Opinion ID: 777341
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Summary Judgment on Mulhall's Title VII Retaliation Claim

Text: 31 We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. As we explained in Employers Insurance of Wausau v. Petroleum Specialties, Inc., 69 F.3d 98 (6th Cir. 1995): 32 The moving party need not support its motion with evidence disproving the nonmoving party's claim, but need only `show[]' — that is, point[] out to the district court — that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The pivotal question is whether the party bearing the burden of proof has presented a jury question as to each element of its case. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The plaintiff must present more than a mere scintilla of evidence in support of his position; the plaintiff must present evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the plaintiff. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The `mere possibility' of a factual dispute is not enough. Mitchell v. Toledo Hosp., 964 F.2d 577, 582 (6th Cir.1992) ( quoting Gregg v. Allen-Bradley Co., 801 F.2d 859, 863 (6th Cir.1986)). 33 Id. at 102 (parallel citations omitted). 34 We have held that, to establish a prima facie case of Title VII retaliation, a plaintiff must show that 1) plaintiff engaged in activity protected by Title VII; 2) plaintiff's exercise of his civil rights was known by the defendant; 3) that, thereafter, the defendant took an employment action adverse to the plaintiff; and 4) that there was a causal connection between the protected activity and the adverse employment action. EEOC v. Avery Dennison Corp., 104 F.3d 858, 860 (6th Cir.1997). See also Little v. BP Exploration & Oil Co., 265 F.3d 357, 363 (6th Cir.2001) (same); Allen v. Mich. Dep't of Corr., 165 F.3d 405, 412 (6th Cir.1999) (same). Cf. Thaddeus-X v. Blatter, 175 F.3d 378, 386-87 & n. 3 (6th Cir.1999) (en banc) (stating general test for retaliation claims and noting that the test is often stated as a four-prong test, treating the defendant's knowledge of the protected conduct as the fourth element). Summary judgment is proper where the plaintiff fails to present evidence sufficient to create a dispute of material fact with respect to an element of his retaliation claim. See, e.g., Allen, 165 F.3d at 413. 35 We agree with the district court's conclusion that Mulhall has failed to present sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could infer that Metcalfe and/or Ray knew that Henderson had listed him as a witness in her EEO complaint. On appeal, Mulhall argues that a wealth of compelling evidence establishes that Metcalfe and Ray had the opportunity to learn Mulhall was an EEO witness, Appellant's Br. at 3, and that [t]he trial court has, in effect, required Mulhall to produce direct proof of retaliation, id. at 5. But, Mulhall contends, the cases from this and other Circuits are clear that a jury question can be created for a retaliation claim based solely upon circumstantial evidence — i.e., temporal proximity and circumstances as a whole — as to the `causal connection' element of the claim. Id. at 22. 36 As the last statement indicates, Mulhall's argument on appeal largely ignores the knowledge prong of his Title VII case and focuses on the causal connection prong. The district court did not grant summary judgment to the defendants in the present case because it determined that a plaintiff may not meet his burden of creating an issue of material fact on the issue of a causal connection between his protected activity and the adverse employment action through circumstantial evidence. Temporal proximity, when coupled with other facts, may be sufficient in certain cases to establish the causal-connection prong in a Title VII case. See, e.g., Nguyen v. City of Cleveland, 229 F.3d 559, 567 (6th Cir.2000) (noting that there may be circumstances where evidence of temporal proximity alone would be sufficient to support the inference of a causal connection but that temporal proximity, without more, was insufficient in the case before the court). In the present case, however, the district court granted summary judgment because Mulhall failed to produce any direct or circumstantial evidence from which a reasonable jury could infer that Metcalfe and Ray knew or were aware of his protected activity. 37 In Fenton v. HiSAN, Inc., 174 F.3d 827 (6th Cir.1999), this court affirmed the grant of summary judgment where the plaintiff was unable to produce evidence sufficient to establish that the individuals charged with taking the adverse employment action knew of the protected activity. See id. at 832. The adverse action was the transfer of the plaintiff to the B shift. The HiSAN court held: 38 Although Fenton met with Rice and Don Turner, Rice's supervisor and the plant superintendent, she is unable to produce any evidence that the relevant management decision-makers who moved her to the B shift — Rebecca Shenk and John Miller — knew of her complaints ... when they decided to transfer her. Shenk testified that she was not informed of plaintiff's complaints until.... October 7, 1996 [four days after Fenton was informed of her transfer]. According to Miller's testimony, he and Shenk decided either on September 30 or October 1, 1996, that plaintiff ... was to be transferred to the B shift.... Therefore,... [plaintiff] has not met her burden of showing that her protected activity was known to those who made that decision. 39 Id. 40 The facts in the present case are similar. Metcalfe and Ray have testified that they did not know of Mulhall's protected activity when they took the adverse employment action. Beyer also testified that he did not know of Mulhall's protected activity and thus that he did not convey that information to either Metcalfe or Ray. Mulhall argues in response that none of these statements are credible, but he has failed to produce any evidence, direct or circumstantial, to rebut these denials. Mulhall offers only conspiratorial theories, not the specific facts required under the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. Cf. Visser v. Packer Eng'g Assocs., Inc., 924 F.2d 655, 659 (7th Cir.1991) (en banc) (holding that summary judgment was appropriate where the inferences plaintiff sought to draw from evidence were akin to flights of fancy, speculations, hunches, intuitions, or rumors about matters remote from [personal] experience). 41 In most Title VII retaliation cases, the plaintiff will be able to produce direct evidence that the decision making officials knew of the plaintiff's protected activity. 