KRISTINA HIGGINS, a single woman, Plaintiff/Appellee, v. ASSMANN ELECTRONICS, INC., an Arizona corporation, Defendant/Appellant. KRISTINA HIGGINS, a single woman, Plaintiff/Appellee, v. ASSMANN ELECTRONICS, INC., an Arizona corporation; HANS ULRICH MEYER, Defendants/Appellants., 217 Ariz. 289

Summary

The officer, with whom the employee had had a sexual relationship, fired the employee in the course of an incident in which he also assaulted her. The officer argued that he was not the employee's employer and so was not personally liable for wrongful termination. The appellate court disagreed, holding that public policy supported a determination that a supervisor could be held liable where a company invested the supervisor with day-to-day control, including the right to fire, and the supervisor exercised such control to harm another. The jury properly considered the employee's emotional and physical harm in determining the amount of damages because the officer fired her while assaulting her and the corporation sustained her termination. The imposition of a joint and several judgment was appropriate under Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 12-2506(D) (2003), and the amount of the judgment for the employee's economic and emotional damages was not excessive. The corporation was properly found ...