Deevy v. Porter, 21 N.J. Super. 278

Summary

The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, held that an oral one-year employment agreement made to begin after its formation was subject to the statute of frauds. An employee's alleged right to terminate did not remove the agreement from the statute, and the court reversed the judgment for the plaintiff and directed entry of judgment for the defendants.

Holdings

1. An oral agreement to employ the Tyrrels for one year beginning after the agreement was made was an agreement not to be performed within one year and was therefore within New Jersey's statute of frauds.
2. A right or option of the employees to terminate a fixed one-year employment agreement within the year does not remove the agreement from the statute of frauds.
3. The trial court erred by instructing the jury that part performance could remove the employment agreement from the statute of frauds.
4. A defendant preserves an objection to submission of a statute-of-frauds issue when the defendant plainly raises the issue in a motion for judgment before submission, even without repeating the objection after the jury charge.

Questions Presented

1. Whether an oral employment agreement for a fixed one-year term beginning after the agreement was made falls within the statute of frauds.
2. Whether an employee's alleged right to terminate the agreement within the year takes the agreement outside the statute of frauds.
3. Whether part performance removes the agreement from the statute of frauds.
4. Whether defendants preserved their objection to the part-performance jury instruction by raising the statute-of-frauds issue in a motion for judgment before the case was submitted to the jury.

Disposition

reversed