LITTLE ROCK — A lawsuit filed against J.B. Hunt Transport by a former employee alleging invasion of privacy when two managers took inappropriate pictures of him during a company retreat can move forward, the state Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
The decision reversed part of Benton County Circuit Court Judge Xollie Duncan’s ruling that dismissed the entire case filed by former J.B. Hunt employee David Coombs. The appeals court upheld Duncan’s dismissal of claims of outrage, negligent retention and wrongful discharge.
“We agree that the reversal is warranted on the invasion-of-privacy claim and on the question of whether JBH may be held vicariously liable” for the actions of the two company managers, Judge Cliff Hoofman wrote in the opinion.
Coombs claimed that in 2007, while on a company retreat in Kansas City, Mo., he had too much to drink and fell asleep on the floor of his hotel bedroom. The retreat had been organized by J.B. Hunt vice presidents Rich Allensworth and Mark Emerson, who were Coombs’ supervisors.
According to Duncan’s order in circuit court, Allensworth and Emerson entered Coombs’ room while he was asleep, stripped Coombs naked, wrote on his leg and forehead, put shaving cream on him and photographed him. The lawsuit alleges the two supervisors also invited other managers attending the retreat into Coombs’ hotel room to view him naked.
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Coombs alleged that Emerson later showed him and other employees cell-phone photographs of him in various states of undress, down to his underwear.
When they returned to work the following week, Allensworth and Emerson told everyone who attended the event to say nothing about what had happened, the lawsuit said. Several months later, a manager who was leaving the company sent an email to a company executive detailing what had happened at the retreat.
After an investigation, Allensworth was fired and Emerson was reprimanded. Coombs also was reprimanded and his annual salary was reduced from $106,000 to $75,000, according to the lawsuit.
In 2008, Coombs left J.B. Hunt and formed his own transportation company. JBH later filed a complaint against Coombs arguing he violated a no-compete clause in his contract. The complaint ultimately was dismissed.
In response, Coombs sued JBH, Allensworth and Emerson for invasion of privacy, outrage, negligent retention and wrongful discharge. Duncan dismissed the lawsuit and Coombs appealed the ruling to the state Court of Appeals.
In the 12-page ruling Wednesday, a three-judge appeals court panel said Coombs had every right to expect privacy in his hotel room.
“Realizing that he had consumed too much alcohol, he went to his hotel room, closed the door, lay down on the floor, and fell asleep clothed in everything except his shoes,” Hoofman wrote. “Under these circumstances, the proof would lead to different conclusions by the fact-finder as to Coombs’ expectation of privacy, making summary judgment inappropriate.”