Court Opinion

ID: 9538816
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:42:09.005529+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:10.540723
License: Public Domain

KENNARD, J.
I dissent.
The majority holds that, as a matter of law, a hospital employee was not acting within the scope of his employment when he sexually molested a pregnant woman while purportedly conducting an ultrasound examination necessitating that he have physical contact with intimate areas of the woman’s body. I disagree. Scope of employment in this case, as in most cases, is a question of fact to be resolved by the trier of fact.
The scope-of-employment question presented here is very similar to one this court addressed just a few weeks ago in Farmers Ins. Group v. County of Santa Clara (1995) 11 Cal.4th 992 [47 Cal.Rptr.2d 478, 906 P.2d 440]. In that case, an employee had sexually harassed coemployees, whereas here an employee sexually assaulted a nonemployee, but both cases pose the question whether an employee’s on-the-job sexual misconduct arises in the scope of employment. In Farmers, as here, the majority concluded, as a matter of law, that the sexual misconduct was outside the scope of employment. In Farmers, as here, I have concluded that because reasonable minds may differ as to the proper resolution of the issue, it should not be resolved as a matter of law.
*309I
Plaintiff Lisa M., injured in a fall, went to defendant Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital for treatment. Because plaintiff was pregnant, the emergency room physician ordered an obstetrical ultrasound examination to determine whether the fetus had been injured. The ultrasound technician, Bruce Tripoli, rejected plaintiff’s request that her mother and boyfriend be present during the procedure. Plaintiff was wearing shorts and a maternity top (the hospital did not provide a gown), and she raised her top and pulled down her shorts so that Tripoli could perform the examination. Tripoli rubbed a gel on plaintiff’s abdomen, going as low as one inch below the pubic hairline; he then pressed the ultrasound wand against her abdomen. He also raised plaintiff’s right breast to place the wand in the area below it; he did this with the back of his hand, through a towel.
After the examination, Tripoli left the room. Moments later, he returned and asked plaintiff if she would like to know the sex of her baby. Plaintiff said she would; with plaintiff’s cooperation, Tripoli pulled down plaintiff’s shorts to perform the examination. Tripoli coated the ultrasound wand with gel, and rubbed it around and inside plaintiff’s vagina. Tripoli then fondled her with his fingers, telling her that he needed to sexually excite her to stop the baby from moving. An ultrasound procedure to determine the sex of a fetus does not, however, require touching of the vagina, vaginal insertion of the ultrasound wand, or sexual excitation of the patient. Plaintiff did not object to Tripoli’s improper touching because she was unsure whether or not his acts were a necessary part of the examination. The next day, after discussing the matter with her sister and her obstetrician, plaintiff concluded that she had been molested. Tripoli was arrested, and was later convicted of a felony arising from his sexual assault on plaintiff.
