Myers v. Trendwest Resorts, Inc., 56 Cal. Rptr. 3d 501 (Ct. App. 2007)

Alissa Myers, a salesperson, alleged that her supervisor, Ayman Damlahki, had sexually harassed her with numerous unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances, comments, innuendoes of a sexual nature, and numerous non-consensual physical contacts with her body, all of which created an intimidating, oppressive, hostile and offensive work environment. The trial court granted summary judgment to Trendwest on these and related claims after concluding that Damlahki’s alleged actions took place outside the workplace and were not work-related. The Court of Appeal reversed the grant of summary judgment, concluding that an employer is strictly liable for a supervisor’s actions unless the harassment resulted “from a completely private relationship unconnected with the employment.” Similarly, the Court concluded that Trendwest was not entitled to dismissal of a statutory claim for failure to take reasonable steps to prevent harassment nor was it entitled to summary adjudication of Myers’s punitive damages claim. The appellate court affirmed dismissal of the common law claims Myers alleged for sexual battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress on the ground that Damlahki’s sexual conduct towards Myers was outside the scope of his employment as a matter of law. Finally, the Court reversed the trial court’s award to Trendwest of $40,000 in attorney’s fees. Cf. Demps v. San Francisco Housing Authority, 2007 WL 1040919 (Cal. Ct. App. 2007) (trial court’s failure to rule on properly presented objections to evidence submitted in opposition to summary judgment motion results in their being impliedly overruled).

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Photo of Tony Oncidi Tony Oncidi

Anthony J. Oncidi is the co-chair of the Labor & Employment Law Department and heads the West Coast Labor & Employment group in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Tony represents employers and management in all aspects of labor relations and employment law, including…

Anthony J. Oncidi is the co-chair of the Labor & Employment Law Department and heads the West Coast Labor & Employment group in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Tony represents employers and management in all aspects of labor relations and employment law, including litigation and preventive counseling, wage and hour matters, including class actions, wrongful termination, employee discipline, Title VII and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, executive employment contract disputes, sexual harassment training and investigations, workplace violence, drug testing and privacy issues, Sarbanes-Oxley claims and employee raiding and trade secret protection. A substantial portion of Tony’s practice involves the defense of employers in large class actions, employment discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination litigation in state and federal court as well as arbitration proceedings, including FINRA matters.

Tony is recognized as a leading lawyer by such highly respected publications and organizations as the Los Angeles Daily JournalThe Hollywood Reporter, and Chambers USA, which gives him the highest possible rating (“Band 1”) for Labor & Employment.  According to Chambers USA, clients say Tony is “brilliant at what he does… He is even keeled, has a high emotional IQ, is a great legal writer and orator, and never gives up.” Other clients report:  “Tony has an outstanding reputation” and he is “smart, cost effective and appropriately aggressive.” Tony is hailed as “outstanding,” particularly for his “ability to merge top-shelf lawyerly advice with pragmatic business acumen.” He is highly respected in the industry, with other commentators lauding him as a “phenomenal strategist” and “one of the top employment litigators in the country.”

“Tony is the author of the treatise titled Employment Discrimination Depositions (Juris Pub’g 2020; www.jurispub.com), co-author of Proskauer on Privacy (PLI 2020), and, since 1990, has been a regular columnist for the official publication of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of California and the Los Angeles Daily Journal.

Tony has been a featured guest on Fox 11 News and CBS News in Los Angeles. He has been interviewed and quoted by leading national media outlets such as The National Law JournalBloomberg News, The New York Times, and Newsweek and Time magazines. Tony is a frequent speaker on employment law topics for large and small groups of employers and their counsel, including the Society for Human Resource Management (“SHRM”), PIHRA, the National CLE Conference, National Business Institute, the Employment Round Table of Southern California (Board Member), the Council on Education in Management, the Institute for Corporate Counsel, the State Bar of California, the California Continuing Education of the Bar Program and the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Bar Associations. He has testified as an expert witness regarding wage and hour issues as well as the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and has served as a faculty member of the National Employment Law Institute. He has served as an arbitrator in an employment discrimination matter.

Tony is an appointed Hearing Examiner for the Los Angeles Police Commission Board of Rights and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law and a guest lecturer at USC Law School and a guest lecturer at UCLA Law School.