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Goff-Hamel v. Obstetricians & Gynecologists

Nebraska Supreme Court

588 N.W.2d 798 (1999)

Facts

Julie Goff-Hamel (plaintiff) resigned from her employment at Hastings Family Planning (Hastings) because she was offered a job with Obstetricians & Gynecologists (Obstetricians) (defendant). Goff-Hamel had worked for Hastings for 11 years. Dr. George Adam from Obstetricians began recruiting Goff-Hamel to work for his firm in June 1993. Adam and Goff-Hamel eventually met to discuss terms of employment with Obstetricians on July 27, 1993. At this meeting, Adam offered Goff-Hamel a full-time job, which she accepted. The job was to start October 4, 1993. Goff-Hamel informed Hastings in August that she would be resigning. The day before she was scheduled to start working at Obstetricians, someone from Obstetricians told Goff-Hamel that she should not report to work the next day because one of the part owners objected to hiring her. Goff-Hamel’s offer of employment had been revoked. As a result, Goff-Hamel was unemployed due to her resignation from Hastings in anticipation of her employment with Obstetricians. She was unable to secure new employment until April 1995. Goff-Hamel brought a claim against Obstetricians based upon a theory of promissory estoppel. The court determined that Obstetricians was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law because Goff-Hamel was hired as an at-will employee by Obstetricians. Goff-Hamel appealed.

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Holding and Reasoning (Wright, J.)

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Dissent (Stephan, J.)

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