James Sherman, Plaintiff Below, Appellant v. State of Delaware Department of Public Safety, Defendant…

Summary

The court vacated the jury verdict and held that the estate was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the State's vicarious liability for a police officer's sexual misconduct toward an arrestee. It held that the officer's conduct did not satisfy the motivation requirement of the scope-of-employment test, but that two exceptions independently permitted liability because the officer was aided by his agency relationship and the State owed the arrestee a non-delegable duty. The court also held that an arrestee cannot voluntarily consent to sex with her arresting officer. The opinion text includes dissenting views, but no separate-opinion record was supplied for extraction.