## Facts

- Nancy Johnston worked for Del Mar Distributing Company preparing and signing shipping documents at its Corpus Christi warehouse.
- Del Mar directed Johnston to prepare shipment paperwork for a package containing a semi-automatic firearm and to describe the contents as “fishing gear.”
- Because she had to sign the shipping documents, Johnston became concerned the mislabeling might violate federal firearms regulations.
- Johnston contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to ask whether labeling the firearm as “fishing gear” would be unlawful.
- A few days after the inquiry, Del Mar terminated Johnston’s employment.
- Johnston sued, alleging wrongful discharge in violation of Texas public policy because she was fired for attempting in good faith to determine the legality of the act Del Mar requested.

## Issues

1. Whether an at-will employee states a claim under Texas’s public-policy exception to employment at will when she is fired for, in good faith, seeking guidance from a governmental agency about the legality of an employer’s directive.

## Decision

- The court of appeals reversed the trial court’s summary judgment for Del Mar and remanded for further proceedings.
- It held Johnston’s pleadings stated a cause of action under the public-policy exception recognized in *Sabine Pilot Service, Inc. v. Hauck*.
- The court concluded the exception can cover an employee discharged for a good-faith attempt to determine whether an employer-requested act is illegal.
- Because Del Mar’s summary-judgment motion argued only that the petition failed to state a claim, the appellate court reviewed the legal sufficiency of the pleadings and took Johnston’s allegations as true for that purpose.

## Legal Principles

- Texas recognizes a narrow public-policy exception to employment at will when an employee is terminated for refusing to perform an illegal act (*Sabine Pilot*).
- The policy behind *Sabine Pilot* can extend to an employee’s good-faith effort to obtain authoritative guidance about whether a requested act is illegal, where termination is allegedly in retaliation for that inquiry.
- For this pleading-based challenge, the claim does not turn on whether the requested act is ultimately proven illegal; the focus is on the employee’s good-faith belief, the good-faith inquiry, and causation.
- When a summary-judgment motion asserts only that the pleadings fail to state a claim, the appellate court may assess the pleadings’ legal sufficiency under summary-judgment standards.

## Conclusion

The court held that an at-will employee may pursue a wrongful-discharge claim where she alleges she was fired for making a good-faith inquiry to a governmental agency about the legality of an employer’s directive, and it reversed summary judgment and remanded for trial.


Johnston v. Del Mar Distrib. Co., 776 S.W.2d 768 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 1989)