# Wirig v. Kinney Shoe Corp.

> Supreme Court of Minnesota · October 19, 1990 · 461 N.W.2d 374

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9572795

## Case

- **Full name:** Margaret WIRIG, Appellant, v. KINNEY SHOE CORPORATION, Respondent
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Minnesota
- **Decided:** October 19, 1990
- **Citations:** 461 N.W.2d 374; 5 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1562; 55 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 40,513; 54 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 352; 1990 Minn. LEXIS 417; 1990 WL 155701
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Coyne
- **Judges:** Keith, Coyne, Tomuanoyich
- **Cited by:** 112 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9572795

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that qualified privilege did not apply because the employer repeated the allegations without taking any “steps to investigate but relie[d] entirely on accusations either made by employees who may be biased or on secondhand hearsay with no identification of sources”
- holding that the employer was not entitled to qualified privilege when it took “no steps to investigate but relie[d] entirely on accusations either made by employees who may be biased or on second-hand hearsay with no identification of sources . . . .”
- concluding that “[w]hat we have here are two legal remedies for the same wrongful conduct,” and that the “plaintiff may pursue either or both [claims], provided, however, there is no double recovery”
- holding employer ineligible for qualified privilege, because it had taken no steps to investigate before publicly accusing employee, had not acted in reasonably prudent manner, and lacked reasonable or probable grounds for defamatory statement
- holding that both statutory cause of action for sexual harassment and common law cause of action for battery can be maintained even though both claims arise from same set of operative facts

## Opinion text

COYNE, Justice
(concurring specially).
I concur in the result.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9572795. Public record. Not legal advice.