement, Griffith stated that: “Up until
some point in time, to the best of my knowledge, I paid him. I do not know for certain, but
I’m almost sure. I feel like I did, but I may not have.” When confronted with his response
from the deposition, Griffith stated, “I don’t know why I said that then, but I did pay him all
of it.” Griffith also stated that although he agreed to pay Harris a fixed amount of $1,000
a week, there were some weeks that he simply could not afford to do so. Thus, the payments
that Harris received fluctuated, and on some weeks, Harris received well below $1,000.
¶15.
On redirect, Griffith stated that Harris and Rushing continued to work for him when
he became unable to continue with the commission agreement and that they agreed upon a
one thousand dollar per week salary. Griffith stated that when he realized that it would be
impossible for him to make full payment to Harris and Rushing for a particular week, he
would let them know and that he would eventually pay them for that week.
¶16.
Bethany Lee, Griffith’s bookkeeper, testified at the trial and stated that at some point
in time Griffith began to pay Harris a certain amount each week. Lee stated that Harris never
8
informed her that Griffith owed him any money and that there is no record of Griffith owing
Harris money. Lee testified that she had never seen any invoices from Harris.
¶17.
On cross-examination, Lee stated that Harris received two checks, a payroll check and
a sales check. Lee stated that she knew that Harris and Rushing were receiving commissions
on sales that they brought in but that she was not aware of the details of the agreement.
Harris’s attorney asked Lee, “[d]id the commission checks continue, the sales expense
commission checks continue from the time that you got there all the way up till 2002, when
you left?” Lee answered in the affirmative. Nevertheless, on redirect, Lee stated that she
recalled that Harris and Rushing began receiving a fixed amount each week, but she could
not remember when that had occurred. Specifically, Lee testified that, at some point, Griffith
informed her that he would begin paying Harris and Rushing a certain amount each week.
According to Lee, from that point forward, she issued Harris and Rushing checks for a
certain amount each week.
¶18.
Additional facts, as necessary, will be related during our analysis and discussion of
the issues.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES
1. Weight of the Evidence
¶19.
“This Court always reviews a chancellor’s findings of fact, but we do not disturb the
factual findings of a chancellor unless such findings are manifestly wrong or clearly
erroneous.” Vaughn v. Vaughn, 798 So. 2d 431, 433 (¶9) (Miss. 2001) (citing Bowers
9
Window & Door Co., v. Dearman, 549 So. 2d 1309, 1312-13 (Miss. 1989)). “Findings of
the chancellor will not be disturbed or set aside on appeal unless the decision of the trial
court is manifestly wrong and not supported by substantial credible evidence, or unless an
erroneous legal standard was applied.” Id. at 433-34 (¶9) (citing Pearson v. Pearson, 761
So. 2d 157, 162 (¶14) (Miss. 2000)).
¶20.
Harris contends that several findings reached by the chancellor were against the
overwhelming weight of the evidence. Harris argues that the chancellor’s finding that he
was a “salaried employee,” and not an independent contractor, is not supported by the
record.4 As stated, both Harris and Griffith agree that, for the procurement of sales by
Harris, Harris was considered to be, and paid as, an independent contractor.
This
arrangement continued until at least 1995 or 1996. Also, there is no dispute that until either
1995 or 1996, Harris was considered, and paid as, an employee for separate office,
administrative work that he performed. Further, there is no dispute that pursuant to their
sales agreement, Harris was to be paid ten percent of the gross sales that he brought into the
company. However, what is in dispute is whether a novation of the agreement occurred that
changed Harris’s status from an independent contractor to an employee, and whether Harris
was paid all that was due him under the independent contractor sales agreement.
4
The contention is better stated that the chancellor erred in finding that there was a
novation of the independent contractor sales contract, changing it to a salaried, employee at
will agreement, because both parties agree that the initial sales agreement provided that
Harris would be an independent contractor and receive a ten percent commission on all sales
made.
10
¶21.
Harris argues that he continued to be an independent contractor and worked pursuant
to the commission agreement from the time they entered into the agreement until he left
Griffith Water Well in 2002. On the other hand, Griffith argues that the agreement was
changed in either 1995 or 1996 because he was unable to keep up his end of their agreement.
