Opinion ID: 196337
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Domina and McDonald's

Text: 14 The district court initially excluded, as incompetent, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e) (affidavits may be considered at summary judgment only if facts attested to are based on admissible evidence); Fed.R.Evid. 701, portions of the deposition testimony of six witnesses--the five Alexis family members and Karen Stauffer, an eyewitness to the events--each of whom opined, in effect, that had Alexis been a rich white woman, she would not have been treated in the same manner. The court found that the proffered testimony was not supported by sufficient factual undergirding to permit a reasonable inference that either Domina or McDonald's discriminated against Alexis on the basis of her race. The court nonetheless allowed Alexis further time to submit supplemental affidavits setting forth more particular grounds for the conclusory deposition testimony relating to racial animus. Alexis failed to do so. 15 Opinion testimony from lay witnesses is admissible only if it is rationally based on the perception of the witness and ... helpful to a clear understanding of the witness' testimony or the determination of the fact in issue. Fed.R.Evid. 701; see Swajian v. General Motors Corp., 916 F.2d 31, 36 (1st Cir.1990). Rulings on the admissibility of lay opinion testimony are reviewed only for manifest abuse of discretion. United States v. Jackman, 48 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir.1995) (citing Keller v. United States, 38 F.3d 16, 31 (1st Cir.1994)). The exclusionary ruling was well within the district court's broad discretion. 16 The six deponents based their inferences of racial animus on their personal observations that Domina reacted angrily toward Alexis and with a negative tone in her voice, was unfriendly, uncooperative, high strung, impolite, impatient, and had no reason to eject Alexis. Although these observations may be entirely compatible with a race-based animus, there simply is no foundation for an inference that Domina harbored a racial animus toward Alexis or anyone else, absent some probative evidence that Domina's petulance stemmed from something other than a race-neutral reaction to the stressful encounter plainly evidenced in the summary judgment record, including Alexis's persistence (however justified). As the depositions disclosed no evidentiary foundation for an inference of racial animus, the conclusory lay opinions were properly excluded. See Fed.R.Evid. 701(a); Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a); Willco Kuwait (Trading) S.A.K. v. deSavary, 843 F.2d 618, 624 (1st Cir.1988) (lay opinion testimony, which does little more than tell the jury what result to reach, should not be admitted); see also Connell v. Bank of Boston, 924 F.2d 1169, 1177-78 (1st Cir.) (lay opinion--that employer was  'determined to eliminate ... senior employees' --pointed to no specific facts sufficient to buttress such a broad assertion) (ADEA claim), cert. denied, 501 U.S. 1218, 111 S.Ct. 2828, 115 L.Ed.2d 997 (1991); cf. Gross v. Burggraf Constr. Co., 53 F.3d 1531, 1544 (10th Cir.1995) (determining inadmissible the lay opinion of co-worker that sexual harassment defendant had  'a problem with women who were not between the ages of 19 and 25 and who weighed more than 115 pounds' ); Coca-Cola Co. v. Overland, Inc., 692 F.2d 1250, 1254-55 (9th Cir.1982) (upholding exclusion of lay opinion testimony by bar and restaurant employees that customers used term Coke in generic sense). 17 As Alexis points to no competent evidence that Domina and McDonald's intentionally discriminated against her on account of her race, the district court correctly ruled that this section 1981 claim was not trialworthy. See Dartmouth Review, 889 F.2d at 18 ( 'Disputes generally arise out of mutual misunderstanding, misinterpretation and overreaction, and without more, such disputes do not give rise to an inference of discrimination.' ) (quoting Johnson v. Legal Servs. of Ark., Inc., 813 F.2d 893, 896 (8th Cir.1987)). Accordingly, the summary judgment entered in favor of Domina and McDonald's must be affirmed.