Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Text of Opinion in Paula Jones Case
By The Associated Press<
Text of U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright's
opinion dismissing
Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit:
The plaintiff in this lawsuit, Paula Corbin Jones,
seeks civil damages from
William Jefferson Clinton, president of the United
States, and Danny
Ferguson, a former Arkansas state police officer, for
alleged actions
beginning with an incident in a hotel suite in Little
Rock, Arkansas. This
case was previously before the Supreme Court of the
United States to
resolve the issue of presidential immunity but was
remanded to this court
following the Supreme Court's determination that there
is no constitutional
impediment to allowing plaintiff's case to proceed
while the president is in
office. ... Following remand, the president filed a
motion for judgment on
the pleadings and dismissal of the complaint pursuant
to Rule 12(c) of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Ferguson joined in
the president's
motion. By Memorandum Opinion and Order dated August
22, 1997, this
court granted in part and denied in part the
president's motion. ... The
court dismissed plaintiff's defamation claim against
the president, dismissed
her due process claim for deprivation of a property
interest in her state
employment, and dismissed her due process claims for
deprivation of a
liberty interest based on false imprisonment and
injury to reputation, but
concluded that the remaining claims in plaintiff's
complaint stated viable
causes of action. ... Plaintiff subsequently obtained
new counsel and filed a
motion for leave to file a first amended complaint,
which the court granted,
albeit with several qualifications. ... The matter is
now before the court on
motion of both the president and Ferguson for summary
judgment pursuant
to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Plaintiff has responded
in opposition to these motions, and the president and
Ferguson have each
filed a reply to plaintiff's response to their
motions. For the reasons that
follow, the court finds that the president's and
Ferguson's motions for
summary judgment should both be and hereby are
granted.
I. This lawsuit is based on an incident that is said
to have taken place on
the afternoon of May 8, 1991, in a suite at the
Excelsior Hotel in Little
Rock, Arkansas. President Clinton was governor of the
state of Arkansas
at the time, and plaintiff was a state employee with
the Arkansas Industrial
Development Commission (AIDC), having begun her state
employment on
March 11, 1991. Ferguson was an Arkansas state police
officer assigned
to the governor's security detail.
According to the record, then-Governor Clinton was at
the Excelsior Hotel
on the day in question delivering a speech at an
official conference being
sponsored by the AIDC. ... Plaintiff states that she
and another AIDC
employee, Pamela Blackard, were working at a
registration desk for the
AIDC when a man approached the desk and informed her
and Blackard
that he was Trooper Danny Ferguson, the governor's
bodyguard. ... She
states that Ferguson made small talk with her and
Blackard and that they
asked him if he had a gun as he was in street clothes
and they ``wanted to
know.'' ... Ferguson acknowledged that he did and,
after being asked to
show the gun to them, left the registration desk to
return to the governor. ...
The conversation between plaintiff, Blackard, and
Ferguson lasted
approximately five minutes and consisted of light,
friendly banter; there was
nothing intimidating, threatening, or coercive about
it. ...
Upon leaving the registration desk, Ferguson
apparently had a
conversation with the governor about the possibility
of meeting with
plaintiff, during which Ferguson states the governor
remarked that plaintiff
had ``that come-hither look,'' i.e. ``a sort of
(sexually) suggestive
appearance from the look or dress.'' ... He states
that ``some time later''
the governor asked him to ``get him a room, that he
was expecting a call
from the White House and ... had several phone calls
that he needed to
make,'' and asked him to go to the car and get his
briefcase containing the
phone messages. Ferguson states that upon obtaining
the room, the
governor told him that if plaintiff wanted to meet
him, she could come up.''
Plaintiff states that Ferguson later reappeared at the
registration desk,
delivered a piece of paper to her with a four-digit
number written on it, and
said that the governor would like to meet with her in
this suite number. ...
She states that she, Blackard, and Ferguson talked
about what the
governor could want and that Ferguson stated, among
other things, ``We
do this all the time.'' ... Thinking that it was an
honor to be asked to meet
the governor and that it might lead to an enhanced
employment
opportunity, plaintiff states that she agreed to the
meeting and that
Ferguson escorted her to the floor of the hotel upon
which the governor's
suite was located.