It should be noted here that Griffith did not specifically testify that Harris agreed to the
change. Rather, he testified that he told Harris that that was what he was going to do and
that that is what he did. He further testified that Harris continued to work for him thereafter.
Therefore, accepting Griffith’s testimony as true, the most that can be said is that Harris
acquiesced in the change.
¶22.
Griffith testified as follows when questioned by his attorney regarding when the
commission agreement ended:
Q.
Mr. Griffith, you paid Mr. Harris 10 percent of his commissions for a
time period. When did that stop and what happened to cause that to
stop?
A.
I don’t know exactly when that happened, but it was somewhere
around 1995, give or take, maybe ‘96. I don’t believe it was before
‘95. But that’s when I just -- during that time period, somewhere in
there, I told Bill and Andy, I said, [t]hings are getting out of whack on
this 10 percent agreement, we’ve got. I said, [w]e need to go to a set
amount, and I said that -- we were approaching 1.4 million in sales,
somewhere in that area, and as I said a while ago, I wanted to keep it
kind of balanced between the house and the two salesmen. I said, I
want to just pay y’all $1,000 a month.
Q.
$1,000 a month?
A.
Per month. Each one $1,000. Bill $1,000 and Andy $1,000.
11
Q.
A.
¶23.
Per month or per week?
I mean per week. Yeah, per week, which was $52,000 a year. I told
them that’s how much I wanted to pay, and I said, [t]hat’s what I want
to do, and that’s what we did. And just to real quickly kind of clear up
about something that was going on while we’re talking about that
amount, the $750 sales that Bill was getting was the amount he wanted
to draw through his sales company, Harris & Associates. Then the
other $300 he wanted to draw as salary. And the way I recall it, it had
nothing to do with him working in the office. That was his total sales
commission. That’s how it gets to $1,000, the $300 plus $750. I don’t
remember why it was $50. But I also have some notes here concerning
Andy Rushing and what I was paying the companion salesmen on the
other side, and I was trying to keep them relatively level in salaries
because they were doing relatively level work.
It is noteworthy that Griffith’s response to a pretrial interrogatory was markedly
different from his trial testimony.
During discovery, he was asked the following
interrogatory: “Please state the nature of your relationship with the Plaintiff, including the
specific dollar amounts or percentages that were intended as compensation under the
arrangement, and describe the services to be performed by the Plaintiff in return for such
compensation.” Griffith’s response was:
I started my business as Tom Griffith Water Well & Plumbing Service in
1978. In 1980 I started Tom Griffith Water Well & Conductor Service, Inc.
In 1992 Mr. Harris (later referred to as Bill) came to work as an independent
contractor for me. When Bill came to work for me our verbal agreement was
that he would make 10% off the gross sales that [he] generated. Andy
Rushing was under the same agreement with regard to environmental sales.
At the time this agreement was made it was not made in writing because we
had no way to know where this was all going or any history to review how an
agreement would work. The final part of our verbal agreement was we will
see how this goes. Later it became apparent that this agreement would not
work because there was no way to determine which sales he generated. There
were numerous mergers, acquisitions, and customer employment changes, etc.
which made it impossible to determine who generated [the] sales. Therefore,
I started paying him $750.00, a week. This continued for three or four years.
I later terminated him after September 11 when we lost over 1/3 of [the] total
12
sales. I could not afford the overhead of my staff at that time. I no longer had
the money to pay him any money. Bill worked under the arrangement for
$750.00, for years before he left. Bill was not my employee. He was a private
contractor.
(Emphasis added). Griffith never mentioned anything at trial about an agreement whereby
he agreed to pay Harris seven hundred and fifty dollars per week. As evidenced by the
colloquy above, Griffith testified that when he could no longer afford to pay Harris pursuant
to their commission agreement, he agreed to pay Harris $1,000 per week, not seven hundred
and fifty dollars per week.
¶24.
