What to know about Fort Worth flight attendant’s American Airlines lawsuit, jury verdict
A Tarrant County jury ruled in favor of American Airlines on Wednesday after a flight attendant sued the Fort Worth-based airline, claiming the company was at least partially responsible for her sexual assault on a work trip in 2018.
The civil case centered around Kimberly Goesling, a Fort Worth woman who worked for the airline for 30 years. The trial began April 25 in Tarrant County’s 342nd Judicial District Court. The jury had to decide whether the airline both harmed and wronged Goesling.
Goesling reported that Mark Sargeant, a celebrity chef who was an independent contractor with American, sexually assaulted her in her hotel room while they were on a work trip in Germany. In her lawsuit filed against the airline in 2021, she and her lawyers said there was evidence that top American Airlines managers on the trip got drunk with Sargeant, gave him Goesling’s hotel room number and urged him to go to Goesling’s room. Goesling says Sargeant forced his way into her room and assaulted her.
When she reported the assault, according to Goesling’s lawsuit, Goesling said the company demoted her and no longer offered her significant job opportunities. Goesling retired in 2021 — she wrote a letter to the CEO at the time demanding changes in the way the airline handles sexual assault reports.
The airline’s defense attorneys argued that American was not responsible for Sargeant’s actions, and also suggested Goesling might not be telling the truth.
American Airlines lawyer Shauna Wright said the airline took immediate action to investigate the incident after Goesling’s report, and the airline terminated its contract with Sargeant soon after.
If Sargeant did in fact assault Goesling, Wright said, he should suffer consequences — not American Airlines. Wright said she thinks Sargeant should be in prison and that there’s still time for him to be tried. Sargeant was dropped as a defendant from the lawsuit before the civil case went to trial.
The verdict
The jury found Wednesday that Sargeant sexually assaulted Goesling but that the airline wasn’t responsible.
After about two days of deliberations, the majority of jurors answered no to questions surrounding the airline’s involvement in Goesling’s assault.
Goesling’s attorney, Robert Miller, told the Star-Telegram he was disappointed in the verdict and didn’t believe the jury had all the necessary evidence to rule in Goesling’s favor, namely Sargeant’s inappropriate activity with other women in his year with the airline. Miller said the evidence would’ve been critical.
Goesling described what happened to her as a broader culture of sweeping sexual harassment and assaults under the rug culture at American Airlines. Her courage, Miller believes, may allow other people who may be going through the same experience with the airline to speak up. While the process was difficult for Goesling, Miller said, maybe others will be heard.
When approached by a Star-Telegram reporter, American Airlines attorney Shauna Wright directed all questions about the verdict to a media relations email for the airline.
“The jury’s decision confirms that American does not tolerate inappropriate sexual conduct of any kind,” a spokesperson for the airline wrote in an email statement Wednesday afternoon. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to our team members and to providing a safe and comfortable environment for everyone who works at our airline.”
Alleged assault
Sargeant, who lives in the United Kingdom, has not been criminally charged and denies sexually assaulting Goesling. The chef worked with Gordon Ramsay for 13 years, has made multiple TV appearances and opened a string of restaurants and bars. In previous testimony, Goesling said she tried to report the assault to German police, but the language barrier made it difficult. When she returned to Fort Worth, she said, Fort Worth police said they could not charge Sargeant since the allegations took place outside of the country.
In Sargeant’s testimony — shown in court via a pre-recorded video — he said he went to Goesling’s room that night after drinking heavily with American Airlines managers and staff. In his testimony, Sargeant said he kissed Goesling, but realized she was not interested in him and he left her hotel room.
The morning after the alleged assault, Sargeant sent Goesling a series of texts in which he wrote he had too much to drink the night before and he “was acting like a drunken idiot.”
“But well done for resisting,” Sargeant texted her at 9:47 a.m.
In court testimony, Goesling’s attorney asked Sargeant what he meant by that text.
“As corny as it sounds,” Sargeant said in his testimony, “I meant for resisting my charms.”
In one text to Goesling, Sargeant said: “I was encouraged. Naming no names.”
Since the incident, Goesling said in her testimony the assault had long-term effects on her life. She’s had nightmares that repeat the attack and that she clenches her jaw so hard in her sleep she’s cracked teeth and had to have them pulled. She said she’s also experienced disordered eating habits. When she’s approached from behind, Goesling now becomes defensive. She can’t smell alcohol without shutting down, and loud noises trigger panic attacks.
Goesling said what happened to her is a part of a broader picture of sexual assault and retaliation at American Airlines, and in June told the Star-Telegram others had come forward with similar experiences of having their stories brushed aside.
American Airlines denies claims
The manager who was in charge on the trip, Brett Hooyerink, who worked at American Airlines for 19 years, testified in person in the Tarrant County courtroom. In this case, Miller said in his opening statements, he was arguing that Hooyerink and his actions represented the actions of American Airlines. If American Airlines managers got Sargeant drunk and encouraged him to pursue Goesling, Miller said, the airline is responsible for what happened to her.
Hooyerink said he did not get drunk with Sargeant the night of Jan. 19, 2018, and that he actually went to sleep before Goesling did. He said he did not encourage Sargeant to pursue Goesling or tell Sargeant that Goesling was attracted to him.
Miller pointed out that during Hooyerink’s initial deposition — testimony that happens out of the courtroom — Hooyerink was asked if he encouraged Sargeant to pursue Goeseling. During that deposition, Hooyerink had replied, “I can’t rule it out.”
“At the time, I said I couldn’t rule it out,” Hooyerink said on the witness stand. “But I deny it now.”
When American Airlines’ attorney Russell Cawyer questioned Hooyerink, he emphasized Hooyerink was a low-level manager when he was employed at the airline. Cawyer said in opening statements that American Airlines is not responsible for the actions of an independent contractor. He and American Airlines were not in court to defend Sargeant’s actions, Caywer said, but “we are defending the accusation that American Airlines aided and abetted” him.
Sargeant’s prior behavior
Goesling’s lawyer Robert Miller told the jury the assault was “inevitable” and that the evidence that includes text messages from Sargeant to Goesling suggest that beyond a reasonable doubt.
In court documents, emails between American Airlines employees showed managers joking and discussing Sargeant’s tendency to drink too much. In a court petition, Goesling’s attorneys argued that Sargeant’s actions against Goesing were foreseeable because the airline “had actual knowledge of Mark Sargeant’s propensity to get drunk and prior instances of being sexually inappropriate with American Airlines employees.”
In the court petition, an American Airlines employee told Goesling’s attorneys that Sargeant acted inappropriately toward her in 2016. Sargeant texted her multiple times to get drinks with him at the bar after a work event. When she declined and suggested he contact an American Airlines manager who, “liked drinking,” Sargeant insisted again and said she was the “more attractive” person to get drinks with.
The defense, Miller argued during closing arguments on Monday, has spent its time trying to attack Goesling. He asked toward the end of his closing, “Is that the right way to treat a victim?”
Goesling said her story represents a company-wide problem of sexual harassment and retaliation at American Airlines. In an interview with the Star-Telegram in June, Goesling and her attorney said a significant number of other women had come forward to say they, too, were the victims of a sweep-it-under-the-rug culture at American Airlines.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 1:12 PM.
