Lancaster v. Norfolk And Western Railway Company

773 F.2d 807 (1985)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P was a 30-year-old mechanic working in D's locomotive shop. A short-tempered foreman who had once been disciplined for roughing up a worker became angry at P and several other workers. The foreman flipped over a table on which one of the workers was sleeping, smashed a bench, grabbed a broom handle, approached P in a menacing fashion, screamed at him for about 15 seconds, and shook the broomstick in his face. P asked for another supervisor and complained about the incident to his union. The incident upset P. He thought people were following him, thought his phone was tapped, felt that the pressures of working for the railroad were too much, and went to Georgia to look for a new job. After a couple of months, his distress subsided, and he went back to the old one. His next foreman liked to 'goose' workers, pull their hair, and hit them on the arms. P protested when it was done to him. The foreman twice stuck his hand down the back of P's pants -- once squeezing a buttock, the other time sticking his finger into P's anus. P was very upset and had trouble working. On doctor's advice, he took a leave of absence. P was suffering from anxiety. P worked from 1977 until an incident in 1979 involving another supervisor. Boyd, the supervisor, picked up a sledgehammer and swung it at a pin that was stuck. The sledgehammer flew out of Boyd's hands when he completed his swing, and struck P. P was bruised but thought Boyd had thrown the sledgehammer at him. P was working for another hot-tempered supervisor, who charged P with pickax handle in hand and struck the door frame over P's head with the handle. P's mental condition deteriorated rapidly. P was diagnosed as schizophrenic. All three trial experts agreed that the pickax assault triggered P’s latent schizophrenia. D's psychologist testified that P's latent schizophrenia would have been triggered by some other traumatic event if no supervisor misconduct had occurred. The judge refused to instruct the jury to reduce damages if sickness was inevitable. The judge instructed that D was liable for damages that it was the cause in fact of. P got the verdict, and D appealed.