Paul G. Zimmerman v. H.E. Butt Grocery Company

This is a Texas diversity case involving the effects of an employee manual and an employer’s oral promise of lifetime employment on that state’s doctrine of employment-at-will. Plaintiff-Appellee Paul Zimmerman sued Defendant-Appellant H.E. Butt Grocery Company (HEB) in Texas state court after HEB terminated Zimmerman’s employment. He alleged age discrimination, defamation, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, deprivation of rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution, and breach of contract. After HEB removed the case to federal…