Waddle v. Sparks

• Decision Date: 05 March 1992
• Docket Number: No. 476A90,476A90
• Citation: 331 N.C. 73,414 S.E.2d 22
• Parties: Joann W. WADDLE and Jacqueline E. Simpson v. Jack SPARKS and Guilford Mills, Inc.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 22

414 S.E.2d 22

331 N.C. 73

Joann W. WADDLE and Jacqueline E. Simpson v. Jack SPARKS and Guilford Mills, Inc.

No. 476A90.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

March 5, 1992.

On appeal of right by defendants pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2) and on discretionary review of additional issues pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-31(a), from the decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, 100 N.C.App. 129, 394 S.E.2d 683, reversing summary judgment against plaintiff Waddle and affirming summary judgment against plaintiff Simpson, the judgments having been rendered on 15 June 1989 in Superior Court, Guilford County, Walker (Ralph A.), J., presiding. Heard in the Supreme Court on 8 April 1991.

Ling & Farran by Jeffrey P. Farran, Greensboro, for plaintiff-appellee Joann W. Waddle and plaintiff-appellant Jacqueline E. Simpson.

Haines, Short, Campbell, & Ferguson by W. Marcus Short, Greensboro, for defendant Jack Sparks.

Smith, Helms, Mulliss & Moore by Martin N. Erwin and Michael A. Gilles, Greensboro, for defendant Guilford Mills, Inc.

Harvey L. Kennedy and Harold L. Kennedy, III, Winston-Salem, for N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, amicus curiae.

EXUM, Chief Justice.

Plaintiffs' complaint, filed 20 April 1988, alleges intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress against defendant Jack Sparks and negligent hiring and retention of Sparks by defendant Guilford Mills, Inc. On 24 April and 26 April 1989, defendants, respectively, filed motions for summary judgment as to all plaintiffs' claims. The trial court granted these motions on 15 June 1989. Plaintiffs appealed the summary judgments entered against them on their intentional infliction of emotional distress claims against Sparks and their negligent retention claims against Guilford Mills to the Court of Appeals. ¹ A divided panel of the Court of Appeals reversed the summary judgments entered in favor of both defendants as to plaintiff Waddle. 100 N.C.App. 129, 394 S.E.2d 683 (1990) (Lewis, J., dissenting). The Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the summary judgments entered in favor of both defendants as to plaintiff Simpson. Id. Defendants appealed to this Court on the basis of Judge Lewis' dissent. Both defendants petitioned for discretionary review of additional issues which were raised in, but not addressed by, the Court of Appeals. Plaintiff Simpson also petitioned for discretionary review. The Court allowed all petitions on 10 January 1991.

The questions before us are, on defendants' appeal, whether the Court of Appeals erred in reversing summary judgments in their favor on plaintiff Waddle's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress against Sparks and negligent retention against Guilford Mills; and on plaintiff Simpson's petition for discretionary review, whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming summary judgments for both defendants on her claims resting on these same torts. We conclude the Court of Appeals should have affirmed summary judgments entered for defendants as to both plaintiffs on both claims. Because of this conclusion we need not address the various additional issues raised by the parties in their petitions for discretionary review.

I.

The trial judge considered several documents propounded by the parties in determining that defendants' motions for summary judgment on all claims should be granted. Among these were the pleadings, the depositions of each plaintiff and of defendant Jack Sparks, defendants' responses to requests for admissions and, finally, a summarized version of an attitude survey of employees working under defendant Sparks taken by defendant Guilford Mills. Taken in the light most favorable to each plaintiff, the following facts can be gleaned from these documents.

Joann Waddle began working for defendant Guilford Mills, Inc. in 1970. In early 1983, defendant Jack Sparks became the third-shift supervisor of the Knitting Department in Guilford Mills' Wendover plant. In this position Sparks was plaintiff Waddle's direct supervisor.

In 1984, defendant Guilford Mills took an attitude survey of the employees under defendant Sparks' supervision. The survey tended to show that Sparks was not well liked by the employees working on his shift. A report of the survey stated that

[s]ome employees feel Sparks is vicious and "likes to stir people up", while others think it's his idea of "humor." In any event, its [sic] causing problems and largely of this supervisor's own making. The mix, particularly among women, ranges from fear to anger, with Sparks viewed as "the most vindictive egocentric person in the plant." Even when things are "mentioned to Jack that he can and should correct, he gets so profane and angry that we're afraid to mention anything that needs attention." ... The situation in this department would be radically improved if Sparks were reclaimed, recycled or removed.

