Court Opinion

ID: 9499073
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:36:53.683049+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:15.859447
License: Public Domain

*716KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I write separately because I believe that we should analyze the impact of the 1991 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-2(m), 2000e-5(g)(2)(B), and Desert Palace v. Costa, 539 U.S. 90, 123 S.Ct. 2148, 156 L.Ed.2d 84 (2003), on the treatment of mixed-motive claims at the summary judgment stage to provide a thorough explanation of the resolution of Wright’s mixed-motive claims. This court has not yet considered how Desert Palace affects our approach to mixed-motive claims at summary judgment, so I take this opportunity to present my views as to how mixed-motive claims should be analyzed after the 1991 Civil Rights Act and Desert Palace. I conclude that the McDonnell Douglas framework is ill suited to the analysis of mixed-motive claims even though they can now be raised on the basis of circumstantial evidence. I believe that an employee raising a mixed-motive claim can defeat an employer’s motion for summary judgment by presenting evidence — either direct or circumstantial — to “demonstrate” that a protected characteristic “was a motivating factor for any employment practice, even though other factors also motivated the practice.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m) (emphasis added). Because Wright has failed to meet this standard, the grant of summary judgment on Wright’s mixed-motive claims was proper.
I. THE RESPONSE TO DESERT PALACE
Prior to Desert Palace, mixed-motive claims were not subjected to analysis under the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework; instead, establishing a mixed-motive claim required direct evidence that a discriminatory reason “was a motivating factor in an employment decision,” and “the employer [could] avoid liability only by proving by a preponderance of the evidence that it would have made the same decision even if it had not considered the plaintiffs gender.” Cesaro v. Lakeville Cmty. Sch. Dist., 953 F.2d 252, 254 (6th Cir.1992). Our pre-Neseri Palace view that direct evidence was required to establish a mixed-motive case, see Gagne v. Northwestern Nat’l Ins. Co., 881 F.2d 309, 315 (6th Cir.1989), kept mixed-motive claims distinct from claims analyzed under the McDonnell Douglas framework, which was applied when the plaintiff relied on circumstantial evidence. However, because Desert Palace has now made it clear that mixed-motive claims can be based on circumstantial evidence, it is necessary to consider what effect, if any, this has on our approach to mixed-motive claims. Because this court has never addressed the question of the impact of Desert Palace on the treatment of mixed-motive claims at the summary judgment stage, a review of the approaches taken by our sister circuits is useful.
The Fifth Circuit has adopted “the modified McDonnell Douglas approach,” which folds the mixed-motive inquiry into the McDonnell Douglas framework. Rachid v. Jack in the Box, Inc., 376 F.3d 305, 312 (5th Cir.2004); see also Keelan v. Majesco Software, Inc., 407 F.3d 332, 341 (5th Cir. 2005). Under this approach, if the plaintiff establishes a prima facie case and the defendant provides a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the adverse employment decision, the plaintiff can rebut this reason and have her case proceed to trial if she demonstrates either (1) that the defendant’s proffered reason is pretextual (the traditional McDonnell Douglas burden), or (2) “that the defendant’s reason, while true, is only one of the reasons for its conduct, and another motivating factor is the plaintiffs protected characteristic (mixed-motives alternative).”1 Rachid, *717376 F.3d at 312 (internal quotation marks omitted). If the plaintiff succeeds on the second alternative, “it then falls to the defendant to prove that the same adverse employment decision would have been made regardless of discriminatory animus. If the employer fails to carry this burden, plaintiff prevails.”2 Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
This approach, however, does not accurately screen for unlawful employment practices as Congress defined them in the 1991 Civil Rights Act. Unlawful discrimination occurs when the protected characteristic was “a motivating factor,” not only when it was the primary motivating factor. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m) (emphasis added). The plaintiff should not be required to present a prima facie case to proceed on a mixed-motive claim because, as the Supreme Court has explained, the primary purpose of the McDonnell Douglas prima facie case is to “eliminate[ ] the most common nondiscriminatory reasons for the [adverse employment decision].” Burdine, 450 U.S. at 254, 101 S.Ct. 1089. The plaintiff in a mixed-motive case can still succeed when a nondiscriminatory reason was a motivating factor in the adverse decision, so long as a discriminatory reason was also a motivating factor. