Harassment Case Award Overturned : Courts: Judge rules that a Mission Viejo teacher’s $250,000 damage judgment falls within the jurisdiction of the state worker compensation system.

A Superior Court judge has overturned a $250,000 jury verdict awarded to a South County high school teacher who alleged that she had been sexually harassed by two school administrators.

Judge William F. Rylaarsdam overturned the judgment late Friday after determining that the jury’s decision was legally flawed, according to attorney James P. Collins Jr., who represented the administrators and Saddleback Unified School District in the case.

“We’re very pleased with the judge’s order,” Collins said. “The award was completely unfair and wrong.”

The woman who filed the suit, Sharon Daly Forslund, said Saturday that she was “completely devastated” by the judge’s order.

“I can’t believe that a jury of my peers can rule in my behalf and then a judge, in one swoop, can overrule them,” the 51-year-old chemistry teacher said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

She said she plans to appeal Rylaarsdam’s decision.

In February, a jury found that Forslund had been sexually harassed by Wilbur Chong, an assistant principal at Mission Viejo High School, and that she had been the victim of retaliation inflicted by Chong, Principal Robert A. Metz and the school district.

The jury, however, did not believe that Forslund was entitled to any damages for the harassment or retaliation. Instead, the jury awarded her $250,000 for emotional distress.

Rylaarsdam ruled that damages for emotional distress in employment disputes are under the jurisdiction of the state’s worker compensation system, not the civil courts, Collins said. The judge further found that the administrators and district were “the prevailing parties” in the case and that Forslund should pay their court costs, Collins added.

The judge’s reasoning didn’t sit well with Forslund.

“If there was any flaw, it was the judge’s fault,” Forslund said. “He was the one who drew up the verdict form for the jury to fill out. If he didn’t think that (emotional distress) was a cause of action, why did he let it go to the jury?”

During the trial Forslund testified that Chong snapped her bra strap, grabbed her buttocks and talked to her about oral sex. She also alleged that the school principal, Metz, occasionally hugged her, rubbed his hand along her face, sat in sexually suggestive positions and made comments about her sex life. The jury rejected the harassment charge against Metz.

Forslund said that when she complained to colleagues and a union official about the alleged harassment, she was stripped of her classes and eventually transferred to another school within the district.

Collins contended during the trial that Forslund’s schedule was changed because she was not a “strong enough” teacher to handle as many chemistry classes as she was instructing. He claimed that Forslund fabricated the harassment charges only after the administrators made the determination that she was not qualified to handle a workload of five chemistry classes.

He pointed out to the jury that Forslund never made a formal complaint about the harassment until her schedule was changed.

On Saturday, Chong said he was pleased “the judge understood the events and there was justice afterward.”

After the jury’s verdict, Chong was transferred from Mission Viejo High School and reassigned to work in the district’s administrative office.

“Hopefully, there will be consideration for me to go back to my school so I can take care of my seniors and help them with their awards and graduation,” he said.