Opinion ID: 70645
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Direct Evidence of Discrimination on the Title VII Claim

Text: 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