WAUSAU, Wis. — A judge erred in awarding $1.4 million to 10 western Wisconsin women who had their work pictures taken, defiled and placed on Internet pornography sites by a security officer who worked at the same plant as them, a state appeals court ruled.

The 3rd District Court of Appeals on Tuesday said a security company was not negligent in training and supervising the man because the circumstances that led to the women claiming severe emotional distress were unpredictable and “unimaginable.”

Public policy precludes the women from getting the money because their injuries were “too remote” from the alleged negligence, the three-judge panel said.

“Employers have no duty to supervise employees’ private conduct or to persistently scan the World Wide Web to ferret out potential employee misconduct,” Judge Michael Hoover wrote. “Were we to allow the plaintiffs’ claims to proceed, this expansion of liability would be limitless.”

The decision overturned a ruling by St. Croix Circuit Judge Eric Lundell in lawsuits filed in 2006 against Securitas Security Services, which provided security for a Polaris Industries ( PII – news – people ) plant in Osceola.

Attorneys for the women said the decision would be appealed.

According to court records, Troy Schmidt, the 35-year-old head of security for Securitas at the plant, had access on a Polaris computer to photographs of about 30 female workers that were used for make security badges.

Sometime in the spring or summer of 2005, he moved the pictures to a flash drive, printed them at his New Richmond home, defiled them and posted them on adult Web sites, including some he created, court records said.

In October 2005, a Polaris administrator was alerted that pictures of female employees similar to their security badges were on a pornography Web site, court records said. An investigation led to Schmidt, who had worked for Securitas since 1997, and he was fired.

Ten of the women sued, claiming they suffered severe emotional distress, including fear that someone was stalking them, because of Securitas’ negligence.

Following an eight-day trial, Lundell ruled Schmidt was liable for defamation and invasion of privacy and Securitas liable for negligent training and supervision. He also said the company should have done more to contact Internet providers to make sure the pictures were permanently removed.

The judge awarded each woman damages and costs, ranging from $76,653 to $335,768, court records said. Three women got the higher amount in part because of a hostile work environment at Polaris following the Schmidt incident, court records said.

In tossing aside Lundell’s ruling, the appeals court said Securitas did nothing wrong in not monitoring Schmidt’s access to Polaris’ employee photos.

“In contrast to social security numbers and other personal information, it was not reasonably foreseeable that unsupervised access to photographs would result in harm,” Hoover wrote. “It would be an understatement to say Schmidt’s actions were bizarre and unexpected. Schmidt’s actions were unimaginable.”

Warren Brandt, the attorney for three of the women, called Tuesday’s ruling horrible and an injustice.

“It was a very tragic case and any significant review of the facts will show, in my opinion, unethical behavior in the protection of corporate interests over the victims’ interests as employees,” he said.

The victims looked to the law for a remedy and it has now failed them, he said.

Matthew Biegert, the attorney for other seven, said it was unlikely all the pictures had been removed from the Internet, which Schmidt posted on multiple sites.

“He invited people to download the pictures. We don’t know how many people viewed them or how many took him up on his offer,” the attorney said.

Susan Schellinger, an attorney for Securitas, said the company, which had given Schmidt training regarding sexual harassment and employee theft, was happy with ruling.

“How can an employer be responsible for what you are doing in the basement of your home?” she asked.

According to court records, Osceola police had investigated Schmidt and referred the matter to the district attorney, who determined “there was no prosecutable crime.” A telephone listing for a Troy Schmidt in New Richmond had an unpublished number, and he could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.