5 In many such cases, for example, the adverse action will be taken by the same supervisor to whom the plaintiff has made complaints in the past. But direct evidence of such knowledge or awareness is not required, and, as Mulhall correctly argues, a plaintiff may survive summary judgment by producing circumstantial evidence to establish this element of her claim. For example, Allen held that the plaintiff had put forward sufficient circumstantial evidence that his supervisor was aware of his protected activity (the filing of grievances, in that case) to establish this element of his claim. See 165 F.3d at 413. In Allen, the plaintiff and every other African American corrections officer in his cell block had been transferred. The plaintiff, however, was the only transferred officer to file a grievance complaining of the transfer, and he was the only transferred officer returned to the cell block. See id. Given that the supervisor took an action with respect to the plaintiff, other than the challenged adverse action, from which it could be inferred that the supervisor was aware of the plaintiff's grievance, we held that the plaintiff had met his burden on this element of his case. In contrast, Mulhall has not produced any evidence of other actions taken by Metcalfe and Ray, other than the challenged adverse action, from which a reasonable jury could infer that they knew that Mulhall had been listed as a witness in Henderson's complaint. 42 Similarly, in Polk v. Yellow Freight System, Inc., 876 F.2d 527, 531 (6th Cir.1989), we held that the plaintiff had presented sufficient evidence to support the inference that her employer knew of her protected activity (in that case, the plaintiff had visited the Michigan Department of Civil Rights to inquire about her rights) where plaintiff testified that her supervisor told her I know where you've been. Id. This statement was circumstantial evidence of the supervisor's knowledge in that the testimony itself did not establish that the supervisor knew of the plaintiff's protected activity, but a reasonable jury could infer from the testimony that the supervisor knew of the protected activity at issue. In the present case, Mulhall has not presented evidence of statements by Metcalfe or Ray from which a reasonable jury could infer that they knew of his protected activity. 43 In a similar vein, at least one district court has concluded that knowledge of a plaintiff's protected activity can be inferred from evidence of the prior interaction of individuals with such knowledge and those taking the adverse employment action. Kralowec v. Prince George's County, Maryland, 503 F.Supp. 985 (D.Md.1980), aff'd, 679 F.2d 883 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 872, 103 S.Ct. 159, 74 L.Ed.2d 132 (1982), held that the plaintiff had met her burden where she produced evidence that one county official knew of the plaintiff's complaint and that the prior interaction of that first official with the second official, who actually fired the plaintiff, made it highly improbable ... that [the first official] would not have discussed plaintiff's complaint with [the second official] as soon as [the first official] obtained this information. Id. at 1010. Kralowec, which Mulhall cites on appeal, is distinguishable from the present case, however, in that the first official actually participated in drafting the charges against the plaintiff that resulted in her discharge. See id. at 1009. Given this level of involvement by an official with knowledge of the protected activity, the complaint in that case, the inference that the official who actually decided to fire the plaintiff was eminently reasonable. Mulhall has never argued that Beyer actually participated in the adverse employment action in the present case; nor has Mulhall alleged facts of prior interactions between Beyer, on the one hand, and Metcalfe and Ray, on the other, that make it reasonable to infer that the former would discuss Mulhall's inclusion on Henderson's witness list as soon as [he] obtained this information. 44 Moreover, there was evidence in Kralowec that the first official actually knew of the plaintiff's complaint. See id. at 1009-10. Mulhall has not produced evidence that Beyer actually knew that Henderson had listed him as a witness. Even if we infer that Beyer saw Mulhall's name on the witness list when he photocopied Henderson's sworn statement, despite Beyer's deposition testimony to the contrary, in order to reverse the district court we would have to go further and infer that Beyer shared this information with Metcalfe and/or Ray. There is simply no evidence in the record, direct or circumstantial, to support such an inference, other than the adverse action itself. Mulhall, however, continues to assert that Beyer disseminated Mulhall's name, going so far as to claim that discovery has made this an even more realistic possibility. Appellant's Br. at 38. But this assertion is based on purported credibility issues and inconsistent statements by Beyer, not evidence of interactions between Beyer and the other FBI agents. See id. at 39-41. None of the inconsistencies pointed to by Mulhall point toward the conclusion either that Beyer knew that Mulhall was on the witness list or that Beyer informed Metcalfe and Ray of that fact. 45 In sum, the district court did not err in concluding that Mulhall has failed to produce evidence sufficient to establish that the officials taking the adverse employment action knew of his protected activity. Mulhall has not produced direct or circumstantial evidence that Metcalfe and Ray knew that he was listed as a witness by Henderson prior to the drafting and sending of the letter to Mulhall's JCPD superiors. Nor has he produced evidence from which one could reasonably infer that Metcalfe and/or Ray knew of his protected activities. A reasonable jury could not find retaliation on these facts, and thus summary judgment was proper. 46 Finally, Mulhall also argues on appeal that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in the present case because that court effectively revisited its earlier finding that he had established a prima facie case of retaliation. Mulhall asserts that this was contrary to our holding in Avery Dennison. However, Avery Dennison held only that it is inappropriate for a court to resolve a discrimination case on grounds that a prima facie case had not been made, after the case has been fully tried on the merits.  Avery Dennison, 104 F.3d at 860 (emphasis added). See also Kovacevich v. Kent State Univ., 224 F.3d 806, 825 (6th Cir.2000) ( Avery Dennison stands for the simple proposition that in reviewing the facts of a discrimination case after there has been a full trial on the merits, a district court ... must focus on the ultimate question of discrimination rather than on whether a plaintiff made out her prima facie case.) (emphasis added). In the present case, the district court granted summary judgment prior to trial on the merits, and thus it did not err in revisiting its holding on the defendants' renewed motion for summary judgment in light of the additional evidence uncovered during discovery.