Opinion ID: 803961
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admissibility and Sufficiency of Evidence

Text: A. Admissibility of Evidence from Outside the Limitations Period Turning to the plaintiffs’ individual disparate treatment and disparate impact claims, the Port Authority argues that the district court improperly admitted evidence of events prior to August 2, 2000, for purposes of liability and damages. It is well established, however, that so long as at least “one alleged adverse employment action . . . occurred within the applicable filing period[,] . . . 24 evidence of an earlier alleged retaliatory act may constitute relevant ‘background evidence in support of [that] timely claim.’” Jute v. Hamilton Sundstrand Corp., 420 F.3d 166, 176 (2d Cir. 2005) (quoting and altering Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101, 113 (2002)). Such background evidence “may be considered to assess liability on the timely alleged act.” Id. at 177; see also Petrosino v. Bell Atl., 385 F.3d 210, 220 (2d Cir. 2004) (applying this rule in the failure-to-promote context). In particular, we have noted that statistical studies may include data from outside the statute of limitations to prove timely discriminatory acts. See Rossini v. Ogilvy & Mather, Inc., 798 F.2d 590, 604 n.5 (2d Cir. 1986).9 Title VII’s statute of limitations therefore did not prohibit admission of the plaintiffs’ evidence of discrimination before August 2, 2000. B. Sufficiency of the Evidence The Port Authority next argues that the plaintiffs’ evidence of individual disparate treatment and disparate impact was insufficient as a matter of law, and that the district court therefore abused its discretion in declining to set aside the verdict. “In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence in support of a jury’s 9 To be clear, the district court retains discretion to determine whether evidence predating the onset of the statute of limitations period should be admitted under any applicable rule of evidence. See Jute, 420 F.3d at 177 n.7; Malarkey v. Texaco, Inc., 983 F.2d 1204, 1211 (2d Cir. 1993). 25 verdict, we examine the evidence in the light most favorable to the party in whose favor the jury decided, drawing all reasonable inferences in the winning party’s favor.” Gronowski v. Spencer, 424 F.3d 285, 291 (2d Cir. 2005). We will overturn the verdict here “only if there is ‘such a complete absence of evidence supporting the verdict that the jury’s findings could only have been the result of sheer surmise and conjecture, or such an overwhelming amount of evidence in favor of the [Port Authority] that reasonable and fair minded men could not arrive at a verdict against [the Port Authority].’” Id. at 292 (quoting LeBlancSternberg v. Fletcher, 67 F.3d 412, 429 (2d Cir. 1995)) (some internal quotation marks omitted). With respect to a Title VII individual disparate treatment claim, “[w]hether judgment as a matter of law is appropriate in any particular case will depend on a number of factors. Those include the strength of the plaintiff’s prima facie case, the probative value of the proof that the employer’s explanation is false, and any other evidence that supports the employer’s case and that properly may be considered on a motion for judgment as a matter of law.” Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 148–49 (2000). A plaintiff establishes a prima facie case by showing “(1) that he belonged to a protected class; (2) that he was qualified for the position he held; (3) that he suffered an adverse employment action; and (4) that the adverse employment action 26 occurred under circumstances giving rise to an inference of discriminatory intent.” Feingold v. New York, 366 F.3d 138, 152 (2d Cir. 2004). An employer may then rebut this prima facie case by offering a legitimate, nondiscriminatory business reason for its conduct. See id. A plaintiff ultimately prevails if he proves that the defendant’s employment decision was based in whole or in part on intentional discrimination. See id. To prevail under the disparate impact theory of liability, a plaintiff must show that the employer “uses a particular employment practice that causes a disparate impact on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k)(1)(A)(i). This requires a plaintiff to (1) “identify a specific employment practice” or policy, Malave v. Potter, 320 F.3d 321, 326 (2d Cir. 2003); “(2) demonstrate that a disparity exists; and (3) establish a causal relationship between the two.” Robinson v. Metro-North Commuter R.R. Co., 267 F.3d 147, 160 (2d Cir. 2001). “The statistics must reveal that the disparity is substantial or significant,” and “must be of a kind and degree sufficient to reveal a causal relationship between the challenged practice and the disparity.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). To rebut a plaintiff’s statistics, a defendant may introduce evidence showing that “either no statistically significant disparity in fact exists or the challenged practice did not cause the disparity.” Id. at 161. 27 If the trier of fact determines that the plaintiffs have established a disparate impact violation of Title VII, each person seeking individual relief such as back pay and compensatory damages “need only show that he or she suffered an adverse employment decision ‘and therefore was a potential victim of the proved discrimination.’” Id. at 159 (quoting Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 362) (alteration omitted); see id. at 161–62. After such a showing, the employer bears the burden of persuading the trier of fact that its decision was made for lawful reasons; otherwise, the employee is entitled to individualized relief, which may include back pay, front pay, and compensatory damages for “emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, [or] other nonpecuniary losses.” 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(b)(3); see Robinson, 267 F.3d at 159–60. The Port Authority challenges three aspects of the plaintiffs’ evidence. First, the Port Authority argues that the plaintiffs’ statistical evidence was fatally flawed and that without it the plaintiffs lack sufficient evidence to prove a disparate impact. Second, the Port Authority contends that the plaintiffs did not show that the multiple-step promotion process was “not capable of separation for analysis,” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k)(1)(B)(i), and therefore the plaintiffs were required but failed to identify the specific promotion practice that caused a disparate impact. Third, the Port Authority contends that the plaintiffs’ anecdotal evidence of intentional discrimination consists of nothing 28 more than personal affronts outside of the promotion context, and therefore that the plaintiffs’ individual disparate treatment claims must fail for lack of evidence that any discrimination was intentional. We disagree with all three of the Port Authority’s arguments and hold that the plaintiffs introduced sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict as to plaintiffs’ disparate impact and individual disparate treatment claims.