Plaintiff sued Tripoli and his employer, defendant hospital;1 as to the latter she asserted that (1) defendant was vicariously liable for Tripoli’s tortious conduct, and (2) defendant was negligent in not providing her with a hospital gown and a female observer during the ultrasound examination. Defendant hospital moved for summary judgment, contending that it was not vicariously liable because Tripoli had not acted in the course of his employment when he molested plaintiff, that plaintiff had failed to produce evidence that it had acted negligently, and that it was not negligent as a matter *310of law. The trial court granted defendant’s motion. The Court of Appeal reversed, holding that whether Tripoli had acted in the scope of employment was a triable issue of fact, and that therefore the trial court should not have granted defendant hospital’s motion for summary judgment.2
II
Under the doctrine of respondeat superior, an employer may be held vicariously liable for acts committed by an employee in the scope of employment. (Mary M. v. City of Los Angeles (1991) 54 Cal.3d 202, 208 [285 Cal.Rptr. 99, 814 P.2d 1341].) In Farmers Ins. Group v. County of Santa Clara, supra, 11 Cal.4th 992 (hereafter Farmers), I summarized the principles governing scope of employment as follows: “ ‘ “A risk arises out of the scope of employment when ‘in the context of the particular enterprise an employee’s conduct is not so unusual or startling that it would seem unfair to include the loss resulting from it among other costs of the employer’s business. [Citations.] In other words, where the question is one of vicarious liability, the inquiry should be whether the risk was one “that may fairly be regarded as typical of or broadly incidental” to the enterprise undertaken by the employer. [Citation.]’ ” ’ (Mary M. v. City of Los Angeles, supra, 54 Cal.3d at p. 209, citing Perez v. Van Groningen & Sons, Inc. [(1986)] 41 Cal.3d 962, 968 [227 Cal.Rptr. 106, 719 P.2d 676], and Rodgers v. Kemper Constr. Co. (1975) 50 Cal.App.3d 608, 619 [124 Cal.Rptr. 143], brackets in Mary M.) [^Q Acts that do not benefit the employer may nonetheless fall within the scope of employment; so may acts that are willful or malicious, and those that violate the employer’s express orders or policies. (Mary M. v. City of Los Angeles, supra, 54 Cal.3d at p. 209.)” (Farmers, supra, 11 Cal.4th 992, 1042 (dis. opn. of Kennard, J.).)
Elaborating upon these principles of respondeat superior, the majority notes that an employee’s tortious conduct is within the scope of employment when there is a “causal nexus” between an employee’s tortious conduct and the employee’s job. (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 297.) As the majority explains: “The question is not one of statistical frequency, but of a relationship between the nature of the work involved and the type of tort committed. The *311employment must be such as predictably to create the risk employees will commit intentional torts of the type for which liability is sought.” (Id. at p. 302.) I have no quarrel with this observation. My disagreement stems from the manner in which the majority applies these general principles of respondeat superior to the facts of this case.
III
The issue in this case is whether the trial court erred when it granted a defendant’s motion for summary judgment, concluding as a matter of law that ultrasound technician Tripoli’s sexual misconduct occurred outside the scope of his employment, and that therefore defendant hospital could not be held vicariously liable for Tripoli’s actions. A motion for summary judgment may be granted only when “there is no triable issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 437c, subd. (c).)
As the majority concedes (maj. opn., ante, at p. 299), whether an employee’s tortious acts are within the scope of employment is in general a question of fact. (John R. v. Oakland Unified School Dist. (1989) 48 Cal.3d 438, 447 [256 Cal.Rptr. 766, 769 P.2d 948]; Ducey v. Argo Sales Co. (1979) 25 Cal.3d 707, 722 [159 Cal.Rptr. 835, 602 P.2d 755]; Loper v. Morrison (1944) 23 Cal.2d 600, 605 [145 P.2d 1]; Westberg v. Willde (1939) 14 Cal.2d 360, 373 [94 P.2d 590].) The majority, however, treats scope of employment in this case as a question of law, reasoning that it may do so because the parties have not “pointed to factual disputes that would prevent us in this case from deciding the applicability of respondeat superior as a matter of law.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 299.) Not so.
True, there is no dispute as to the predicate facts underlying the question whether ultrasound technician Tripoli acted in the scope of his employment; that is, the parties agree on where, when, and how Tripoli molested plaintiff, and they agree that defendant was Tripoli’s employer. (See fn. 2, ante.) But the absence of a dispute regarding the predicate facts does not necessarily mean that the ultimate question—that is, whether Tripoli’s conduct fell within the scope of employment—is one of law, to be decided on summary judgment. As I shall explain, whether Tripoli’s acts arose within the scope of his employment is itself a disputed factual question, notwithstanding the parties’ agreement on the predicate facts.
