Opinion ID: 433073
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Immunity of State

Text: 46 The trial below was on the bifurcated issue of liability, with damages to be determined, if liability was thereby found, in subsequent proceedings. The district court found, inter alia, that the state Department was presumptively liable for back pay to a redefined subclass of black applicants to the positions at issue who were discriminated against by failing or by the Department's other use of the written examinations between March 24, 1972 (when Title VII became applicable to the States) and December 1, 1976 (when the state defendants ceased using the examinations results for employment purposes). Walls, 542 F.Supp. at 316. 47 On appeal, the state Department re-urges an immunity defense to the back-pay claim, which was raised in the trial court; it was not passed upon by the district court, probably because the court felt that consideration of this issue properly awaited determination in the damages phase of the litigation. The immunity defense raised was based upon the EEOC guidelines in effect at all times pertinent to this litigation, 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1607.9 (1970), which authorized provisional use of tests, pending new validation efforts, in certain very limited circumstances. Albemarle Paper Company v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 436, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 2380, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975). 48 The limited issue posed by the state Department's contention, raised in this appeal from a determination of liability vel non only, is whether by reason of 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1607.9 (1970), it is totally immune for back pay to claimants aggrieved by the discriminatory examination process between March 24, 1972 and December 1, 1976. The cited guideline, Sec. 1607.9, 14 authorizes provisional use of tests as to which (a) there is substantial evidence of validity and (b) there are in progress validation procedures. Here, construed most favorably (for present purposes) to the state Department, as found by the district court, the Department's merit system director was aware as early as 1971 that the tests had a disparate effect on blacks, 15 but not until May 1973 did the Department contact federal officials regarding a validation study. 16 Walls, 542 F.Supp. at 292. 49 On the record before us, therefore, we cannot say that the district court erred in failing to reach the Sec. 1607.9 immunity issue (rather, deferring its resolution until the damage (back-pay) phase of the trial). Pretermitting other reasons, the evidence shows, as found by the district court, that not until May 1973 were attempts at validation proceedings arguably set in motion by the state Department as to the tests it utilized for appointment purposes that, to its knowledge since 1971, had discriminatory impact upon black applicants. Under the showing so far made, thus, the state Department could not as to examination-infected appointments made prior to at least May 1973 claim any good-faith reliance, Sec. 713 of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-12, upon the EEOC guideline, 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1607.9, which, inter alia, requires as justification for provisional use of unvalidated tests that there are in progress validation procedures which are designed to produce, within a reasonable time, the additional data required. Id. 50 Accordingly, we, like the district court, do not find it necessary to reach the state Department's Sec. 1607.9 defense at this stage of the litigation. III. Certificates of Eligibility 51 The use of subjective criteria to evaluate employees in hiring is analyzed, not under the disparate impact model, but instead under the disparate treatment model. Vuyanich v. Republic National Bank of Dallas, 723 F.2d 1195, 1201-02 (5th Cir.1984); Carroll v. Sears, Roebuck & Company, 708 F.2d 183, 188 (5th Cir.1983). To prove disparate treatment, the plaintiffs must prove discriminatory intent and demonstrate more than the mere occurrence of isolated or accidental or sporadic discriminatory acts. International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 336, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1855, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977); Carroll, supra, 708 F.2d at 190. The plaintiffs are therefore required to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that racial discrimination was the Mississippi department's standard operating procedure--the regular rather than the unusual practice. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, supra, 431 U.S. at 336, 97 S.Ct. at 1855. 52 The district court found ample evidence of intentional discrimination in the Mississippi Department's procedure of subjective selection of appointees from the certificates of five test-ranked eligibles provided for each vacancy. 53 Discriminatory intent may be established by either direct or circumstantial evidence. Page v. U.S. Industries, Inc., 726 F.2d 1038, 1045 (5th Cir.1984). Statistical evidence may be used in a disparate treatment case to prove both motive and a pattern or practice of racial discrimination if gross statistical disparities in the composition of an employer's work force can be shown. Pouncy v. Prudential Insurance Company of America, 668 F.2d 795, 802 (5th Cir.1982). To the extent that statistical proof is not sufficiently strong, the plaintiff's prima facie case cannot be made without additional evidence of the defendant's intentional discrimination. Id.; Vuyanich, supra, 723 F.2d at 1201-02. 