Opinion ID: 1420265
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Veco's Vicarious Liability for Sexual Harassment

Text: Kotowski argues that the superior court should have found Veco liable as a matter of law for any sexual harassment for which Norcon is liable. Kotowski bases this argument on the doctrine of non-delegable duty. A non-delegable duty is an established exception to the rule that an employer is not liable for the negligence of an independent contractor. Jackson v. Power, 743 P.2d 1376, 1383 (Alaska 1987). Non-delegable duties typically concern matters that might endanger the safety of others. See id. at 1385 (general acute care hospital's duty to provide emergency room physicians non-delegable); Alaska Airlines, Inc. v. Sweat, 568 P.2d 916, 925-26 (Alaska 1977) (duty of common air carrier for safety of passengers non-delegable). However, `[i]t is difficult to suggest any criterion by which the non-delegable character of such duties may be determined, other than the conclusion of the courts that the responsibility is so important to the community that the employer should not be permitted to transfer it to another.' Jackson, 743 P.2d at 1384 (emphasis omitted) (quoting W. Keeton, D. Dobbs, R. Keeton, D. Owen, Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts, § 71 at 512 (5th ed.1984)). A non-delegable duty may be voluntarily assumed by contract. See Jackson, 743 P.2d at 1383. In Jackson we held that a general acute care hospital providing emergency room services was liable, under the theory of non-delegable duty, for the negligence of an emergency room physician who was an independent contractor rather than an employee of the hospital. See id. at 1384-85. In Sweat we held that the doctrine of non-delegable duty prevented a scheduled common carrier airline from escaping liability for a crash attributable to an independent contractor's pilot error. 568 P.2d at 925-26. The situation in the present case is notably different. While Veco enjoyed exclusive control over the cleanup operation, this exclusive control was the product of a private contract between Veco and Exxon, not of a public franchise or license granted by the government in the context of a highly-regulated industry. While the existence of a non-delegable duty is not necessarily dependent on the degree to which an industry is subject to regulation or licensing, we find the absence of a comprehensive scheme of public regulation, licensing, and franchising significant in answering the question of whether a non-delegable duty existed in the case before us. We conclude that the fact that the government did not grant Veco a monopoly-like franchise or license within the context of a highly-regulated industry tilts the balance towards the conclusion that Veco had not assumed a non-delegable duty to members of the public to prevent acts of sexual harassment by its independent contractors. In Jackson we observed that the hospital regulatory scheme manifests the legislature's recognition that it is the hospital as an institution which bears ultimate responsibility for complying with the mandates of the law. 743 P.2d at 1384. In Sweat, we observed that [a] scheduled common carrier such as Alaska [Airlines] is given a monopoly or semi-monopoly primarily for the purpose of furnishing safe and reliable scheduled air transportation. 568 P.2d at 926. These observations suggest the reason why the granting of public licenses or franchises in a highly-regulated industry may be a significant factor in determining whether a non-delegable duty exists. The public's grant of a monopoly-like franchise in such an industry is an act of trust which places a corresponding duty upon the holder of such a franchise to bear the ultimate responsibility to ensure that this exclusive franchise is exercised in a safe manner. After all, it is this concern for public safety which frequently underlies the highly-regulated nature of the industry at issue, as well as the granting of exclusive franchises and licenses within the industry. We do not see a comparable assumption of responsibility towards the public by Veco, nor do we see a comparable placing of the public trust in Veco. The government did not grant Veco the exclusive right to conduct the oil spill cleanup; Exxon did. Veco did not receive a public franchise or license that would place the ultimate responsibility for public safety on its shoulders. Instead, Veco merely entered into a contract with another private party, and then hired an independent contractor to perform certain duties it had assumed under this contract. In general, the employer of an independent contractor owes no duty to the independent contractor's employees to protect them from the negligence of the employees' own master. Moloso v. State, 644 P.2d 205, 210 (Alaska 1982). Because we conclude that Veco did not assume a non-delegable duty to protect the safety of its independent contractor's employees as members of the general public, we hold that the superior court did not err in ruling that Veco was not liable as a matter of law for the sexual harassment for which Norcon was liable.