In June 2010, David Jones, a major Australian retailer, terminated its contract with its CEO Mark McInnes after claims that he had acted inappropriately with a female staff member. The company brought the issue into the media spotlight, and then quickly acted to recontain it, as it was escalating into the largest sexual harassment claim in Australian courts to date. This case is an exemplar of conflict escalation and subsequent recontainment of the issues. Using public documents detailing the events of the affair from onset to conclusion, the case is analysed using Boltanski's affair model as a structure for systematically exploring the conflict process, and in particular the containment of potentially damaging issues. Aspects of the process are explored, including claims and resources used by players to improve their cases. Findings reveal that David Jones remained focused on the disputes as personal and between central players, which deflected attention from organisational factors. Although recontainment was achieved, the study shows that the focus on the personal created a significant risk of the claim re-emerging. Its value lies in highlighting processes that are useful in exacerbating or containing a conflict and highlighting some of the implications for players, including for the organisation. Keywords: organisational conflict, containment, process, public cases, David Jones