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Abraham v. County of Hennepin2/7/2002
In separate but consolidated actions appellants David Abraham and Scott Lennander brought claims seeking only money damages against their former employer, respondent Hennepin County, for retaliatory discharge in violation of the Whistleblower Act, Minn. Stat. § 181.932, subd. 1(a) (2000), and the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Act (MOSHA), Minn. Stat. § 182.654, subd. 9 (2000).
The district court initially granted the county's motion for summary judgment, dismissing all claims, and appellants appealed dismissal of the whistleblower and MOSHA claims. The court of appeals remanded, directing the district court to determine whether retaliation more likely than not motivated the county's discharges, even if the county also had a legitimate reason for the discharges.
On remand, the district court granted the county's motion for partial summary judgment dismissing the whistleblower claims, concluding that the whistleblower claims and MOSHA claims arose out of the same facts, involved the same proof and the same damages, and thus, could not be concurrently pursued. The court denied appellants' request for trial by jury. Following trial to the court, the district court concluded that the county had not violated MOSHA by discharging appellants in retaliation for complaining to their supervisors and to the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (Safety and Health Division), instead finding that the county discharged appellants for intentionally introducing chemicals into their work area on the day of an inspection by the Safety and Health Division, and entered judgment dismissing appellants' MOSHA claims.
On the second appeal, the court of appeals affirmed the district court's decision denying appellants the right to trial by jury but reversed the district court's decision dismissing appellants' whistleblower claims and remanded. Abraham v. County of Hennepin, 622 N.W.2d 121, 129-30 (Minn. App. 2001). The court of appeals concluded that the Minnesota Constitution generally guarantees a right to jury trial for actions that were recognized as common law actions when the constitution was adopted. 622 N.W.2d at 126.
The court also concluded that when the legislature creates a new action that was not recognized as a common law action when the constitution was adopted, it is for the legislature to determine whether the right to a jury trial should be granted or withheld. 622 N.W.2d at 125. The court concluded that because retaliatory discharge actions under the Whistleblower Act and MOSHA did not exist at common law when the constitution was adopted, appellants have no constitutional right to jury trial. 622 N.W.2d at 126.
We conclude that there is a constitutional guarantee to trial by jury for appellants' actions. We affirm in part and reverse in part the decision of the court of appeals, vacate the judgment of the district court, and remand for jury trial.
I.
In April 1995 appellants were discharged from employment as offset equipment operators in Hennepin County's print shop. According to the county, appellant Lennander was discharged for intentionally pouring chemicals on carpeting in the work area during an inspection on March 22, 1995, by the Safety and Health Division; appellant Abraham was discharged for intentionally spraying chemicals into the air during the same inspection. Appellants allege that the county discharged them in retaliation for their complaints to their supervisors in February 1995 that fumes in the workplace were making them ill and in retaliation for appellant Abraham's written complaint on March 2, 1995, to the Safety and Health Division, whic
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