Eagle v. Hurley Medical Center
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
292 F.R.D. 466 (2013)
Marsha Eagle (plaintiff) sued her former employer, Hurley Medical Center (HMC) (defendant), for wrongful termination, and her attorney obtained affidavits from two HMC employees without HMC's consent: Rimmer, a non-manager uninvolved in Eagle's termination, and Ramirez, a non-manager union representative who had advocated for Eagle and spoken with the actual decisionmakers, but who played no role in the termination decision itself. HMC moved for a protective order to strike both affidavits.
Whether the no-contact rule applies to an organization's employee when the employee is not a manager, the employee's conduct cannot be imputed to the organization, and the employee's statement cannot constitute an organizational admission.