## Facts

- Robert Earl Dalton, doing business as B. Dalton & Company, produced an employee newspaper for Klaussner Furniture Industries (KFI) under a 36-month contract.
- Dalton employed David Camp, an at-will employee who served as production manager on the KFI publication, and later employed Nancy J. Menius to assist.
- As the contract term ended, Dalton and KFI negotiated about continuing the relationship; after expiration, Dalton continued publishing without a contract while discussions continued.
- While still employed by Dalton, Camp considered leaving, formed a competing company, Millennium Communication Concepts, Inc. (MCC), and discussed with KFI the possibility that MCC would replace Dalton.
- KFI entered into a contract with MCC to produce the employee newspaper.
- Camp resigned from Dalton about two weeks after MCC secured the KFI contract.
- Dalton sued Camp, Menius, and MCC, alleging (among other claims) breach of fiduciary duty of loyalty and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage.

## Issues

1. Whether an at-will production manager owed the employer a fiduciary duty of loyalty based solely on the employment relationship and job responsibilities.
2. Whether the employee’s pre-resignation formation of a competitor and solicitation of the customer constituted tortious interference with the employer’s prospective economic advantage.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of North Carolina reversed the Court of Appeals to the extent it revived claims against Camp.
- The court held no fiduciary relationship existed between Dalton and Camp on these facts; summary judgment for Camp on the fiduciary-duty claim was proper.
- The court held Camp’s conduct did not constitute tortious interference with prospective economic advantage; summary judgment for Camp on that claim was proper.
- The result reinstated summary judgment for Camp (and MCC) on the revived claims.

## Legal Principles

- A fiduciary relationship does not arise automatically from employment; it generally requires special confidence, dominance, influence, or a status such as officer/director/partner, or other circumstances creating heightened obligations.
- Ordinary employee loyalty obligations do not, without more, equate to a fiduciary duty actionable as breach of fiduciary duty.
- An employee may prepare to compete, including forming a competing business, absent contractual restrictions or independently wrongful conduct (e.g., misuse of trade secrets, fraud, or other unlawful means).
- Tortious interference with prospective economic advantage requires interference without justification accomplished through improper means or improper motive; competition alone, without an independent wrong or violation of a recognized legal duty, is insufficient.

## Conclusion

The court held that an at-will employee’s pre-resignation efforts to compete and obtain future business, without a fiduciary relationship or other improper conduct, neither established a breach of fiduciary duty nor supported liability for tortious interference with prospective economic advantage.


Dalton v. Camp, 548 S.E.2d 704 (N.C. 2001)