Foley v. Polaroid Corp.

• Decision Date: 21 May 1987
• Parties: , 2 IER Cases 328 Edward P. FOLEY et al. 1 v. POLAROID CORPORATION.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 72

508 N.E.2d 72

400 Mass. 82, 2 IER Cases 328

Edward P. FOLEY et al. ¹ v. POLAROID CORPORATION.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Middlesex.

Argued Sept. 12, 1986.

Decided May 21, 1987.

Stephen B. Deutsch (Robert L. Cowdrey, Boston, with him) for defendant.

Robert Emmett Dinsmore, Quincy (Lester M. Gold, Brockton, with him) for plaintiffs.

Before HENNESSEY, C.J., and WILKINS, LIACOS, ABRAMS, NOLAN, LYNCH and O'CONNOR, JJ.

O'CONNOR, Justice.

In 1978, the plaintiffs Edward P. Foley (Foley) and his wife, Mary Foley, filed a complaint in the Superior Court against the defendant Polaroid Corporation (Polaroid). Foley was an employee of the defendant. The Foleys sought recovery, on a variety of theories, for damages allegedly resulting from Polaroid's actions beginning in June, 1976, when a coworker accused Foley of sexually assaulting her on company premises.

Polaroid moved to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, arguing that Foley's injuries were compensable under the Massachusetts Workmen's Compensation Act, G.L. c. 152, § 1, et seq., and that the Act provided the Foleys' exclusive remedy. See G.L. c. 152, §§ 23-24. A judge granted the motion to dismiss. The Foleys appealed, and we ordered direct appellate review on our own initiative. We affirmed the judgment of the Superior Court "to the extent that the complaint raises a claim for intentional infliction of mental distress," but reversed the judgment "to the extent that the complaint raises claims for defamation, malicious prosecution, a violation of civil rights, and loss of consortium." Foley v. Polaroid Corp., 381 Mass. 545, 554, 413 N.E.2d 711 (1980) (Foley I ). ²

The Foleys later amended their complaint by adding claims for false imprisonment and related loss of consortium. Polaroid then moved for summary judgment, which was denied except for the claims predicated on a violation of civil rights.

The case was tried before a jury, and the jury returned verdicts for the Foleys. Foley was awarded $1,500,000 on his malicious prosecution claim, $1,000,000 on his defamation claim, and $500,000 on his false imprisonment claim. Mary Foley was awarded $1,500,000 for loss of consortium arising out of intentional infliction of emotional distress, and $500,000 for loss of consortium arising out of defamation. The trial judge granted Polaroid's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on Foley's malicious prosecution claim, but otherwise denied Polaroid's posttrial motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and a new trial or remittitur, and entered separate judgments in accordance with the verdicts.

Polaroid appealed from the judgments entered for the plaintiffs on the claims of false imprisonment, defamation, and loss of consortium, and Foley appealed from the allowance of Polaroid's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on his claim for malicious prosecution. We allowed Polaroid's application for direct appellate review.

Polaroid contends that its confinement of Foley was reasonable as a matter of law, thus entitling it to judgment on the false imprisonment claim. Polaroid also contends that the judge's jury instructions on false imprisonment were erroneous, so that, if it is not entitled to judgment on the claim, it at least is entitled to a new trial. With respect to the claim of defamation and the related claim of loss of consortium, Polaroid challenges the judgment on several grounds, one of which, deemed by us to be dispositive, is that the evidence did not warrant a finding that Polaroid abused its common law conditional privilege to disclose defamatory information concerning its employee. Also, Polaroid challenges the judgment for Mary Foley based on her claim of loss of consortium as a result of Polaroid's intentional infliction of emotional distress on Foley. Polaroid argues that there was insufficient evidence that its conduct was so extreme and outrageous as to warrant recovery. Then, with respect to all of Foley's claims, Polaroid asserts that the trial judge erroneously permitted the jury to compensate Foley for emotional distress arising out of workplace events in contravention of our holding in Foley I, supra. Finally, Polaroid contends that the total damages awarded were so excessive that a new trial is warranted on all issues. We need not address this claim.

We reverse the judgment for the plaintiffs, and we affirm the judgment for Polaroid on Foley's claim for malicious prosecution. Judgment is to enter for Polaroid on all claims except Foley's claim for false imprisonment. The case is remanded for a new trial solely on the false imprisonment claim.

