Opinion ID: 488133
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Discriminatory Effect of Project 31

Text: 21 The district court held that plaintiffs failed to prove discriminatory effect. First, the court explained that, although the evidence would tend to show discrimination against black neighborhoods, if one focused on the last three major special assessment projects, an examination of all special assessment projects since 1949 reveals that the assessment in Project 31 was not out of line with assessments in prior projects. Second, the court held that although it would appear that Project 31 had a discriminatory effect on blacks if one compared only Projects 30 and 31, any discriminatory effect was cancelled out by the surrounding circumstances. Both of these findings are clearly erroneous.
22 The district court concluded that Dothan's contribution to Project 31 was not significantly out of line with prior projects primarily because it found that the city had contributed 30.2% of the total costs to Project 31 and the average city contribution to special projects since 1949 was 31.43%. 10 Plaintiffs argue that this finding is clearly erroneous because it artificially inflates Dothan's contribution to Project 31 by including in its computation of the city's contribution the costs for related project improvements that would not be assessed against property owners and the costs for sewer improvements, both of which were not assessed in previous projects. Dothan's contribution to Project 31 would have been 14.8% if the court had not included non-assessed related project improvements and sewer improvements in its computation. Plaintiffs contend that this last figure more accurately reflects Dothan's actual contribution to Project 31 in comparison with previous projects. 11 We agree. 23 Dothan admitted in response to a Fed.R.Civ.P. 36 request for an admission of fact that its contribution to Project 30 was 48.7%. This figure does not include non-assessed related project improvements. Because Dothan never sought to withdraw or amend its admission, the court was not free to reject this conclusively established fact even if it [found] more credible the evidence of the party against whom the admissions operate. Brooks Village N. Assocs. v. General Elec. Co., 686 F.2d 66, 73 (1st Cir.1982). Dothan's argument that plaintiffs were not prejudiced by the district court's computation and that a later admission explained that its prior admission was simply based on the Project 30 assessment roll, which did not include non-assessed related project improvements, does not change the conclusive effect of its prior admission, which admitted the city's contribution without any explanation or qualification. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 36. The district court therefore erred by including the costs of non-assessed related project improvements and sewer improvements in Dothan's contribution to Project 31 when the city's contribution to Project 30 was conclusively established excluding these costs. 24 Moreover, non-assessed related project improvements were not included on special project assessment rolls prior to Project 31 and, therefore, should not be included in computing the city's contribution to Project 31 for purposes of comparison with previous projects. Although Dothan contends that the evidence does not demonstrate conclusively that previous projects did not include related project improvements, it can point to only one project, Project 14, in which the assessment roll may have included related project improvements. The related project improvements in Project 14, however, are significantly different from the related project improvements in Project 31. In Project 14 the related project improvements involved lowering and repairing water mains and sanitary sewers to accommodate the construction and paving of the streets and therefore were assessable against the property owners. In contrast, the related improvements in Project 31 involved the construction of new water mains and sanitary sewer improvements independent of the construction and paving of the streets. Thus, they were not a necessary part of the assessment project and therefore were not assessable. 25 The inclusion of Dothan's cost for related project improvements to the water and sewer systems as part of the city's contribution to Project 31 is inconsistent with the city's established practice of providing these services independent of any special assessment project. Dothan has never assessed property owners for water system improvements. Nor has it required that such water system improvements be completed as part of any special assessment project. Prior to 1977 Dothan constructed sewer system improvements at no cost to the property owner and without regard to whether a special assessment project was involved. Although Dothan now assesses property owners for sewer system improvements, the inclusion of Dothan's costs for such improvements in the computation of the city's contribution to Project 31, where such costs were not included in previous projects, inaccurately increased the city's contribution to Project 31 as compared to previous projects. By including the costs of non-assessed related project improvements and sewer improvements in the city's contribution to Project 31, the district court artificially inflated Dothan's contribution to the project and therefore inaccurately evaluated the discriminatory effect of Project 31 on plaintiffs. 26 Prior to 1975 Dothan discriminated against its black citizens in the provision of government services. Yelverton, 370 F.Supp. at 618-19. The black residential neighborhoods in Dothan had significantly fewer paved streets and less sewer service than predominantly white neighborhoods. Project 31 was the first major project since Yelverton in a primarily black residential neighborhood. 12 27 The Yelverton order required Dothan to extend government services to black neighborhoods. Black citizens participated in Project 31 in large numbers. As we have described, in previous projects white citizens had been able to procure sewer improvements for which the city paid the entire costs and street paving to which the city contributed an average of 31.43% of the final costs, while in Project 31 the city agreed to contribute only 14.8% of the total costs. 13 Although Dothan did not decrease its contribution to Project 31 because of any intent to discriminate against blacks, the end result was discriminatory--blacks had to pay a higher percentage of the costs for paving and sewer improvements in Project 31 than whites had to pay for similar improvements in past assessment projects. 14 Project 31 therefore had a discriminatory effect on blacks as compared to whites in previous assessment projects.
