Opinion ID: 2996285
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Caterpillar submits that there is insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict that Caterpillar retaliated against Ms. David when it selected Lusher for promotion over Ms. David. We disagree. Although the evidence cannot be characterized as overwhelming, it is legally sufficient to support the jury’s verdict of retaliation. Title VII makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee for opposing a practice made unlawful under the Act. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). To prove a case of retaliation, the plaintiff must prove three elements by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) that she opposed an unlawful employment practice; (2) that she suffered an adverse employment action; and (3) that the adverse employment action was caused by her opposition to the unlawful employment practice. See Cullom v. Brown, 209 F.3d 1035, 1040 (7th Cir. 2000). In this case, only the third element is in dispute. An employee can establish her employer’s intent to retaliate either directly or indirectly. In the context of this case, the only issue post-trial is whether Ms. David has met her burden of providing sufficient evidence that Caterpillar’s stated reasons for promoting Lusher over Ms. David were pretextual and that the real reason for Caterpillar’s decision was to retaliate against Ms. David for filing 10 No. 02-1354 EEOC charges. See Hall v. Gary Cmty. Sch. Corp., 298 F.3d 672, 675 (7th Cir. 2002). To satisfy this burden Ms. David needed to offer evidence showing that the reasons given by Caterpillar “were not worthy of credence or other evidence showing retaliation.” Id. We review a post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law de novo, but view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and draw all reasonable inferences in her favor. See Riemer v. Illinois Dept. of Transp., 148 F.3d 800, 805 (7th Cir. 1998). We shall not second-guess the jury’s view of the contested evidence; the proper inquiry is whether, given the totality of the evidence, Ms. David presented sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find in her favor. See Hall, 298 F.3d at 675. Because credibility determinations are often crucial in retaliation suits, we are particularly careful in such cases “to avoid supplanting our view of the credibility or weight of the evidence for that of both the jury (in its verdict) and in the judge (in not interfer- ing with the verdict).” Emmel v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Chi., 95 F.3d 627, 630 (7th Cir. 1996) (quoting Hybert v. Hearst Corp., 900 F.2d 1050, 1054 (7th Cir. 1990)). Caterpillar offered evidence at trial that it had selected Lusher for promotion to sergeant over Ms. David because Lusher was more qualified. Ms. David argued that this explanation was pretextual and that Caterpillar had selected Lusher rather than her in retaliation for Ms. David’s having filed charges of discrimination with the EEOC. Upon examination of the record, we must con- clude that the following evidence, taken together, is sufficient to support the jury’s verdict in favor of Ms. David: (1) Ron Dieckow’s testimony relating to his conversations with Larry Mitzelfelt; (2) Ms. David’s testimony that her superiors were hostile toward her after she complained of No. 02-1354 11 discrimination; and (3) Ms. David’s and Lusher’s comparative qualifications in combination with Caterpillar’s 1 shifting explanations for its decision. Although Caterpillar urges us to ignore Dieckow’s testimony, we already have determined that the district court did not abuse its discretion in permitting Dieckow to testify and, therefore, it was proper for the jury to consider this evidence in reaching its verdict. Dieckow testified that, shortly after Lusher’s promotion, he had pointed out to Captain Mitzelfelt that Lusher had only four years of service with the company and asked why she had received the promotion. Mitzelfelt replied that “he had been told by upper management that the next promotion in the department would have to be a female in response to a lawsuit that was recently filed in East Peoria by another female security officer.” R.120 at 266. Dieckow further testified that he had another conversation with Mitzelfelt a few days later. Mitzelfelt then told him that management “had looked at every female employee in [the] department as a candidate for sergeant” and “even considered his secretary, Sandy Daniels, as a possible candidate for a sergeant’s job.” Id. at 267. According to Dieckow’s testimony, Mitzelfelt did not mention Ms. David by name. However, because Ms. David was the only female security officer in East Peoria who had filed a lawsuit against Caterpillar at that time, the jury 1 The district court also referred to Rebecca Smith’s testimony that she believed that she had been discharged from the security department in retaliation for complaining about sexual harassment. We need not determine whether this evidence should have been admitted, a point of dispute between the parties. The evidence noted in the text is sufficient to sustain the jury’s verdict. 