The Superior Court's March 17, 2014 opinion and order is reversed with respect to the dismissal of the plaintiff's Virgin Islands Wrongful Discharge Act claim, and its July 19, 2014 order denying reconsideration is vacated. To state a claim under 24 V.I.C. § 76 a plaintiff need only plead that the defendant was his employer and wrongfully discharged him. A plaintiff is not required to anticipate in the complaint any affirmative defenses the defendant might raise in its answer, such as grounds for discharge permissible under the statute. Applying this precedent, the present complaint sufficiently stated a claim for wrongful discharge, and the Superior Court therefore erred in dismissing that cause of action. The case is remanded to the Superior Court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Supreme Court Of The Virgin Islands