This court has long held that whether an employee’s tortious conduct falls outside of the scope of employment is generally a question of fact, even when the facts underlying that determination are not in dispute. In Westberg *312v. Willde, supra, 14 Cal.2d 360, a truck driver making deliveries for the Reliable Delivery Service stopped at his home for lunch, then left to deliver a letter to his father’s place of employment before returning to his office. On the way, he negligently collided with another car, killing the driver. The decedent’s heirs sued the owner of the delivery service, contending that the accident occurred in the scope of employment, and that the owner was therefore liable for the damages arising from his employee’s negligence. This court affirmed a jury verdict for the plaintiffs, rejecting the defendant’s contention that the accident occurred, as a matter of law, outside the scope of employment. The court explained: “ ‘Whether there has been a deviation so material or substantial as to constitute a complete departure is usually a question of fact. In some cases the deviation may be so marked, and in others so slight relatively, that the court can say that no conclusion other than that the act was or was not a departure could reasonably be supported; while in still others the deviation may be so uncertain in extent and degree in view of the facts and circumstances as to make the question of what inferences should be drawn from the evidence properly one for the jury ....’” (Id. at p. 373.)
More recent cases, expressing the same principle in shorthand form, have said that scope of employment is a question of fact unless “ ‘the facts are undisputed and no conflicting inferences are possible.’ ” (Mary M. v. City of Los Angeles, supra, 54 Cal.3d at p. 213, italics added, quoting Perez v. Van Groningen & Sons, Inc. (1986) 41 Cal.3d 962, 968 [227 Cal.Rptr. 106, 719 P.2d 676].) In other words, if the parties agree as to the underlying facts, but dispute the inferences as to scope of employment that may reasonably be drawn from those facts, scope of employment is a question of fact. Or, as the court more clearly stated in Alma W. v. Oakland Unified School Dist. (1981) 123 Cal.App.3d 133, 138 [176 Cal.Rptr. 287]: “Where the facts of the case make it arguable whether the employee has acted within the scope of his employment, then the scope of employment issue is one properly decided by the trier of fact.” (See also Rest.2d Agency, § 228, com. d, p. 505 [“The question whether or not the act done is so different from the act authorized that it is not within the scope of the employment is decided by the court if the answer is clearly indicated; otherwise, it is decided by the jury.”]; O’Leary v. Brown-Pacific-Maxon (1950) 340 U.S. 504, 506-508 [95 L.Ed. 483, 486-487, 71 S.Ct. 470] [Whether employee committed an act “ ‘arising out of and in the course of employment’ ” is a question of fact under federal workers’ compensation law.].)
In this case, as shown below, the parties dispute the inferences that may reasonably be drawn from ultrasound technician Tripoli’s conduct when he sexually molested plaintiff; that is, they dispute whether that conduct was so *313closely related to the performance of his duties that it may reasonably be inferred that the conduct occurred in the scope of his employment.
The majority asserts that ultrasound technician Tripoli’s conduct fell outside the scope of employment because Tripoli molested plaintiff, a patient, for personal reasons unrelated to Tripoli’s employment at defendant hospital. In the words of the majority: “[T]here is no evidence [here] of emotional involvement, either mutual or unilateral, arising from the medical relationship” (maj. opn., ante, at p. 302), and “[n]othing happened during the course of the prescribed examinations to provoke or encourage Tripoli’s improper touching of plaintiff’ (id. at p. 303). Thus, the majority concludes, Tripoli’s sexual assault on plaintiff “is fairly attributed not to any peculiar aspect of the health care enterprise, but only to ‘propinquity and lust’ [citation].” (Id. at p. 302.)