54 In the present case, the trial court considered a statistical analysis performed by the plaintiffs' expert statistician, Dr. Peter Kolesar, together with evidence of the paucity of blacks employed in the contested positions, and the anecdotal evidence of eight black individuals who had unsuccessfully applied for Department positions. Walls, supra, 542 F.Supp. at 314. The court found that the plaintiffs successfully made out a prima facie case upon proof that the state Department treated some people less favorably than others because of their race, and that the defendants had not successfully shown that the statistics relied on by the plaintiffs were either inaccurate or insignificant. Walls, supra, 542 F.Supp. at 315; see also International Brotherhood of Teamsters, supra, 431 U.S. at 335 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. at 1854-55, n. 15. 55 The statistical proof adduced at trial amply portrays gross disparities between black and white hiring. On mixed certificates of eligibility, 37% of whites appearing were hired, while 18% of blacks were offered employment. On all-white certificates, 78.4% of the applicants were appointed, compared to only 35.7% on all-black certificates. Walls, supra, 542 F.Supp. at 314. 17 56 Moreover, the court did not limit its inquiry to the statistical data, but combined that with both historical and anecdotal evidence to draw a composite picture of the racial biases manifest from the subjective selections by county directors from certificates of eligibles. 57 We find, therefore, that the district court was not clearly erroneous in finding that the totality of evidence indicates that the state Department subjected applicants to disparate treatment in violation of Title VII in making selections from certificates of eligibles. IV. Federal Liability for Back Pay 58 In addition to supporting the private plaintiffs' arguments in II and III, supra, the United States as cross-appellee further contends that the district court properly rejected the state Department's argument that the federal defendants should pay from federal funds part or all of any back pay awarded to the private plaintiffs. The district court found that the United States was as much at fault in encouraging the use of its tests as were the state officials in accepting the federal examinations at face value, yet the doctrine of sovereign immunity precludes any judgment for monetary relief against the federal defendants. By their appeal, the state Department contests this holding. 59 The United States has waived its sovereign immunity under Title VII only where there is a direct employer-employee relationship or where an application for employment with a federal agency is involved. Sec. 717, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-16(a). Although back pay awards are payable by the employer, Sec. 706, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(g), the United States is explicitly excluded from the Title VII definition of an employer, Sec. 701, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e(b), and thus from Title VII liability to employees other than of its own agencies, regardless of its role in partially funding the state welfare program. (The district court found that about 75% of the state Department's funding is received from federal sources. Walls, 542 F.Supp. at 286.) 60 The state Department, which unsuccessfully sought federal contribution in the district court upon another theory, now suggests two other bases for requiring federal contribution: (a) the negligent breach of a supervisory duty, citing Block v. Neal, 460 U.S. 289, 103 S.Ct. 1089, 75 L.Ed.2d 67 (1983) (Gray brief, filed April 18, 1983, pp. 15-18), which concerned the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. Secs. 2671-80; and (b) the breach of an implied contract of which the private plaintiffs are third party beneficiaries, by reason of which, it is argued, The Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1346 affords jurisdiction (Red brief, filed February 25, 1983, pp. 45-48.) Without detailed discussion, we will simply state, as to (a), no supervisory duty is shown by the evidence (aside from other reasons to reject this belatedly advanced claim), and, as to (b), the evidence fails to show any express or implied contract between the United States and the state Department that would give rise, upon its breach, to a claim against the United States for back wages to the state Department's employees, in the face of the cited provisions of Title VII that exclude such liability. See Army and Air Force Exchange Service v. Sheehan, 456 U.S. 728, 102 S.Ct. 2118, 2124-26, 72 L.Ed.2d 520 (1982). 61 V. The Denial of the Statutory Remedy of the United States 62 On its appeal, the United States contends that the district court erred in refusing, on an unclean hands theory, Walls, 542 F.Supp. at 314, 316, to grant its prayer for equitable retroactive relief, sought by the United States pursuant to statutory authority. 63 As noted earlier, consolidated with the 1973 suit by the private plaintiffs is the 1975 suit by the United States, alleging the same discriminatory practices of the state defendants and seeking the same relief. The public action was brought by the Attorney General on behalf of the United States, as authorized by statute, Title VII, Sec. 707(e), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-6(e) (1976). As the district court recognized, the United States is ordinarily entitled to recover back pay and other retroactive equitable relief for victims of discrimination, when it prevails in a Title VII pattern and practice suit. United States v. Georgia Power Company, 474 F.2d 906, 919 (5th Cir.1973). In such pattern and practice public actions, the standards for awarding retroactive relief are the same as the standards developed in the jurisprudence awarding such remedy against private employers for the same discriminatory conduct. International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 363-67, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1868-71, 52 L.Ed.2d 396. Thus, as held in one of its decisions there cited by the Court, Albermarle Paper Company v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 421, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 2373, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975), 64 given a finding of unlawful discrimination, backpay should be denied only for reasons which, if applied generally, would not frustrate the central statutory purposes of eradicating discrimination throughout the economy and making persons whole for injuries suffered through past discrimination. 