Padilla

INTRODUCTION

Appellant Maria Padilla sued her supervisor, Dong Min Kim, for sexually harassing her at work; she sued their mutual employer, Pulmuone Wildwood, Inc., for failing to prevent or correct the harassment. After a six-day trial, the jury returned a defense verdict. Padilla appeals on the grounds the trial court improperly granted several motions in limine and overruled her objections to two statements made during the defense‟s closing argument. She also appeals from an order denying her motion for new trial. We affirm. The trial court properly exercised its discretion to rein in a trial that was threatening to expand into areas that were either marginally relevant or totally irrelevant to the core issues of sexual harassment and failure to prevent or correct. Defense counsel‟s remarks during closing argument of which Padilla complains were in one case entirely proper and in the other not prejudicial. Finally, Padilla abandoned the issue of the new trial motion by failing to present argument and authority about it.

FACTS

Padilla operates a machine at the Pulmuone factory in Fullerton, a plant that packages tofu. She began her current job there in 2002 or…