Swanson v. Image Bank

OPINION 1 Appellants, The Image Bank, Inc. and Swanstock, Inc. (collectively ""TIB""), sought review of the court of appeals' decision affirming the trial court's grant of partial summary judgment in favor of Appellee, Mary Virginia Swanson (""Swanson""). See Swanson v. Image Bank, Inc., et al., 202 Ariz. 226, 43 P.3d 174 (App. 2002). The judgment awarded treble damages under Arizona Revised Statutes (""A.R.S."") § 23-355 (1995) for bad faith breach of an employment contract. We granted review to determine whether the contract's express choice-of-law provision assigning Texas substantive law to govern any controversy arising out of the contract precludes recovery of a statutory claim for treble damages under A.R.S. § 23-355. After full review, we hold that the contractual choice of Texas law governs the remedies available to Swanson for breach of the contract and we reverse the treble damage award. Jurisdiction is established under Article 6, Section 5(3) of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 12-120.24 (2003).