State, Dept. of Admin. v. Schallock

941 P.2d 1275, 189 Ariz. 250, 248 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3, 1997 Ariz. LEXIS 82
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 17, 1997
DocketCV-95-0565-PR
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 941 P.2d 1275 (State, Dept. of Admin. v. Schallock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State, Dept. of Admin. v. Schallock, 941 P.2d 1275, 189 Ariz. 250, 248 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3, 1997 Ariz. LEXIS 82 (Ark. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION

FELDMAN, Justice.

The state filed an action seeking a declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify Allen Heinze, the former executive director of the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council, in two cases seeking damages for sexual harassment. The state argued indemnification was not available in either case because Heinze’s acts were not in the course and scope of employment. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court ruled that the state must indemnify Heinze. The court of appeals reversed, granting summary judgment in favor of the state. See State v. Schallock, 185 Ariz. 214, 914 P.2d 1306 (App.1995).

We granted review to decide two issues of statewide importance: first, whether collateral estoppel applies and, second, whether Heinze’s actions were within the terms of the state’s insurance coverage. We have juris *252 diction pursuant to Ariz. Const, art. VI, § 5(3) and Ariz.R.Civ.App. 23.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. Background

Colleen Schallock, a 23-year-old law student, clerked during the summer of 1988 with the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council (APAAC). Bertha Saunders was a secretary at APAAC. Allen Heinze was the executive director of APAAC and answerable only to its members, a collection of county attorneys and other government officials who meet quarterly to coordinate the training of and assistance to prosecutors. 1 Schallock and Saunders both filed lawsuits against Heinze and APAAC seeking damages for sexual harassment.

Given the procedural posture of this action, we view the facts in the light most favorable to Schallock and Saunders. Over a period spanning almost a decade, Heinze often made off-color comments, vulgar gestures, and sexual jokes, and inappropriately touched the women in the office. Work conditions were such that women employees would not work late unless a male staff attorney was also there. One former APAAC staff member described Heinze’s treatment of women employees as “like his personal harem.” Between June 1984 and fall 1990, Heinze “engaged in multiple acts of sexual misconduct, including touching Saunders’ crotch, buttocks, and breasts, running his hands over her arms, shoulders and the top of her chest, placing his arms around her in an attempt to force her to kiss him, unzipping his pants, unfastening his belt, and simulating sexual intercourse from behind.” While both were attending a seminar in June 1984, Heinze entered Saunders’ hotel room, made sexual comments, and asked her to engage in sexual intercourse. He then forced himself upon Saunders, pressing against her.

Similarly, Heinze at least twice touched Schallock’s breasts and put his hand down her skirt. At a conference in Sedona in the summer of 1988, Heinze propositioned Schal-lock, telling her he would help her get a job in Phoenix and at the same time placing his hand on her thigh under a table. Schallock told him that was not the way she wanted to get a job. Later in the evening in a hotel room, Heinze raped Schallock. Afterward he told her he would give her a job at any amount of money she wanted. In December 1988, when Schallock was no longer working at APAAC, Heinze insisted she have lunch with him. He assaulted her again after the lunch. When she threatened to reveal the rape, he told her he was a powerful political figure and would “take her down with him.”

B. Schallock’s tort action

In her complaint, Schallock alleged (1) Heinze personally and APAAC vicariously were liable for a public policy tort (sexual harassment); (2) APAAC independently was liable for damages on the theory of negligent retention; and (3) Heinze personally and APAAC independently and vicariously were liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Heinze believed he would be indemnified by state insurance for any judgment against him and his wife. The state, however, reserved its rights if a court subsequently determined that Heinze’s acts were outside the coverage or indemnity provided by A.R.S. § 41-621. 2 Asserting his Fifth Amendment rights, Heinze refused to give evidence in Schallock’s tort case.

*253 After trial, the jury returned three verdicts for Schallock and against APAAC and Heinze. In the first verdict, the jury found Heinze liable for “intentional or reckless infliction of emotional distress, and/or sexual harassment in the workplace, and ... the full damages to be $1,476,535.50.” 3 In its second verdict (form 3), the jury stated APAAC was liable “for intentional infliction of emotional distress, and/or sexual harassment in the workplace and ... the full damages to be $908,446.50.” In its third verdict (form 6), the jury found APAAC liable for “negligent hiring and full damages to be $908,446.50.” Given the jury’s answer to the accompanying interrogatory, we interpret this verdict as finding APAAC directly liable for negligent hiring, supervision, and retention of Heinze based on evidence that (1) Heinze had been dismissed from previous employment with a law enforcement agency because of charges of sexual impropriety, a fact allegedly known to one or more APAAC members when Heinze was hired; and (2) Heinze’s aberrant sexual activities with APAAC’s employees extended over almost a decade and were known or should have been known to AP-AAC’s members. The jury also wrote a note: “We want it to be clear that we have divided the liability in the following manner: Mr. Heinze $1,476,553.50 and APAAC $908,-446.50 and total liability is $2,385,000.”

Before trial, the state and Schallock made a “high-low” agreement, providing a formula for a guaranteed payment to Schallock; in return, if a verdict were returned against APAAC, Schallock agreed to dismiss the action against it. Therefore, although verdicts 3 and 6 were returned on the claims presumably establishing APAAC’s direct and vicarious liability, judgment was never entered on those verdicts. Instead, complying with the settlement agreement, Fireman’s Fund, the state’s insurer, paid Schallock $725,000 in full settlement of the $908,000 verdict against APAAC. We assume the $1.4 million verdict against Heinze, which was eventually reduced to judgment, remains unpaid.

C. The state’s declaratory judgment action

During the course of the tort litigation, the state filed this declaratory judgment action *254 claiming it could not indemnify Heinze for Saunders’ and Schallock’s claims because his acts were outside the course and scope of his employment. In Schallock’s trial, the judge directed a verdict on the vicarious liability issue, finding no factual support for the state’s contention that Heinze’s actions were not in the course and scope of his authority as APAAC’s director. However, because the verdict was never reduced to judgment, the order directing a verdict on course and scope was never merged in a final judgment or appealable order.

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Bluebook (online)
941 P.2d 1275, 189 Ariz. 250, 248 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 3, 1997 Ariz. LEXIS 82, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-dept-of-admin-v-schallock-ariz-1997.