Opinion ID: 773427
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Naming a Similarly Situated Individual

Text: 67 Lee did not attempt to name a similarly situated individual who was not stopped or searched. Chavez alleges that Katherine Austin--the white female from the public defender's office who was following him at the time of his stop-- was a similarly situated individual treated differently. To determine whether Austin was similarly situated to Chavez we must look at all relevant factors, the number of which depends on the context of the case. Radue v. Kimberly- Clark Corp., 219 F.3d 612, 617 (7th Cir. 2000). 68 While we have repeatedly discussed the similarly situated requirement in the context of employment discrimination cases, these discussions are rarely extensive and do not provide any magic formula for determining whether someone is similarly situated. This is due, seemingly, to the essentially factual nature of the inquiry. Different factors will be relevant for different types of inquiries--it would be imprudent to turn a common-sense inquiry into a complicated legal one. In determining who is similarly situated, we have also been careful not to define the requirement too narrowly. See, e.g., Freeman v. Madison Metro. Sch. Dist., 231 F.3d 374, 382-83 (7th Cir. 2000); cf. Radue, 219 F.3d at 619 (noting that the similarly situated requirement requires employees to demonstrate that they shared common features essential to a meaningful comparison to ensure that the employee who received the more favorable treatment was similarly situated). 69 Defendants allege that George Koutsakis--the individual stopped by the ISP whom Chavez was emulating--was a similarly situated individual who was treated the same as Chavez. The district court agreed, and determined that Chavez failed to show that he was treated any differently than a similarly situated white motorist. See Chavez v. Ill. State Police, 27 F. Supp. 2d 1053, 1067 (N.D. Ill. 1998). The district court found that Austin was not similarly situated because she was female, drove a different color car with a non-California plate, did not have the same items visible in her car, and did not receive a warning ticket. See id. The court also stated that the fact that [Austin] was following Chavez essentially prevented Trooper Thomas from subjecting her to the same treatment as Chavez--he was engaged with Chavez at the time. Chavez v. Ill. State Police, No. 94 CV 5307, slip op. at 22 (N.D. Ill. July 10, 1997). 70 We do not agree with the district court's treatment of this issue. The relevant inquiry is whether a similarly situated individual was treated differently than the plaintiff, not whether one white motorist was subjected to the same unlawful treatment. Allowing defendants to escape liability for discriminating against Hispanics simply because they occasionally mistreat white motorists would dismantle our equal protection jurisprudence. The fact that Koutsakis was also stopped is simply irrelevant to the inquiry of whether Chavez has shown that a similarly situated individual was treated differently. 71 Quite to the contrary of defendants' and the district court's assertions, Chavez and Austin were similarly situated in all pertinent respects. Both were driving down the same stretch of I-80 at the same time, and neither committed a traffic violation (defendants have conceded that Chavez did not commit a violation for the purpose of summary judgment). The factors that distinguish Austin from Chavez do not prevent her from being similarly situated. First, the ISP can not legally decide whom to stop on the basis of gender any more than they can do so on the basis of race, thus the fact that Austin is female is not pertinent. Second, nothing in the record indicates that Trooper Thomas stopped Chavez because he was driving a red car, or because he was driving a rental car, or because it was a car with California plates. To the contrary, the ISP asserts that Valkyrie officers do not stop motorists on the basis of these variables, and plaintiffs have agreed. Third, the objects inside Chavez's vehicle that raised officer suspicion-- i.e. the small suitcase, fast food bags, and atlas--were not visible until after Chavez was pulled over, thus they could not have been the basis for the stop. Finally, the fact that Thomas was engaged with Chavez does not prevent Austin from being similarly situated. The whole point of the plaintiffs' claim is that after thirty minutes of trailing the two vehicles, Thomas stopped Chavez, who is Hispanic, rather than Austin, who is white. 72 We thus find that Austin is a similarly situated individual of an unprotected class who was treated differently than Chavez. That Lee has not been able to name a similarly situated individual treated differently does not, however, end our review of his claims. Plaintiffs attempt to show that similarly situated individuals were treated differently than both Chavez and Lee through the use of statistics. The district court would not allow plaintiffs to use statistics for this purpose, based upon that court's interpretation of United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456, a recent Supreme Court case addressing the effects prong of the equal protection test. We do not agree with the district court's interpretation of Armstrong or its application of Armstrong to the facts of this case. 73