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m). Making the showing of a prima facie ease a predicate to proceeding on a mixed-motive claim would therefore improperly allow summary judgment to defeat claims when one or more of “the most common nondiscriminatory reasons” played some role in the adverse decision, but when a discriminatory reason also played some role. In those circumstances, the plaintiff might not be able to maintain a prima facie case, but might be able to present evidence that a discriminatory reason was a motivating factor in the adverse employment decision. In such cases, the plaintiff would have a cognizable mixed-motive claim under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m), but her claim would otherwise be barred under “the modified McDonnell Douglas approach,” Rachid, 376 F.3d at 312.
The Eighth Circuit has rejected the “modified McDonnell Douglas approach,” Rachid, 376 F.3d at 312, on the ground that Desert Palace applied only to the post-trial issue of when a mixed-motive jury instruction was appropriate and thus did not influence that court’s summary judgment precedents.3 Griffith v. City of Des Moines, 387 F.3d 733, 735 (8th Cir. 2004). The court was skeptical that Desert Palace had such an effect on McDonnell Douglas because Desert Palace did not mention McDonnell Douglas and because the Supreme Court applied McDonnell Douglas in a case following Desert Palace.4 *718Id. (citing Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez, 540 U.S. 44, 124 S.Ct. 513, 157 L.Ed.2d 357 (2003)). By putting a gloss on the meaning of “direct evidence,” the Eighth Circuit held that Desert Palace had no effect on its case law. Id. at 736. The court defined direct evidence as “not the converse of circumstantial evidence,” but rather as “evidence showing a specific link between the alleged discriminatory animus and the challenged decision, sufficient to support a finding by a reasonable fact finder that an illegitimate criterion actually motivated the adverse employment action.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Therefore, in the Eighth Circuit, even after Desert Palace, a plaintiff can avoid the McDonnell Douglas framework and proceed on a mixed-motive theory only when she presents “strong (direct) evidence,” that is, “evidence that clearly points to the presence of an illegal motive.” Id. The Eighth Circuit did not explain how this holding was consistent with Desert Palace’s multiple statements that “no heightened” or “special evidentiary showing is required” to proceed on a mixed-motive as opposed to a single-motive theory. Desert Palace, 539 U.S. at 98, 101, 123 S.Ct. 2148.
In Hill v. Lockheed Martin Logistics Management, Inc., 354 F.3d 277, 284-86, 297-98 (4th Cir.2004) (en banc), a case raising both single- and mixed-motive claims, the Fourth Circuit continued to apply the traditional McDonnell Douglas framework in considering whether the district court was correct in granting the defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the plaintiffs single-motive claims. Id. at 298. On the plaintiffs mixed-motive claims, the court instead evaluated whether the plaintiff presented “legally sufficient direct or circumstantial evidence that her sex or age was ‘a motivating factor’ for her termination,” without reference to the McDonnell Douglas framework.5 Id. at 297 (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m)); see also Diamond v. Colonial Life & Accident Ins. Co., 416 F.3d 310, 318 (4th Cir.2005) (noting that the McDonnell Douglas prima facie case is “a mechanism peculiar to the pretext framework”). The Fourth Circuit thus appears at first blush to apply distinct inquiries for the single- and mixed-motive claims. However, the court in effect collapses the mixed-motive approach into the single-motive approach by stating that “ ‘the ultimate question in every employment discrimination case involving a claim of disparate treatment is whether the plaintiff was the victim of intentional discrimination,’ ” and that to prove this, the plaintiff must present evidence that the illegitimate reason “ ‘had a determinative influence on the outcome.’” Hill, 354 F.3d at 286 (emphasis added) (quoting Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 141, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000)).
