Travis Pruitt & Associates, P.C. v. Hooper

625 S.E.2d 445, 277 Ga. App. 1, 2005 Fulton County D. Rep. 3780, 2005 Ga. App. LEXIS 1332
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedDecember 1, 2005
DocketA05A1062
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 625 S.E.2d 445 (Travis Pruitt & Associates, P.C. v. Hooper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Travis Pruitt & Associates, P.C. v. Hooper, 625 S.E.2d 445, 277 Ga. App. 1, 2005 Fulton County D. Rep. 3780, 2005 Ga. App. LEXIS 1332 (Ga. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinions

ANDREWS, Presiding Judge.

Mignon Moore Hooper sued Travis Pruitt & Associates, P.C. (TPA)1 alleging that, while she was employed by TPA, she was the victim of an intentional tort when a co-employee, Michael Taylor, sexually harassed her at work. Hooper sought emotional distress and punitive damages from her employer, TPA, under various theories. She alleged in her complaint (1) that TPA is liable for the harassment inflicted on her by Taylor under the principles of respondeat superior or ratification; (2) that after she complained to TPA about the harassment, TPA’s negligence was a proximate cause of subsequent harassment because TPA continued to employ Taylor and failed to take appropriate action to prevent Taylor from continuing to harass her in the workplace; and (3) that TPA is liable for the harassment because it violated a duty to provide her with safe employment under OCGA § 34-2-10. The trial court denied TPA’s motion for summary judgment, and we granted TPA’s application for an interlocutory appeal. For the following reasons, we reverse.

1. Hooper alleged that shortly after she was employed by TPA, a co-employee, Taylor, made numerous unwelcome sexual advances toward her by telling her that she was beautiful; telling her that a [2]*2dress she wore “showed off [her] butt”; touching her on the buttocks with a coat hanger; asking her at lunch with other employees “Would you like to show us how to eat a peter”; telling her that he understood she used to be a stripper (which was untrue); following her from work to give her flowers; sending her notes and e-mails and calling her attempting to start an unwanted romantic relationship; asking her to take a trip and stay in a hotel with him, and calling her a bitch when she refused his advances. When Hooper complained to TPA’s president in March 1998 about Taylor’s alleged harassment, she requested that Taylor be reprimanded but specifically requested that he not be fired. The president reprimanded Taylor, told him not to contact Hooper, and warned him that, if he had further contact with Hooper, his job was in jeopardy. The president also told Taylor and Hooper that they were to have no further contact with each other at work except that, for business purposes only, they could communicate through their supervisor. Although Hooper subsequently asked TPA’s president to allow direct communication between her and Taylor for business purposes, the president refused. Nevertheless, Hooper testified that on several occasions between March and August 1998 Taylor directly contacted her in violation of the TPA ban against direct contact. She testified that she complained to her supervisor about Taylor’s contacts in violation of the ban, but TPA took no action. After Hooper complained to TPA’s president in August 1998 that Taylor continued to contact her, Taylor was terminated. TPA’s president testified that he terminated Taylor at that point because he violated the directive not to have any further contact with Hooper except through his supervisor. The president also testified that he terminated Hooper’s employment at that point because she admitted to him that she directly contacted Taylor in violation of the communication ban.

Hooper’s suit against TPA alleges as one basis for liability that TPA is responsible for Taylor’s alleged sexual harassment on the basis of respondeat superior. An employee injured at work by the intentional tort of a co-employee may assert a common law cause of action for damages where the intentional tort did not arise out of and in the course of the employment, and therefore no remedy for such conduct is provided by the Workers’ Compensation Act. Potts v. UAP-GA. AG. CHEM, 270 Ga. 14, 16-17 (506 SE2d 101) (1998). Although the sexual harassment alleged by Hooper was tortious conduct by nature intentional which occurred in the course of her employment by TPA, it did not arise out of the employment because Taylor’s alleged actions were directed at Hooper for purely personal reasons unrelated to the furtherance of TPA’s business and were not causally connected to a peculiar condition of the business. Murphy v. [3]*3ARA Svcs., 164 Ga. App. 859, 861-863 (298 SE2d 528) (1982). Accordingly, the same facts which establish that Hooper has a common law cause of action also establish that Hooper’s employer, TPA, cannot be held liable on the basis of respondeat superior for the alleged tortious conduct of her co-employee.

