Opinion ID: 760179
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Hawkins's Employment at LSC

Text: 3 At all pertinent times, LSC was an entity associated with a labor union of nursing home and hospital workers. Funded by employer contributions, LSC rendered prepaid legal services to members of the union. In 1987, LSC had four offices: one in New York City and three in the Long Island villages of Lawrence, Hauppauge, and Westbury. Westbury was the largest of the Long Island offices. 4 Hawkins, an African-American woman, graduated from law school in 1982 and was admitted to the New York State bar in 1983. She began employment with LSC as a staff attorney in January 1987 and was assigned to the Westbury office, where she handled cases in a variety of areas including landlord-tenant, wills, trusts, probate, Social Security, patient abuse, and consumer law. 5 Shortly after Hawkins was hired, Joseph Lipofsky became LSC's Legal Director. Lipofsky appointed Hamilton to be Managing Attorney for LSC's Long Island offices and assigned him to the Westbury office, where he became Hawkins's direct supervisor. In the spring of 1990, the Westbury office, including both Hamilton and Hawkins, was relocated to East Meadow, Long Island. 6 Performance evaluations of staff attorneys at LSC took the form of file reviews, in which a supervising attorney would examine case files in an attempt to monitor and evaluate the staff attorney's handling of her cases. Hamilton first conducted file reviews of Hawkins's work in September 1987 and July 1990. After the 1987 review, he found Hawkins's work to be adequate and noted some areas of improvement; but he also identified several performance deficiencies, including failure to maintain organized files and adequate status notes, problems completing work with reasonable dispatch, and difficulty drafting certain documents. Hawkins concurred with this review and believed that it was an adequate assessment of [her] performance. (Trial Transcript (Tr.) 48.) Hamilton's report of his 1990 review of Hawkins's files primarily commented on individual cases, but it concluded that many of Hawkins's cases were quite old and required immediate attention.B. The Events of 1991: Failure To Promote 7 In early 1991, LSC was planning to close its New York City and Lawrence offices and consolidate those operations in an office to be opened in Queens, New York. In late January or early February, Lipofsky and Hamilton met with Hawkins and informed her that a Senior Attorney position would be opening at the planned Queens office and that, because of her seniority, Hawkins would have the opportunity to be considered for that position. Hawkins did not express interest in the position during that meeting or in the months that followed. At trial, Lipofsky testified that he did not consider Hawkins for the Queens position because, despite their discussion, Hawkins never expressed any interest. Hawkins testified that she had, in fact, been interested in the Queens position but could not have expressed interest or submitted her name for the position because she did not know when that office would open and because LSC had no formal application process. 8 In May 1991, a memorandum was distributed to LSC's employees announcing that the Senior Attorney position in the Queens office, as well as one in the Hauppauge office, had been filled by other LSC staff members. The appointees were white males who had less seniority at LSC than Hawkins, and Hawkins complained to Hamilton about not having been considered for the positions. Hamilton told Hawkins that she had not been considered because she had never advised anyone of her interest. During that conversation, Hamilton informed Hawkins that the Senior Attorney at LSC's East Meadow office was planning to resign, and he invited Hawkins to apply for that position. A memorandum announcing that opening was subsequently circulated to all of LSC's attorneys in New York, and the position was advertised in the New York Law Journal. Hawkins notified Hamilton and Lipofsky that she wished to be considered for the East Meadow position. 9 During the following week, Hawkins took a previously scheduled vacation, and while she was away, Hamilton conducted a file review of her open cases. His conclusions were summarized in a memorandum dated June 4, 1991. Although Hamilton noted that much of Hawkins's work was of acceptable quality, his review was highly critical of many aspects of her performance. (Memorandum from Hamilton to Hawkins, dated June 4, 1991, at 2.) Hamilton stated, inter alia, that an unacceptably large number of case files (13) could not be located in Hawkins's file cabinet, in her office, or in her secretary's work area; that many of the files that could be found exhibit[ed] insufficient file notes, and frighteningly large gaps of time in which no work was done; and that the tendency to let files sit, without adequate 'tickling', appears to have resulted in at least one 'statute of limitation's [sic ]' problem! Regardless of whether a statute of limitations was missed, the potential for same is so serious as to be inexcusable. (Id. at 1.) Hamilton concluded that [t]he major problem is your failure to follow up on many of your cases. (Id. at 2.) He also criticized Hawkins for arriving late for work and for not returning to the office after court appearances, commenting that this pattern was unacceptable in general and especially so when you have a caseload that is not being processed. (Id.) The memorandum concluded with specific questions and comments on each of several dozen cases, as well as a list of the 13 cases in which the files had not been found. 