We summarize selected portions of the evidence most favorable to the plaintiffs. In early June, 1976, Phyllis Simon, a computer operator employed by Polaroid, reported to a supervisor that Foley, the lead operator on her shift, had sexually assaulted her in a conference room at Polaroid's Waltham facility. The supervisor informed his superiors of the charge. Polaroid management personnel discussed the matter, and then arranged a meeting with Simon for June 22. In addition to Simon and the supervisor to whom she had reported her charge, Raymond Belle, personnel manager for Polaroid's corporate systems division, John Rutter, director of that division, and James Shea, the corporate security officer at Polaroid, were present at that meeting. Simon repeated her accusation and provided some details of the alleged incident.

Two days after this meeting, Rutter approached Foley near the end of Foley's 11 P.M. to 7 A.M. shift, and asked Foley to accompany him to his office. Foley had bid on a promotion to supervisor of his shift, and had been told that he was a finalist in the competition for the promotion. He thought that Rutter was going to give him a "pep talk" regarding the promotion. When the two men reached Rutter's office, Shea was inside. Rutter introduced Shea and told Foley that Shea was Polaroid's top security officer. Rutter then told Foley that Shea had some questions for him, and that he was sure Foley would cooperate. Foley responded, "Sure, I sure will, no problem." Rutter then left the room and Shea closed the door.

Shea motioned Foley to sit in the chair behind Rutter's desk. Foley was surprised at this and sat down instead in one of the chairs facing the desk. Shea picked up the other chair, positioned it between Foley and the door, and sat down. After Shea explained his responsibilities as security director for Polaroid, Foley asked why Shea wanted to talk to him. Foley thought that perhaps some payroll checks had been stolen or that some other breach of security had occurred. Shea then asked Foley whether and how he knew Phyllis Simon. After Foley responded, Shea informed Foley that Simon had made a serious charge against him involving an incident in a conference room. Foley stated that he was shocked and that he did not know what Shea was talking about. Shea said that he wanted Foley to tell him about the incident. Foley repeated that he did not know what Shea was talking about, and repeated that statement after Shea referred to the incident as a sexual assault. When Foley denied Simon's accusation, Shea told him to admit what he had done. Shea "accused [Foley] of doing it," but told him that it did not have to be a police matter. Shea said three or four times that Polaroid would prosecute Foley if he did not admit to what had happened. Foley said that he would "never admit to something I didn't do like that."

During these exchanges, Foley explained to Shea that he had a history of problems with Simon which had grown progressively worse. He also told Shea that Simon had threatened him numerous times. He explained that Simon knew that Foley was on the verge of becoming her supervisor, and that Simon feared this prospect because Foley knew of her poor job performance. He told Shea that Simon had once said to him, "You won't get that job and I will see to it." Foley named several coworkers who had heard and could verify the threats and the history of conflict Foley had related. Foley asked Shea to bring Simon and Rutter into the room, and told him that this would reveal why Simon had registered accusations against him.

On a number of occasions during this interview Shea approached Foley's chair. Foley testified that "[Shea] would walk around the room, and he would clench his fist, and he would stare at me and tell me to come clean." A few times Foley stood up "because it was easier for [him] to talk while [he] was standing." On these occasions Shea told him to "sit back down" and at all times positioned himself between Foley and the door. At times, while Foley was sitting down, Shea "came and he stood right over [Foley]," and yelled at Foley while the two were thus situated. Foley testified that "I felt I was under arrest, and I thought the only way to get out of that room would be to have a fight with Jim Shea."

At one point in the interview, Foley told Shea that he felt he was going to be sick to his stomach and wanted to use the restroom. Shea told him not to leave, and when Foley began to walk toward the door, Shea pushed his chair against the door. Shea said, "If you go out that door the job goes with you." In the next hour Foley made two or three more requests to use the restroom, after which Shea acceded, telling Foley to come right back and not to talk to anyone. At this time Foley repeated his earlier request to see an employee representative. Approximately two hours had elapsed since Foley first entered Rutter's office.

When Foley returned from the restroom, he was told that Shea had called the Employees' Committee and that William Graney, an employee representative, would arrive as soon as he could be reached. While the conversation continued along the same lines as before, Shea was still sitting in the chair that was pushed against the closed door. Shea was sitting in the chair with his back...