Under the principle of respondeat superior, an employer is liable for negligent or intentional torts committed by an employee in furtherance of and within the scope of the employer’s business. Piedmont Hosp. v. Palladino, 276 Ga. 612, 613 (580 SE2d215) (2003). The employer cannot be held liable on the basis of respondeat superior for an employee’s tort committed “not in furtherance of the employer’s business, but rather for purely personal reasons disconnected from the [employer’s] authorized business.. ..” (Citation and punctuation omitted; emphasis in original.) Id. at 613-614. Because Taylor’s alleged harassment was directed at Hooper for purely personal reasons entirely disconnected from TPA’s business, Taylor may be held liable for his actions, but TPAcannot be held liable for Taylor’s actions on the basis of respondeat superior. Id. at 614.

Hooper claims that, even if TPA did not authorize the harassment, TPA may be held liable for emotional distress intentionally inflicted on her by Taylor’s alleged sexual harassment because there is evidence that TPA ratified the harassment when it had notice of Taylor’s conduct but failed to take action to stop it. In support of this claim, Hooper cites Wiley v. Ga. Power Co., 134 Ga. App. 187,192-193 (213 SE2d 550) (1975), overruled on other grounds, Ga. Power Co. v. Busbin, 242 Ga. 612, 615 (250 SE2d 442) (1978); Newsome v. Cooper-Wiss, Inc., 179 Ga. App. 670, 673 (347 SE2d 619) (1986); Trimble v. Circuit City Stores, 220 Ga. App. 498, 501 (469 SE2d 776) (1996), and Mears v. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., 225 Ga. App. 636, 641 (484 SE2d 659) (1997). Like the present case, all four of these cases involved sexual harassment claims against employers where one employee sexually harassed another employee for purely personal reasons entirely disconnected from the employer’s business. In all four cases we held that the employer could be held liable for an employee’s intentional sexual harassment of a co-employee if there was evidence that the employer ratified the harassment after becoming aware of it. Wiley, Newsome, Trimble, and Mears, supra, should be overruled to the extent they hold that an employer can be held liable by ratifying sexual harassment committed by an employee not in furtherance of the employer’s business, but rather for purely personal reasons entirely disconnected from the employer’s business.

An employer may ratify tortious conduct by an employee, and thereby assume liability for unauthorized conduct, but for liability to be imposed on the employer by ratification, there must be evidence [4]*4that the employee’s conduct was done in furtherance of the employer’s business and within the scope of the employment. Stinespring v. Fields, 139 Ga. App. 715-718 (229 SE2d 495) (1976); Wren Mobile Homes v. Midland-Guardian Co. &c., 117 Ga. App. 22, 31-32 (159 SE2d 734) (1967); Frazier v. Southern R. Co., 200 Ga.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Jon Wiley Cronic v. Jeffrey H. Duvall
820 S.E.2d 780 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2018)
Ahmed v. Air France-KLM
165 F. Supp. 3d 1302 (N.D. Georgia, 2016)
OLIVER Et Al. v. McDADE Et Al.
762 S.E.2d 96 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2014)
David Allen Carter v. Lorenzo Dee Riggins
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2013
Carter v. Riggins
748 S.E.2d 117 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2013)
Lindsey Morgan Cramer v. Bojangles' Restaurants, Inc.
498 F. App'x 885 (Eleventh Circuit, 2012)
Phillips v. MARQUIS AT MT. ZION-MORROW, LLC
699 S.E.2d 58 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2010)
Jonathan MackMuhammad v. Cagle's Inc.
379 F. App'x 801 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
Tracey L. Tomczyk v. Jocks & Jills Restaurants
269 F. App'x 867 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
Hankerson v. Hammett
647 S.E.2d 319 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2007)
Banks v. AJC International, Inc.
643 S.E.2d 780 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2007)
Tomczyk v. JOCKS & JILLS RESTAURANTS, LLC
513 F. Supp. 2d 1351 (N.D. Georgia, 2007)
Orquiola v. National City Mortgage Co.
510 F. Supp. 2d 1134 (N.D. Georgia, 2007)
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority v. Mosley
634 S.E.2d 466 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2006)
Draper v. Reynolds
629 S.E.2d 476 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
625 S.E.2d 445, 277 Ga. App. 1, 2005 Fulton County D. Rep. 3780, 2005 Ga. App. LEXIS 1332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travis-pruitt-associates-pc-v-hooper-gactapp-2005.