Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/739/1102/453882/
Timestamp: 2020-07-14 13:57:31
Document Index: 777193277

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1981', '§ 2000', '§ 1981', '§ 1983', '§ 1981', 'art, 705', '§ 1983', '§ 1981']

35 Fair Empl.prac.cas. 349,34 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,514sammie J. Rodgers, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Fisher Body Division, General Motors Corporation, Defendant-appellant, 739 F.2d 1102 (6th Cir. 1984) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Sixth Circuit › 1984 › 35 Fair Empl.prac.cas. 349,34 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,514sammie J. Rodgers, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Fis...
35 Fair Empl.prac.cas. 349,34 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,514sammie J. Rodgers, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Fisher Body Division, General Motors Corporation, Defendant-appellant, 739 F.2d 1102 (6th Cir. 1984)
US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit - 739 F.2d 1102 (6th Cir. 1984) Argued Nov. 16, 1983. Decided July 13, 1984
Defendant Fisher Body Division, General Motors Corporation (General Motors), appeals from a judgment entered in an employment discrimination suit. 575 F. Supp. 12 (W.D. Mich. 1982). Suit was brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f) et seq., Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Plaintiff waived his Title VII claims at the close of the case. The plaintiff, Sammie J. Rodgers, a black man, asserted that General Motors intentionally discriminated against him because of his race. The jury awarded plaintiff $300,000 compensatory and $500,000 punitive damages.
The Court has considered the claims of error raised by the defendant. Because of its concern with the size of the verdict, the Court also, sua sponte, has considered errors which were not preserved at trial and which General Motors has not raised on appeal. The Court finds this to be "one of those uncommon occasions when unpreserved trial court error would result in grave injustice if allowed to stand." Grice v. J. Ray McDermott and Co., Inc., 465 F.2d 486, 488 (5th Cir. 1972). Therefore, for the reasons hereinafter stated, the Court will order that the cause be remanded for new trial solely on the issues of compensatory and punitive damages.
In this appeal, the defendant presented four issues in its initial appellate brief and five issues in its reply brief. These can be summarized as follows: (1) whether plaintiff established a prima facie case of discriminatory treatment under either 42 U.S.C. § 1981 or Title VII; (2) whether plaintiff's counsel made improper inflammatory remarks during closing arguments; (3) whether the District Court erred in, "instructing the jury that they could decide whether defendant breached the collective bargaining contract where the issue of breach had already been decided adversely to plaintiff in the contract's exclusive grievance procedure"; (4) whether the District Court erred in ruling that an employer may be held vicariously liable for punitive damages of $500,000 for the actions of its relatively low level supervisors; (5) whether the damages awarded are excessive. In its arguments regarding excessive damages, defendant focused upon the lack of significant evidence of mental distress and upon claimed error related to the punitive damages award. For the reasons stated below, the Court finds no merit in defendant's first four claims of error. Regarding the fifth claim, although the Court agrees that damages are excessive, the reasons for the Court's finding of excessiveness are, for the most part, different from those which defendant has asserted.
Defendant, in asserting that plaintiff did not establish a prima facie case, stated that plaintiff had not shown systematic discrimination against minorities, an environment of discrimination, or a history of discrimination at the Lansing plant. However, because this is a disparate treatment rather than a disparate impact case, such proof is not required. Plaintiff met his burden of establishing the prima facie case as first articulated in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S. Ct. 1817, 36 L. Ed. 2d 668 (1973).
The Supreme Court has recently held that prior arbitration decisions brought pursuant to the terms of a collective bargaining agreement are not to be given preclusive effect in subsequent actions under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. McDonald v. City of West Branch, Michigan, --- U.S. ----, 104 S. Ct. 1799, 80 L. Ed. 2d 302 (1984). The rationale for the Supreme Court's ruling applies equally in suits, such as this one, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1981.