Perhaps. But a trier of fact might also reasonably conclude that Tripoli’s employment as an ultrasound technician did have certain “peculiar aspects” that played a not insignificant role in the sexual assault. To perform an ultrasound examination on a pregnant woman, a technician rubs a gel on the woman’s exposed lower abdomen. This intimate contact, inherent in the job, put plaintiff in a vulnerable position and permitted Tripoli to dupe plaintiff into believing that his sexual assault was actually part of a standard medical procedure, thereby giving Tripoli a basis to hope that his misconduct would remain undetected. Moreover, it is not unreasonable to infer that the intimate contact inherent in the job contributed to Tripoli’s sexual arousal and incited him to engage in the misconduct. In short, a reasonable trier of fact could conclude that this sexual assault would never have occurred had Tripoli been employed by defendant in a capacity other than ultrasound technician, and that therefore the misconduct may fairly be attributed to risks arising from, and inherent in, the “peculiar aspects” of Tripoli’s employment. (See Stropes v. Heritage House Childrens Ctr. (Ind. 1989) 547 N.E.2d 244 [question of fact whether nurse’s aide acted in the scope of employment when he sexually molested severely retarded patient]; Marston v. Minneapolis Clinic of Psychiatry (Minn. 1982) 329 N.W.2d 306 [question of fact whether sexual acts by licensed psychologist during “biofeedback” sessions were within scope of employment]; Samuels v. Southern Baptist Hosp. (La.Ct.App. 1992) 594 So.2d 571, 574 [upholding as “not clearly wrong” determination that nursing assistant was acting in the scope of his employment when he raped psychiatric patient].)
When an employee’s personal motivations are so enmeshed with the employee’s performance of occupational duties that reasonable minds can differ as to whether the employee’s tortious act is incidental to those duties, *314the issue of whether the act arose in the scope of employment should be resolved by the trier of fact, rather than a trial court acting on a motion to dismiss. (Note, A Matter of Trust: Institutional Employer Liability for Acts of Child Abuse by Employees (1992) 33 Wm. & Mary L.Rev. 1295, 1316.) Reasonable minds can differ with regard to whether the nexus between Tripoli’s tortious conduct and the scope of employment is sufficiently close to conclude that the conduct arose in the scope of employment; therefore, that issue is a question of fact to be resolved at trial.
Conclusion
I do not suggest, by the foregoing comments, that the question whether an employee’s tortious conduct is within the scope of employment may never be resolved on summary judgment. Although scope of employment is ordinarily a question of fact, it becomes a question of law “where the undisputed facts would not support an inference that the employee was acting within the scope of his employment.” (John R. v. Oakland Unified School Dist., supra, 48 Cal.3d at p. 447.) Thus, this court held in John R. that, as a matter of law, a junior high school teacher acted outside the scope of his employment when he molested one of his students, and that therefore no liability could be imposed on the school district that employed him. But the converse is also true: when an employee’s tortious acts, although personally motivated, are so integrally entwined with his or her employment that reasonable minds can differ as to whether the acts arose in the scope of employment, then scope of employment is a question of fact, rather than one of law, and may not be decided on a motion for summary judgment. This is the case here.
I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which held that the trial court erred when it granted plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment.

In this case, ultrasound technician Tripoli was not directly employed by defendant; he worked for Mediq Imaging Services, Inc. (a codefendant in this case), with which defendant contracted for Tripoli’s services. Defendant, however, does not rely on the absence of a direct employment relationship between it and Tripoli as a basis to avoid vicarious liability in this case, and both parties have litigated the issue on the assumption that defendant is, for all intents and purposes, Tripoli’s employer. Accordingly, like the majority (see maj. opn., ante, at p. 296, fn. 2), I have treated defendant as Tripoli’s employer.

Because the Court of Appeal held that the trial court erred in finding that, as a matter of law, plaintiff was not entitled to recover on her cause of action for vicarious liability, it did not address plaintiff’s claim that the trial court also erred in finding, as a matter of law, that plaintiff was not entitled to recover on her cause of action for negligence. As a result of the majority’s conclusion today that plaintiff may not recover on her claim of vicarious liability, the Court of Appeal must now, on remand, consider the merits of plaintiff’s cause of action for negligence. Because I agree with the Court of Appeal that whether ultrasound technician Tripoli had acted within the scope of his employment presents a triable issue of fact, I do not address the merits of plaintiff’s cause of action for negligence.