Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Canchola

• Decision Date: 04 September 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-0232.,02-0232.
• Citation: 121 S.W.3d 735
• Parties: WAL-MART STORES, INC., Petitioner, v. Luis A. CANCHOLA, Respondent.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

121 S.W.3d 735

WAL-MART STORES, INC., Petitioner, v. Luis A. CANCHOLA, Respondent.

No. 02-0232.

Supreme Court of Texas.

September 4, 2003.

Douglas W. Alexander, Alexander Dubose Jones & Townsend, LLP, Julie A. Springer, Amy Lee Dashiell, Anna Meredith Baker, Scott Douglass & McConnico, L.L.P., Austin, Jaime Drabek, Shirley J. Gray, Drabek & Associates, Harlingen, for Petitioner.

Ruben R. Pena, Law Offices of Ruben R. Pea, P.C., Harlingen, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM.

Luis Canchola sued Wal-Mart, his former employer, for disability discrimination and intentional infliction of emotional distress. According to Wal-Mart, Canchola was terminated for violating the company's sexual harassment policies. After a jury trial, the trial court rendered judgment in Canchola's favor. The court of appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment. Wal-Mart challenges the judgment on a number of grounds, including the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's verdict. Because we agree that there is no evidence to support the jury's verdict, we reverse the court of appeals' judgment and render judgment in Wal-Mart's favor.

I.

Canchola was deli manager at the Wal-Mart Super Center store in Mission, Texas. According to his supervisors, the deli ran smoothly under his management and he was considered an excellent employee. In 1993, Canchola underwent sextuple bypass surgery that caused him to miss thirteen weeks of work. When he returned, he could do no heavy lifting and was limited to working only four hours per day. Over time, Canchola began increasing his work hours, but in April of 1994 a bypassed artery became occluded and he missed another month of work. He again returned to work at a reduced schedule of four hours per day. According to Canchola, Wal-Mart management was supportive during this time period and he continued to receive his full salary.

In July of 1994, David Drastrata became the director of the Mission store. Drastrata was aware that Canchola had a medical condition that prevented him from working full time, although he did not recall when he learned that it was a heart condition. Canchola testified that Drastrata displayed a hostile attitude towards him, expressed dissatisfaction with his absence at managers' meetings, and asked him to rearrange his schedule so that he could attend the meetings. Drastrata and Canchola also had a disagreement about how to display deli items, leading Canchola to call the home office for support. Around this time, the deli department was written up for failing to rotate products and discard outdated products. In early August, management took photographs of expired deli items that Canchola claims were in the back of the deli awaiting disposal, and an assistant store manager told Canchola that someone was "out to get him." Canchola also testified that there were other occasions when he felt Drastrata acted angrily or unprofessionally towards him.

On August 19, Irene Flores, a support manager, and Carmen Gonzalez, a parttime employee in the deli department came to Drastrata's office. Michael Hawks, the store manager in charge of the deli section, was also present. Flores reported that she had seen Canchola approach Gonzalez from behind, lean over her, and say something into her ear. She reported that when she asked Gonzalez about the incident, Gonzalez immediately started crying. Translating for Gonzalez, Flores told Drastrata that Gonzalez had been trying to get a full-time position in the deli and that Canchola had told her that he would only give her a full-time position if she "gave a piece of herself to him." Gonzalez also reported, through Flores, that Canchola frequently asked her out, waited for her after work to offer her a ride home, and told her that eventually she would be his. Drastrata asked Gonzalez if she was aware of anyone else who had knowledge of Canchola's behavior or had been sexually harassed by Canchola, and she gave him the names of two sisters, Gracie and Katherine Solis. Gonzalez was visibly shaken and crying during the meeting in Drastrata's office. Gonzalez and Flores both wrote and signed statements describing Gonzalez's complaints. Flores's statement also reports that Gonzalez said she was afraid of Canchola raping her.

After this meeting, Drastrata and Hawks met with Canchola and informed him that he was being suspended pending an investigation of the harassment charge. Drastrata and Hawks then asked Gracie Solis about Canchola. She reported to them that he used to hug and kiss her on the sales floor and in front of customers. She also said that he repeatedly told her that he loved her and that he would leave his wife for her. She reported that after she told him to stop, he began to ask out her sister, Katherine. When they approached Katherine, she reported similar behavior. Both sisters wrote and signed statements about Canchola's conduct.

