Defense Judgment Granted in Assault and Battery Case

October 1, 2002

In a case of "Whose version of the facts do you believe?", workplace tensions developed into the catalyst for an assault and battery based lawsuit. In particular, Plaintiff Payne filed suit for assault and battery, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment against his employer and one of its employees, WBGH and Mr. Morison, claiming that a three-week period of animosity culminated when defendant Mr. Morison, assaulted and battered him at The Caption Center on November 19, 1996.

Morison was an employee of The Caption Center, operated by WGBH Educational Foundation of Boston to prepare closed-captioning for a variety of television programs. Mr. Payne was an independent contractor who repaired video decks for The Caption Center. Prior to the incident, Mr. Payne and Mr. Morison had engaged in a series of telephone calls wherein Mr. Morison complained about the quality and promptness of Mr. Payne's work. Each of the telephone calls ended with Mr. Payne hanging up on Mr. Morison. Following these telephone calls, Mr. Payne made arrangements to deliver and pick up video decks at The Caption Center only when Mr. Morison was not on duty, purportedly because he believed Mr. Morison to be angry with him and fearful that Mr. Morison might undertake physical violence against him.

On November 19, 1996, The Caption Center contacted Mr. Payne to advise him of a deck that needed to be repaired. Mr. Payne indicated that he would be in after 5:00 p.m. to pick up the equipment. Mr. Morison worked overtime that night, as he often did, and was instructed by his superiors to give Mr. Payne the tape deck if Mr. Payne arrived prior to Mr. Morison's departure. As Mr. Morison was in the process of turning off his computer and packing up his things, an unidentified worker escorted Mr. Payne into Mr. Morison's office. Words were exchanged and an altercation ensued inside the office.

At some point, Mr. Payne pushed the 70-pound VTR unit out of the office where he was seen by another Caption Center employee, Andrew Ebert, who testified at trial that he watched Mr. Payne walk to the elevator where he tripped over his own feet and fell on the video unit. Mr. Payne contended that defendant Morison chased him all the way down the hallway and hit him one more time at or near the elevator, which both Mr. Morison and Mr. Ebert denied. The defense denied all allegations, claiming that Mr. Payne was the instigator and initiator of any physical contact, that any physical contact was incidental, that plaintiff was never falsely imprisoned, and that he sustained no injuries in the alleged event.

Upon completion of Mr. Payne's opening statement and testimony at trial, a non-suit was granted for both WGBH Educational Foundation and Mr. Morison with respect to the causes of action for negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress. At the close of all evidence, a directed verdict on the assault and battery cause of action was granted in favor of defendant WGBH Educational Foundation, due to the lack of evidence of its involvement in the incident and/or its ratification of the same.

The remaining claims as to Mr. Morison were submitted to the jury, which found in favor of Mr. Payne on the remaining assault and battery and false imprisonment counts, 10-2, awarding Mr. Payne only $500 on each cause of action - for a total verdict of $1,000. Defendants were represented at trial by Guy R. Gruppie and Heather L. Mills, with the assistance of Michael J. Nunez as law and appellate counsel.

NOTE: Prior to trial, defendants moved successfully in limine to exclude plaintiff's use of experts due to the failure of plaintiff to designate experts pursuant to the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure §2036. Defendants also moved successfully in limine to exclude plaintiff from putting on any evidence of physical injury or economic loss where an expert was required to prove causation, due to the failure of plaintiff to designate experts.

The case had been arbitrated in August, 1998, with plaintiff being awarded $17,000. Plaintiff requested trial de novo and, therefore, in light of the trial result, may be subject to costs incurred by both defendants in excess of $25,000. After the first arbitration, the case had been ordered to limited jurisdiction court by now-retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kurt J. Lewin, but plaintiff filed a successful writ that reinstated the case for trial in an unlimited jurisdiction court.