Kroger has settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of longtime employee Evan Seyfried, who claimed harassment by managers at an Ohio store contributed to his death by suicide in 2021.
Seyfried, 40, worked for the grocery chain for 19 years and managed the dairy department at its Milford location near Cincinnati. His father sued Kroger and two store managers in July 2021, four months after Seyfried’s death.
The family claimed problems at the store escalated in October 2020, when a manager allegedly began trying to remove Seyfried and said she intended to make his life a “living hell.”
Court filings described a pattern of workplace mistreatment that included political taunts, threats and attempts to undermine Seyfried’s performance. He was also allegedly mocked for wearing a mask while working during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of the claimed conduct extended beyond ordinary disputes over scheduling, performance or management. Seyfried’s family alleged that he was followed outside work, received threatening messages and was sent child sexual abuse material in what he believed was an attempt to implicate him in a crime.
The complaint stated that Seyfried raised concerns through Kroger and union channels, but the alleged behavior continued. The union was not named in the case.
By February 2021, Seyfried had stepped down from his management role and requested a transfer. Court filings state that he was told moving to another store could take 60 days. He later left Kroger and died on March 9, 2021.
His family brought claims that included wrongful death, intentional infliction of emotional distress, sexual harassment, retaliation and constructive discharge. Together, the allegations sought to connect the claimed workplace campaign, Kroger’s response and the circumstances surrounding Seyfried’s departure.
Ohio’s wrongful death law allows surviving family members to seek damages when a wrongful act or failure to act causes a death. The family still had to establish proximate cause, meaning the alleged conduct was sufficiently connected to Seyfried’s death for Kroger or its managers to be held legally responsible.
That issue can be especially difficult when a person dies by suicide. Courts often treat suicide as an independent act that breaks the legal connection to earlier conduct. Liability may remain possible when the death was reasonably foreseeable from the danger allegedly created.
The emotional distress claim required a separate showing. Ohio law generally requires intentional or reckless conduct that is considered extreme and outrageous, rather than ordinary workplace conflict, insults or unfair treatment. The family relied on the combined allegations of threats, surveillance, sabotage and unanswered complaints to support that claim.
Constructive discharge addressed why Seyfried left the company. The doctrine can treat a resignation as an involuntary departure when working conditions become so intolerable that a reasonable employee would feel forced to leave.
Kroger denied the family’s account and asked Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins to dismiss the case. The company argued that it had no reason to know Seyfried might take his own life and could not have reasonably foreseen his death.
Jenkins rejected Kroger’s request in February 2023. The judge dismissed five of the original 15 claims but allowed the family to continue pursuing wrongful death, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and several employment-related allegations.
The decision did not determine that Kroger or the managers caused Seyfried’s death. Jenkins found that the claimed pattern of intentional conduct raised factual questions about causation and foreseeability that could not be decided in the company’s favor at that stage.
Seyfried’s family has continued to use the case to call attention to workplace bullying and how employers respond when workers report harassment. The settlement was reached before the remaining claims went to trial. Its amount and other terms have not been disclosed.
Kroger and C&S Wholesale Grocers have resolved a lawsuit C&S filed earlier this year seeking a $125 million termination fee connected to Kroger’s unsuccessful attempt to merge with Albertsons. The settlement was disclosed in a joint filing on Friday in Delaware Superior Court. The filing stated that all claims in... Read More »
In a lawsuit filed last week in Santa Clara County Superior Court by the parents of Stanford University student Katie Meyer, the parents accused the university of negligent actions in disciplining their daughter. They say the negligent actions led to their daughter’s death. Meyer was the captain of the University's... Read More »
A general manager at a Holiday Inn in Omaha, Nebraska, has been awarded a $100,000 settlement after an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit was filed on his behalf. The EEOC’s complaint was filed against Anant Operations and its affiliates, accusing the hotel’s owners and operators of violating federal anti-discrimination laws.... Read More »
On April 28, 2020, 70-year-old Gerardo Gutierrez died of complications caused by COVID-19. According to court documents, in late March, Gutierrez worked side-by-side at the Publix deli counter with another employee who exhibited symptoms of the virus. The two employees were not wearing masks, which Publix banned its employees from... Read More »
The family of a former Boeing employee has reached a settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against the aerospace giant. The lawsuit involved John Barnett, 62, who worked as a quality control manager at Boeing for over three decades. Barnett raised alarms about unsafe production practices at the company’s manufacturing... Read More »
