Grissom v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville, Davidson County

• Decision Date: 01 May 1991
• Citation: 817 S.W.2d 679
• Parties: Mary Ann (Clifton) GRISSOM, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE, DAVIDSON COUNTY, Tennessee, Ronald Hickman, in his individual and official capacities, Phillip Hedgepath, in his individual and official capacities, John Doe, an as yet unnamed official and/or employee of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, Defendants/Appellees. 817 S.W.2d 679
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

Page 679

817 S.W.2d 679

Mary Ann (Clifton) GRISSOM, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE, DAVIDSON COUNTY Tennessee, Ronald Hickman, in his individual and official capacities, Phillip Hedgepath, in his individual and official capacities, John Doe, an as yet unnamed official and/or employee of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville Davidson County, Tennessee, Defendants/Appellees.

817 S.W.2d 679

Court of Appeals of Tennessee Middle Section, at Nashville.

May 1, 1991.

Permission to Appeal Denied by

Supreme Court Sept. 23, 1991.

Patrick D. O'Rourke, Mary Frances Lyle, Nashville, for plaintiff/appellant.

Susan Short Jones, Director of Law, Wm. Michael Safley, Metropolitan Dept. of Law, Nashville, for defendant/appellee Metropolitan Government.

Larry H. Snedeker, John E. Rodgers, Sr., Nashville, for defendant/appellee Ronald Hickman.

OPINION

KOCH, Judge.

This appeal involves a sexual harassment claim against the manager of a city golf course. A golf course employee filed suit in the Chancery Court for Davidson County against the manager and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, alleging that the manager had treated her inappropriately after she rebuffed his sexual advances. A jury returned a verdict for the defendants after the manager testified that he and the employee had been involved in an eleven-year office romance. The employee has appealed, challenging the trial court's instructions and the factual foundation for the jury's verdict. We affirm the judgment.

I.

Mary Ann Clifton, now Grissom, went to work as a cashier's clerk at the Two Rivers Golf Course in May, 1976. She was thirty-three years old and had two children. Her fourteen-year marriage had ended approximately one year earlier because of her bouts with depression and because of her sexual dysfunction due, at least in part, to sexual abuse she claimed to have suffered as a child.

Mr. Ronald Hickman managed the Two Rivers course when Mrs. Grissom went to work there. He was married and had four children. The first six months of Mrs. Grissom's employment passed without incident. However in November, 1976, Mrs. Grissom and Mr. Hickman had their first sexual encounter. Their accounts of this incident are strikingly different. Mrs. Grissom asserts that Mr. Hickman raped her on the floor of the women's bathroom one evening after the course had closed for the day. Mr. Hickman, on the other hand, states that they engaged in consensual sexual intercourse after they happened to brush up against each other in the golf course's cramped office.

Mrs. Grissom told no one about the incident for eleven years and continued working at the golf course with Mr. Hickman. After this dispute arose, she insisted that the November, 1976 incident was the only time Mr. Hickman had sexual intercourse with her and that she did not complain about it at the time because she feared that she would lose her job and that people would think she was a "whore." Mr. Hickman, however, stated that the November, 1976 incident was the beginning of an eleven-year liaison with Mrs. Grissom that continued uninterrupted through her second marriage and stopped in 1987 only after Mrs. Grissom decided to marry for the third time.

Mr. Hickman testified that he and Mrs. Grissom frequently had sexual intercourse in the office after the golf course closed for the day. He explained that he would usually initiate these encounters but that Mrs. Grissom would initiate them on occasion. He also stated that he and Mrs. Grissom customarily patted, pinched, and embraced each other during the work day and that Mrs. Grissom welcomed and reciprocated his sexual advances.

None of the persons who worked at the golf course between 1976 and 1987 ever observed Mr. Hickman and Mrs. Grissom engaging in sexual conduct. However, one employee described several incidents in 1984--around the time of Mrs. Grissom's divorce from her second husband--when Mrs. Grissom exposed herself and invited him to fondle and kiss her breasts. He stated that these episodes occurred in the golf course's office at closing time when no one else was around.

All the golf course employees who testified at trial, except Mrs. Grissom, stated that the work environment at the golf course was good. They described an informal, pleasant atmosphere where everyone got along. No one remembered any occasion when Mr. Hickman treated Mrs. Grissom inappropriately, and everyone stated that Mr. Hickman and Mrs. Grissom appeared to be good friends.

Mr. Hickman went on paid leave to use up his compensatory time from late 1986 until early 1987. When he returned in March, 1987, his relationship with Mrs. Grissom continued much as it had before except that they did not engage in sexual intercourse. He stated that they continued to hold hands, to pat and pinch each other, to kiss, and to engage in "sex talk."

