Opinion ID: 719642
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Chilovich Affidavit

Text: 17 Aucutt contends that the district court erred in crediting the reasons for his termination given by Chilovich in his affidavit. Noting that Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e) requires that affidavits supporting motions for summary judgment be made on personal knowledge, Aucutt argues that Chilovich's affidavit does not meet this requirement because Chilovich lacked personal knowledge of the push-up incident described in his affidavit. Chilovich made the following statement in paragraph eight of his affidavit: 18 It came to my attention that while patrolling the parking lot, Michael Aucutt encountered four young guests in military uniforms. It also came to my attention that after concluding that they had violated a rule, he informed them that he was a former Army Sergeant, he had the authority to discipline them as their military superior, and then commenced giving orders to perform calisthenic push-ups, (which the guests then did), in the Six Flags parking lot. 19 Chilovich Aff. p 8. Chilovich recounted the push-up incident as one of several examples of Aucutt's failure to improve his hostile demeanor towards park patrons, which was the primary reason why he was selected for layoff in the October 1992 RIF. Aucutt contends that because Chilovich did not personally observe the push-up incident described in the affidavit, the district court improperly considered the affidavit in deciding to grant summary judgment in favor of Six Flags. 20 Six Flags responds that Chilovich's affidavit comports with Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e), because it was based on Chilovich's personal knowledge of the reasons for the decision to lay off Aucutt. We agree. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e) requires that affidavits supporting or opposing a motion for summary judgment shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). In evaluating evidence related to possible summary judgment, a court may not consider affidavits that do not satisfy the requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). See El Deeb v. University of Minnesota, 60 F.3d 423, 428-29 (8th Cir.1995); Cummings v. Roberts, 628 F.2d 1065, 1068 (8th Cir.1980). The district court in the present case properly considered Chilovich's affidavit, because it was based on Chilovich's personal knowledge of the reasons underlying the challenged employment decision. As the Manager of the Security Department, Chilovich was directed to select two sergeants and one officer to be laid off as part of the October 1992 RIF. He evaluated the personnel file and performance of each employee under his supervision and decided to lay off Aucutt. In his affidavit, Chilovich indicated that he had repeatedly admonished Aucutt to improve his demeanor towards park guests while performing his security duties, yet Aucutt had failed to do so. For example, Chilovich stated, Even after I reminded Aucutt several times not to conduct vehicle searches, I still found him in the parking lot searching vehicles. Chilovich Aff. p 7. He further stated that he chose Aucutt for termination because Aucutt had continued to demonstrate a negative attitude and an unwillingness to cooperate with Six Flags' policies and goals.... Chilovich Aff. p 12. Thus, Chilovich had firsthand knowledge of the reasons why Aucutt was selected for discharge. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e) does not require Chilovich to have witnessed every incident supporting the termination decision, so long as he had personal knowledge that the decision was for reasons unrelated to age-based discrimination. Cf. Gill v. Reorganized School Dist., 32 F.3d 376, 379 (8th Cir.1994) (school superintendent who discharged plaintiff teacher after receiving report that student had accused plaintiff of making racially derogatory remarks satisfactorily rebutted plaintiff's prima facie case with a legitimate reason for plaintiff's discharge; superintendent need not have observed incident in question, because crucial issue was whether [the reported incident] was the real reason for [Gill's] termination and not a pretext for [race] discrimination). 21 In light of the foregoing, we hold that the district court did not err in considering Chilovich's affidavit in support of Six Flags's motion for summary judgment. We further hold that the district court properly entered summary judgment in favor of Six Flags on Aucutt's ADEA claim.