Dornhecker v. Malibu Grand Prix Corp.
Decision Date | 30 September 1987 |
Docket Number | No. 87-1009,87-1009 |
Parties | 44 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1604, 44 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 37,557 Marvelle DORNHECKER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MALIBU GRAND PRIX CORP., Defendant-Appellant. Summary Calendar. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Dan C. Dargene, El Paso, Tex., for defendant-appellant.
Susan Larsen, El Paso, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Before GEE, GARWOOD, and JONES, Circuit Judges.
The behavior of a co-worker at the Malibu Grand Prix Corporation proved too racy for Marvelle Dornhecker. She worked there in a corporate staff position for four days in December 1984 before resigning because of sexual harassment to which, she felt, the company was insensitive. This Title VII lawsuit followed, and the district court awarded her $25,000 compensatory damages. Malibu appeals.
We shall assume, without deciding, that Mrs. Dornhecker was the victim of unwelcome sexual harassment that was sufficiently pervasive to alter the conditions of her employment and create an abusive working environment. Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 2406, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986). The perpetrator was one Robert Rockefeller, 1 a contract consultant to the corporation in marketing, who was slated to attend a series of out-of-town presentations with Mrs. Dornhecker and other Malibu representatives during December 1984. Rockefeller's conduct in the presence of Mrs. Dornhecker was public, clownish and boorish. During two days of her first business trip with the company to Cincinnati and Miami, Rockefeller put his hands on her hips in an airport ticket line and dropped his pants in front of the passengers while waiting to board the airplane. He touched her breasts. Finally, when a number of Malibu employees attended a business dinner at the Downunder Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, he put his stocking feet on a cocktail table directly in front of her and "playfully" choked her when she complained. The co-workers were appalled. 2
The events most pertinent to this appeal commenced when Mrs. Dornhecker, overcome by Rockefeller's disgusting lack of professionalism, rushed to the ladies' room immediately after this last incident and dissolved, in her words, into hysterical tears. Her immediate supervisor, Krysia Swift, followed and tried to console her. Although Swift had not seen the choking incident, she agreed to talk to the company president about it. The next morning, December 6, Mrs. Dornhecker herself addressed Peabody, the president, and the court found that he "told Plaintiff that she would not have to work with Rockefeller after the Florida trip." The Florida presentations were then scheduled to last one-and-a-half more days. It is undisputed that Rockefeller did not attend the remaining presentations in Fort Lauderdale, and his contract with Malibu went un-renewed at the end of December. Mrs. Dornhecker was not present to savor these events: she believed management was unresponsive, and shortly after talking to Peabody on December 6, she left Fort Lauderdale, explaining her departure only with a brief note in her supervisor's hotel mail slot.
The critical issue in this case for purposes of Title VII liability is whether Malibu, knowing about Mrs. Dornhecker's claims of sexual harassment, failed to take prompt remedial action. 3 The district court found that Malibu did not. This is clearly erroneous. Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 52(a). Since the demise of the institution of dueling, society has seldom provided instantaneous redress for dishonorable conduct. In this case, the district court found that Malibu's president personally reassured Mrs. Dornhecker that Rockefeller would not be working with her after the Florida trip. This assurance occurred approximately 12 hours after Mrs. Dornhecker had tearfully confronted Krysia Swift in the ladies' room and first acquainted her with Rockefeller's behavior. Considered in terms of the speed with which the company addressed Mrs. Dornhecker's complaint or the length of time it proposed to resolve that complaint, Malibu's remedial action was unusually prompt.
Mrs. Dornhecker resigned before she ever saw or worked with Rockefeller again after dinner at the Downunder Restaurant. Thus, we do not know whether Rockefeller, ashamed by his performance or by conversation with Malibu employees, or by the prospect of being summarily booted out of the rest of the business trip, might have left Mrs. Dornhecker alone for the remaining one-and-a-half days in Florida. Where the offending conduct spanned only two days to begin with, it is not unreasonable for the company to offer ending it virtually overnight. And, although we do not condone Rockefeller's conduct, it was not as aggressive or coercive as that underlying a number of hostile sexual environment claims that have been unsuccessful in court. 4 Mrs. Dornhecker was not propositioned, she was not forced to respond to Rockefeller, she was not placed in any threatening situation. The company's remedy to Mrs. Dornhecker's complaint may be assessed proportionately to the seriousness of the offense. A company's lines of command, organizational format and immediate business demands cannot be wholly extracted from the analysis of its manner and promptness in resolving a claim of sexual harassment. The remedy was prompt.
Malibu's handling of the problem was also decisive. Ordinarily, an organization...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Moore v. Cal. Dep't of Corr. & Rehab.
...Barrett, 726 F.2d at 427; rather, remedies should be "assessed proportionately to the seriousness of the offense." Dornhecker v. Malibu Grand Prix Corp., 828 F.2d 307, 309 (5 th Cir.1987). Employers should impose sufficient penalties to assure a workplace free from sexual [or racial] harass......
-
McKenna v. Permanente Med. Grp., Inc.
...Barrett, 726 F.2d at 427; rather, remedies should be "assessed proportionately to the seriousness of the offense." Dornhecker v. Malibu Grand Prix Corp., 828 F.2d 307, 309 (5 th Cir.1987). Employers should impose sufficient penalties to assure a workplace free from . . . harassment. In esse......
-
Lofton v. City of West Point
...Stover v. Hattiesburg Public School Dist., 549 F.3d 985, 991 (5th Cir. 2008) (internal citations omitted); Dornhecker v. Malibu Grand Prix Corp., 828 F.2d 307, 310 (5th Cir. 1987). Whether a reasonable employee would feel compelled to resign depends on the facts of each case. Id. "Discrimin......
-
Dupont-Lauren v. Schneider (Usa), Inc.
...Inc., 9 F.3d 401, 403 (5th Cir.1993); Cortes, 977 F.2d at 198-99; Waltman, 875 F.2d at 477; Dornhecker v. Malibu Grand Prix Corp., 828 F.2d 307, 309 n. 3 (5th Cir.1987); Jones, 793 F.2d at In this instance, Dupont-Lauren satisfies the first prong of a prima facie case by virtue of her gende......
-
Sexual Harassment
...was a “model of prompt, sensitive employer handling of these very traumatic cases.” Id; see also Dornhecker v. Malibu Grand Prix Corp. , 828 F.2d 307, 309-10 (5th Cir. 1987) (holding employer not liable where, after the plaintiff complained of two days of harassment by a co-worker, the empl......
-
Constructive Discharge
...the plaintiff had not satisfactorily pursued the employer’s internal grievance procedures. See Dornhecker v. Malibu Grand Prix Corp. , 828 F.2d 307 (5th Cir. 1987). In Dornhecker , the plaintiff advised her employer, during a short business trip, that she was the victim of sexual harassment......
-
Table of cases
...2009), §24:6.N.2 Dormeyer v. Comerica Bank-Illinois , 223 F.3d 579 (7th Cir. 2000), App. 25-2 Dornhecker v. Malibu Grand Prix Corp. , 828 F.2d 307 (5th Cir. 1987), §§4:2.B.2, 20:6.C.1 Dorris v. Absher , 179 F.3d 420 (6th Cir. 1999), §28:7.A Dorsey v. Boise Cascade Co. , 2015 WL 4606231, at ......
-
Sexual Harassment
...was a “model of prompt, sensitive employer handling of these very traumatic cases.” Id; see also Dornhecker v. Malibu Grand Prix Corp. , 828 F.2d 307, 309-10 (5th Cir. 1987) (holding employer not liable where, after the plaintiff complained of two days of harassment by a co-worker, the empl......