## Facts

- Betty A. Tiernan, a registered nurse and mid-level manager at Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc. (CAMC), publicly criticized CAMC budget cutbacks affecting staffing and patient care in a newspaper letter.
- CAMC officials admonished Tiernan and advised her to consult management before making public statements; she later received a favorable evaluation and a raise.
- CAMC held a non-public meeting for selected managers to announce a planned merger/affiliation; the press was not invited.
- Tiernan brought a newspaper reporter into the meeting, and both recorded it; CAMC terminated Tiernan within hours.
- After termination, Tiernan obtained per diem work at an affiliated nursing facility, Arthur B. Hodges Center, Inc. (ABHC).
- CAMC informed ABHC that Tiernan was working as a union organizer; ABHC then stopped assigning her shifts.
- Tiernan sued CAMC for wrongful discharge (including a theory grounded in state constitutional free speech/association) and tortious interference with her business relationship with ABHC.
- The circuit court granted summary judgment to CAMC on all claims; Tiernan appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether an at-will employee of a private employer may maintain a wrongful-discharge claim based on public policy emanating from a specific provision of the West Virginia Constitution.
2. Whether the West Virginia Constitution’s Free Speech Clause can supply public policy for a wrongful-discharge claim against a private employer absent a statute extending that clause to private employers.
3. Whether CAMC tortiously interfered with Tiernan’s relationship with ABHC, or whether providing truthful information or honest advice to ABHC is non-actionable.
4. Whether the summary-judgment order contained sufficient findings and reasoning to permit meaningful appellate review.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that a private-sector employee may, on proper proof, assert wrongful discharge based on public policy derived from a specific state constitutional provision, determined case by case through selective incorporation and application.
- The court held the state Free Speech Clause is not applicable to a private employer absent a statute expressly imposing that public policy on private employers; thus, Tiernan’s constitutional-based wrongful-discharge theory failed as a matter of law.
- The court adopted the rule that a person does not interfere improperly with another’s business relationship by giving a third party truthful information or honest advice within the scope of a request or otherwise justified opinion; summary judgment for CAMC on tortious interference was affirmed.
- The court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded because portions of the summary-judgment disposition required more adequate findings and legal reasoning for appellate review.

## Legal Principles

- A private-sector employee may maintain a wrongful-discharge claim based on public policy emanating from a specific state constitutional provision only if the provision is appropriately applied to private employers on a case-by-case (selective incorporation) basis.
- The West Virginia Constitution’s Free Speech Clause does not apply to private employers; absent statutory extension, termination for exercising state constitutional free speech does not create a wrongful-discharge claim against a private employer.
- For tortious interference with a business relationship, providing (a) truthful information or (b) honest advice to a third party is not “improper” interference and is not actionable.
- Summary-judgment orders must include factual findings and legal reasoning sufficient to permit meaningful appellate review.

## Conclusion

The court limited constitution-based wrongful-discharge claims against private employers to selective, provision-specific application and held that West Virginia’s Free Speech Clause does not bind private employers without legislative action; it also affirmed that truthful information or honest advice is a complete bar to “improper” interference, while remanding remaining matters due to inadequate summary-judgment findings.


Tiernan v. Charleston Area Med. Ctr., Inc., 506 S.E.2d 578 (W. Va. 1998)