Opinion ID: 70645
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plaintiff's Issues on Cross-Appeal

Text: 25
26 Caban-Wheeler argues that the District Court improperly discounted her direct evidence of discrimination. Such evidence, if credited by the court, may necessitate shifting the burden of proof to the defendants to show that the same decision regarding Caban-Wheeler's termination would have been made even if race was not an issue. Caban-Wheeler, 904 F.2d at 1555. 27 Caban-Wheeler testified at trial that Defendant Ricks told her that he wanted a Black person in Caban-Wheeler's job. The District Court did not credit this testimony for two reasons: 1) Ricks denied the allegation, and 2) this allegation was absent from Caban-Wheeler's charge of discrimination filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 28 In fact, however, Caban-Wheeler did include a similar allegation in her charge to the EEOC: ... Mr. Ricks told me he didn't think someone like me should be Director of the Project, he wanted a Black person as Director. 29 The issue is complicated by the fact that when the defendants introduced the discrimination charge into evidence, Caban-Wheeler testified that while she had included such an allegation in her charge, that allegation was not reflected in the defendants' exhibit, which was just a summary prepared by the EEOC. In fact, the exhibit was the charge of discrimination, and did include her allegation that Mr. Ricks wanted a Black person as Director. While Ms. Caban-Wheeler's mistake complicated the issue, the District Court's finding that Caban-Wheeler failed to include such an allegation in her charge to the EEOC was still clearly erroneous. 30 However, just because Caban-Wheeler made such an allegation to the EEOC does not mean that it was in fact true. The District Court failed to credit her testimony that Mr. Ricks told her he wanted a Black person as Director for another reason: Mr. Ricks denied that he made such a statement. Both Mr. Ricks and Ms. Caban-Wheeler testified at length and the District Court had the opportunity to evaluate the credibility of the witnesses. When there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly erroneous. Anderson v. City of Bessemer, North Carolina, 470 U.S. 564, 574, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1511, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985). Findings based on the credibility of witnesses demand ... even greater deference to the trial court's findings; for only the trial judge can be aware of the variations in demeanor and tone of voice that bear so heavily on the listener's understanding of and belief in what is said. Id., 470 U.S. at 575, 105 S.Ct. at 1512. 31 We are compelled to conclude that the District Court's decision not to credit Caban-Wheeler's testimony about Mr. Ricks is not clearly erroneous. That was the only direct evidence of discrimination, and so the District Court did not err in not shifting the burden of proof to the defendants to show that the same decision would have been made in the absence of discrimination. 32
33 mandate and with the jury findings from the Sec. 1983 trial? 34 Caban-Wheeler argues next that the District Court did not comply with this Court's decision in the first appeal in this case. This Court, in Caban-Wheeler v. Elsea, 904 F.2d 1549 (11th Cir.1990), remanded for a new trial, with the following mandates: 1) the court must address Caban-Wheeler's testimony that Ricks told her he wanted a Black person for the job, Id. at 1555; 2) the court must address Caban-Wheeler's seemingly plausible explanation as to why her actions did not involve insubordination, Id. at 1555-56; 3) the court must address Melba Hill's possible attempts to fabricate evidence to create the appearance of progressive discipline, Id. at 1556; and 4) the court must address the fact that Caban-Wheeler's termination occurred a mere five days after the hearing following her suspension and the fact that certain testimony from that hearing was erased. 35 The District Court addressed each of these issues in its Findings of Fact. 4 Just because the court ruled against Caban-Wheeler after considering those issues does not mean that it violated this Court's mandate. The District Court's factual findings on these matters were not clearly erroneous. 36 Caban-Wheeler also argues that the District Court was bound by any determinations the jury made regarding the Sec. 1983 claim, and that the court did not properly abide by the jury findings when deciding the Title VII claim. Specifically, Caban-Wheeler argues that the jury awarded punitive damages for her procedural due process claim, and so must have found malicious intent. 37 When a party has the right to a jury trial on an issue involved in a legal claim, the judge is of course bound by the jury's determination of that issue as it affects his disposition of an accompanying equitable claim. Lincoln v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, 697 F.2d 928, 934, cert. denied, 464 U.S. 826, 104 S.Ct. 97, 78 L.Ed.2d 102 (1983). A legal action under Sec. 1983 entails the right to a jury trial while an equitable action under Title VII 5 does not. Id. Thus the judge in this case, when deciding the Title VII claim, was bound by the jury's findings on the Sec. 1983 due process claims. 38 However, the judge's findings on the Title VII claim did not directly conflict with the jury's findings on the procedural due process claim. The jury instructions in this case authorized the jury to award punitive damages if the jurors found that the defendants had acted maliciously, wantonly, or oppressively. 6 The jury instructions defined a wanton act as an act done in reckless or callous disregard of, or indifference to, the rights of the injured person. Thus the jury may have found that the defendants acted recklessly in regard to Caban-Wheeler's procedural due process rights, but did not intentionally discriminate based on her race, sex, or national origin, as required by Title VII. The jury's finding that Caban-Wheeler's substantive due process rights were not violated supports this possibility. 39
40 Caban-Wheeler next argues that the District Court erred by not allowing her to present evidence of racial motive to the jury. The only action by the District Court in this regard was the order granting the defendants' motion to bar Caban-Wheeler from introducing evidence of the race of Caban-Wheeler's replacement, Ms. Elleen Yancey, and of Ms. Yancey's subsequent promotions. However, Ms. Yancey testified at trial, and so her race was most likely evident. In addition, Caban-Wheeler's counsel cross examined Yancey regarding her subsequent promotions. 41
42 Last, Caban-Wheeler argues that the District Court erred in calculating the amount she is entitled to in attorney's fees. The District Court found plaintiff's requested rate of two hundred dollars an hour to be reasonable. The court then ruled that the 96.3 hours spent through the first trial and appeal were reasonable, but the additional 291.75 hours (excluding specific hours spent on the Title VII claim) were not reasonable because those hours include time spent on trial preparation or in trial, and so reflect time spent on two distinct and unsuccessful claims. In addition, the court found it unreasonable that the attorneys spent seventy three hours reviewing trial transcripts and trial exhibits. For those reasons, the court ruled that a total of 196.30 hours were reasonably spent on this case. 43 Caban-Wheeler argues that she had already excluded time spent on the Title VII claim, and so the trial court double deducted those hours; moreover, no time should be deducted for the unsuccessful substantive due process claim because she had already deducted over two hundred hours from the total time spent on the due process issues and because she would have spent just as much time preparing for the successful procedural due process claim even without the substantive due process claim. In addition, Caban-Wheeler argues that the court simply miscounted how much time was spent on the first trial and first appeal; instead of 96.3, counsel spent 309.75. Lastly, Caban-Wheeler disputes the court's ruling that only one hundred hours was reasonable for time spent after the successful appeal, especially considering that the second trial itself took seventy-three hours. 44 The District Court may have double deducted the Title VII time 7 and may have miscounted how much time was spent on the first trial and the first appeal, 8 so we remand for a more thorough examination of these issues.