Plaintiff states that upon arriving at the suite and
announcing herself, the
governor shook her hand, invited her in, and closed
the door. ... She states
that a few minutes of small talk ensued, which
included the governor asking
her about her job and him mentioning that Dave
Harrington, plaintiff's
ultimate superior within the AIDC and a Clinton
appointee, was his ``good
friend.'' ... Plaintiff states that the governor then
``unexpectedly reached
over to (her), took her hand, and pulled her toward
him, so that their
bodies were close to each other.'' ... She states she
removed her hand
from his and retreated several feet, but that the
governor approached her
again and, while saying, ``I love the way your hair
flows down your back''
and ``I love your curves,'' put his hand on her leg,
started sliding it toward
her pelvic area, and bent down to attempt to kiss her
on the neck, all
without her consent. ... Plaintiff states that she
exclaimed, ``What are you
doing?'' told the governor that she was ``not that
kind of girl,'' and
``escaped'' from the governor's reach ``by walking
away from him.'' ... She
states she was extremely upset and confused and, not
knowing what to do,
attempted to distract the governor by chatting about
his wife. ...
Plaintiff states that she sat down at the end of the
sofa nearest the door, but
that the governor approached the sofa where she had
taken a seat and, as
he sat down, ``lowered his trousers and underwear,
exposed his penis
(which was erect) and told (her) to 'kiss it.''' ...
She states that she was
``horrified'' by this and that she ``jumped up from
the couch'' and told the
governor that she had to go, saying something to the
effect that she had to
get back to the registration desk. ... Plaintiff
states that the governor,
``while fondling his penis,'' said, ``Well, I don't
want to make you do
anything you don't want to do,'' and then pulled up
his pants and said, ``If
you get in trouble for leaving work, have Dave call me
immediately and I'll
take care of it.'' ... She states that as she left the
room (the door of which
was not locked), the governor ``detained'' her
momentarily, ``looked
sternly'' at her, and said, ``You are smart. Let's
keep this between
ourselves.''
Plaintiff states that the governor's advances to her
were unwelcome, that
she never said or did anything to suggest to the
governor that she was
willing to have sex with him, and that during the time
they were together in
the hotel suite, she resisted his advances although
she was ``stunned by
them and intimidated by who he was.'' ... She states
that when the
governor referred to Dave Harrington, she ``understood
that he was telling
her that he had control over Mr. Harrington and over
her job, and that he
was willing to use that power.'' ... She states that
from that point on, she
was ``very fearful'' that her refusal to submit to the
governor's advances
could damage her career and even jeopardize her
employment. ...
Plaintiff states that when she left the hotel suite,
she was in shock and upset
but tried to maintain her composure. ... She states
she saw Ferguson
waiting outside the suite but that he did not escort
her back to the
registration desk and nothing was said between them.
... Ferguson states
that five or ten minutes after plaintiff exited the
suite he joined the governor
for their return to the governor's mansion and that
the governor, who was
working on some papers that he had spread out on the
desk, said, ``She
came up here, and nothing happened.''
Plaintiff states she returned to the registration desk
and told Blackard some
of what had happened. ... Blackard states that
plaintiff was shaking and
embarrassed. ... Following the conference, plaintiff
states she went to the
workplace of a friend, Debra Ballentine, and told her
of the incident as
well. ... Ballentine states that plaintiff was upset
and crying. ... Later that
same day, plaintiff states she told her sister,
Charlotte Corbin Brown, what
had happened and, within the next two days, also told
her other sister,
Lydia Corbin Cathey, of the incident. ... Brown's
observations of plaintiff's
demeanor apparently are not included in the record.
Cathey, however,
states that plaintiff was ``bawling'' and
``squalling,'' and that she appeared
scared, embarrassed and ashamed. ...
Ballentine states that she encouraged plaintiff to
report the incident to her
boss or to the police, but that plaintiff declined,
pointing out that her boss
was friends with the governor and that the police were
the ones who took
her to the hotel suite. ... Ballentine further states
that plaintiff stated she did
not want her fiance to know of the incident and that
she ``just want(ed) this
thing to go away.'' ... Plaintiff states that what the
governor and Ferguson
had said and done made her ``afraid'' to file charges.
...
Plaintiff continued to work at AIDC following the
alleged incident in the
hotel suite. ... One of her duties was to deliver
documents to and from the
office of the governor, as well as other offices
around the Arkansas state
capitol. ... She states that in June 1991, while
performing these duties for
the AIDC, she encountered Ferguson who told her that
Mrs. Clinton was
out of town often and that the governor wanted her
phone number and
wanted to see her. ... Plaintiff states she refused to
provide her phone
number to Ferguson. ... She states that Ferguson also
asked her how her
fiance, Steve, was doing, even though she had never
told Ferguson or the
governor his name, and that this ``frightened'' her.
