Opinion ID: 1420265
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The IIED claim

Text: Citing Richardson v. Fairbanks North Star Borough, 705 P.2d 454, 456 (Alaska 1985), Norcon claims that the trial court apparently failed to make a threshold determination as to whether the severity of the emotional distress claimed by Kotowski and the conduct of Norcon warranted an IIED claim. Richardson does not hold that a trial court must make formal findings, but rather that it should make the actual determination itself. See id. Here, the determination is implicit in the fact of submission of the IIED claim to the jury. We thus proceed to the question whether the evidence was such that submission of the IIED claim was justified. Norcon claims that there was no proof of two of the essential IIED elements set forth in Cameron v. Beard, 864 P.2d 538, 548 (Alaska 1993), namely: (1) extreme and outrageous conduct, and (2) severe distress. We disagree. Posehn's sexual harassment of Kotowski can reasonably be characterized as extreme and outrageous. The jury was instructed that Norcon could be responsible for this on a vicarious liability theory if Posehn was acting within the scope of his employment, or on a theory of actual or constructive knowledge and failure to remedy. As discussed above, the evidence justified instructing on these theories. Furthermore, as we explain in discussing whether punitive damages were warranted, Norcon's actions toward Kotowski after her report to Savell can reasonably be regarded as extreme and outrageous. With respect to the degree of the emotional distress suffered by Kotowski, we think the jury might reasonably find it to be severe. A person working in an isolated location would naturally suffer a great deal of distress upon learning that the nature of her work assignments would be dependent on whether she submitted to a supervisor's sexual advances. And this distress would be exacerbated if, upon making an effort to report the situation, she found that she, rather than the supervisor, had become the target of the employer's investigation. This was the position Kotowski perceived herself to be in. She testified that she found it so distressing that she was afraid to sleep in the housing supplied by Norcon in Valdez, opting instead to spend two nights in a car. For these reasons we conclude that the trial court did not err in submitting the IIED claim to the jury. [17]