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Lara v. Buckley Boradcasting Corporation of Monterey1/30/2002
Dannelle Lara brought this employment discrimination action against her former employer, the Buckley Broadcasting Corporation of Monterey, Inc. (Buckley), alleging she had been sexually harassed on the job by her supervisor, and then fired when she reported the harassment to the company. The jury, by special verdicts, found in Lara's favor and awarded her $100,000 in compensatory (non-economic) damages. The court denied Buckley's motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) and new trial, and entered judgment for Lara. Buckley has appealed (case No. F034194).
Lara, in turn, has appealed from the court's denial of her request for attorney fees (case No. F034053). We have consolidated the two appeals.
We will conclude the jury's special verdict in favor of Lara on one cause of action is irreconcilably inconsistent with its special verdict in favor of Buckley on another cause of action. Accordingly, we will reverse and remand for a new trial on those two causes of action only.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Buckley owns and operates several radio stations, including KSEQ-FM in Visalia. In August of 1996, Lara was placed in a part-time receptionist position at the station by a temporary services agency. She worked at that job for about a year, until she was hired by the station on July 30, 1997, into a full-time position as the "traffic manager," a job in which she was responsible for scheduling on-air advertising spots.
Sharon Clemons, the officer manager at KSEQ, was Lara's immediate supervisor in both the receptionist and the traffic manager positions. She and Lara quickly became friends who socialized at work and occasionally away from work as well. They shared personal information with one another, including details about their sexual relationships. And both willingly participated in at least one sexually explicit conversation at work with two other female co-workers. Nonetheless, Lara claimed Clemons sexually harassed her by attempting repeatedly to involve her in Clemons's affairs with two different men.
The first was Eddie De La Cruz, a disc jockey at KSEQ with whom Clemons was having a sexual relationship. Clemons and De La Cruz tried with some success to keep the relationship a secret from their co-workers. However both confided in Lara, who they sometimes asked to act as a liaison between them. According to Lara, Clemons talked to her "on a continual basis," and in considerable detail, about her sex life with De La Cruz. Lara told Clemons she was uncomfortable "being in the middle" of the relationship, and asked her to stop talking about it, but Clemons persisted.
Clemons also was having a sexual relationship with her husband Michael, from whom she was separated and in the process of getting a divorce. In May of 1997, while Lara was still working as a receptionist, Clemons asked her if she had ever thought about having sex with another woman. Lara said "no." Soon afterward in June, Clemons told Lara in some detail about the three-way sex she had had the night before with Michael and a friend of his named James. Clemons asked Lara if she would consider having sex with her (Clemons) and Michael. Lara was "shocked" and "disgusted" by the suggestion and again told Clemons she was not interested. But, at least by Lara's account, Clemons raised the question several more times during the next few months.
Lara was uncomfortable with Clemons's solicitations and considered them sexual harassment. She was aware the station had a written policy against such behavior, which required her to file a complaint with the station manager, Ray McCarty. But Lara knew McCarty and Clemons were long-time fr
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