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Lee v. Delta Air Lines1/30/2001
AFFIRMED
The instant matter arises out of Plaintiff-Appellant's claim that she was sexually harassed at her place of employment. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the summary judgment entered in favor of Defendant-Appellee, Lee's former employer, Delta Airlines.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
This matter was instituted on February 16, 1995, when Plaintiff-Appellant, Cathy Lee, filed a Petition for Damages naming as defendants Appellee, Delta Air Lines, Inc., and Eugene Galassi, a former employee of Delta.
Delta filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on January 31, 2000; the motion was heard on February 18, 2000. Judgment was granted in Delta's favor at the conclusion of the hearing; a written judgment was signed on February 24, 2000.
On February 28, 2000, the trial judge designated the above judgment as a "final" judgment under LSA-C.C.P. art. 1915, and on March 29, 2000, the trial judge signed an order which included a finding that there was no reason to delay an appeal from the summary judgment.
Lee's Motion for Devolutive Appeal was filed March 29, 2000.
FACTS
The following facts are gleaned from the documentary evidence submitted in connection with the motion for summary judgment.
The incident in question occurred on October 9, 1994, at the New Orleans International Airport. The individual Defendant, Eugene Galassi is, and had been before the hearing above, deceased.
The record contains parts of a deposition given by Lee, in which the following testimony is found, including a description of the incident which gives rise to this suit. Lee stated that on the date in question, while she was at her desk using the phone, Galassi stood behind her and "rubbed" his genitals against her in an action which she interpreted as sexual in nature. When Lee screamed and ordered Galassi to "stop," he did so. However, Lee testified that once he had stopped, he laughed at her and told her to "get off the Goddamn telephone." Lee did testify that Galassi had never touched her before this incident, but had, on an unspecified number of occasions, called her a bitch.
Lee testified that Galassi had been employed by Delta as a baggage handler, and that his job entailed removing luggage from moving belts to place it onto carts. She also testified that Galassi "had no business" near her desk, that his job did not involve doing any work at the desk where she had been seated when the incident occurred.
Lee testified that she subsequently asked that Galassi not be allowed to work near her. However, she stated that she had seen Galassi at least once after the above incident, when he had been assigned to work in her area. Lee stated that she had spoken with "Scuddy" about the incident, but could not remember when. She also admitted that she "may have" told Mr. Decareaux that she did not want to "do anything" about the incident, that she didn't want to "deal with it" at that time.
Lee also executed an affidavit regarding the incident in February of 2000, some six years after the incident took place. In the affidavit, Lee related that Galassi had "come up from behind her and rubbed his genitalia against her buttocks." She stated that she had been tremendously upset and frightened during the incident. Lee also stated that "it was clear to her that Galassi rubbed himself up against her because he was mad at her because she was on the phone and not working." Finally, in her affidavit, Lee stated that she had been unaware of any Delta policy against sexual harassment.
Lee's handwritten note reporting the incident, addressed to Mr. Fred Scudgins, and dated Octobe
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