While Mr. Hickman was on leave, Mrs. Grissom had become involved with Joe Grissom whom she had met at the golf course several years earlier. Mr. Grissom and Mrs. Grissom became engaged in April, 1987 and began having sexual relations at that time. Sometime in April or May, Mrs. Grissom told Mr. Hickman that she and Mr. Grissom were engaged.

Mr. Hickman insists that he did not treat Mrs. Grissom differently after she told him about her engagement to Mr. Grissom. Believing that they could still "say anything to one another," he made comments to her "in jest" about no longer needing the couch in the office and about picking on her because she was letting someone else "get in her pants." He also insists that he meant nothing by these remarks and that Mrs. Grissom did not seem to object to them.

However, Mr. Hickman also noticed a change in Mrs. Grissom's attitude around this time. She began to cry and to become emotional whenever he talked with her. He thought she was acting like she had "her feelings up on her shoulders" and that she was taking everything he said and did the wrong way. He denied picking at her or requiring her to do a disproportionate share of the work.

In mid-May, Mrs. Grissom told her fiance that Mr. Hickman had been making sexually suggestive statements to her and that he had told her that "there is nothing wrong with your work, it is just that you won't drop your pants for me, but you will for others." Mr. Grissom suggested that she report Mr. Hickman to his superiors.

After Memorial Day, Mrs. Grissom told Katherine Allen that Mr. Hickman was "treating her more harshly because she wouldn't have sexual relations with him" and that Mr. Hickman had exposed himself to her. Ms. Allen immediately took Mrs. Grissom to Tommy Lynch, the assistant director of Board of Parks and Recreation. Mrs. Grissom repeated her complaint to Mr. Lynch who promised to look into the matter. Mrs. Grissom did not tell either Ms. Allen or Mr. Lynch that Mr. Hickman had raped her in 1976.

Mr. Lynch questioned Mr. Hickman shortly after talking with Mrs. Grissom. Mr. Hickman readily conceded that he had made suggestive comments to Mrs. Grissom during April and May, 1987. However, he asserted that his comments had been "in jest" and that Mrs. Grissom should have known that he did not mean anything by them. He did not tell Mr. Lynch that he and Mrs. Grissom had been having sex since 1976. Mr. Hickman agreed to stop making suggestive comments to Mrs. Grissom and to refrain from retaliating against her for reporting him.

Mr. Lynch decided that Mrs. Grissom should not be required to continue to work with Mr. Hickman and, therefore, that Mr. Hickman should be transferred to another golf course. He discussed the idea with all concerned. Both Mrs. Grissom and Mr. Hickman appeared to accept this solution.

Mrs. Grissom was hospitalized on June 12, 1987, after suffering a severe psychotic episode. Two days later, a newspaper article appeared stating that Mr. Hickman had been transferred and would become the manager of another golf course. Mrs. Grissom's emotional reaction to the article prompted Mr. Grissom to wonder whether she had been having an affair with Mr. Hickman. When he asked Mrs. Grissom about her relationship with Mr. Hickman, Mrs. Grissom told him for the first time that Mr. Hickman had raped her in 1976.

Mr. Grissom immediately informed Mr. Lynch of these new allegations, and Mrs. Grissom gave Mr. Lynch the names of employees who, she claimed, could corroborate her complaints. When Mr. Lynch confronted Mr. Hickman with this information, Mr. Hickman denied raping Mrs. Grissom in 1976 and revealed that he and Mrs. Grissom had been having consensual sexual intercourse in the golf course office off and on since 1976.

Mr. Lynch also interviewed the other golf course employees named by Mrs. Grissom. None of the employees corroborated Mrs. Grissom's story. To the contrary, each employee insisted that Mr. Hickman had never mistreated them and that they had never seen him mistreat anyone else. They also told Mr. Lynch that Mr. Hickman had been a good supervisor and that they had enjoyed a good relationship with him.

Mrs. Grissom decided that she was no longer satisfied with Mr. Lynch's decision to transfer Mr. Hickman to another golf course because the action did not seem to be punitive enough. While still hospitalized, she demanded that Mr. Lynch conduct a "departmental hearing" into the matter. Mr. Lynch declined to take further action and informed Mrs. Grissom of her right to prefer charges against Mr. Hickman before the Civil Service Commission.

Mrs. Grissom returned to work at the golf course following her release from the hospital. Later, she applied for the manager's position that opened up following Mr. Hickman's transfer. She did not receive the job but remained at the golf course as the assistant manager. Mrs. Grissom married Mr. Grissom in October, 1987 and filed this suit in February, 1988.

II.

The primary focus of Mrs. Grissom's appeal is the evidentiary support for the jury's verdict. S...