In his judgment, the chancellor stated that “[s]ometime prior to 1999 Griffith changed
Harris’[s] employment status and began paying him $1,000 each week . . . with Griffith
testifying that the change was necessary as a result of a downturn in gross income and sales
for the company, and that he thought $1,000 weekly was a good income for Harris.” The
chancellor went on to find that “there was essentially a contract of employment at will
between the parties, initially based on Harris receiving a commission, as reflected by
Griffith’s payment method, and then changed to a weekly salary, as based on Griffith’s
payment method between 1999 and 2002.”
¶25.
The chancellor’s finding that the agreement changed prior to 1999 is consistent with
Griffith’s testimony; however, it should be noted that Griffith testified that he changed the
terms of payment to a fixed amount in either 1995 or 1996. Therefore, the chancellor’s
finding that the payment method changed “between 1999 and 2002” is inconsistent with
Griffith’s testimony. The documentary evidence from Griffith covered the period of time
from January 7, 1997, until May 15, 2002. This documentation shows that payments to
13
Harris fluctuated during this entire period of time. It is impossible to discern from this
documentation what type of payment arrangement was being employed. More importantly,
it is impossible to determine that Harris was paid a salary of $1,000 per week.
¶26.
Griffith’s testimony was that the one-thousand-dollar payment was divided between
the two checks that Harris received each week. We note that, at times, the two checks that
Harris received for a particular week totaled more than $1,000 and at other times fell far
below $1,000. For example, in September 1998, Harris received checks for $750 on the 4th,
11th, 18th, and 25th. These checks are coded as “sales expense” in Griffith’s records.
Griffith’s records also reflect that on the 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th, Harris received a check
for $271.5 Griffith testified that the $271 represented the net pay of a $300 payment made
to Harris. Accepting Griffith’s testimony as true would result in a finding that Griffith paid
Harris $1,050 for those weeks instead of $1,000, which according to Griffith, was the agreed
weekly salary. Griffith could offer no explanation why the payments were fifty dollars more
than the agreed upon amount. On the other hand, in February 2002, Harris received checks
on the 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th. The checks received on the 3rd and the 10th were in the
amount of $249.05 each, and the checks received on the 17th and the 24th were in the
amount of $255.05. The checks received on the 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th were in the
amount of $200 each. As stated, Griffith could offer no explanation for the extra amount.
In fact, Griffith testified that: “That was his [Harris’s] total sales commission. That’s how
5
Even though Griffith testified that the agreement changed in either 1995 or 1996,
we start by looking at records from September 1998 to determine whether the record
supports the chancellor’s findings because this is the earliest period for which we can crossreference checks issued to Harris that totaled approximately $1,000.
14
it gets to $1,000, the $300 plus $750. I don’t remember why it was $50.”
¶27.
At oral argument, Griffith’s attorney was unable to bring any clarification to the
muddled situation. For example, she stated to this Court that between June 19, 1998, and
April 12, 1999, Griffith paid Harris $750 and that between April 16, 1999, and November
1999, the payment was $500. She further stated that the payment went down to $250 after
September 11, 2001. Griffith’s documentation corroborates his counsel’s statement at oral
argument that after September 11, 2001, the payments went down to $250. There is no
testimony, nor any assertion made during oral argument, that Harris and Griffith ever
changed the terms of their agreement a second time to reflect that Griffith would pay Harris
whatever he could afford to pay him at the time. Clearly, Griffith was not paying Harris
according to the terms of the agreement that he testified that they entered into.
¶28.
Based on our review of the record, we cannot find substantial evidence of a novation
of the initial sales commission agreement. In this regard, we are mindful that Griffith
testified that there was and that the chancellor, as the finder of fact, was entitled to accept
Griffith’s assertion that there was a novation. However, it cannot be overlooked that Griffith
could not state with any specificity as to when the novation occurred, nor could he produce
any documentation that corroborated his testimony. Under these circumstances, we cannot
say that there was substantial evidence that a novation in fact occurred. Therefore, we
reverse and render the chancellor’s determination that Harris and Griffith entered into a
novation of their agreement and thereafter entered into an agreement whereby Griffith would
pay Harris a weekly payment of $1,000. The chancellor reached the conclusion that the
agreement between Harris and Griffith had been changed based on his conclusion that the
15
documentation bears that out, but as we have pointed out, neither the documentation nor the
testimony in the record supports this conclusion. Therefore, we remand this case to the
chancellor for the purpose of determining the amount owed to Harris pursuant to the
commissioned-based contract that Griffith and Harris entered into.
