Opinion ID: 461410
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Judgment N.O.V. on Age Claim

Text: 9 The standard for granting a judgment n.o.v. is well established in this circuit. This court has stated that in determining whether a party is entitled to judgment notwithstanding an adverse jury verdict, the trial court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the party who prevailed before the jury. Halsell v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 683 F.2d 285, 295 (8th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1205, 103 S.Ct. 1194, 75 L.Ed.2d 438 (1983). Like a directed verdict, a judgment n.o.v. should be granted only when all the evidence points one way and is susceptible of no reasonable inferences sustaining the position of the nonmoving party. Dace v. ACF Industries, Inc., 722 F.2d 374, 375 (8th Cir.1983) (quoting Decker-Ruhl Ford Sales, Inc. v. Ford Motor Credit Co., 523 F.2d 833, 836 (8th Cir.1975) ). 10 This standard requires both the trial court and this court 2 to resolve direct factual conflicts in favor of appellant, assume all facts in her favor which the evidence tends to prove and give her the benefit of all reasonable inferences. Craft v. Metromedia, Inc., 766 F.2d 1205, 1218 (8th Cir.1985). Thus keeping this standard in mind, we must consider the nature of proof required under the ADEA and evaluate the evidence appellant presented at trial against such requirements. Holley v. Sanyo Mfg., Inc., 771 F.2d 1161, 1164 (8th Cir.1985). 11 The evidentiary burdens in an ADEA case are the same as those applied in a Title VII case. Id. To prove an age discrimination case a plaintiff such as Bell must establish a prima facie case by showing that she is within the protected group; that her performance met her employer's legitimate expectations; that she was fired and that afterwards the employer sought a replacement for the position. Halsell, supra, 683 F.2d at 289. If plaintiff establishes a prima facie case, then the burden shifts to the employer to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the discharge. In the case of an alleged age discrimination violation based on discharge, an employer may meet its burden by showing that the discharge was for good cause as prescribed in 29 U.S.C. Sec. 623(f)(3). If the employer meets its burden, plaintiff must then show by a preponderance of the evidence that the reasons offered by the employer were not the true reasons, but were a pretext for discrimination. Id., citing, Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). The ultimate burden that a plaintiff must meet is to show that her age was a determining factor in the discharge. Tribble v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 669 F.2d 1193, 1196 (8th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1080, 103 S.Ct. 1767, 76 L.Ed.2d 342 (1983); Cleverly v. Western Electric Co., 594 F.2d 638, 641 (8th Cir.1979); and Cova v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of St. Louis, 574 F.2d 958, 960 (8th Cir.1978). On review, however, we need not discuss the record in terms of whether or not appellant established a prima facie case since the case proceeded to a full trial on the merits. See United States Postal Service Board of Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 713-14, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 1481-82, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983). We focus instead on the ultimate question whether the appellant has sufficiently established a case of intentional age discrimination. 12 In the present case appellant tried to prove age discrimination three ways. Using a theory of disparate treatment, appellant attempted to establish that she was discharged because of her age, that she was denied the use of a handphone and was verbally abused because of her age, and that she was not disqualified to another position because of her age. Appellant argues that she proved these violations of the ADEA through use of circumstantial evidence and reasonable inferences and that she proved that the appellee's reasons for its employment decisions were a pretext for age discrimination. 13 As for the discharge violation, appellant's evidence established that she was discharged because of the September 8, 1982 disconnection and the filling out of call slip # 45. Appellant offered her own testimony that she accepted that the disconnection occurred, but that it was not intentional on her part and that she did actually take a customer's call that was reflected on call slip # 45. While this evidence supports the inference that the appellee did not believe appellant when she denied deliberately disconnecting a customer and denied falsifying call slip # 45, we are not satisfied that it demonstrated that the appellee terminated appellant because of her age. There is simply no evidence in the record that the appellee's reliance on its supervisor's account of what transpired on September 8, 1982, had anything to do with the fact of appellant's age. In this case we are not concerned with whether the appellee was correct to believe Kinchelow rather than appellant, but whether the reasons for doing so were based upon an impermissible factor such as appellant's age. As we stated in Jorgensen v. Modern Woodmen of America, 761 F.2d 502, 505 (8th Cir.1985), [t]he ADEA is not intended to be used as a means of reviewing the propriety of a business decision on the part of the employer. 14 Appellant also claims that she presented evidence to show that the reasons the appellee gave for her discharge were a pretext. In order to evaluate appellant's evidence of pretext, we first state the reasons the appellee gave for discharging appellant and then consider whether appellant's evidence would support a reasonable inference that these reasons were not the actual reasons for the discharge. This inquiry is not one of weighing the quality and quantity of the appellee's evidence against appellant, or of weighing the credibility of witnesses, but of determining whether appellant's evidence supports a reasonable inference that appellant was not discharged for the reasons given. Dace, supra, 722 F.2d at 378-79. 3 15 Appellee's management employees gave a consistent, uniform explanation for appellant's discharge. They all stated that appellant was discharged for violating the company policy against deliberate disconnections and for falsification of company records. 4 In response appellant offered evidence that one younger CSR who was found to have deliberately disconnected customers was given an opportunity to return to work for a week but was then terminated for violating the same company policy. This single comparison of factually dissimilar situations does not supply reasonable grounds for a jury to disbelieve the appellee's proffered reasons for discharging appellant. This minimal evidence does not support an inference of pretext. 16 Regarding the conditions of her employment violation, appellant's evidence was that her supervisors reprimanded her with a harsh tone of voice, ignored her complaints about the persistent difficulties she was experiencing with her equipment and denied her the use of a handphone even though other CSRs occasionally used handphones. Again, all this evidence tends to show is that appellant's working conditions were not optimal but not that these conditions were forced upon appellant because she was an older worker. Appellant herself testified that she didn't know the reason why the company ignored her complaints. 17 As to appellant's claim that she was discriminated against because she was not disqualified to a lesser position, her evidence established that a younger CSR with medical problems was disqualified to a lesser position for a period of time after she experienced performance problems as a CSR. Quite simply this attempted comparison lacks sufficient factual similarities to support any inference that the failure to disqualify appellant was due to her age. 18 Having considered the record in a light most favorable to appellant and given her the benefit of all favorable inferences, we must conclude, as did the district court, that there is insufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to have found that the appellee discriminated against appellant because of her age. There is here, as in Halsell, supra, a failure of proof that appellee's treatment and discharge of appellant was premised on considerations having anything to do with her age. The record contains no proof, other than speculation, of age bias and it seems plain that a jury could not reasonably have found so. See Smith v. Monsanto Chemical Co., 770 F.2d 719, 724 (8th Cir.1985). The judgment n.o.v. of the district court must be affirmed. 5 19