... Plaintiff states that she
again encountered Ferguson following her return to
work from maternity
leave and that he said he had ``told Bill how good
looking you are since
you've had the baby.'' ... She also states that she
was ``accosted'' by the
governor in the rotunda of the Arkansas state capitol
when he ``draped his
arm over her, pulled her close to him and held her
tightly to his body,'' and
said to his bodyguard, ``Don't we make a beautiful
couple: Beauty and the
Beast?'' ... Plaintiff additionally states that on an
unspecified date, she was
waiting in the governor's outer office on a delivery
run when the governor
entered the office, patted her on the shoulder, and in
a ``friendly fashion''
said, ``How are you doing, Paula?'' ...
Plaintiff states that she continued to work at AIDC
``even though she was
in constant fear that (the governor) would retaliate
against her because she
had refused to have sex with him.'' ... She states
this fear prevented her
from enjoying her job. ... Plaintiff states that she
was treated ``very rudely''
by certain superiors in AIDC, including her direct
supervisor, Clydine
Pennington, and that this ``rude treatment'' had not
happened prior to her
encounter with the governor. ... She states that after
her maternity leave,
she was transferred to a position which had much less
responsibility and
that much of the time she had nothing to do. ...
Plaintiff states that she was
not learning anything, that her work could not be
fairly evaluated, and that
as a result, she could not be fairly considered for
advancement and other
opportunities. ... She states that Pennington told her
the reason for the
transfer was that her prior position had been
eliminated, but that she later
learned this was untrue, as her former position was
being occupied by
another employee. ... Plaintiff states that she
repeatedly expressed to
Pennington an interest in transferring to particular
positions at a higher
``grade'' which involved more challenging duties, more
potential for
advancement, and more compensation, but that
Pennington always
discouraged her from doing so and told her she should
not bother to apply
for those positions. ... She goes on to state that her
superiors exhibited
hostility toward her by moving her work location,
refusing to give her
meaningful work, watching her constantly, and failing
to give her flowers on
Secretary's Day in 1992, even though all the other
women in the office
received flowers. ...
Plaintiff voluntarily terminated her employment with
AIDC on February 20,
1993, in order to move to California with her husband,
who had been
transferred. ... She states that in January 1994,
while visiting family and
friends in Arkansas, she was informed of an article in
The American
Spectator magazine that she claims referred to her
alleged encounter with
the governor at the Excelsior Hotel and incorrectly
suggested that she had
engaged in sexual relations with the governor. ...
Plaintiff states that she
also encountered Ferguson in a restaurant during this
same time and that he
indicated he was the source for the article and that
he knew she had
refused the governor's alleged advances because, he
said, ``Clinton told
me you wouldn't do anything anyway, Paula.''
On February 11, 1994, at an event attended by the
media, plaintiff states
that she publicly asked President Clinton to
acknowledge the incident
mentioned in the article in The American Spectator, to
state that she had
rejected his advances, and to apologize to her, but
that the president
responded to her request for an apology by having his
press
spokespersons deliver a statement on his behalf that
the incident never
happened and that he never met plaintiff. ...
Thereafter, on May 6, 1994,
plaintiff filed this lawsuit.
Plaintiff's amended complaint contains several claims,
three of which
remain at issue. ... The first is a claim under 42
U.S.C. Section 1983 in
which plaintiff alleges that Governor Clinton, acting
under color of state
law, deprived her of her constitutional right to equal
protection of the laws
under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution by
sexually harassing her. The second is a claim under 42
U.S.C. Section
1985(3) in which plaintiff alleges that Governor
Clinton and Ferguson
conspired to deprive her of her rights to equal
protection of the laws and of
equal privileges and immunities under the laws. The
third is a state law
claim in which plaintiff asserts a claim of
intentional infliction of emotional
distress or outrage against Governor Clinton, based
primarily on the
alleged incident at the hotel but also encompassing
subsequent alleged acts.
II. The president moves for summary judgment on the
following grounds:
(1) plaintiff cannot show either quid pro quo or
hostil
--
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1. Don't tell people everything you know.
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