Court Opinion

ID: 9499440
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:48:22.631306+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:30.321839
License: Public Domain

*945SMITH, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Though I agree with much of the majority’s analysis, I cannot concur with its holding that the district court abused its discretion in awarding punitive damages to Allen.
We review a district court’s determination of punitive damages for an abuse of discretion, Conseco Fin. Servicing Co. v. N. Am. Mortgage Co., 381 F.3d 811, 823 (8th Cir.2004), meaning that we will not reverse the district court unless its decision is “grossly unsound, unreasonable, or illegal.” Black’s Law Dictionary 10 (7th ed.1999).
After thoroughly reviewing the record, I cannot conclude that the district court’s award of punitive damages was “grossly unsound, unreasonable, or illegal.” First, TSI makes virtually no argument as to why the district court abused its discretion in awarding punitive damages. It devotes only one paragraph in its 65-page brief to the issue. Furthermore, within this one paragraph, TSI fails to cite a single authority for the proposition that Allen’s misconduct “demonstrates she should not be awarded any compensatory or punitive damages.” The only cases relied on by TSI relate to the constitutionality of the punitive damages award, not to its availability.
Second, our case law supports affir-mance of the punitive damages award. “Punitive damages may be recovered for employment discrimination if the employer engages in intentional discrimination with malice or with reckless indifference to the individual’s protected rights.” Ross v. Kan. City Power & Light Co., 293 F.3d 1041, 1048 (8th Cir.2002) (citing Kolstad v. Am. Dental Ass’n, 527 U.S. 526, 529-30, 119 S.Ct. 2118, 144 L.Ed.2d 494 (1999)) (emphasis added). “The terms ‘malice’ and ‘reckless’ ultimately focus on the actor’s state of mind, and ‘malice’ or ‘reckless indifference’ pertain to the employer’s knowledge that it may be acting in violation of federal law, not its awareness that it is engaging in discrimination.” Canny v. Dr. Pepper/Seven-Up Bottling Group, Inc., 439 F.3d 894, 903 (8th Cir.2006) (internal quotations and citation omitted). The plaintiff is not required “to establish egregious misconduct on the part of an employer in order to have punitive damages submitted to the jury.” Ross, 293 F.3d at 1048. When an employer “deliberately turn[s] a deaf ear to discriminatory conduct,” punitive damages may be warranted. Walsh v. Nat’l Computer Sys., Inc., 332 F.3d 1150, 1161 (8th Cir.2003).
For example, we have previously held that a district court properly submitted punitive damages to the jury “because it found that the evidence showed that [the employer] occasionally took ‘special efforts’ on behalf of white applicants, including making further inquiry when their applications did not initially meet minimum qualifications.” Ross, 293 F.3d at 1048. Additionally, the plaintiff presented evidence that the employer “may have passed over qualified internal black candidates in favor of new college graduates who were white.” Id.
Just as the plaintiff in Ross presented evidence that the employer was passing over internal black candidates in favor of whites, so too did Allen present evidence that, after terminating Morgan, Bearden hired Goggans, a white female, and non-TSI employee, as the new store manager, passing over Allen for the position. In addition, Allen presented evidence that while she was demoted and transferred for arguing with Lovell, TSI took no action against Morgan- — -a white employee who engaged in similar conduct — and, in fact, promoted Morgan after the incident with *946Smith.4 Finally, the record demonstrates that TSI was on notice that it may be acting in violation of federal law based on several EEOC charges filed against it. Specifically, the district court found that:
Allen had filed an EEOC charge in March, 2002, Theresa Sharkey5 had filed a charge in March, 2002, and Diane Darrough6 had filed a charge in August, 2002. Thus, as of November 2002, when the manager position came open, TSI was on notice that Allen wanted a managerial position and that TSI did not have any black managers. Allen had even filed a race discrimination action. TSI still did not post the job vacancy; still had not written employment policies or job standards. It went outside the company to recruit someone who had not had any experience with the company, while it had well qualified black employees with managerial experience.
Allen v. Tobacco Superstore, Inc., 375 F.Supp.2d 796, 809 (E.D.Ark.2005). Additionally, the EEOC found evidence that TSI “consistently discriminated against Blacks as a class by denying them promotions to assistant manager and manager positions.” Id.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.

. Smith quit before any action could be taken.

. Theresa Sharkey was hired as a cashier at die TSI in Blytheville, Arkansas, in January 2001. She had over six years' experience as a manager of a grocery store. Assistant managers and managers were hired during the ten mondis that Sharkey worked at TSI who had far less experience than she.

. Darrough had extensive management experience. She was hired as an assistant manager at the Star City, Arkansas, TSI store in February 2002. The Star City store manager, who was white, was fired for stealing a store deposit in July 2002. Darrough was acting manager for about a month; however, rather than promote Darrough, Bearden and Cobb brought in the manager of the Monticello, Arkansas, store, Myrtis Thompson, who is white, to manage both the Star City and Monticello stores. Bearden’s reason for not promoting Darrough was that she did not feel Darrough had enough training. However, by the time that the manager position became permanent, Darrough had been with TSI for several months and had more direct experience than other managers who were hired from without. Furthermore, an additional assistant manager, who is white, was hired at the Star City store to help Thompson. Thompson was the only manager who had to manage two stores, and Star City was the only store with two assistant managers. Dar-rough was ultimately promoted to manager of the Star City store, however, it was only after she filed a lawsuit alleging discrimination.