The Port Authority argues first that the statistical evidence presented by Dr. Cavanagh, the plaintiffs’ expert witness, was insufficient to prove their disparate impact claim because Dr. Cavanagh’s analyses impermissibly (1) relied on data predating the onset of the statute of limitations, (2) did not focus on the relevant pool of candidates eligible for promotion, and (3) failed to establish statistical significance. We address each of these contentions in turn. First, the Port Authority is incorrect in asserting that Dr. Cavanagh’s statistics were flawed because they relied in part on data predating the onset of the statute of limitations period. In Bazemore v. Friday, 478 U.S. 385 (1986), the Supreme Court stated that evidence predating the 1972 enactment of Title VII was not only admissible but, “to the extent that proof is required to establish discrimination with respect to salary disparities created after 1972, evidence of pre-Act discrimination is quite probative.” Id. at 402 n.13 (internal citation 29 omitted). Moreover, we have made clear that a district court errs by “downgrading” statistical studies on the ground that they “relied in part on pre–statute of limitations data.” Rossini, 798 F.2d at 604 n.5. The Port Authority next argues that Dr. Cavanagh’s year-end demographic statistics were not sufficient to show a disparate impact because they simply compared the percentage of Asian Americans in supervisory positions with the percentage of Asian American officers, rather than looking to the relevant pool for promotion (i.e., the percentage of Asian Americans on the eligible lists). On this point, we agree. As we have said, “plaintiffs must identify the correct population for analysis. In the typical disparate impact case the proper population for analysis is the applicant pool or the eligible labor pool.” Smith v. Xerox Corp., 196 F.3d 358, 368 (2d Cir. 1999) (emphasis added), overruled on other grounds by Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Lab., 461 F.3d 134, 140 (2d Cir. 2006). “In the context of promotions, we have held that the appropriate comparison is customarily between the [racial] composition of candidates seeking to be promoted and the [racial] composition of those actually promoted,” at least so long as the relevant data are available. Malave, 320 F.3d at 326 (emphasis added). The plaintiffs in this case did not allege that the eligibility test was discriminatory; rather, they alleged that discrimination entered the process at 30 the discretionary stage after the eligible lists had already been drawn up. The relevant population for analysis, then, includes only those officers on the eligible lists. Dr. Cavanagh’s year-end demographic analyses include all officers, and therefore do not meet the statistical standards prescribed by law. Putting aside these demographic analyses, then, we are left with Dr. Cavanagh’s statistical analysis comparing the percentage of Asian Americans on the eligibility lists with the percentage of Asian Americans promoted from 1996 to January 31, 2001 (the date that the EEOC complaint was filed). None of the 12 Asians on the eligible lists were promoted during this period, in contrast to 36 out of 259 whites; according to Dr. Cavanagh’s calculations, this difference would occur due to chance “a bit under 13 percent” of the time. The Port Authority argues that a due-to-chance figure of 13 percent is not statistically significant because “it is generally accepted that statistical significance is at a 5% level or less.” It is true that “we have . . . looked to whether the plaintiff can show a statistically significant disparity of two standard deviations,” which (in a normal distribution) requires statistical significance at approximately the 5-percent level. Xerox, 196 F.3d at 365. However, we have also said that “[t]here is no minimum statistical threshold requiring a mandatory finding that a plaintiff has demonstrated a violation of Title VII. Courts should take a ‘case-by-case 31 approach’ in judging the significance or substantiality of disparities, one that considers not only statistics but also all the surrounding facts and circumstances.” Waisome v. Port Auth. of N.Y. & N.J., 948 F.2d 1370, 1376 (2d Cir. 1991) (quoting Ottaviani v. State Univ. of N.Y. at New Paltz, 875 F.2d 365, 372–73 (2d Cir. 1991)); see also Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust, 487 U.S. 977, 995 n.3 (1988) (“[W]e have not suggested that any particular number of ‘standard deviations’ can determine whether a plaintiff has made out a prima facie case in the complex area of employment discrimination. . . .”); accord Xerox, 196 F.3d at 366. In many (perhaps most) cases, if there is a 13-percent likelihood that a disparity resulted from chance, it will not qualify as statistically significant. In this case, the plaintiffs offered other evidence that reasonable jurors could have relied upon to find that an 87-percent likelihood that the disparity was not due to chance qualified as significant. First, no Asian Americans were promoted during the relevant period; requiring a statistical showing of 95-percent confidence would make it mathematically impossible to rely upon statistics in a case like this one, in which the relevant population included so few Asian Americans. See Waisome, 948 F.2d at 1379 (“[T]he lack of statistical significance in the ultimate promotion reflects only the small sample size.”). Second, as the Port Authority acknowledges, the plaintiffs presented a substantial amount of 32 evidence that reasonable jurors could have relied on to conclude that the plaintiffs were more qualified than some of the white officers who were promoted, including comparing length of service, attendance records, and disciplinary histories. In the context of this case, it would not be unreasonable for a juror to find Dr. Cavanagh’s statistics significant despite only being significant at the 13-percent level. Finally, despite the Port Authority’s argument to the contrary, Dr. Cavanagh’s choice to limit his time frame to the period from 1996 through January 2001 (rather than, as defendant’s expert did, extending the analysis into 2005) was not unreasonable. The plaintiffs’ theory was that the Port Authority’s failures to promote them caused a disparate impact through 2001, when the EEOC charge in this case was filed. Dr. Cavanagh’s selected time frame was directly relevant to answering this question.
