Schmidt v. Superior Court
Annotate this Case
Plaintiffs filed suit alleging that a security guard sexually harassed them with his metal detecting wand during the courthouse entry screening process. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's judgment against plaintiffs, holding that substantial evidence supported the trial court's fact finding. The trial court found that plaintiffs failed to prove sexual harassment by a preponderance of the evidence. Rather, the trial court found clear and convincing evidence there had been no sexual harassment. In this case, the screening procedures are public and monitored by video; few witnesses saw the allegedly inappropriate wanding; and the video evidence clearly refutes plaintiffs' claims.
The court rejected plaintiffs' claims that the trial court committed legal error by failing in the statement of decision to apply and to cite three cases; because substantial evidence supports the finding there was no hostile environment sexual harassment, it was unnecessary for the trial court to make findings about when Ventura Superior Court knew about non-harassing conduct; the trial court in fact did make the findings plaintiffs complained were omitted; claims of error regarding the trial court's decision and conduct as evidence of gender bias were rejected; and challenges to the statement of decision rejected.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.