Hillesland v. Federal Land Bank Association of Grand Forks

Hillesland (plaintiff), a longtime senior employee of the Association (defendant), learned through his job that customers wanted to sell property and, after offering them financial counseling, ended up having the property sold to his own sons; after an investigation into the resulting conflict of interest, the Federal Land Bank of St. Paul (defendant) terminated Hillesland for violating written conduct standards and damaging the institutions' reputation. Hillesland sued alleging violations of the Farm Credit Act, breach of contract, age discrimination, and tortious interference; the trial court granted summary judgment against all his claims, the appellate court dismissed the Farm Credit Act, age discrimination, and tortious interference claims, and focused its analysis on the breach of contract claim.