12 No. 02-1354 readily could have inferred that the statement referred to Ms. David. Additionally, although Mitzelfelt told Dieckow that management considered every woman in the security department, including his secretary, as a potential candidate for the position, Ms. David testified that she had not been considered for the promotion. Ms. David testified that she had requested a promotion on numerous occasions and yet, when the sergeant position became available, she was not approached about the promotion. In contrast, Lusher had expressed no interest in obtaining a promotion and yet, Captain Richardson, along with Lusher’s immediate supervisor, Sergeant Kegley, solicited her candidacy for the position. See R.121 at 641. Read in conjunction with Ms. David’s testimony that she was not considered for the position, even though she repeatedly had expressed interest in being promoted, we believe that Dieckow’s testimony provides some evidence from which the jury could have drawn an inference of retaliation. The jury was entitled to conclude that Dieckow’s testimony shows that Caterpillar was convinced of the need to promote a woman in response to Ms. David’s allegations of sex discrimination; from this testimony and supporting evidence, the jury could have inferred that Caterpillar was equally convinced that the first woman to be promoted in the security department 2 would not be Ms. David. 2 We note that Caterpillar has not contested the import of Dieckow’s testimony. Although Caterpillar devotes much of its brief to persuading us why this evidence should have been excluded under Rule 37, it devotes none of its brief to challenging the significance of this evidence. Indeed, Caterpillar submits that “absent Dieckow’s testimony, there is insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict.” Appellant’s Br. at 25. No. 02-1354 13 Caterpillar next asserts that Ms. David’s testimony that she was treated differently by her supervisors after complaining about what she perceived to be the differential treatment of males in the promotion process is insufficient to establish that Lusher’s promotion was motivated by retaliation. Caterpillar submits that Ms. David’s statements were vague and did not relate to the employment decision that Ms. David is challenging—the Lusher promotion. We cannot accept this argument. Ms. David testified that, after she complained internally about discrimination and filed charges with the EEOC, Sergeant Shilling and Captain Richardson became hostile toward her. Ms. David testified: “I was totally ignored. The only time I was spoken to is if they had a need to speak to me. If I said ‘hello’ to them, they would not answer. They dropped their eyes when they walked by, turned the other way. It was evident [that] they were upset.” R.120 at 379. Ms. David further testified that Schilling and Richardson “ostracized” her and that when they “actually had to talk” to her, they would turn the encounter into “an angry situation.” Id. at 379. For example, Ms. David testified that, immediately after she complained to Richardson about discrimination in awarding promotions, he responded by pounding on the table and shouting: “If it’s a lawsuit you want, I don’t want no part of it.” Id. at 371. Additionally, Ms. David testified that, after she filed a charge of discrimination, she learned of a promotional opportunity outside of the security department, that she approached Schilling and Richardson about the opportunity and that they deliberately avoided completing the necessary paperwork. See id. at 380-81. Similarly, Ms. David testified that Shilling denied her time off for illness and that he only approved her vacation leave after she emphasized that another security officer had received, 14 No. 02-1354 without any objection from management, 32 consecutive days of vacation leave. See id. at 381-82. Ms. David also testified that Shilling and Richardson attempted to deny her an educational leave of absence. Ms. David testified that she wanted the leave because Richardson had told her that she needed a college degree if she expected to advance in the security department and that she believed she could accelerate the process by taking two classes during a month in the summer. Because the plant would be shut down for two of the four weeks, Ms. David thought this was a “prime opportunity.” Id. at 389. However, Ms. David testified that, when she approached Shilling with this request, he told her “No. . . . Worry about work. Don’t worry about school.” Id. at 389. After receiving this negative response from Shilling, Ms. David approached Richardson about the leave, only to be asked “what did Gary [Shilling] say?” and then to be told “I have to agree with him.” Id. at 390. If believed, the jury reasonably could have determined that such testimony, in combination with other evidence, supported a finding of retaliatory intent. It was the prerogative of the jury to determine the weight to give such testimony in the course of its deliberations. To the extent that Caterpillar argues that Shilling’s and Richardson’s treatment of Ms. David following her complaint of discrimination is irrelevant because they were not the “decisionmakers” who promoted Lusher over Ms. David, we cannot