NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman's manhandling of a woman's buttocks at the Delta Center in 1994 may have been bad - but it wasn't bad enough to be subject to legal liability, a federal judge has ruled.
In a 20-page opinion, signed Feb. 28 but not released until Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Sam dismissed a lawsuit filed last year by Lavon P. Ankers, who accused Rodman of grabbing her buttocks and pinching her.The ruling immediately drew fire from women's rights advocates, who worry it could send the wrong message. Salt Lake Councilwoman Joanne Milner, who is on the Governor's Commission for Women and Families, said it tells her "it's still socially acceptable for men to sexually harass women."
The incident occurred during the May 5, 1994, match between the Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Rodman ran off court in pursuit of a loose ball.
On his way back into the game, he walked past Ankers, a Delta Center usher who was standing in her assigned courtside area. It was then, Ankers said in her suit, that Rodman placed his hands on her buttocks and pinched her in full view of a local and national television audience as well as his then-girlfriend, Madonna.
According to court documents, while the TV broadcast didn't reveal the actual touching, it "showed (Rodman) coming up behind (Ankers) and (Anker's) reaction to (Rodman's) apparent touch."
On Aug. 16, 1996, Ankers filed suit alleging battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Rodman asked the court to dismiss the suit, arguing the one-year statute of limitations had passed and that the facts failed to support a claim of intentional emotional distress.
Ankers contended that Rodman's behavior was "outrageous" and caused her to be "greatly humiliated, shamed and embarrassed."
Through his lawyers, Rodman responded that the alleged pinch may have been rude, inappropriate or offensive, but that it did not rise to the "level such that a reasonable jury could find it outrageous, atrocious, or utterly intolerable in civilized society."
Those terms are legally important because of a 1992 Utah Supreme Court opinion that defined the elements of intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In that unrelated case, the Utah high court said to prove such a claim, a plaintiff must show that the conduct is considered "outrageous and intolerable in that it offends the generally accepted standards of decency and morality."
Also, it must be done with the "purpose of inflicting emotional distress or where any reasonable person would have known that
such would result," the Utah Supreme Court said.
Sam cited the Utah court'sopinion in reaching his own, saying,
"The burden of proving `outrageous conduct' is a heavy one as liability exists only where the conduct is `atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community.' "
At the same time, for Ankers to prevail in her suit, she would have had to demonstrate that Rodman's actions would cause an average person of the community to exclaim, "Outrageous," Sam said.
"The court agrees with (Rodman) that reasonable minds would not differ in concluding that defendant's alleged pinch does not consitute atrocious or utterly intolerable behavior," Sam wrote.
"Rather, in the court's opinion, the alleged conduct constitutes an `insult,' `indignity' or act which is `definitely inconsiderate and unkind,' but which does not rise to a level warranting imposition of li-a-bil-ity."
While the federal ruling lets Rodman off the hook, officials and women's rights advocates warn that that kind of conduct is im-prop-er.
A person doing the same thing in the workplace would lose his job, said Jay Fowler, an investigator with the anti-discrimination division of the State Industrial Com-mis-sion.
"It is not only offensive, it's illegal. Inappropriate, unwelcome touching, I've seen a lot of people go down the road for something like this," Fowler said.
Milner said the contradictory messages become more apparent given that Rodman was punished recently with a multigame suspension and a substantial fine for kicking a male photographer in the groin.
"What's the difference between a women's buttocks and man's groin," Milner asked. "She was doing her job, the same way the camerman was. I don't think she was asking for it anymore than the cameraman was."
Milner, who handles community outreach programs at Horizonte, an alternative high school, said both incidents demonstrated inappropriate behavior, and both should have been dealt with the same way.
Kallie Parkinson Coles, a counselor at Weber State's services for women students center, said she was concerned about the message that the decision sends to young men.
"As outrageous as this man is, he's looked up to as a role model," she said, so his fans may well say to themselves that if "Dennis Rodman can go ahead and pinch a woman's butt, so can I."
Deseret News staff writer Lisa Riley Roche contributed to this story.