Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff, Mary Kotowski, filed suit after being terminated when she complained of sexual harassment by her supervisor. The evidence showed the conduct towards her was inappropriate. At trial, an investigative memo was admitted into evidence containing statements by third parties implicating the employee accused of the conduct against Plaintiff.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. An admission of a party opponent is an exception to the hearsay rule.
In that case, section 301 did not preempt the plaintiff's claim that her employer willfully failed to pay her wages promptly upon severance in violation of Labor Code section 203, because the issue was a question of state law, entirely independent of any understanding embodied in the collective-bargaining agreement between the union and the employer.
View Full Point of LawIssue. Did the trial court commit error by allowing admission of the memo?
Held. Justice Matthews issued the opinion for the Supreme Court of Alaska in concluding that it was not error to admit the memo.
Discussion. The content of the memo satisfied the admissions of party-opponent exception to the hearsay rule. The subjects of the memo were agents of Defendant regarding matters which their job required them to report.