accept such a submission. Although statements by a nondecisionmaker ordinarily do not satisfy a plaintiff’s burden of proof in an employment retaliation case, this court has recognized that “if a manager with a retaliatory motive is involved in the [employment] decision . . . , that retaliatory motive, in some circumstances, may be imputed to the company, even if the No. 02-1354 15 manager with a retaliatory motive was not the ultimate decisionmaker.” Paluck v. Gooding Rubber Co., 221 F.3d 1003, 1010 (7th Cir. 2000). Specifically, we have stated that the retaliatory motive of a “nondecisionmaker” may be imputed to the company where the “nondecisionmaker” influenced the employment decision by concealing relevant information from, or feeding false information to, the ultimate decisionmaker. See Wallace v. SMC Pneumatics, Inc., 103 F.3d 1394, 1400 (7th Cir. 1997). “In such a case, the [retaliatory] motive of the other employee, not the autonomous judgment of the nondiscriminating decision-maker, is the real cause of the adverse employment action.” Id. In this case, Ms. David testified, and the jury was entitled to believe, that both Shilling and Richardson played a significant role in Caterpillar’s decision to promote Lusher over Ms. David. Ms. David asserted that it was the sergeants’ duty to evaluate security officers and make recommendations to the captains for promotions. Ms. David’s testimony on this point was supported by other evidence, including Caterpillar’s written job description for security sergeants, which provided: “Security sergeants direct and train a staff of security officers and provide recommendations to the security captain regarding merit increases [and] promotions.” R.119 at 84. It is undisputed that Shilling was Ms. David’s sergeant and that he did not recommend her for promotion, even though she consistently had excellent performance evaluations. In addition, Richardson was the individual who approached Lusher about the promotion and recommended to Beckner that Lusher be given the position. Beckner, who had virtually no personal contact with Ms. David, testified that, when it came to promotional decisions, he would have received the necessary information about Ms. David from Richardson. See R.122 at 683-84 (Q: “My point is when 16 No. 02-1354 it came to the promotional issue, the person that you would have received the information about Lori David from would have been Ray Richardson? A: That’s correct.”). Under these circumstances, the fact that Shilling and Richardson may not have had the final say regarding Lusher’s promotion does not render Ms. David’s testimony completely irrelevant. Given Caterpillar’s system for awarding promotions, we believe that Shilling’s and Richardson’s actions were tantamount to concealing relevant information from, or feeding false information to, the ultimate decisionmaker. Thus, the jury properly could have considered this evidence in finding that Caterpillar retaliated against Ms. David when it selected Lusher for promotion. Finally, Caterpillar submits that the comparative qualifications of Ms. David and Lusher do not support an inference of retaliation because Ms. David’s credentials were not so far superior that no reasonable employer could have concluded that Lusher was the better person for the job. In support of this argument, Caterpillar relies on Millbrook v. IBP, Inc., 280 F.3d 1169 (7th Cir. 2002), cert. denied, 123 S. Ct. 117 (2002) (No. 02-120). In Millbrook, we held that, when an employer asserts that it chose another applicant over the plaintiff because the selected candidate was more qualified, “evidence of the applicants’ competing qualifications does not constitute evidence of pretext unless those differences are so favorable to the plaintiff that there can be no dispute among reasonable persons of impartial judgment that the plaintiff was clearly better qualified for the position at issue.” Id. at 1180 (internal quotations omitted). Applying this standard to the facts of this case, we agree that a comparison of Ms. David’s and Lusher’s relative qualifications, standing alone, would be insufficient to support the jury’s verdict. No. 02-1354 17 At the time of Lusher’s promotion, Ms. David had worked as a Caterpillar fire and security officer for six years, while Lusher had worked in the same position for almost four years. Ms. David had a two-year associate degree in law enforcement and was working toward a four-year college degree; in contrast, Lusher had no formal education beyond high school. Ms. David also had substantial police-related training; Lusher had no comparable training. Lusher, however, had significantly more fire and emergency training than Ms. David. Based on a comparison of these qualifications, Ms. David may well have been more qualified than Lusher, but we cannot conclude that the differences between the two candidates “are so favorable” to Ms. David “that there can be no dispute among reasonable persons of impartial judgment that [she] was clearly better qualified” for the sergeant position. Id. However, Ms. David’s qualifications are not wholly irrelevant. Nothing in Millbrook forecloses a comparison of qualifications in a case, such as this, where