Crowe
Crowe v. Wiltel Communications Systems
Opinion
Concurring Opinion
Goodwin, J.
(specially concurring):
Under the compulsion of Erie R.R. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 , 58 S.Ct. 817 , 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938), and what appears to be Nevada case law, I concur.
The critical fact in the defamation cause of action was that at least one witness testified that a defendant, in the presence of at least three other members of a sales force, gave as a reason for the plaintiffs success as a sales person: ‘Well, you could sell like that if you had tits and could give a blow job as good as she could.”
This, and similar language used on other occasions by two defendants with reference to the plaintiff, in the work place, was found by the jury to have been uttered, and heard by fellow workers. The jury, not surprisingly, found that the plaintiff was defamed. The defendants moved for judgment as a matter of law on the ground that the Nevada cases have established a rule that in-house libel and slander communicated by one employee to another employee about a third employee is not “published.”
The language which appears to be the fount of this knowledge is as follows: “---- This rule of law as to defamatory communications between officers, agents and employees of a corporation is…
Lead Opinion
Tina Crowe appeals a judgment as a matter of law for defendants Wiltel Communica *899 tions Systems (Wiltel) and Steve Kile on her state law defamation claims. She also seeks a new trial on her Title VII sexual harassment claim. We affirm the judgment in all respects.
Defendants Wiltel and Dana Malone cross-appeal the district court’s denial of their motions for attorneys’ fees and costs under Title VII. All defendants also assert their right to fees and costs as prevailing parties on the defamation claims. We affirm the district court’s denial of fees and costs under Title VII. We remand to allow the district court to rule on the other motions for fees and costs in light of our affirmance of the court’s judgment on defamation.
I. Facts and Procedural History
Tina Crowe sued in Nevada state court, naming as defendants her former employer, Wiltel, her former supervisor in the sales department, Kile, and a supervisor in the operations department of Wiltel, Malone. She alleged both sex discrimination and sexual harassment under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2, and defamation per se under Nevada law. The defendants removed the case to the district court.