Opinion ID: 705166
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Events of December, 1988

Text: 21 Tomka began work at the Rochester accounts on December 5, 1988. After work on December 5, Tomka, Lucey, Polonsky, Conroy and Conroy's wife went to dinner at a restaurant in Henrietta, New York. Tomka claims that Lucey directed that Tomka join him, Conroy, and Polonsky for a business dinner. See Pl.Resp. at p. 9. Tomka also stated that it was company policy for Seiler employees travelling on start-up business to eat evening meals together and to transact Seiler business during these meals. While defendants dispute that the December 6 dinner was a business dinner, Lucey testified at his deposition that it was customary for travelling Seiler employees to eat as a group, see Deposition of D. Lucey, January 7, 1992 (Lucey Dep.) at p. 487, and Conroy testified at his deposition that [w]e always whenever we met ... discussed business one way or the other. See Deposition of T. Conroy, August 21, 1992 (Conroy Dep.) at p. 330; see also Deposition of R. Taylor, May 7, 1992 (Taylor Dep.) at p. 446 (On a start-up it was our practice to sometimes talk about the business at meals.). 22 At the December 5 dinner, all of the participants consumed alcohol. Tomka claims that Lucey encouraged his subordinates to drink, and that he directed the conversation to vulgar accounts of his exploitation of women. Pl.Resp. at p. 8. Tomka consumed two glasses of wine at the meal, while each of the men continued to drink after the meal ended. See Tomka Dep at p. 216; Conroy Dep. at p. 56. At the end of the evening, Lucey gave Tomka a ride to her hotel in his rented car. 23 The next day, Tomka contends that Lucey again convened a business dinner and ordered that she join him, Conroy and Polonsky at the Holiday Inn Airport bar in Rochester. See Complaint at p 18. Although Tomka was physically afraid of Lucey and Polonsky, she attended this December 6 dinner because Lucey had instructed her to and she understood it would be an early evening because Lucey had said he had a seven o'clock flight the next morning. Tomka Dep. at p. 496. At the Holiday Inn, Lucey repeatedly ordered drinks for Tomka and insisted that she drink with the others. See Pl.Resp. at p. 9. Tomka consumed six glasses of wine, and the bar tab--which lists approximately forty drinks and only a small quantity of food--indicates that the others had even more to drink. See Tomka Dep. at p. 561; Exh. 62 to Tomka's Statement of Facts. 24 As the evening wore on, the conversation apparently took a turn for the worse: Tomka alleges that the defendants repeatedly made vulgar remarks about women and talked of past sexual exploits. See Pl.Resp. at p. 9. The men teased Tomka about wearing her hair in a bun until she took it down, and Lucey brought a women's garter to the table and placed it in front of Tomka, who put it around her arm. Id. at pp. 9-10. By the end of the evening, Tomka admits that she felt intoxicated and had difficulty walking. 25 After leaving the bar at approximately 11:30 p.m., Tomka want[ed] to get away from Lucey and Polonsky. Tomka Dep. at p. 496. She initially climbed into an Airport courtesy van, but Conroy assisted her out and helped her into the back seat of Lucey's rental car. Tomka alleges that each of the three men raped her in Lucey's car, an allegation that defendants deny. Pl.Resp. at p. 10. Conroy and Polonsky then drove Tomka, who was inebriated and semiconscious during the assaults, back to her hotel in Conroy's car. At the hotel, Tomka claims that Polonsky directed her to his hotel room, where he raped her again. Complaint at p 24. Tomka, passing in and out of consciousness, was able to eventually free herself and went back to her hotel room. Id. 26 After remembering during the day that she had been assaulted the night before, Tomka left work early on December 7, 1988 and called the Rochester Rape Crisis Center. Tomka was examined at the Crisis Center on December 8 and called Ray Taylor to report that she had been assaulted by Lucey, Conroy and Polonsky. See Pl.Resp. at p. 12. Taylor then flew to Rochester and met with plaintiff on December 9. Tomka contends that Taylor promised her that Seiler would hold her job open and continue to pay her salary while she took whatever time she needed to recover from the assaults. Id. 27 After flying to Pennsylvania to be with relatives, Tomka wrote to Taylor on December 12 to confirm these arrangements. Tomka understood that she was to take whatever time I need ... to pursue the counseling, medical treatment, and the rest I may require to restore my mental and physical well being. See Exh. 9 to Tomka's Statement of Facts. Her letter also stated that Seiler would cover fully any expenses I incur in getting the help I need, and that all contacts with Seiler were to be made through Taylor. Id. Finally, Tomka informed Taylor that she would be seeing a therapist in Philadelphia. Id. Tomka never received a response to this letter. See Taylor Dep. at p. 224.