The Court now considers the troubling issue of the excessiveness of the verdict. All the federal circuits today agree that there should be appellate supervision of the size of jury verdicts. 6A Moore's Federal Practice p 59.08 (2d ed. 1981). In determining whether a verdict is so excessive that appellate review is proper, the Court must find the verdict to be "shocking" or to manifest "plain injustice." Bauer v. Norris, 713 F.2d 408 (8th Cir. 1983); Zarcone v. Perry, 572 F.2d 52 (2nd Cir. 1978); Williams v. Steuart Motor Co., 494 F.2d 1074 (D.C. Cir. 1974). Before an appellate court reverses on the basis of excessive damages, it must make a detailed appraisal of the evidence bearing on damages. Grunenthal v. Long Island R. Co., 393 U.S. 156, 89 S. Ct. 331, 21 L. Ed. 2d 309 (1968).
It is settled law in this Circuit that an award of future damages must be reduced to present value in order to take into account the earning power of the money. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. v. Kelly, 241 U.S. 485, 36 S. Ct. 630, 60 L. Ed. 1117 (1916); Petition of United States Steel Corp., 436 F.2d 1256, 1280 (6th Cir. 1970), cert. denied sub nom. Lamp v. U.S. Steel Corp., 402 U.S. 987, 91 S. Ct. 1649, 29 L. Ed. 153, rehearing denied 403 U.S. 924, 91 S. Ct. 2227, 29 L. Ed. 2d 703 and 403 U.S. 940, 91 S. Ct. 2247, 29 L. Ed. 2d 720 (1971), appeal after remand 479 F.2d 489, cert. denied 414 U.S. 859, 94 S. Ct. 71, 38 L. Ed. 2d 110 (1973).
The proposed jury instructions of neither defendant nor plaintiff included a charge which stated that an award of future damages must be reduced to present value. Neither plaintiff nor defendant objected to the court's instructions on compensatory damages. Ordinarily, such failure means that a reviewing court will not consider the error below. Fed. R. Civ. P. 51; 5A Moore's Federal Practice p 51.03-.04. Defendant has not raised this issue on appeal. The Court, however, has discretion to consider these erroneous instructions regarding compensatory damages if it finds the instructions to have been "plain error." Grice v. J. Ray McDermott and Co., Inc., 465 F.2d 486 (5th Cir. 1972); Fed.R.Ev. 103(d), 10 Moore's Federal Practice Sec. 103.41. In O'Brien v. Willys Motors, Inc., 385 F.2d 163 (6th Cir. 1967), this Court quoted with approval a statement by the Supreme Court concerning when such appellate review is proper: "In exceptional circumstances, ... appellate courts, in the public interest may, of their own motion, notice errors to which no exception has been taken, if the errors are obvious, or if they otherwise seriously affect the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings." United States v. Atkinson, 297 U.S. 157, 160, 56 S. Ct. 391, 392, 80 L. Ed. 555 (1936). The error in question here was obvious and it affected the fairness and integrity of the judicial process in that it was undoubtedly to some degree responsible for a shockingly large verdict. When an appellate court determines that the jury did not have before it a correct statement of the law regarding damages, it can remand solely for a redetermination of damages. Crador v. Boh Brothers, Inc., 473 F.2d 1040 (5th Cir. 1973); cf. Grimm v. Leinart, 705 F.2d 179 (6th Cir. 1983), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S. Ct. 1415, 79 L. Ed. 2d 741 (1984).
She did this by determining the difference between plaintiff's actual salary and the salary, including overtime, which Mr. Bodary, the successful candidate for the permanent plant guard position, testified that he has received annually during the same years. She next added "15 percent at least" for fringe benefits and a figure for interest. She then suggested that "future interest" would have to be projected for 13 years, until the time of plaintiff's retirement at age 65. Apparently, plaintiff's counsel meant future income based on the difference between plaintiff's General Motors income and the income he might receive for the next 13 years from his present employer. The $220,770 figure thus includes future damages which were not reduced to present value. For a critical comment on this procedure, see Ballantine v. Central R.R. of New Jersey, 460 F.2d 540 (3rd Cir.), cert. denied 409 U.S. 879, 93 S. Ct. 133, 34 L. Ed. 2d 133 (1972). It is apparent that plaintiff's counsel's chalkboard calculations had an effect on the jury. During its deliberations the jury requested "the blackboard with the figures for compensatory damages." The court denied this request, stating that the blackboard and the figures thereon were not evidence in the case. It was plain error for the court not to instruct on reducing future damages (loss of income) to present value.
