Betty P. Bowman v. State Bank of Keysville

Summary

The court held that an exception to Virginia's employment-at-will rule permits employees to sue for damages when they are discharged for exercising statutory shareholder voting rights free from employer coercion. The plaintiffs therefore stated a wrongful-discharge claim against the bank and the directors. The court upheld dismissal of the conspiracy claims because the pleadings did not adequately allege that the outside individual induced the directors to terminate the plaintiffs or that a resulting conspiracy caused a contractual breach.