65 In Albermarle, the Supreme Court also noted the appellate court's role in reviewing back pay awards or denials: The courts of appeals must maintain a consistent and principled application of the back pay provision, consonant with the twin statutory objectives [eradicating discrimination and making discriminatees whole], while at the same time recognizing that the trial court will often have the keener appreciation of those facts and circumstances peculiar to particular cases. Id. 66 The district court, while recognizing these principles, held that the government should not recover equitable retroactive relief (which seems essentially to concern back pay for discriminatees) because it did not come into court with clean hands, Walls, 542 F.Supp. at 314, because it was a source of examination materials used and was as much at fault in encouraging the use of its tests as were the state officials in accepting the federal examinations at face value. Id. The district court also determined that back pay relief for discriminatees aggrieved at the certificate of eligibles stage was unnecessary because the rights of these individuals will be adequately protected by private plaintiffs in the companion suit. 542 F.Supp. at 316. 67 On its appeal, the United States argues that the district court erred in denying it the retroactive equitable relief it was statutorily entitled to obtain on behalf of victims aggrieved by a pattern and practice of discrimination. The United States concedes that essentially the same equitable retroactive relief it seeks will be awardable in the private plaintiffs' class action, under the district court's holdings (that we affirm). To some extent, then, the issue is pragmatically merely academic. Nevertheless, the government argues, it should not be denied the statutory remedy to which it is entitled in this regard--admitting that no greater (or double) recovery can eventuate--, if only to insure that full relief for all victims of discrimination would be available in the government's suit if, for some reason, relief in the class action proved inadequate. (Blue brief, filed Jan. 12, 1983, p. 25). 68 The United States' legal position is well-founded. Under well-settled doctrine, the United States cannot be estopped from enforcing a public right or protecting a public interest by the prior actions or neglect of its officers or employees that assent to what the law does not sanction or permit. Hicks v. Harris, 606 F.2d 65, 68-69 (5th Cir.1979) (citing many decisions). The broad statutory purposes of Title VII in authorizing the United States by public actions to end patterns and practices of discrimination and to secure redress for victims thereof cannot, under this doctrine, be forfeited, and the victims of discrimination prejudiced, by the unclean hands of federal employees who allegedly contributed to the discriminatory practices and injuries. 69 Accordingly, the district court erred in denying the United States the right to obtain retroactive equitable relief in its Title VII suit, and its judgment will be in that regard reversed. VI. Injunction Against the United States 70 The United States also appeals the injunction against it entered on the cross-claim and counterclaim of the state defendants by which specified federal agencies were enjoined (1) to withdraw as a mandatory selective device the use of unvalidated written examinations, and (2) to furnish financial, technical, and advisory assistance to the state defendants as may be necessary to re-establish valid minimum requirements for the contested positions, Walls, 542 F.Supp. at 316. The United States appeals both aspects of injunctive relief ordered against it. 71 As to (1)(Withdrawal of mandatory use of written examinations): 72 The record shows that the use of written examinations for employment selection in federally-financed state welfare agencies has not been required since 1970. 542 F.Supp. at 293. The record does not show that reimposition of this former requirement is contemplated. In fact, the testing requirement had been withdrawn some eleven years prior to entry of the injunction against the United States in 1982. 73 Ordinarily, a court may not enjoin conduct that is neither threatened nor imminent. Congress of Racial Equality v. Douglas, 318 F.2d 95, 100 (5th Cir.1963). While the court's power to grant injunctive relief may survive discontinuance of the illegal conduct in order to prevent future wrongdoing, United States v. W.T. Grant Co., 345 U.S. 629, 633, 73 S.Ct. 894, 897-98, 97 L.Ed. 1303 (1953), the necessary determination is that there exists some cognizable danger of recurrent violation, something more than the mere possibility. Id. 74 Under the showing made that the United States had abandoned the mandatory requirement now enjoined even prior to the present litigation, and in the total absence in the record of any threat of a recurrence of mandating the requirement, the district court, in our opinion, abused its discretion by granting the  'stringent judicial remedy of injunctive relief'  against reimposition of a long-abandoned federal requirement. See Meltzer v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange County, 548 F.2d 559, 568 (5th Cir.1977), on reh. 577 F.2d 311 (5th Cir.1978) (en banc), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1089, 99 S.Ct. 872, 59 L.Ed.2d 56 (1979). 