Quotations from the above survey are apparently direct quotes of department employees.

Waddle's deposition was taken on 16 August 1988. During her deposition Waddle testified that sometime in 1983 Sparks brushed his arm against her breast while she was working on a clipboard. Although Waddle initially felt the brushing incident was an accident, she stated that a similar occurrence happened the next week and she began to suspect it was deliberate. The actual touching occurred only twice; however, Waddle testified that she had to step away from Sparks on several more occasions in order to avoid similar attempts. The last time she had to avoid these attempts "was about 1984." Plaintiff acknowledged, "I wasn't worried about his brushing up against me because I knew I could get away from him if he tried anything." She further acknowledged in her deposition that no acts of a sexual nature, except "dirty talk," occurred within the first six months or a year that Sparks supervised her (i.e., in 1983 and 1984).

In its opinion, the Court of Appeals outlined specific allegations of Waddle against Sparks which it gleaned from Waddle's deposition. It believed the following allegations could potentially support her claim of intentional infliction of mental distress (paraphrased except where quoted from the Waddle deposition):

1. In 1983 Sparks brushed up against plaintiff's breast; however, Waddle acknowledged she was not worried about these attempts because of her ability to dodge them.

2. In March, 1985, a male employee was cleaning and greasing a knitting machine. A female employee approached the machine and said "Bill, you have not greased the balls." Another female employee present at the scene then said to Sparks "Jack, listen over here. Frances is worried about whether Bill's greased his balls or not." Sparks responded to her "What are you worrying about Bill's balls for?" Waddle was not involved in this exchange, although she did overhear the conversation.

3. Sometime in either March or April, 1985, Waddle and Sparks were examining some fabric together. Waddle commented to Sparks that the fabric "has four holes the way its [sic] supposed to." According to Waddle, Sparks responded by asking, "[D]o you have four holes? I bet you know how to use all four of them don't you?"

4. In the fall of 1985, Waddle approached Sparks for some medicine for an infected cut on her finger which was oozing pus. Sparks asked Waddle how she knew it was infected. Waddle stated "it's red and it's swollen and it's got pus in it." Sparks started laughing and asked another employee to take care of plaintiff. Sparks then said "Yeah, Joann's got a pussy finger. Walt's going to have to work on Joann's pussy." Sparks then got up from his desk laughing even harder and said "I'd better leave on this one. I can't stand it anymore." As Sparks was leaving, another employee approached the office. Sparks stopped him and Waddle allegedly overheard Sparks tell the person "You can't go in there. Walt's working on Joann's pussy finger." Waddle stated that Sparks paused between the words "pussy" and "finger."

Plaintiff has also alleged in her complaint that defendant Sparks "frequently and constantly used dirty or obscene language of a sexual nature." During her deposition, Waddle was pressed for details about incidents at which Sparks used such sexually suggestive comments. Waddle responded that she bought a watch for her father around Christmas 1984 and that one day she brought the watch with her to work. When she showed the watch to Sparks, he responded "Well, that's nice." Sparks then turned around and commented to another employee "Yeah, I guess one of her boyfriends gave it to her." This incident and those already mentioned are the only specific, sexually suggestive comments made by Sparks, as recounted in Waddle's deposition. Waddle did say during her deposition that, throughout her employment on Sparks' shift, he frequently used offensive and vulgar language. She stated that defendant "always threw cuss words in every sentence he said."

In "the early part of the fall" of 1985, Waddle complained to plant manager John Moffitt and assistant plant manager Ed Gray regarding Sparks' alleged unfair treatment of her as compared to other employees. During the meeting Moffitt left to go to another meeting. After Moffitt left, she told Gray about Sparks' excessive use of dirty language, saying that Sparks "used G.D. all the time and the 'f' word." She acknowledged not telling Gray about the touching incidents in 1983 and 1984, and she did not tell Gray about any incidents where Sparks had used sexually suggestive remarks.

"[I]n the later part of the fall" of 1985, Waddle complained to personnel manager Brenda Shelton about Sparks. The thrust of her complaints involved Sparks giving other employees special treatment at her expense. Waddle also mentioned that Sparks had a "filthy mouth." When Shelton asked if Waddle had ever spoken to Sparks about his language, plaintiff told Shelton that she had but that "you can't talk to him. The man's crazy.... ...