2. Statute of Limitations, Laches, and Course of Dealing
¶29.
In his second issue, Harris offers several reasons as to why we should hold the trial
court in error for relying on the statute of limitations, laches, and course of dealing in
rendering its decision. First, Harris contends that Griffith waived his right to assert the
aforementioned affirmative defenses, as Griffith asserted them for the first time in his motion
for summary judgment which was filed on February 7, 2007, eight days before trial.
Although Griffith filed a pleading that he entitled “Affirmative Defenses and Answer to First
Amended Complaint, Motion to Compel, and a Motion to Dismiss” on February 13, 2006,
he did not mention the statute of limitations, laches, or course of dealing in his motion.
Rather, Griffith simply stated that he was answering the complaint “without waiving any of
the available defenses.” Also, in his answer, Griffith stated that he had presented the court
with affirmative defenses; however, none were specifically raised. The chancellor, on the
first day of trial, overruled Griffith’s motion for summary judgment after concluding that a
genuine issue of material fact existed. Nevertheless, in his judgment, the chancellor found
that: “Griffith argues the statute of limitations and laches as defenses to Harris’s failure to
make demand or otherwise memorialize amounts due him from much earlier commission
invoices.”
¶30.
Harris argues that the chancellor erred in considering affirmative defenses that were
16
not raised in Griffith’s answer. Rule 8(c) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure
provides that “[i]n pleading to a preceding pleading, a party shall set forth affirmatively . .
. laches . . . statute of limitations . . . and any other matter constituting an avoidance or
affirmative defense.” (Emphasis added). Further, Rule 12(b) of the Mississippi Rules of
Civil Procedure requires that “[e]very defense, in law or fact, to a claim for relief in any
pleading, whether a claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim, shall be asserted
in the responsive pleading . . . .” As stated, Griffith did not assert any affirmative defenses
in his answer to Harris’s complaint; rather, he waited and asserted them in his motion for
summary judgment, which was over four years later. It is settled law in this state that when
a responsive pleading is required, all affirmative defenses must be raised in that pleading.
Miss. Dep’t of Human Servs. v. Guidry, 830 So. 2d 628, 634 (¶20) (Miss. 2002) (citing
M.R.C.P. 12(b)). Therefore, we agree with Harris that the chancellor erred in relying on
these affirmative defenses in reaching his judgment.
¶31.
Second, Harris argues that even if we were to conclude that Griffith did not waive his
right to assert the affirmative defenses, Griffith should be barred from doing so because
Griffith’s assertion, some four and a half years after the initial complaint was filed,
constitutes excessive delay. We decline to address this issue, as we have already concluded
that Griffith waived his right to assert the affirmative defenses because he did not do so in
his first responsive pleading as required by Rule 12.
¶32.
Third, Harris argues that because the chancellor overruled Griffith’s motion for
summary judgment wherein he asserted the statute of limitations, laches, and course of
dealing, the chancellor indirectly found that the statute of limitations, laches, and course of
17
dealing did not apply. The chancellor never ruled on Griffith’s motion for summary
judgment, and we are not prepared to conclude that the chancellor indirectly found that the
statute of limitations, laches, and course of dealing did not apply simply because he
overruled Griffith’s motion. The most logical conclusion that can be drawn from the
chancellor’s overruling of Griffith’s motion for summary judgment is that the chancellor
found that a genuine issue of material fact existed.
3. Enforceable Contract
¶33.
In his final issue, Harris argues that the chancellor erred in finding that he and Griffith
did not have an enforceable contract. We find that the chancellor did in fact find that Harris
and Griffith entered into an enforceable contract. Thus, the chancellor did not make the
finding that Harris contends he made. The chancellor found that the parties did not enter into
a contract that required Griffith to pay a commission to Harris until Harris was terminated
or left Griffith’s employment. Rather, the chancellor found that the parties initially entered
into “a contract of employment at will based on Harris receiving a commission, as reflected
by Griffith’s payment method” but that the contract was “changed to a weekly salary, . . .
based on Griffith’s payment method between 1999 and 2002.”
