Whitt v. Harris Teeter, Inc.

• Decision Date: 06 July 2004
• Docket Number: No. COA03-335.,COA03-335.
• Citation: 598 S.E.2d 151,165 NC App. 32
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals
• Parties: Wendy WHITT, Plaintiff, v. HARRIS TEETER, INC., and Randy Shultz, Defendants.

598 S.E.2d 151

165 NC App. 32

Wendy WHITT, Plaintiff, v. HARRIS TEETER, INC., and Randy Shultz, Defendants.

No. COA03-335.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

July 6, 2004.

Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy & Kennedy, L.L.P, by Harvey L. Kennedy and Harold L. Kennedy, III, Winston-Salem, for plaintiff appellant.

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, P.L.L.C., by Lucretia D. Guia and J. Mark Sampson, Greensboro, for defendant appellee Harris Teeter, Inc.

WYNN, Judge.

Plaintiff Wendy Whitt appeals from final judgment of the trial court entered upon directed verdict in favor of Defendant Harris Teeter, Inc. Plaintiff argues she presented sufficient evidence that Defendant terminated her employment in violation of public policy, and that the trial court therefore erred in granting directed verdict to Defendant on her wrongful discharge claim. We conclude Plaintiff presented sufficient evidence to withstand Defendant's motion for directed verdict, and we therefore reverse the judgment of the trial court.

The pertinent facts of the instant appeal are as follows: On 20 November 2000, Plaintiff filed a complaint in Forsyth County Superior Court against Defendant and one of its employees, Randy Schultz. The complaint alleged that Schultz sexually harassed Plaintiff during her employment with Defendant, and that Defendant failed to take appropriate action to protect Plaintiff from such misconduct. Plaintiff further alleged that after she reported the sexual harassment, Defendant took retaliatory action against her, resulting in her eventual termination. Plaintiff set forth claims against Defendant for (1) intentional infliction of emotional distress; (2) negligent retention and supervision; (3) wrongful discharge in violation of public policy based on retaliation; and (4) wrongful discharge in violation of public policy based upon a hostile workplace environment.

Plaintiff's case came for trial on 11 February 2002. In support of her claim for wrongful discharge, Plaintiff presented the following evidence: Plaintiff worked as a cashier at Defendant's grocery store in Kernersville, North Carolina. Schultz, a fellow employee at the grocery store, began sexually harassing Plaintiff in July of 1999. Specifically, Schultz approached Plaintiff at her cash register several times per day on a daily basis and whispered in her ear such statements as:

1. "Let's go get naked and rub down in baby oil."

2. "That bright polish you're wearing is giving me a hard-on."

3. "I bet you couldf — k like hell when you're that mad."

4. "If I catch you bent over like that again I might have to come and throw my rod."

5. "If I'm Santa Claus, I have a lifetime lollipop when you want to sit on my lap."

Plaintiff could feel Schultz's lips touching her ear as he made these comments. Plaintiff informed Schultz she was married, asked him to stop, and told him she thought he was "sick." Schultz persisted in his objectionable behavior toward Plaintiff.

Plaintiff testified that, whenever possible, she "would push [Schultz] off and try to move away from him." Plaintiff could not always avoid Schultz, however, as he sometimes approached her while she assisted customers. Another cashier, Nell Williamson, regularly observed Schultz "leaning over up on [Plaintiff] and talking in her ear." Williamson testified Plaintiff "would pull away or push the groceries down [the] side to get him away from her. If she didn't have any customers, she would turn around and walk off." According to Plaintiff, Schultz's actions humiliated and degraded her and made her feel "helpless [and] trashy."

In October of 1999, Schultz approached Plaintiff from behind while she was standing near the time clock and "took his hand down the back of [her] back down over [her] bra, down to the top of [her] pants, and threatened [her]," by stating "I'll get you sooner or later." Following this incident, Plaintiff became "frightened" and informed her family of Schultz's behavior. After discussing the situation with her family, Plaintiff decided to report Schultz's behavior to management.

On 26 October 1999, Plaintiff informed her front-end manager, Jenny Poff, that Schultz had been sexually harassing her. Poff informed her that two other female employees had filed sexual harassment charges against Schultz, and she advised Plaintiff to contact the store manager, Mike Turner. Plaintiff met with Turner in his office later that afternoon, who told her "he would have to contact the Field Specialist, Shirley Morgan." Turner told Plaintiff "he was sorry that [she] had to go through this and that this type of behavior would not be tolerated." Turner did not ask Plaintiff for the details of the sexual harassment. Later that day, Plaintiff met with the field specialist, Shirley Morgan, who requested Plaintiff "write down the statements that had been said, the remarks" and informed her there would be an investigation, stating the store did "not tolerate this type of behavior."

