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Goehle v. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center3/20/2000
Appellant Sondra Goehle did not prevail at trial in her employment discrimination suit against her employer Respondent Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center. On appeal she challenges the trial court's refusal to give her proposed discrimination instruction and claims the instruction on negligent supervision or retention was incorrect as a matter of law. She also challenges several evidentiary rulings. We reject Goehle's instructional challenges because she failed to comply with CR 51(f), which requires a litigant objecting to jury instructions to provide the trial court with adequate grounds for the objections. Finding no merit in Goehle's evidentiary challenges, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
Goehle, an American-born citizen over 40 years of age, has been a long time employee at the Center. For many years her direct supervisor was Dr. Frederich Schuening. When Schuening left the Center, Dr. Hans-Peter Kiem, a German national, became her supervisor. She claims that Kiem discriminated against her on the basis of age and national origin. She claims that Kiem: (1) repeatedly called her old and made comments to the effect that she was too old to learn new lab techniques; (2) often referred to her and others as lazy Americans and said that he could replace her with two Germans for the same amount of money; and (3) took away some of her responsibilities. She complained to Dr. Rainer Storb, Kiem's supervisor. An investigation into her allegations and meetings between Goehle, Storb, Kiem, and David Sarju, director of human resources, followed. Eventually, Goehle was offered and accepted another position at the Center that paid less and was of lesser status.
Goehle file suit in October 1996. She claimed age, sex, and national origin discrimination and retaliation. She also claimed negligent supervision and retention.
Approximately five weeks before trial and well beyond the case schedule deadline for doing so, the Center disclosed an expert witness. Goehle made a motion to exclude. The trial court denied the motion but limited the testimony to the Center's investigation and response to Goehle's complaints, required that the witness be made available for deposition within ten days, and imposed sanctions.
The trial started on June 8, 1998, and ended with a jury verdict in favor of the Center on June 26, 1998.
Goehle disclosed a rebuttal expert witness on the fourth day of trial. The expert was to testify on the Center's investigation and response to Goehle's complaints. The Center moved to exclude. Late in the trial, the court granted the motion. The trial court indicated that the proposed expert did not have the appropriate expertise in age or national origin discrimination. Prior to the court's ruling excluding the expert, the trial court limited the length of Goehle's cross-examination of Sarju, the director of human resources, who participated in the Center's response to Goehle's complaints.
The trial court admitted into evidence, over objection, entries from Goehle's personal diary in which she wrote about her work experiences at the Center, including information pertaining to her relationship with Kiem. The trial court admitted into evidence, over objection, testimony concerning Goehle's misrepresentation on her 1979 job application to the Center. The Center learned of this misrepresentation after litigation was initiated.
The trial court held an informal jury instructions conference over a lunch break. Goehle's lead attorney did not attend the instructions conference because she was preparing for closing argument and sent a colleague from her firm who had not participated in the trial and was not familiar with the
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