Hill quotes this “determinative influence” language from Reeves, which only addressed the plaintiffs burden regarding a single-motive employment discrimination claim and did not consider the standard for a mixed-motive claim. Reeves, 530 U.S. at 141-48, 120 S.Ct. 2097. Moreover, the Fourth Circuit, as well as other courts of appeals, have equated “determinative influence” with “but-for” causation between the protected trait and the adverse employment decision, that is, that the adverse employment decision would not have been made if the protected trait were not considered. See Fuller v. Phipps, 67 F.3d 1137, 1144 (4th Cir.1995), rev’d in part on other grounds by Desert Palace, 539 U.S. at 101-02, 123 S.Ct. 2148; Wagner v. Dillard Dep’t Stores, Inc., 17 Fed.Appx. 141, *719147-48 (4th Cir.2001) (unpublished opinion); Balderston v. Fairbanks Morse Engine Div. of Coltec Indus., 328 F.3d 309, 321 (7th Cir.2003); Kelley v. Airborne Freight Corp., 140 F.3d 335, 350-51 & n. 5 (1st Cir.1998); Miller v. CIGNA Corp., 47 F.3d 586, 595-96 (3d Cir.1995) (en banc). This heightened showing is at odds with Congress’s definition of the plaintiffs burden in a mixed-motive case, which is to demonstrate that an illegitimate reason “was a motivating factor for any employment practice, even though other factors also motivated the practice.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m) (emphases added); see also Fuller, 67 F.3d at 1142-44 (clearly distinguishing the “motivating factor” standard governing mixed-motive cases and the “determinative influence”/“but-for” standard governing single-motive cases); Miller, 47 F.3d at 595-96 (3d Cir.1995) (explaining that the “determinative influence”/“but-for” standard does not apply to mixed-motive claims); Wagner, 17 Fed.Appx. at 147-48 (distinguishing the “determinative influence”/“but for” standard from the “motivating factor” standard set forth in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m)). In fact, the Fourth Circuit’s description of the plaintiffs burden in a mixed-motive case in Hill closely mirrors what the employer can show to limit its liability under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g)(2)(B).
The Ninth Circuit has taken yet another approach to mixed-motive claims. Although the Supreme Court left the question open as to “when, if ever, [42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m)] applies outside of the mixed-motive context,” Desert Palace, Inc., 539 U.S. at 94, 123 S.Ct. 2148 n. 1, the Ninth Circuit held that “the plaintiff in any Title VII case may establish a violation through a preponderance of evidence (whether direct'or circumstantial) that a protected characteristic played a motivating factor.” Stegall v. Citadel Broad. Co., 350 F.3d 1061, 1068 (9th Cir.2003) (emphasis added) (internal quotation marks omitted). In the Ninth Circuit, the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework is not the exclusive means by which an employee may defeat summary judgment on a single-motive claim based on circumstantial evidence. McGinest v. GTE Serv. Corp., 360 F.3d 1103, 1122 (9th Cir.2004). “Rather, when responding to a summary judgment motion, the plaintiff is presented with a choice regarding how to establish his or her case.” Id. The plaintiff “may proceed using the McDonnell Douglas framework, or alternatively, may simply produce direct or circumstantial evidence demonstrating that a discriminatory reason more likely than not motivated” the defendant’s decision.6 Id. This approach towards McDonnell Douglas also applies in the mixed-motive context: the plaintiff may invoke McDonnell Douglas to prove that an illegitimate reason was a motivating factor in the adverse employment decision, or the plaintiff may present other evidence — direct or circumstantial — to meet this burden. Dominguez-Curry v. Nev. Transp. Dep’t, 424 F.3d 1027, 1042 (9th Cir.2005).
II. THE POST-DESERT PALACE FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING MIXED-MOTIVE CLAIMS
With this background from our sister circuits, I now turn to the question of how to analyze mixed-motive claims at the summary judgment stage after Desert Palace.7 *720Because McDonnell Douglas creates a shifting set of evidentiary burdens aimed at smoking out the single, ultimate reason for the adverse employment decision, see Burdine, 450 U.S. at 253-56, 101 S.Ct. 1089 & n. 8, the mixed-motive analysis cannot be fit neatly within the McDonnell Douglas framework. As explained above, the purpose of the prima facie case is to rule out the most likely legitimate reasons for an adverse employment decision. Burdine, 450 U.S. at 254, 101 S.Ct. 1089. An employee can succeed on a mixed-motive claim, however, even if such legitimate reasons played a role in the decision, so long as an illegitimate reason was a motivating factor. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m). Therefore, a different approach is necessary for analyzing mixed-motive claims at the summary judgment stage.