Despite these meetings, Schultz continued making sexual comments to Plaintiff over the next several days. One week later, Schultz was promoted and entered a manager trainee program at a different store location in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, Schultz continued to regularly visit the Kernersville store and harass Plaintiff by whispering sexual remarks in her ear, winking at her, and licking his lips. Schultz told Plaintiff, "I'll get you sooner or later" and "The green polish you're wearing is making me horny." On several occasions, Schultz followed Plaintiff to her home. As a result, Plaintiff's father, Jack Hodge, began accompanying Plaintiff to and from work. Hodge testified he observed Schultz following his daughter home on three occasions. Plaintiff met again with Turner and informed him of the continued harassment. She also informed Turner that Schultz had followed her home and had threatened her. Turner told Plaintiff "Well, as far as I know he's not been banned from the store." Turner informed Plaintiff he would contact Morgan, the field specialist.

Later in November, Morgan met with Plaintiff and informed her that the investigation was over, that Schultz had denied everything, and that she could not corroborate Plaintiff's allegations. Morgan gave Plaintiff a copy of Defendant's sexual harassment policy. Morgan did not discuss the details of her investigation with Plaintiff, nor did she acknowledge or discuss the continued additional instances of harassment of which Plaintiff had informed Turner.

Following her meeting with Morgan, Plaintiff arranged to have a third meeting with Turner, which both Plaintiff's father and the store's assistant manager, Mike Streicher, attended. After informing Turner that Schultz was still making the sexual comments, stalking her, following her home, physically touching her and making threatening phone calls, Turner replied, "harsh[ly] and unconcerned, `Wendy, what do you want me to do about it?'" Her father then asked Turner, "What are you going to do about it?" Turner "just raised up in his seat and stared out the front out of the glass window of his office."

Plaintiff testified Schultz again approached her in November as she stood at the store's time clock. He pressed his entire body tightly against Plaintiff, reached around her and attempted to touch her breasts. Before he could touch her breasts, Plaintiff "slung him off." Instead of going to Turner, Plaintiff contacted the field specialist directly. She told Morgan the sexual harassment was continuing and described the threats and stalking. Morgan informed her that the matter had been "thoroughly investigated" and the investigation was complete. Morgan offered no further assistance. As a result, Plaintiff filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.

Between the third week of November 1999 and the end of December 1999, Defendant reduced Plaintiff's employment hours from thirty-seven hours to twenty-seven hours per week. Schultz continued to visit the store in December, making sexually offensive comments to Plaintiff several times per week. By this time, Plaintiff was experiencing panic attacks, crying spells, suicidal thoughts, depression, withdrawal, insomnia, nightmares, nervousness and felt "hopeless, helpless, and just totally degraded." She was "an emotional basketcase." Plaintiff sought medical treatment and was prescribed Prozac and Xanax. Her condition worsened, however, causing Plaintiff to resign from her position with Defendant in February of 2000. Upon giving her notice of resignation to the assistant manager, he stated "Well, we figured this is going to happen."

At the close of the evidence, the trial court granted Defendant's motion for a directed verdict on Plaintiff's wrongful discharge claim pursuant to Rule 50(a) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure. On 27 February 2002, the jury rendered a verdict finding that Defendant was not liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent retention, and the trial court entered judgment accordingly. Plaintiff appealed.

Plaintiff contends the trial court improperly granted Defendant's motion for directed verdict in that she presented more than a "scintilla" of evidence to support her claim. For the reasons stated herein, we agree that directed verdict was improperly granted, and we reverse the judgment of the trial court.

It is well established in North Carolina that in determining whether the evidence is sufficient to withstand a motion for a directed verdict, "the plaintiff's evidence must be taken as true and all the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to her, giving her the benefit of every reasonable inference which may be legitimately drawn therefrom, with conflicts, contradictions, and inconsistencies being resolved in the plaintiff's favor." Bryant v. Thalhimer Brothers, Inc., 113 N.C.App. 1, 6, 437 S.E.2d 519, 522 (1993), disc. review denied, 336 N.C. 71, 445 S.E.2d 29 (1994). The trial...