Court Opinion

ID: 9477041
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:11:41.93656+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:38.836794
License: Public Domain

K.K. HALL, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
Although it mandated great deference to a district court’s findings of fact, the Supreme Court in Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985), articulated a standard of appellate review, not a standard that precludes review. Even a decision that re*76lies upon an assessment of witness credibility may be reversed as “clearly erroneous” when the witness’s account viewed “in light of the record in its entirety” is “implausible on its face.” Anderson, 470 U.S. at 574, 105 S.Ct. at 1512. See also, Bishopp v. District of Columbia, 788 F.2d 781 (D.C.Cir.1986).
For the reasons previously stated in the majority opinion in Beatty v. Chesapeake Center, Inc., 818 F.2d 318 (4th Cir.1987), I remain convinced that the Chesapeake Center’s explanation for its prima facie act of employment discrimination was utterly unworthy of belief. The en banc majority’s contrary conclusion suggests the “conclu-sory” application of Rule 52(a) which Justice Powell cautioned against in his concurring opinion in Anderson. I, therefore, respectfully dissent from the decision which the en banc majority announces today.
I am authorized to state that Judge Sprouse joins in this opinion.