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He then told about the phone call to his wife, and the early , his subsequent conversation with Blackburn, and his decision to press charges
"&039;That&039;s about it," he finished
Judge Murphy said, "I have soo on Mr Sanders, you "
"Yes"
"How lass"
"And Ms Johnson? How ht" She made a note "Mr Sanders, do you have an employment contract with the company?"
"Yes"
"What is your understanding of what the contract says about transferring you or firing you?"
"They can&039;t fire me without cause," Sanders said "I don&039;t knohat it says about transfers But ht as well be firinghi about your contract Mr Blackburn?"
Blackburn said, "The relevant clause refers to `equivalent transfer&039; "
"I see So it is arguable Fine Let&039;s go on Mr Heller? Your questions for Mr Sanders, please"
Ben Heller shuffled his papers and cleared his throat "Mr Sanders, would you like a break?"
"No, I&039;ht Now, Mr Sanders Youthat Ms Johnson was going to be the new head of the division, you were surprised"
"Yes"
"Who did you think the new head would be?"
"I didn&039;t know Actually, I thought I ht be in line for it"
"Why did you think that?"
"I just assumed it"
"Did anybody in the company, Mr Blackburn or anybody else, lead you to think you were going to get the job?" No
"Was there anything in writing to suggest you would get the job?"
"No"
"So when you say you assueneral situation at the company, as you saw it"
"Yes"
"But not based on any real evidence?"
"No"
"All right Now, you&039;ve said that when Mr Blackburn told you that Ms Johnson was going to get the job, he also told you that she could choose new division heads if she wanted, and you told him you interpreted that to mean Ms Johnson had the power to fire you?"
"Yes, that&039;s what he said"
"Did he characterize it in any way? For example, did he say it was likely or unlikely?"
"He said it was unlikely"
"And did you believe him?"
"I wasn&039;t sure what to believe, at that point"
"Is Mr Blackburn&039;s judgment on company matters reliable?"
"Ordinarily, yes"
"But in any case, Mr Blackburn did say that Ms Johnson had the right to fire you"
"Yes"
"Did Ms Johnson ever say anything like that to you?"
"No"
"She never made any stateent upon your perfor sexual perfor with her you felt that your job was at risk, that was not because of anything Ms Johnson actually said or did?"
"No," Sanders said "But it was in the situation"
"You perceived it as being in the situation"
"Yes"
"As you had earlier perceived that you were in line for a promotion, when in fact you were not? The very pro?"
"I don&039;t follow you"
"I&039;," Heller said, "that perceptions are subjective, and do not have the weight of fact"
"Objection," Fernandez said "Employee perceptions have been held valid in contexts where the reasonable expectation-"
"Ms Fernandez," Murphy said, "Mr Heller hasn&039;t challenged the validity of your client&039;s perceptions He has questioned their accuracy"
"But surely they are accurate Because Ms Johnson was his superior, and she could fire him if she wanted to"
"That&039;s not in dispute But Mr Heller is asking whether Mr Sanders has a tendency to build up unjustified expectations And that seems to me entirely relevant"
"But with all due respect, Your Honor-"
"Ms Fernandez," Murphy said, "we&039;re here to clarify this dispute I&039; to let Mr Heller continue Mr Heller?"
"Thank you, Your Honor So to suh you felt your job was on the line, you never got that sense from Ms Johnson?"
"No, I didn&039;t"
"Or from Mr Blackburn?"
"No"
"Or, in fact, froht Let&039;s turn to so else How did it happen that there ine at the six o&039;clock et a bottle of wine"
"You didn&039;t ask her to do that?"
"No She volunteered to do it"
"And as your reaction?"
"I don&039;t know" He shrugged "Nothing in particular"
"Were you pleased?"
"I didn&039;t think about it one way or the other"
"Let me put it a different way, Mr Sanders When you heard that an attractive wo to have a drink with you after work, ent through your head?"
"I thought I better do it She&039;s ht?"
"Yes"
"Did you mention to anyone that you wanted to be alone with Ms Johnson in a ro?"
Sanders sat forward, surprised "No"
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes" Sanders shook his head "I don&039;t knohat you&039;re driving at"
"Isn&039;t Ms Johnson your former lover?"
"Yes"
"And didn&039;t you want to resume your inti ould be able to find soether"
"Is that difficult? I would have thought it&039;d be quite easy to work together, since you knew each other so well in the past"
"Well, it&039;s not It&039;s quite aard"
"Is it? Why is that?"
"Well It just is I had never actually worked with her I knew her in a totally different context, and I just felt aard"
"How did your prior relationship with Ms Johnson end, Mr Sanders?"
"We just sort ofdrifted apart"
"You had been living together at the time?"
"Yes And we had our normal ups and downs And finally, it just didn&039;t work out So we split up"
"No hard feelings?" No
"Who left whom?"
"It was sort of mutual, as I recall"
"Whose idea was it to uess it was mine"
"So there was no aardness or tension about how the affair ended, ten years ago"
"No"
"And yet you felt there ardness now?"