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Lilly v. Overnight Transportation
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF WEST VIRGINIA
September 1992 Term
No. 21003
RAOUL EDDIE LILLY, Plaintiff Below, Appellant
v.
OVERNIGHT TRANSPORTATION COMPANY,
A VIRGINIA CORPORATION, DOING BUSINESS IN THE
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA,
Defendant Below, Appellee

Certified Question From the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit CERTIFIED QUESTION ANSWERED
Submitted: October 6, 1992 Filed: December 17, 1992
Jerome J. McFadden Gibson, McFadden & Ash Princeton, West Virginia Counsel for Appellant
W. T. Cranfill, Jr. Michael V. Matthews Blakeney & Alexander Charlotte, North Carolina and Wayne L. Evans Katz, Kantor & Perkins Bluefield, West Virginia Counsel for Appellee
JUSTICE WORKMAN Delivered the Opinion of the Court.
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT
1.
"The rule that an employer has an absolute right to discharge an at will employee must be tempered by the principle that where the employer's motivation for the discharge is to contravene some substantial public policy principle, then the employer may be liable to the employee for damages occasioned by this discharge." Syllabus, Harless v. First Nat'l Bank in Fairmont, 162 W. Va. 116, 246 S.E.2d 270 (1978).

2.
A cause of action for wrongful discharge may exist under West Virginia Code

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