the employer offers conflicting explanations for its employment decision. See Millbrook, 280 F.3d at 1183 (“While Millbrook believes the jury should be allowed to review the candidates’ relative qualifications to decide whether or not IBP lied, without any evidence calling into question IBP’s veracity,” such an analysis is not permitted.). At trial, Caterpillar gave conflicting reasons for why Ms. David was not promoted; both Shilling and Richardson, and to a lesser extent Beckner and Ruxlow, were impeached on numerous occasions with prior inconsistent testimony, and their explanations were not supported by other evi- 3 dence in the record. Under these circumstances, we be- 3 For example, Shilling testified that, even though he considered Ms. David to be one of his best employees and could (continued...) 18 No. 02-1354 3 (...continued) think of no reason why she should not have been promoted, he never had recommended her for promotion. See R.119 at 88. Shilling’s explanation for not recommending Ms. David was that she did not ask to be promoted in the security department. See id. This assertion contradicted Ms. David’s testimony that she repeatedly had told Shilling she wanted to be promoted to the rank of sergeant and that Shilling responded by telling her that no woman would ever be promoted in the department. Additionally, Shilling knew that Ms. David’s EEOC charge protested her lack of promotion in the security department. Moreover, Shilling admitted that he had recommended a different security officer for promotion despite the fact that the officer never asked to be promoted. See id. at 86, 88. Similarly, Richardson testified that in October 1994, Ms. David complained to him about only males being promoted in the security department and that he advised her to complete her four-year college degree. See R.120 at 215. However, Richardson admitted that Lusher did not have a degree when she was promoted to sergeant, nor did Emerson Hahn, Randy Warner or Ken Elliott when they were promoted. See id. at 215-16. Additionally, Richardson testified that one of the reasons he did not recommend Ms. David for promotion was that he did not know she was interested in obtaining a promotion in the security department. See id. at 210. This testimony, however, squarely contradicted Richardson’s testimony regarding Ms. David’s complaints of sex discrimination in October 1994, as well as Richardson’s knowledge of Ms. David’s EEOC charge. See id. at 211-12. Moreover, Richardson admitted that he recommended that Lusher be promoted to sergeant, even though she had not previously requested such a promotion. Finally, Richardson testified that the other reason he did not recommend Ms. David for promotion was that he felt she needed to work on her interpersonal skills and her relationship with coworkers. See id. at 218. Richardson was impeached numerous times on this issue. When asked at trial whether he per- (continued...) No. 02-1354 19 lieve that the jury reasonably could have doubted Caterpillar’s assertion that it honestly believed Lusher to be the better candidate. Furthermore, in Millbrook, we addressed the relatively narrow issue of the circumstances under which evidence of comparative qualifications, standing alone, is sufficient to support a jury verdict of discrimination. In this case, Ms. David offered additional evidence of retaliation, including Dieckow’s testimony and evidence regarding hostility toward Ms. David after she complained of discrimination. The Millbrook standard is controlling in cases in which the plaintiff relies exclusively on evidence of the applicants’ comparative qualifications; however, it is not controlling where the plaintiff offers other evidence of retaliation in addition to the differences in relative 4 qualifications. We recognized as much in Millbrook. Ac- 3 (...continued) sonally observed any specific instance in which Ms. David failed to get along with her co-workers, Richardson stated: “I would have to say that I did.” Id. at 212. However, when asked the same question in his deposition, Richardson answered “no.” Id. at 213. Similarly, when asked whether he could recall an instance in which someone else reported to him that Ms. David did not get along with her co-workers, Richardson responded: “There was an instance.” Id. However, when asked the same question during his deposition, Richardson stated “no.” Id. at 214. Thereafter, Richardson admitted at trial that he could not identify a specific instance in which Ms. David failed to demonstrate “good people skills.” Id. Richardson also admitted that Ms. David consistently had excellent written reviews. See id. at 204-05. 4 Relying on Emmel v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Chicago, 95 F.3d 627 (7th Cir. 1996), and Bell v. Environmental Protection (continued...) 20 No. 02-1354 cordingly, the jury properly could have weighed Ms. David’s qualifications against those of Lusher in reaching its verdict. In summary, we believe that when the evidence is viewed in its totality, Ms. David provided sufficient evidence from which a rational jury could have concluded that retaliation was a determining factor in Caterpillar’s decision to promote Lusher over Ms. David.