McDonald’s Corp. is liable in the sexual assault case of an employee
detained by supervisors who were following the instructions of a prank caller
pretending to be a police officer, a Kentucky appeals court has ruled.
Friday’s ruling in McDonald’s Corp. v. Louise Ogborn upholds a jury award of
$1.1 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages for the
plaintiff’s sexual harassment, false imprisonment, premise liability and
negligence claims.
The ruling stems from a 2004 incident in which an unknown individual
telephoned the Mount Washington, Kentucky, restaurant where Ogborn worked.
He claimed to be a police officer investigating a purse or wallet theft.
During the three-hour ordeal, the caller persuaded an assistant manager to
take Ogborn’s clothes while she was held in a back office. The caller also
persuaded the assistant manager to recruit her fiancé to watch Ogborn.
While the assistant manager left the room, the fiancé sexually assaulted
Ogborn, court records state.
McDonald’s appealed the jury award. It argued, among other factors, that the
exclusive remedy under workers compensation barred Ogborn’s lawsuit.
The appeals court disagreed.
It found that McDonald’s knew of 30 hoax telephone calls placed to its
restaurants from 1994 to 2004, including several calls to Kentucky restaurants,
in which the caller persuaded managers and employees to conduct strip searches
and sexual assaults.
The evidence supports a reasonable conclusion that McDonald’s corporate
management consciously decided not to warn and train store managers and
employees about the calls, the appeals court found.
Filed by Roberto Ceniceros of
Business
Insurance, a sister publication of
Workforce Management
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