¶34.
The wording utilized by the chancellor suggests that the chancellor determined the
nature of the at-will contract by the method of payment employed by Griffith at any given
time, that is, whether it was an at-will independent contractor contract or an at-will employee
contract. This view of the nature of the contract does not comport with the undisputed facts
in the record. Both Harris and Griffith agree that they entered into an oral contract that
required Griffith to pay Harris a ten percent commission on all sales procured by Harris.
18
Thus, the nature of the contract was determined by the agreement of the parties, not the
manner of payment employed by one of the parties to the contract. Further, the record is
clear that both Harris and Griffith agreed that during this commission arrangement, Harris
was to be considered an independent contractor. The bone of contention between Harris and
Griffith centers on whether they later agreed to change from a commission, independent
contractor agreement to a salaried, employee agreement. In resolving this issue, the
chancellor looked to what he determined to be the manner of payment and Harris’s
continued employment after Griffith allegedly announced to Harris that Griffith would no
longer pay the commission for sales procured. In other words, in his judgment, the
chancellor found that Griffith terminated the commission agreement and that Harris
acquiesced in a course of dealing that demonstrated that the agreement had been changed to
one wherein he received $1,000 a week, by accepting the payment. As we have already
noted, we do not find substantial evidence in the record to support the chancellor’s finding.
We will not rediscuss our finding here.
CONCLUSION
¶35.
We find that there is not substantial evidence in the record to support the chancellor’s
finding that there was a mutually agreed upon novation of the oral contract that Harris and
Griffith had entered into, which required Griffith to pay Harris a ten percent commission on
all sales procured by Harris. Our finding is based on the fact that the chancellor supported
his finding of novation on the method of payment made between 1998 and 1999, as
evidenced by the payments reflected on Griffith’s financial ledgers, and Harris’s acceptance
of those payments. Despite the chancellor’s finding, a close examination of the referenced
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financial records do not reveal substantial evidence of a change in the method of payment.
First, Griffith did not have any records reflecting the method of payment before January
1997, even though it is undisputed that the parties’ commission agreement began in either
December 1993 or January 1994. As stated, Griffith produced no payment records for the
period of time between January 1994 and December 1996. Further, Griffith testified that the
commission-based agreement changed in 1995 or 1996 but that he did not believe it occurred
before 1995. Therefore, based on the undisputed evidence, payments under the commission
arrangement were made for at least one year. Yet, there were no payment records from
Griffith for that year or any other year that the chancellor could use for comparison with the
payment records for the 1998-1999 period of time utilized by the chancellor in arriving at
his decision. Second, even the payment records for the 1998-1999 period do not divulge
substantial evidence relevant to the question of whether the payments were being made to
a salaried employee or an independent contractor. This is because the records do not reveal
gross and net payments. Third, the payment records, as well as the testimony, reveal that
Harris was not paid a salary of $1,000 per week after the period of time when he allegedly
acquiesced in accepting such a payment arrangement. As already pointed out, Griffith at
trial and his lawyer at oral argument admitted that during a period of time before Harris
terminated his employment, Griffith only paid Harris $250 per week. Therefore, we reverse
and render the chancellor’s finding of a novation of the commission based contract and
remand this case to the chancellor for the purpose of determining the amount owed to Harris
pursuant to the commission-based contract that the parties entered into.
¶36.
THE JUDGMENT OF THE MARION COUNTY CHANCERY COURT IS
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REVERSED AND RENDERED AND THIS CASE IS REMANDED FOR FURTHER
PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT WITH THIS OPINION. ALL COSTS OF THIS
APPEAL ARE ASSESSED TO THE APPELLEE.
KING, C.J., LEE AND MYERS, P.JJ., BARNES AND ISHEE, JJ., CONCUR.
ROBERTS, J., CONCURS IN RESULT ONLY WITHOUT SEPARATE WRITTEN
OPINION. GRIFFIS, J., DISSENTS WITHOUT SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION.
CARLTON, J., NOT PARTICIPATING.
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