10 In June 1991, Hawkins met with Lipofsky and Hamilton to discuss the review and stated that she disagreed with Hamilton's June 4 memorandum and intended to prepare a response. In July 1991, Hawkins again met with Lipofsky, who told her that, based on the recent file review, he did not think she was ready for a Senior Attorney position. Shortly thereafter, Hawkins responded to the criticisms of the file review in a July memorandum, giving descriptions of the status of all but two of the cases questioned by Hamilton. 11 In August 1991, Hamilton informed Hawkins that there was no longer an opening for a Senior Attorney in East Meadow because the responsibilities associated with that position had been assigned to the LSC Senior Attorney in Hauppauge. Lipofsky testified that the decision to consolidate the East Meadow and Hauppauge Senior Attorney positions was motivated by financial difficulties experienced by LSC in 1991. The trustees overseeing LSC had instructed Lipofsky to reduce costs, and the consolidation of the two Senior Attorney positions saved some $50,000 to $60,000. Lipofsky testified that he did not consider Hawkins's race or gender in denying her a promotion. 12 In September 1991, Hawkins filed a charge of discrimination with the New York State Division of Human Rights (DHR) and the EEOC, asserting that LSC had denied her promotions on the basis of her race and gender, in violation of Title VII. LSC became aware of this discrimination charge in late October of 1991, and it formally denied the charge in a December 13, 1991 letter to DHR. C. Hawkins's Discharge 13 In October 1991, LSC underwent a change in leadership. Lipofsky resigned as Legal Director, and Hamilton became one of two Co-Legal Directors. In the spring of 1992, while the EEOC charge was pending, Hamilton conducted another review of Hawkins's files. In a memorandum stating his conclusions, Hamilton criticized Hawkins for various failures to follow proper office procedure, such as failing to put files away in order to preserve confidentiality and lessen the likelihood of damage or loss; failing to turn in contemporaneous time records; failing to receive waiting clients reasonably promptly; abruptly rescheduling vacations, thereby causing havoc with the scheduling of appointments (Memorandum from Hamilton to Hawkins, dated April 14, 1992, at 3); failing to return to the office after attending court sessions that ended in the early afternoon; failing to list court appointments on the office's master calendar; and failing to return telephone calls from clients and adversaries. Hamilton noted in addition that he believed some of Hawkins's cases were handled inappropriately from a substantive standpoint. 14 After this review, Hamilton, in consultation with his Co-Legal Director, decided to terminate Hawkins's employment. Hamilton informed Hawkins of that decision orally on April 16 and by written notice dated April 21, 1992. 15 In April 1992, the EEOC completed its processing of Hawkins's first EEOC charge and issued Hawkins a right-to-sue letter with respect to her failure-to-promote claim. On April 27, 1992, Hawkins filed a second charge of discrimination against LSC with DHR and the EEOC, asserting that LSC had discharged her because of her race and gender and in retaliation for having filed the earlier EEOC charge. The EEOC sent Hawkins a right-to-sue letter on her discharge claim in December 1992. D. The Present Case 16 Hawkins commenced the present action in July 1992 against LSC, Hamilton, and Lipofsky. She was initially represented by counsel. However, her attorney was disbarred in January 1995, and she thereafter proceeded pro se. The complaint, as amended in March 1993 (complaint), alleged that Hawkins had been denied promotions in May and August 1991 on the basis of her race and gender and that she had been discharged from employment in 1992 on the basis of her race and her gender and in retaliation for filing a charge of discrimination against LSC, in violation of Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The complaint also alleged several state-law torts, including intentional and/or negligent infliction of emotional harm, interference with business opportunity, slander, and defamation. 17 Many of these claims were dismissed prior to trial. Hawkins voluntarily dismissed the retaliation claims against Lipofsky, certain state law claims against all three defendants, and the Title VII claims against Hamilton, see Tomka v. Seiler Corp., 66 F.3d 1295, 1313 (2d Cir.1995) (individual defendants with supervisory control over a plaintiff may not be held personally liable under Title VII). In addition, partial summary judgment was ordered, David G. Trager, Judge, dismissing all other claims against Lipofsky, the failure-to-promote claims against Hamilton, and all other state-law claims against Hamilton and LSC. Finally, the parties agreed that Hawkins had no cognizable claim under § 1981 for failure to promote or for any other events that occurred prior to the November 21, 1991 effective date of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (1991 Act), see Pub.L. No. 102-166, § 402(a), 105 Stat. 1071, 1099, which, inter alia, expanded the reach of § 1981, see Pub.L. No. 102-166, § 101, 105 Stat. 1071, 1071-72. Thus, the claims remaining for trial were Hawkins's Title VII claims against LSC for (a) race or gender-motivated failure to promote, (b) race or gender-motivated discharge, and (c) retaliatory discharge, and her claims against both LSC and Hamilton for retaliatory discharge in violation of § 1981. 