Jury finds American Airlines not responsible for flight attendant’s sexual assault
A Tarrant County jury found Wednesday that a celebrity chef sexually assaulted an American Airlines flight attendant on a work trip but that the airline wasn’t responsible for the assault.
After about two days of deliberations in Kimberly Goesling’s lawsuit against the Fort Worth-based airline, the majority of jurors answered no to questions surrounding the airline’s involvement in Goesling’s assault.
Goesling, who lives in Fort Worth, worked for the airline for 30 years. 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 2018.
Sargeant was dropped as a defendant in the suit before the case went to trial.
The jury was charged with answering 13 questions in its deliberation, which included whether former manager Brett Hooyerink was acting “in vice principal” — meaning his actions represented American Airlines — and if the airline had intentionally inflicted emotional distress on Goesling.
While the jury found the assault had occurred and that Hooyerink was acting in vice principal for the airline, they decided the airline didn’t assist or participate in the assault through Hooyerink and that the airline didn’t intentionally cause Goesling emotional distress.
Goesling’s attorney had asked the airline for $25.6 million to cover medical care and damages.
The trial began April 25 in Tarrant County’s 342nd Judicial District Court. Jury deliberations began Monday afternoon.
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 at American Airlines. Her courage, Miller believes, might 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.”
About the case
In her lawsuit, Goesling claimed Sargeant had gotten drunk with American Airlines managers, and had been given her room number and encouraged to go up to her room on the work trip in Germany. She claimed the airline retaliated against her following her report, and said they had demoted her and denied her special job opportunities.
American’s attorneys argued they weren’t responsible for Sargeant’s actions and questioned the consistency of Goesling’s story.
The airline began an investigation into the incident after Goesling’s report and soon after terminated Sargeant. In closing arguments Monday, Wright, the American attorney, said that if Sargeant did assault Goesling, he should go to prison.
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. 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.”
Goesling said that since the assault, her life had been affected dramatically. She’s had nightmares that repeat the attack and said 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.
Miller argued that if American Airlines managers got Sargeant drunk and encouraged them to pursue Goesling, they could be held responsible for her assault. He said Hooyerink’s actions represented the airline.
Hooyerink, who worked for the airline for 19 years and was in charge of the trip at the time of the assault, denied getting drunk with Sargeant and while he initially said he couldn’t rule out encouraging Sargeant, he later denied it.
Both Wright and Russell Cawyer, another American Airlines attorney, said over the course of the trial that the airline wasn’t responsible for Sargeant’s actions.
Miller told the jury the assault was “inevitable” and that the evidence that includes text messages from Sargeant to Goesling suggested it 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 Goesling 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, spent its time trying to attack Goesling. He asked toward the end of his closing, “Is that the right way to treat a victim?”
Cawyer said he and American Airlines were not in court to defend Sargeant’s actions, but “we are defending the accusation that American Airlines aided and abetted” him.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 11:52 AM.