I believe that in a case involving mixed motives, to defeat an employer’s motion for summary judgment, the employee must present evidence, either direct or circumstantial, to “demonstrate” that a protected characteristic “was a motivating factor for any employment practice, even though other factors also motivated the practice.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m) (emphasis added); see also Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548 (holding that summary judgment must be granted “against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial”). Although the employee need not establish a McDonnell Douglas prima facie ease to defeat a motion for summary judgment on a mixed-motive claim, setting forth a prima facie case of discrimination under McDonnell Douglas can aid the employee in showing that an illegitimate reason motivated the adverse employment decision. See Burdine, 450 U.S. at 254, 101 S.Ct. 1089 (explaining that the prima facie case “raises an inference of discrimination ... because we presume these acts, if otherwise unexplained, are more likely than not based on the consideration of impermissible factors” (quoting Furnco Constr. Co. v. Waters, 438 U.S. 567, 577, 98 S.Ct. 2943, 57 L.Ed.2d 957 (1978))); id. at 255, 101 S.Ct. 1089 n. 10 (noting that the prima facie case may continue to support an inference of discrimination even after a nondiscriminatory motive has been asserted). Other evidence — direct or circumstantial — that an illegitimate reason was a motivating factor for the decision will allow the employee to defeat the employer’s summary judgment motion in a mixed-motive case. In assessing whether an employee has demonstrated that an illegitimate reason was a motivating factor in the employer’s adverse decision, the court should also consider evidence presented by the employer that the protected characteristic was not a motivating factor for its employment decision.
If the employee fails to present sufficient evidence for a jury to conclude that a discriminatory reason constituted a motivating factor in the adverse decision or, stated alternatively, if the employer succeeds in showing that the only motivating factors in its decision were legitimate and *721nondiscriminatory, the employer’s motion for summary judgment should be granted. When the employee has presented evidence of an illegitimate motivating factor and the employer’s motion for summary judgment cannot be granted, the employer still has the opportunity to raise the limited affirmative defense that it “would have taken the same action in the absence of the impermissible motivating factor,” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g)(2)(B). If the employer can show that it is entitled to this defense, its liability will be limited to declaratory and certain injunctive relief and attorney fees and costs. Id. In this situation, the district court would then determine the extent of the injunctive and declaratory relief as well as the fees and costs to which the employee was entitled. See Fuhr v. Sch. Dist. of Hazel Park, 364 F.3d 753, 760, 762 (6th Cir.2004) (explaining that equitable remedies and the determination of attorney fees are within the discretion of the trial court); 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g)(2)(A) & (B) (stating that “hiring, reinstatement, or promotion” and “back pay” are not available remedies). If the employer cannot show that it is entitled to this affirmative defense — that is, the employer cannot show that it would have taken the same action absent the discriminatory motivating factor — the case must proceed to trial.
In conducting this inquiry, there is no need to shift burdens among the parties. The court simply considers whether there are any genuinely disputed issues of material fact, and, if none is present, whether the law supports a judgment in favor of the moving party on the basis of the undisputed facts before it. See FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c). Inquiries regarding what actually motivated an employer’s decision are very fact intensive and thus will generally be difficult to determine at the summary judgment stage. See Singfield v. Akron Metro. Hous. Auth., 389 F.3d 555, 564 (6th Cir.2004) (explaining that “in discrimination and retaliation cases, an employer’s true motivations are particularly difficult to ascertain, ... thereby frequently making such factual determinations unsuitable for disposition at the summary judgment stage”). When there is a factual dispute as to the factors that motivated the employer’s decision, summary judgment is inappropriate. See FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c).
III. APPLICATION OF THE PROPOSED FRAMEWORK
I now turn to the task of applying this proposed standard to the facts before us. The only evidence that Wright has produced to support his mixed-motive claim is his establishment of a prima facie case of race discrimination under the McDonnell Douglas framework. Wright has offered no other evidence, direct or circumstantial, to create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether his race or sex “ ‘was a motivating factor’ ” in Murray Guard’s decision to terminate him. Desert Palace, 539 U.S. at 94, 123 S.Ct. 2148 (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m)). Under these circumstances, Wright’s prima facie case of race discrimination does not suffice to show that his race “was a motivating factor” in the termination decision. Therefore, the grant of summary judgment on Wright’s mixed-motive claims was appropriate under the post-Desert Palace framework described above.