Furthermore, in the case of an injury of an economic nature, the injured party is to be placed, as nearly as possible, in the position he would have been in had the wrong not occurred. Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 95 S. Ct. 2362, 45 L. Ed. 2d 280 (1975). The amount of damages necessary to compensate a plaintiff for the deprivation of his constitutional rights is a question of fact and therefore should not be reversed on appeal unless the lower court's determination is clearly erroneous. Busche v. Burkee, 649 F.2d 509 (7th Cir. 1981). Although juries are thus accorded great discretion in determining the amount of damage awards, damages must be proved; they must not be speculative. Bigelow v. RKO Radio Pictures, 327 U.S. 251, 66 S. Ct. 574, 90 L. Ed. 652 (1946); Rhoades v. Boren, 486 F.2d 132 (5th Cir. 1973).
In Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247, 263-64, 98 S. Ct. 1042, 1052-53, 55 L. Ed. 2d 252 (1978), an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Supreme Court stated:
This Court has said that " [o]nce a violation of civil rights is found, a plaintiff may recover for out-of-pocket expenses and emotional distress, but there must be sufficient evidence to support such a finding." Morrow v. Igleburger, 584 F.2d 767, 769 (6th Cir. 1978) cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1118, 99 S. Ct. 1027, 59 L. Ed. 2d 78, reh. denied, 440 U.S. 931, 99 S. Ct. 1271, 59 L. Ed. 2d 489 (1979).
Plaintiff's evidence of mental distress is too slight to support a sizeable damages award for the intangible injury of mental harm. While jurors might easily infer that going on welfare and losing one's car would cause emotional distress, plaintiff has not demonstrated his mental distress with the specificity required by Carey v. Piphus. The jury did not have sufficient evidence to place a high dollar value on plaintiff's emotional harm. See Woods-Drake v. Lundy, 667 F.2d 1198 (5th Cir. 1982); Room v. Caribe Hilton Hotel, 659 F.2d 5 (1st Cir. 1981); Busche v. Burkee, 649 F.2d 509 (7th Cir. 1981).
The plaintiff sought $500,000 in punitive damages, and the jury awarded him this amount. In Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, 421 U.S. 454, 95 S. Ct. 1716, 44 L. Ed. 2d 295 (1975) the Supreme Court held that a plaintiff who establishes a cause of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 is entitled under certain circumstances to punitive damages.
Defendant asserts that the District Court's instructions on punitive damages amount to plain error, that to justify an award of punitive damages there must be an aggravating element beyond the facts necessary to establish a Sec. 1981 violation. The district court's instructions on punitive damages are based on Fifth Circuit pattern instructions. In its proposed jury instructions, defendant submitted instructions on punitive damages which were more detailed than the rather brief and general Fifth Circuit instructions which the court used. The instructions given were, however, in accord with Restatement 2d of Torts definition of punitive damages (Sec. 908). See also Smith v. Wade, --- U.S. ----, 103 S. Ct. 1625, 75 L. Ed. 2d 632 (1983). The instructions of the trial court properly stated that the jury had discretion to impose punitive damages against defendant as punishment for the acts of its agents and for the purpose of deterrence. Statements by the court and by plaintiff's counsel that the financial resources of defendant could be considered in fixing the amount of damages were also proper.
The same standard applies to appellate review for excessiveness of punitive as of compensatory damages: "Whether the award is so high as to shock the judicial conscience and constitute a denial of justice." Zarcone v. Perry, 572 F.2d 52 (2nd Cir. 1978). Appellate courts can properly reverse the punitive damages award as part of their general supervision of the size of jury verdicts. 6A Moore's Federal Practice p 59.08 (2d Ed.1981).
It is likely that the errors which tainted the compensatory award also affected the jury in its determination of punitive damages. While punitive damages may stand independently of compensatory, here the two are sufficiently interwoven that the interests of justice require that both issues be retried. See Fury Imports, Inc. v. Shakespeare Co., 554 F.2d 1376 (5th Cir. 1977). Both punitive and compensatory damages awards are so excessive as to suggest that the verdicts were reached in an improvident manner. Fountila v. Carter, 571 F.2d 487 (9th Cir. 1978).