Name: Tosha Brown

QUESTIONS ABOUT
BALMER et al. v. ELAN CORPORATION,
278 Ga. 227; 599 S.E.2d 158; 2004 Ga. LEXIS 541 (2004).

Please answer the questions in the space provided. Please type your answers and
email the document to me by 11:30 pm on the due date.
1. From what court is this decision? This decision was from the Supreme Court of
Ga.

2. What had the employees done? Why? What did the employer do? The
employees had given information to the FDA which caused Elan Corporation
to be cited by the FDA. Elan Corporation is a foreign based Pharm. Company
which has a plant in Georgia and has to be periodically inspected by the FDA
and the employees had to cooperate with the inspections. The employer fired
the said employees for giving false information to the FDA.

3. The employees raised at least four legal theories to support their claim that
they should not have been terminated. What are they? The four legal
theories breach of contract, promissory estoppel, fraud, and defamation.

4. Briefly discuss how the Court ruled on each of these legal theories. The court
ruled in favor of the employer on all counts because they were employed at
will and on the promissory estoppel it has no application when it is involving
indefinite employment. The fraud claim was unenforceable because the
breach of contract was unenforceable because they were employed at will.
The defamation was unenforceable because neither of the other claims were
enforceable in the Superior Court of GA.