. A question remains, however, as to what approach would be taken when there is direct *717evidence to support a mixed-motive claim.

. Presumably, if the employer carries this burden, the questions of injunctive or declaratory relief and attorney fees and costs still remain. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g)(2)(B).

. The Eleventh Circuit, in a footnote, rejected an argument that Desert Palace modified McDonnell Douglas so that “once a plaintiff establishes a prima facie case of discrimination, a defendant may no longer simply articulate a legitimate, non-discriminatoiy reason for the adverse employment action, but rather must prove that it would have taken the same action absent the alleged discrimination.” Cooper v. Southern Co., 390 F.3d 695, 725 n. 17 (11th Cir.2004), rev'd in part on other grounds, Ash v. Tyson Foods, Inc., - U.S. -, -, 126 S.Ct. 1195, 1197-1198, 163 L.Ed.2d 1053 (2006). The court reasoned that this reading of Desert Palace was unsupported because “the [Supreme] Court explained that it did not decide whether its analysis applied in other contexts” and "the Court did not even mention McDonnell Douglas in Desert Palace." Id. The plaintiffs in Cooper did not allege that the adverse employment actions taken with respect to them were a result of mixed motives.

. The plaintiff in the case to which the Eighth Circuit refers, Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez, 540 U.S. 44, 124 S.Ct. 513, 157 L.Ed.2d 357 (2003), did not claim that the discrimination against him resulted from mixed motives.

. Although the plaintiff did not produce such evidence in Hill, if she had, this would likely result in shifting the burden to the defendant to prove the limited same-decision affirmative defense. Hill, 354 F.3d at 284-85.

. One recent Fourth Circuit opinion appears to share this view, explaining that in pretext cases, if "a plaintiff has direct evidence of discrimination or simply prefers to proceed without the benefit of the burden-shifting framework, she is under no obligation to make out a prima facie case.” Diamond, 416 F.3d at 319 n. 4.

. Although the posture of this case requires an analysis of mixed-motive claims at the summary judgment stage, it should be empha*720sized that an employee need not label his or her claims as single or mixed motive from the outset of the case. Price Waterhouse, 490 U.S. at 247 n. 12, 109 S.Ct. 1775 (plurality opinion). Often the employee will not know whether both discriminatory and nondiscriminatory motivations formed the basis for his or her employer’s decision without the aid of discovery. Id. Once a case proceeds to trial, the issue of mixed motives will be focused on the jury instructions, including whether a mixed-motive instruction and a limited same-decision affirmative defense instruction are appropriate given the facts of the case. See Barnes v. City of Cincinnati, 401 F.3d 729, 740 (6th Cir.2005); Dominguez-Curry, 424 F.3d at 1041 n. 7.