28 The district court also held that any discriminatory effect that Project 31 may have had on Dothan's black citizens was cancelled out by four relevant surrounding circumstances: (1) blacks were given the same opportunity as whites to participate in Projects 30 and 31; (2) more than 50 percent of the owners of the property assessed in Project 31 were whites, and therefore whites shared at least equally with blacks in whatever unfairness, if any, resulted from Project 31; (3) Mayor Grant and Commissioner Glanton campaigned heavily in 1973 on a political promise to obtain paving for the black neighborhoods; and (4) there is no showing that the other Defendants knew, before adopting the Projects, that they were in a predominantly white or black neighborhood. Williams II, Mss. at 9-10. 29 Only the second factor has any impact on whether Project 31 had a discriminatory effect on blacks. The court's reliance on the other three factors is misplaced. First, the finding that blacks and whites had an equal opportunity to participate in Project 30 conflicts with the district court's finding made here and in Yelverton that prior to 1975 Dothan discriminated against its black citizens in the provision of government services. Second, the finding that Mayor Grant and Commissioner Glanton campaigned in 1973 on the political promise of obtaining paving for the black community is not based on evidence in the record. Finally, the finding that the other defendants did not know whether Project 30 or 31 was in a predominantly black or white neighborhood when adopted is not supported by the evidence. In any event, these last two findings only go towards the city's intent to discriminate, which is not an issue. 30 Although the court's finding that any discriminatory effect of Project 31 on blacks is nullified because white citizens owned 50% of the assessed property in the project is relevant, it does not eliminate the discriminatory effect of Project 31 on Dothan's black citizens. When considering disparate effect the focus should not be on absolute numbers but rather on whether the challenged requirements operate to disqualify Negroes at a substantially higher rate than white[s]. Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 426, 91 S.Ct. 849, 851, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971). In Griggs the Supreme Court noted that the challenged standards had been applied fairly to whites and Negroes alike. Id. at 429, 91 S.Ct. at 852. The Court held, however, that these standards had a discriminatory impact on blacks and, because they were not job-related, were therefore unlawful. Id. at 431-32, 91 S.Ct. at 853-54. Although the action in Griggs was brought by a class representing incumbent black employees of Duke Power Company, the Supreme Court focused on the percentage of blacks and whites in general, compared to their population in society according to the most recent census, who had not completed high school or who had failed the relevant aptitude tests. Id. at 430 n. 6, 91 S.Ct. at 853 n. 6; see also Robinson v. Union Carbide Corp., 538 F.2d 652, 660-61 (5th Cir.1976) (compared percentage of blacks in supervisory positions with percentage of blacks in local population and concluded that company's hiring practice had a discriminatory effect on blacks), modified on other grounds, 544 F.2d 1258, cert. denied, 434 U.S. 822, 98 S.Ct. 65, 54 L.Ed.2d 78 (1977); Johnson v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 491 F.2d 1364, 1372 n. 22 (court should focus on the percentage of each race which passes or fails a particular exam requirement not the absolute difference between the two races.). 31 Although blacks owned only slightly less than 50% of the streets paved in Project 31, blacks owned only 16.7% of the private homes in Dothan at the time. In addition, 73% of all assessed streets paved in Project 31 were owned or occupied by blacks, even though blacks only comprised 25.7% of the population. This is important because although the owners of the property will pay the actual assessment, the owners can be expected to pass on their costs to their tenants. Project 31 therefore had a discriminatory effect on Dothan's black citizens. Dothan may not escape its responsibilities under Yelverton on the basis that 50% of the property owners who had to pay the unusually high assessment in Project 31 were white, when in fact the actual number of whites affected by Project 31 was small in comparison to the number of whites who benefited from previous assessment projects.