Visser v. Packer Engineering Associate

924 F.2d 655 (7th Cir. 1991) (en banc)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Visser (P) was an officer and board member of Packer Engineering (D). A dissident group of board members that included P believed that Packer, the founder, and CEO of D, was siphoning money from the company. P brought a stockholder's derivative suit against D. P then co-wrote an anonymous letter that attacked Packer's leadership, and that letter was circulated throughout the company. That day, P and two others were removed from the board, but they remained employees. Two-and-a-half weeks later, the group of dissidents quit and formed a competing firm and took with them valuable clients. That firm was secretly formed while the group worked for D. P was not a member of that group, but Packer asked P to pledge loyalty to him. P refused and demanded that Packer apologize for previous abuse. Packer fired P on the spot, later replacing him with a 29-year-old. P was 64 years old when he was fired and his pension was within nine months of vesting. P lost almost two-thirds of his benefits. P then joined the dissidents in their new firm. P filed suit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Three breakaway dissidents filed affidavits in support of P's claim; that Packer fired P to deprive him of benefits. P claimed that the loyalty issue was merely a pretext for the firing. The district court found that P could not make out a prima facie case that he was fired because of his age or pension status, and granted D a summary judgment. P appealed.