18 The trial of Hawkins's remaining claims was held before Judge Wolle in June 1996. The Title VII claim against LSC for failure to promote was tried to the court because it was based on the events of May and August 1991; the 1991 Act's amendment to Title VII, granting certain plaintiffs a right to trial by jury, see Pub.L. No. 102-166, § 102, 105 Stat. 1071, 1073, did not become effective until November 21, 1991, and did not apply to claims that arose before its effective date, see Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 286, 114 S.Ct. 1483, 128 L.Ed.2d 229 (1994). All of Hawkins's claims against LSC and Hamilton with respect to her 1992 discharge were tried to a jury. 19 The jury, instructed generally on the law under Title VII and § 1981, was given a special verdict form containing four questions as to liability and three as to damages. Responding to those questions, the jury found that Hawkins had not proved, by a preponderance of the evidence, that her race or gender was a motivating factor in the defendants' decision to terminate her employment. Special Verdict Form[ ] Questions 1, 2. However, the jury found that Hawkins had proven by a preponderance of the evidence that her having filed against defendant a charge of discrimination, filed with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, was a motivating factor in defendants' decision to discharge her from her employment at 1115 Legal Service Care, and that defendants acted with malice or reckless indifference to her rights in discharging her from that employment. Id. Questions 3, 4. As to relief, the jury found that Hawkins was entitled to backpay in the amount of $125,000. In addition, the jury found that she was entitled to damages for economic, emotional and psychological harm, humiliation and embarrassment resulting from the termination of her employment on April 16, 1992, in the amount of $250,000.00, id. Question 6, and punitive damages in the amount of $1,000,000. 20 As to Hawkins's Title VII claim for failure to promote, the district court on July 25, 1996, issued findings of fact and conclusions of law, finding that Hawkins had not proven that LSC's failure to promote her to a Senior Attorney position was motivated by her gender or race. The court found that LSC had shown legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for its actions, and that Hawkins had not persuaded the court that those reasons were pretextual. Judgments were entered in accordance with the jury's verdict and the district court's findings. 21 Hawkins and defendants made posttrial motions to have certain aspects of the judgments modified or set aside. LSC and Hamilton, to the extent pertinent here, moved principally for a reduction of the jury's award of compensatory and punitive damages, which totaled $1,250,000, on the ground that Title VII limited such damages against LSC to $50,000. They also moved for a reduction of the $125,000 backpay award on the ground that Hawkins had not sufficiently mitigated her damages. Hawkins opposed any reduction in the award of compensatory and punitive damages, arguing that her retaliation claim had been asserted not only under Title VII but also under § 1981, claims under which are not subject to a damages ceiling. In a Ruling on Post-Trial Motions, dated December 31, 1996 (Posttrial Ruling), the district court rejected Hawkins's contention that Title VII's ceiling on damages was not controlling, stating that [t]he case was not submitted to the jury on a section 1981 theory but rather on a Title VII theory based on the right to trial by jury under the amendments contained in 42 United States Code section 1981a. Posttrial Ruling at 11. The court thus granted defendants' motion to reduce the award of compensatory and punitive damages to $50,000. The court denied defendants' motion to reduce the award of backpay. 22 Hawkins's posttrial motion principally asked the court to set aside its findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect to the failure-to-promote claim and to award attorney's fees. The court denied the motion to alter its findings, and it denied attorney's fees with respect to the period during which Hawkins proceeded pro se. The court awarded her reimbursement for fees she had paid to her original attorney. 23 Following the posttrial rulings, a final amended judgment was entered 24 in favor of the plaintiff, Valerie A. Hawkins, and against the defendants 1115 Legal Service Care and Charles F. Hamilton for back pay in the amount of $125,000.00, with prejudgment interest at the legal rate, and, for compensatory and punitive damages in the amount of $50,000.00. 25 (Amended Judgment dated January 2, 1997, at 2.) These appeals followed, with Hawkins principally challenging the rejection of her claim of discriminatory failure to promote and the reduction of the damages award on her claim of retaliatory discharge, and defendants contending that the district court erred in failing to reduce the award of backpay. 26 We note parenthetically that the final amended judgment, entered following the district court's rulings on the parties' respective posttrial motions, runs not only against LSC but also against Hamilton. The basis for any judgment here against Hamilton is hardly clear to us given (a) the pretrial dismissal of all Title VII and state-law claims against him, (b) the jury's finding that Hawkins failed to prove her claim of discriminatory discharge, and (c) the court's finding that the jury had not been presented with a claim that the discharge constituted retaliation in violation of § 1981. However, no question as to the propriety of the judgment against Hamilton has been presented for our review since he has not appealed except to the extent that he joins with LSC in contending that the award of backpay is unduly large.