K-Mart Corp. v. Trotti
Texas Court of Appeals
677 S.W.2d 632 (1984)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Billie Trotti (plaintiff) worked for K-Mart Corporation (defendant). K-Mart provided store employees with lockers to store personal effects while working. An employee could request a lock from K-Mart, but K-Mart would keep a copy of the combination or the master key. Alternatively, employees could provide their own locks and were not required to provide K-Mart with the combination or key. One day, Trotti placed her purse in a locker and secured the locker using her own combination lock. She later returned to find the locker open and the contents of her purse disturbed. Management initially denied any involvement but later admitted to searching employees’ lockers based on a suspicion that another employee was stealing. Trotti sued K-Mart for invasion of privacy. A manager testified that all new hires were informed that lockers were searched regularly, negating any expectation of privacy. However, others testified that while such searches occurred regularly, employees were not expressly informed of this policy. When instructing the jury on invasion of privacy, the trial court omitted, over K-Mart’s objection, any reference to a requirement that the invasion be highly offensive to a reasonable person. The trial court awarded Trotti $8,000 in actual damages and $100,000 in exemplary damages. K-Mart appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Bullock, J.)
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