75 As to (2) (Injunction requiring federal agencies to assist in development of new selection procedures): 76 The district court also enjoined the federal Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture, and the Chairman of the federal Civil Service Commission, to furnish to appropriate state officials such financial, technical, and advisory assistance as may be necessary to establish valid, minimum requirements for the contested positions. The United States contends that the district court's equity powers could not, under the circumstances shown, be so exercised. 77 In General Building Contractors Association v. Pennsylvania, 458 U.S. 375, 102 S.Ct. 3141, 73 L.Ed.2d 835 (1982), decided subsequent to the present district court's order below, the Court had before it an injunction issued by a district court under its traditional equitable powers that required some defendant contractors and trade associations to contribute to the costs of a remedial decree. The racial discrimination that was found related to hiring practices and apprenticeship programs conducted by a labor union in connection with furnishing employees for the codefendant employers. The defendant employer parties, however, had themselves been free of liability for damages arising out of racial discrimination. In reversing the issuance of the injunction, the Court found that the district court's equity powers could not support ... the imposition of injunctive relief against a party found not to have violated any substantive rights of respondents. 458 U.S. at 399, 102 S.Ct. at 3154. 78 The Court noted that its jurisprudence had recognized  'fundamental limitations on the remedial powers of the federal courts' , and that such powers could be exercised only on the basis of a violation of the law and could extend no further than required by the nature and extent of the violation. Id. The Court framed the question before it: The issue before us, therefore, is whether a party not subject to liability for violating the law may nonetheless be assessed a proportionate share of the costs of implementing a decree to assure nondiscriminatory practices on the part of another party which was properly enjoined. 458 U.S. at 398, 102 S.Ct. at 3154. 79 The Court concluded that [a]bsent a supportable finding of liability, we see no basis for requiring the employers or the associations to aid either in paying for the cost of the remedial program as a whole or in establishing and administering the training programs. 458 U.S. at 400, 102 S.Ct. at 3155. 80 The holding in General Building Contractors is determinative of the issue before us. We have previously affirmed the present district court's holding that the United States and the federal defendants could not under Title VII be held liable to contribute to remedial back-pay awards that may be assessed against the state Department employer, see Part IV of this opinion supra, and the same reasoning likewise prevents imposition under Title VII of federal liability for other remedial measures ordered of the state parties as employing agencies. Thus no supportable basis exists for the federal parties' liability under Title VII, nor is any such basis of liability shown as based upon any other statute or regulation. The requirement that the federal parties contribute to the remedial costs to be incurred by the state employing agencies, therefore, just as that imposed by the district court in General Building Contractors, essentially rests upon the traditional equitable powers of the district court. 81 So based, the injunction cannot stand. Under General Building Contractors, a party not substantively liable for discrimination cannot be required to contribute to the costs of implementing a decree to assure nondiscriminatory practices on the part of another party. Accordingly, we reverse the injunctive decree against the federal agencies in these respects also. VII. Costs and Attorneys' Fees 82 The United States also appeals the district court's order that the federal defendants be held jointly and severally liable with the state defendants for the private plaintiffs' costs and attorneys' fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2412(a) and (b). 18 The statute authorizes such an award to a prevailing party in any civil action brought by or against the United States unless the court finds that the position of the United States was substantially justified or that special circumstances make an award unjust. Id. Pretermitting whether the private plaintiffs prevailed against the United States, we nonetheless find that attorneys' fees and costs were improperly assessed against the federal defendants under the Equal Access to Justice Act. 83 The Act directs that attorneys' fees and costs shall be awarded against the United States to a prevailing party unless the government's position ... was substantially justified. Whether the government's position is its litigation posture only or instead includes also its prelitigation actions--a test as to which this circuit has as yet taken no position, see Knights of the Ku Klux Klan v. East Baton Rouge School Board, 679 F.2d 64, 68 (5th Cir.1982), and which we need not here decide--the United States' position was substantially justified and prevents the imposition of attorneys' fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. 84 In the suit brought by the United States, it essentially prevailed in obtaining declaratory and injunctive relief in ending discriminatory practices by the state defendants. In the suit by the private plaintiffs, the federal defendants were added to the litigation as necessary parties by order of the court. Throughout the litigation, the private plaintiffs have never sought relief against the federal defendants. Even had the state defendants been afforded any relief against the United States, the United States' position resisting state-sought liability on novel theories could not be characterized other than as substantially justified. 85 We reverse, therefore, the order of the district court that held the federal defendants jointly and severally liable for costs, including attorneys' fees and expenses, with the state defendants.