The Port Authority next argues that there was insufficient evidence to support the plaintiffs’ disparate impact claim on the ground that plaintiffs either failed to identify a specific promotion practice resulting in a disparate impact on Asian Americans or failed to show that the Port Authority’s promotion process could not be separated into component parts for analysis. According to the Port Authority, the promotion process involved three separate 33 steps—recommendation by a commanding officer, approval by the Chiefs’ Board, and selection by the Superintendent—and these steps were wholly capable of being separated from each other for the purpose of statistical analysis. For the following reasons, we disagree. To make out a disparate impact claim (or, more generally, to rely on statistical evidence), a plaintiff must identify a specific discriminatory employment practice. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541, 2555–56 (2011) (“[R]espondents have identified no ‘specific employment practice’ . . . . Merely showing that Wal-Mart’s policy of discretion has produced an overall sex-based disparity does not suffice.”); Watson, 487 U.S. at 994 (“Especially in cases where an employer combines subjective criteria with the use of more rigid standardized rules or tests, the plaintiff is in our view responsible for isolating and identifying the specific employment practices that are allegedly responsible for any observed statistical disparities.”). Title VII, however, expressly provides that “if the complaining party can demonstrate to the court that the elements of a respondent’s decisionmaking process are not capable of separation for analysis, the decisionmaking process may be analyzed as one employment practice.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k)(1)(B)(i). Whether a particular decisionmaking process is capable of separation for analysis largely turns on the details of the specific process and its implementation in a given 34 case. See McClain v. Lufkin Indus., 519 F.3d 264, 278 (5th Cir. 2008); cf. Meachem v. Knolls Atomic Power Lab., 381 F.3d 56, 74 (2d Cir. 2004), vacated on other grounds, 544 U.S. 957 (2005). Here, the evidence amply demonstrated that recommendation by the Chief’s Board could not be separated from the rest of the promotion process for the purpose of statistical analysis. Such recommendation was neither necessary nor sufficient for promotion, and the weight it carried in the process was both unclear and variable. For example, two candidates who were not recommended by the Chiefs’ Board in January 2003 were nonetheless promoted by the Superintendent later that month, even as others who received unanimous recommendations from the Chiefs were not promoted for a year, or two years. Another Superintendent did not bother to use the Chiefs’ Board at all. Recommendation by the Chiefs’ Board was therefore not capable of separation from the rest of the promotion process. The commanding officers’ recommendations were similarly inseparable from the Superintendent’s ultimate decisions regarding promotions because they played an indeterminate role in the integrated promotion process. For example, former Chief Thomas Farrell testified that he occasionally would ask for performance evaluations of everyone on the eligible list—not just those who were recommended by commanding officers—while other testimony indicated that 35 commanding officers’ recommendations were often important in the promotion process. We therefore agree with the district court that these “steps” in the promotion process were not capable of separation for analysis. See Port Auth. II, 681 F. Supp. 2d at 464. Accordingly, the decisionmaking process involved in promotions to Sergeant was properly analyzed as one employment practice.
The Port Authority next argues that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the plaintiffs’ individual disparate treatment claims because many of the plaintiffs’ anecdotes of intentional discrimination were merely “situations involving personal affront as opposed to examples of overt racism,” and moreover, that “[n]one of the specific instances relied upon by plaintiffs took place in the context of promotion.” Appellants’ Reply Br. at 17. Even if we were to accept the Port Authority’s characterization of these accounts of discrimination, however, the plaintiffs also provided evidence that they were better qualified for promotion than several white officers who were promoted instead. In conjunction with the plaintiffs’ statistical evidence, we conclude that this anecdotal evidence of intent was sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that the Port Authority intentionally discriminated against the plaintiffs by failing to promote them. 36