“Yes.”
“How much wine would you say you had?”
“Less than a glass.”
“And Ms. Johnson? How much would you say?”
“At least three glasses.”
“All right.” 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’t fire me without cause,” Sanders said. “I don’t know what it says about transfers. But my point is that by transferring me, they might as well be firing me-”
“I understand your point,” Murphy said, interrupting him. “I’m asking about your contract. Mr. Blackburn?”
Blackburn said, “The relevant clause refers to `equivalent transfer.’ ”
“I see. So it is arguable. Fine. Let’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’m fine.”
“All right. Now, Mr. Sanders. You mentioned that when Mr. Blackburn told you on Monday morning that 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’t know. Actually, I thought I might 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 assumed it, you were drawing a conclusion based on the general situation at the company, as you saw it.”
“Yes.”
“But not based on any real evidence?”
“No.”
“All right. Now, you’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’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’t sure what to believe, at that point.”
“Is Mr. Blackburn’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 statement that could be interpreted as an offer contingent upon your performance, including sexual performance?”
“No.”
“So when you say that during your meeting 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 promotion that Ms. Johnson ended up getting?”
“I don’t follow you.”
“I’m merely observing,” 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’t challenged the validity of your client’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’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’re here to clarify this dispute. I’m going to let Mr. Heller continue. Mr. Heller?”
“Thank you, Your Honor. So to summarize, Mr. Sanders: Although you felt your job was on the line, you never got that sense from Ms. Johnson?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Or from Mr. Blackburn?”
“No.”
“Or, in fact, from anyone else?”
“No.”
“All right. Let’s turn to something else. How did it happen that there was wine at the six o’clock meeting?”
“Ms. Johnson said that she would get a bottle of wine.”
“You didn’t ask her to do that?”
“No. She volunteered to do it.”
“And what was your reaction?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Nothing in particular.”
“Were you pleased?”
“I didn’t think about it one way or the other.”
“Let me put it a different way, Mr. Sanders. When you heard that an attractive woman like Ms. Johnson was planning to have a drink with you after work, what went through your head?”
“I thought I better do it. She’s my boss.”
“That’s all you thought?”
“Yes.”
“Did you mention to anyone that you wanted to be alone with Ms. Johnson in a romantic setting?”
Sanders sat forward, surprised. “No.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.” Sanders shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re driving at.”
“Isn’t Ms. Johnson your former lover?”
“Yes.”
“And didn’t you want to resume your intimate relationship?”
“No, I did not. I was just hoping we would be able to find some way to be able to work together.”
“Is that difficult? I would have thought it’d be quite easy to work together, since you knew each other so well in the past.”
“Well, it’s not. It’s quite awkward.”
“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 awkward.”
“How did your prior relationship with Ms. Johnson end, Mr. Sanders?”
“We just sort of . . . drifted apart.”
“You had been living together at the time?”
“Yes. And we had our normal ups and downs. And finally, it just didn’t work out. So we split up.”
“No hard feelings?” No.
“Who left whom?”
“It was sort of mutual, as I recall.”