Opinion ID: 170360
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidence Before the District Court

Text: Before we address whether there is sufficient evidence of retaliation to withstand summary judgment, we must first decide what evidence we will consider in making that determination. See Myers v. Okla. County Bd. of County Comm'rs, 151 F.3d 1313, 1319 (10th Cir.1998) (In reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we do not consider materials not before the district court.). In her motion in opposition to summary judgment, Ms. Fye pointed to a laundry list of evidence in the record to support her claim of retaliation. On appeal, however, she limits her argument to four specific pieces of evidence: (1) the March 6 termination letter Mr. Daxon wrote to Ms. Fye; (2) a portion of the transcript from Mr. Daxon's deposition, in which he stated that although he viewed Ms. Fye's March 4 letter as an act of insubordination, it was not necessarily a sufficient act of insubordination to justify terminating her employment; (3) the OCC's position statement to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) dated May 27 (May 27 statement); and (4) a portion of a letter dated May 23 from the OCC to the OESC responding to Ms. Fye's request for unemployment benefits (May 23 letter).
[1, 2] Although our review of the record is de novo, we conduct that review from the perspective of the district court at the time it made its ruling, ordinarily limiting our review to the materials adequately brought to the attention of the district court by the parties. Adler v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 144 F.3d 664, 671 (10th Cir.1998). We have previously explained the special importance of bringing supportive facts to the attention of the district court in an employment discrimination case. Because of the sheer volume of the record in such cases, a party cannot expect the district court to comb the record and make the party's case for it. See id. at 672. Although the document containing the May 27 statement was in the summary judgment record, the lone reference to it is in a string cite in the fact section of Ms. Fye's motion opposing summary judgment. Moreover, the portion of the document cited in the fact section does not even include the May 27 statement she now relies upon. In her two subsequent motions for reconsideration she again failed to bring the statement to the District Court's attention. Not surprisingly then, the District Court did not consider it when ruling on her motions. See id. (The district court has discretion to go beyond the referenced portions of [the record], but is not required to do so.). Ms. Fye had three opportunities to tie this statement to her pretext and retaliatory motive arguments and offers no explanation for why she neglected to do so. Consequently, we decline to consider the May 27 statement.
The May 23 letter was not included in the summary judgment record. Ms. Fye first brought it to the District Court's, attention in her second motion for reconsideration, [2] which was filed nearly two years after the District Court made its initial summary judgment ruling. The District Court denied Ms. Fye's motion, a ruling we review for an abuse of discretion. See Price v. Philpot, 420 F.3d 1158, 1167 & n. 9 (10th Cir.2005). We will not disturb the District Court's decision unless we have a definite and firm conviction that the lower court made a clear error of judgment or exceeded the bounds of permissible choice in the circumstances. Brown v. Presbyterian Healthcare Servs., 101 F.3d 1324, 1331 (10th Cir.1996) (quotation omitted). [3] Ms. Fye concedes that the May 23 letter was in her possession from the commencement of the lawsuit and is not newly discovered evidence. Nevertheless, she neglected to include it in the summary judgment record. On November 11, 2004, the District Court granted the OCC's motion for summary judgment on the retaliation claim. On May 24, 2006, Ms. Fye filed her first motion for reconsideration, in which she argued that the March 6 termination letter was either direct or circumstantial evidence of retaliatory intent sufficient to withstand summary judgment. The District Court reviewed the evidence of retaliation and denied the motion. On August 30, 2006, Ms. Fye filed a second motion for reconsideration, arguing that the May 23 letter, when viewed together with the March 6 letter, raised a genuine issue of material fact as to retaliatory intent. This time, the District Court declined the invitation to review its prior ruling, stating that, under the circumstances, considerations of fairness and judicial economy clearly outweigh Plaintiffs interest in getting a second (or third) bite at the summary judgment apple. We cannot say that the District Court abused its discretion in denying Ms. Fye's second motion for reconsideration. The District Court could properly consider the fact that the motion was filed nearly two years after the court granted summary judgment, that Ms. Fye conceded she knew of the letter the entire time, and that the court had already reopened the inquiry several months earlier on Ms. Fye's first motion for reconsideration. Given these facts, the court's decision was not a clear error of judgment, nor did it exceed[] the bounds of permissible choice in the circumstances. Id. at 1331 (quotation omitted). Furthermore, because the District Court did not consider the May 23 letter, we also decline to consider the letter on appeal. We therefore proceed to review Ms. Fye's retaliation claim on the basis of the March 6 termination letter, as well as Mr. Daxon's deposition testimony.