Opinion ID: 805464
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Procedural History of This Action

Text: M.O.C.H.A. Society, its president Michael Brown, and Buffalo firefighters Willie Broadus, Robert Grice, Robert Jones, Walter Jones, Victor Muhammad, William Raspberry, John Tucker, and Otto Brewer filed this action in February 1998, charging Buffalo with race discrimination both in its promotion policy and practice and in its enforcement of a drugtesting program. M.O.C.H.A. subsequently amended its pleadings to separate these claims into two complaints, with the October 2000 second amended complaint “B” here at issue alleging that Buffalo used a racially discriminatory examination in 1998 as the basis for promoting firefighters to the rank of fire lieutenant.11 As M.O.C.H.A. alleged and later proved, African Americans passed the 1998 examination at a substantially lower rate than white candidates seeking promotion to fire lieutenant. Further, African Americans were generally under-represented in the Buffalo Fire Department’s upper ranks: while African Americans made up 30% of the city’s firefighters, they composed only 4% of fire officers at the rank of lieutenant or higher. Based on these facts, as well as allegations of intentional 10 Although the parties did not include the statistical data of disparate impact in the appeal record, it is stipulated that plaintiffs would have sustained their burden to prove the adverse disparate impact of the 2002 examination on African American applicants. 11 Judgment entered on M.O.C.H.A.’s second amended complaint “A,” alleging race discrimination in Buffalo’s drug-testing policy, on May 31, 2012, and is not at issue on this appeal. 13 discrimination, M.O.C.H.A. charged Buffalo under Title VII with race discrimination on both disparate impact and disparate treatment theories. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a), (k). As relief, M.O.C.H.A. sought an injunction voiding promotions made pursuant to the 1998 examination, as well as back pay, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs.
On July 30, 2003, M.O.C.H.A. Society and a different group of African American firefighters—Emanuel C. Cooper, Greg Pratchett, and Russell Ross—filed a similar complaint in the district court against the City of Buffalo, alleging that the 2002 examination was also discriminatory in violation of Title VII. 3. Bench Trial on the Disparate Impact of the 1998 Test In 2008, the district court denied the parties’ cross-motions for judgment as a matter of law and conducted a five-day bench trial to determine whether Buffalo was liable for the racially disparate impact of the 1998 examination. In its March 9, 2009 memorandum opinion, the district court ruled in favor of Buffalo, finding that, despite the disparate impact of the 1998 test on African American candidates, Buffalo had sustained its burden of proving that the test was job related and consistent with business necessity, whereas M.O.C.H.A. had failed to carry its rebuttal burden to show that an alternative promotional examination could have been used without disparate effect. See M.O.C.H.A. I, 2009 WL 604898, at –18. 4. Summary Judgment on the Remaining Claims Buffalo subsequently moved for summary judgment on M.O.C.H.A.’s remaining claim of disparate treatment in connection with the 1998 examination as well as on the 14 complaint challenging the 2002 examination. Buffalo argued that the district court’s trial finding of job relatedness and business necessity with respect to the 1998 examination precluded M.O.C.H.A. from re-litigating those issues with respect to either its claim of disparate treatment in 1998 or its challenge to the commonly derived examination administered in 2002. The district court agreed and concluded that, with the two tests’ validity thus established, M.O.C.H.A. had failed to adduce sufficient other evidence to raise any triable issues of fact. Accordingly, on May 10, 2010, the district court granted Buffalo summary judgment on the disparate treatment claim pertaining to the 1998 test, and on May 12, 2010, it granted Buffalo summary judgment on plaintiffs’ general challenge to the 2002 test. See M.O.C.H.A. II, 2010 WL 1875735, at –8; M.O.C.H.A. III, 2010 WL 1930654, at –6. Upon the entry of final judgments and timely notices of appeal, this court heard the two appeals in tandem and now decides them together in this single opinion.