Opinion ID: 19797
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mixed-Motive Defense

Text: 3 Garcia argues that the district court erred by entering judgment in the City's favor based on the jury verdict. Specifically, Garcia contends that the City did not meet its burden of proof to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that Garcia would have been denied a transfer to the SWAT team even without the impermissible consideration of race. We give great deference to a jury's verdict when evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence. See Hiltgen v. Sumrall, 47 F.3d 695, 699-700 (5th Cir. 1995). Under this highly deferential standard this court will view all evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and reverse the jury's verdict only if the evidence points so strongly to one party that reasonable jurors could not arrive at any contrary conclusion. Id. 4 The Supreme Court established what has become known as the mixed-motive defense in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, 109 S.Ct. 1775, 104L.Ed. 2d 268 (1989). 1 In Price Waterhouse, the Court held that an employer would not be held liable 2 if the employer could prove that even if it had not taken into account the impermissible factor of gender, the employer would have come to the same decision. See Price Waterhouse, 490 U.S. at 242, 109 S.Ct at 1786. In order to prove a mixed-motive defense the employer should be able to present some objective proof that the same decision would have been made. Id. at 252 (emphasis added). The legitimate reason must have been present at the time the decision was made. Id. It is not enough for the employer to demonstrate that the same decision would have been justified, but instead the employer must show that its legitimate reason standing alone would have produced the same decision. Id. The employer must prove the mixed-motive defense by a preponderance of the evidence. Id. at 253. 5 In 1991, Congress amended the holding in Price Waterhouse through passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Currently, under Title VII an unlawful employment practice is established when the complaining party establishes that race, color, national origin, or sex was a motivating factor for any employment practice, even though other factors also motivated the practice. See 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(m); Buchanan v. City of San Antonio, 85 F.3d 196, 200 (5th Cir. 1990). If an employer can demonstrate that it would have taken the same action in the absence of the impermissible motivating factor, the plaintiff's relief is limited to injunctive and declaratory relief, costs, and attorneys' fees. See Buchanan, 85 F.3d at 200 (citing 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(g)(2)(B)(I)). 6 In the present case, Garcia presented evidence that race was a motivating factor in HPD's decision not to promote him. During the trial, two of the defense witnesses, SWAT team supervisors Headley and Walker, both admitted that race was a factor in the selection process. These officers admitted that among the group of candidates who were qualified they considered it to be a bonus to transfer some black officers to SWAT. Therefore, because the city used race as a motivating factor in their transfer process, the City had the burden to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence, that in 1992 even if the department had not considered race they would have denied Garcia's transfer. 7 At trial the City claimed that a reason that Garcia was denied the transfer, even without the consideration of race, was that Garcia had insufficient frontline and tactical police experience to justify a transfer to the SWAT detail. 3 Garcia had served as a community service officer for ten years and had made few arrests during that period. The black officers who were selected both testified that they had experience in tactical work such as undercover assignments and the narcotics division. 8 Garcia claims that this evidence, however, is insufficient to sustain a mixed-motive defense under the Price Waterhouse standard. First, Garcia argues that the City did not produce contemporary, objective evidence of its legitimate motive. Garcia contends that all of the proof put forth by the City was post hoc and subjective. In Foster v. University of Arkansas, 938 F.2d 111, 113 (8th Cir. 1991) our sister circuit found that objective evidence is necessary to establish that an employer would have made the same decision. The court found that the employer did put forth this type of objective evidence, including the employer's policy that allowed employees to be fired for any reason with sixty days notice, and the plaintiff's negative employment evaluations. Id. This objective evidence was enough to sustain the jury's finding that the employer proved its mixed-motive defense. 9 In the present case, the City did present objective evidence regarding Garcia's evaluation that included race neutral reasons for not promoting him. Garcia argues that the objective evidence, namely the test scores, demonstrate that he was better qualified than the two black officers who were transferred, thus making race the only factor in denying his transfer. However, the qualifications for the SWAT team were posted prior to the acceptance of applications. The eight-step selection process included not only the physical and written tests but also evaluations by the officer's current supervisors, interviews with SWAT team leaders, and psychological testing. The process also included a final evaluation in which it was stated that the new SWAT team members would be chosen based on how well they performed throughout the entire process. This evidence demonstrates that in 1992 the City did not intend for the physical and written tests to be the only considerations in the selection of SWAT team members. It is also important to note that Garcia also performed better on the objective tests than one of the white officers who was selected. Therefore the transfer of a lower scoring white officer to SWAT was additional evidence before the jury to show that the desire to transfer black officers was not the only reason the City considered factors other than test scores. 10 Lieutenant Headley testified that one reason Garcia was not promoted was his lack of frontline tactical police experience. Garcia himself testified that for the past ten years he had been assigned to community service division where his primary duties were giving presentations to civic groups and schools. His only patrol experience during those years was doing overtime patrol work. The City presented contemporary, objective proof that Garcia's assignment to the community service division was considered as a detriment to his promotion to SWAT. At the time of the selection process it was noted in written records that Garcia's community service assignment was not deemed as an asset. The City also introduced evidence that the one white and two black officers who had lower test scores all had previously been assigned to frontline tactical units such as the narcotics division, special operations, and tactical operations unit. The City also produced evidence that Garcia had applied for a transfer to SWAT twice before and been denied. Also noted in Garcia's evaluation file was that his answers tended to wander during his interview and that he received a mediocre evaluation from his supervisor. Therefore, based on the contemporary, objective evidence presented by the City about the overall process for selection and Garcia's lack of frontline tactical experience the evidence is sufficient to support the jury's verdict.