Drastrata also interviewed other employees, but he did not take notes, nor did he obtain written statements from individuals with no knowledge of Canchola's alleged harassment. Toni Cobios, a female subordinate of Canchola's in the deli department, told Drastrata that Gracie had complained to her about Canchola's behavior. She testified that Gracie told her that she did not want to take her complaints to management because they would not believe her. Cobios testified that when she confronted Canchola about his behavior towards Gracie, he laughed and responded that it was just a joke. She also provided management with a written statement. After being interviewed by management, Cobios wrote a letter intended for upperlevel management at Wal-Mart's home office to complain that she had been pressured into including Katherine's name in her written statement. She wrote that she felt pressured because she had been asked to write a statement against her supervisor without the opportunity to discuss this with her husband. Drastrata sent the witness statements to Wal-Mart's home office for review by the legal department. The day following Gonzalez's complaint, Drastrata terminated Canchola.

Canchola sued Wal-Mart for disability discrimination, age discrimination, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. After the close of Canchola's evidence, the trial court dismissed the age-discrimination claim, and the jury found for Canchola on his two remaining claims. The trial court rendered judgment on the jury's verdict. Wal-Mart appealed, arguing that Canchola had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies and that the evidence was legally and factually insufficient to support the jury's findings. The court of appeals affirmed the trial court's judgment. 64 S.W.3d 524.

II.

In conducting a legal sufficiency review, we must view the evidence in a light that tends to support the disputed finding and disregard evidence and inferences to the contrary. Bradford v. Vento, 48 S.W.3d 749, 754 (Tex.2001). If more than a scintilla of evidence supports the challenged finding, the no-evidence challenge must fail. See Gen. Motors Corp. v. Sanchez, 997 S.W.2d 584, 588 (Tex.1999).

Canchola sued Wal-Mart under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (TCHRA). See Tex. Lab.Code §§ 21.051.556. The TCHRA prohibits an employer from discharging or in any other way discriminating against an employee because of the employee's disability. Id. at § 21.051(1). The Legislature intended to correlate state law with federal law in employment discrimination cases when it enacted the TCHRA. Id. at § 21.001; see NME Hosps., Inc. v. Rennels, 994 S.W.2d 142, 144 (Tex.1999). In discrimination cases that have not been fully tried on the merits, we apply the burden-shifting analysis established by the United States Supreme Court. See Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 142-43, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000); St. Mary's Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 506-07, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993); Tex. Dep't of Cmty. Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 252-53, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981); McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802-03, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973); M.D. Anderson Hosp. v. Willrich, 28 S.W.3d 22, 24 (Tex.2000) (per curiam). But when a discrimination case has been fully tried on its merits, as in this case, a reviewing court does not engage in a burden-shifting analysis. See Rubinstein v. Adm'rs of the Tulane Educ. Fund, 218 F.3d 392, 402 (5th Cir.2000). Instead, we inquire whether the evidence is legally sufficient to support the jury's ultimate finding. See Rutherford v. Harris County, Tex., 197 F.3d 173, 180-81 (5th Cir.1999). At trial, it was Canchola's burden to prove that disability discrimination was a motivating factor in Wal-Mart's decision to terminate him. See 64 S.W.3d at 537; see also Quantum Chem. Corp. v. Toennies, 47 S.W.3d 473, 480 (Tex.2001) (holding that "a motivating factor" is the plaintiff's standard of causation in a TCHRA unlawful employment practice claim).

Wal-Mart argues that there is no evidence that its stated reason for the termination was a pretext or that Canchola's disability was a motivating factor in his termination. See Reeves, 530 U.S. at 147-49, 120 S.Ct. 2097 (holding that evidence that the employer's stated reason for termination was pretextual in combination with a plaintiff's prima facie showing of discrimination is sufficient to support liability). Wal-Mart maintains that Canchola was discharged because of the sexual harassment charges lodged against him.

Canchola, on the other hand, argues that Wal-Mart's investigation into the charges against him was inadequate and one-sided, thus constituting some evidence that Wal-Mart was motivated by his disability. Canchola points to evidence that if Wal-Mart had conducted a more thorough and balanced investigation, it could have uncovered exculpatory evidence. For example, the evidence showed Gonzalez had turned down a full-time job in another department even though it...