Annis v. County of Westchester
| Decision Date | 28 January 1998 |
| Docket Number | 96-9647,Nos. 348,s. 348 |
| Citation | 136 F.3d 239 |
| Parties | 76 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1045, 73 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,307 Barbara ANNIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER, Ernest J. Colaneri, and Anthony M. Mosca, Defendants-Appellants. (L), 96-9705(CON). |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Marilyn J. Slaaten, Westchester County Attorney, and Linda M. Trentacoste, Assistant County Attorney, White Plains, NY, attorneys for defendants-appellants County of Westchester and Ernest J. Colaneri. Bruce Bendish, Goodrich & Bendish, White Plains, NY, attorney for defendant-appellant Anthony M. Mosca.
Jonathan Lovett, White Plains, NY, attorney for plaintiff-appellee.
Before VAN GRAAFEILAND, CARDAMONE, and McLAUGHLIN, Circuit Judges.
Following a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Connor, J.), plaintiff was awarded a total of $541,001 in compensatory and punitive damages for violation of her constitutional right to be free from gender discrimination. Upon the defendants' motion for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial, the district court denied the former, but granted a remittitur, which the plaintiff accepted in order to avoid a new trial solely on damages, reducing the damage award to a total of $225,001. Defendants now appeal. For the reasons that follow, we affirm as to liability but vacate and remand for a new trial on both compensatory and punitive damages.
Plaintiff, Barbara Annis, was a police officer in Mount Vernon, New York, a municipality in Westchester County, from April Defendant Anthony Mosca was, first, the commissioner of the Mt. Vernon Police Department from January 1981 to approximately June 1984, and, then, commissioner of the County police from July 1984 to January 1992. Defendant Ernest J. Colaneri was the deputy commissioner of the County police from January 1993 to January 1996. Before succeeding Mosca, Colaneri was deputy commissioner for approximately three years.
1977 to January 1984. She transferred to the Westchester County Department of Public Safety ("the County police" or "the County") in January 1984, and was promoted to sergeant in February 1988 and to lieutenant in July 1991.
In May 1993, Annis sued Mosca, Colaneri and the County in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Conner, J.) under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, alleging that she suffered sex discrimination while serving in both Mt. Vernon and the County.
We read the record in the light most favorable to Annis. See Piesco v. Koch, 12 F.3d 332, 343 (2d Cir.1993).
The culture of the Mt. Vernon Police Department during Annis's first few years of service was, at times, sexist and, at times, lascivious. Officer Thomas D. Hanrahan, a Mt. Vernon patrolman from 1972 to 1993, testified that officers attended strip shows performed on top of squad cars parked behind a local school, permitted visits to the station house by a prostitute who would perform oral sex for the officers manning the desk, watched "pornographic" films in the squad room, and disseminated dirty pictures of officers in flagrante delicto. Annis offered similar testimony.
Even though most of these sordid acts pre-dated Mosca's tenure as Mt. Vernon Police Commissioner, the district court admitted this testimony, overruling the defendants' motions in limine and objections at trial. The court did this because of the possibility that Annis might have told Mosca about "this kind of incident" when Mosca became commissioner, and because "evidence of such acts might be admissible for the limited purpose of assisting the jury in construing the intent of subsequent acts." The great bulk of Annis's testimony about the environment at Mt. Vernon was thus admitted.
In January 1981, Mosca became commissioner, and he introduced himself to Annis in sophomoric fashion. Spotting her standing with several male officers just inside the entrance of the station house, he walked through the entrance with the fly of his pants conspicuously unzipped, got her attention (as well as the attention of the male officers), and, when one of the male officers pointed out Mosca's folly, said, Then, instead of turning around, he asked Annis to turn around while he zipped up.
Later in 1981, Mosca called Annis into his office to discuss why she had issued so few summonses. When Annis offered an explanation, Mosca got angry, asking her why she had a "bad attitude." When Annis mentioned the zipper incident, Mosca uttered a vile sexual epithet, said he would "bury" her, and asserted that he was opposed to "women's liberation sh-t."
Around the same time, Annis overheard Mosca explaining to a group of officers that he "never really believed in women being cops or women being in police work." About a year later, Mosca angrily chided Annis for failing to salute him. As it happens, both Annis and Mosca were in civilian clothing, and, in light of department policy, she was therefore not required to salute. As a result of this incident, Mosca sent a memorandum to the deputy chief of the department, noting Annis's failure to salute. Also in 1982, Annis spotted a memorandum from Mosca instructing subordinates that she "was to be assigned the least desirable post."
In December 1983, Annis asked to be transferred to the County police, but Mosca denied this request. Annis resigned soon thereafter and was immediately hired by the
County anyway. Mosca joined the County police about six months later.
From January 1984 through November 1987, Annis worked in the County police's "sex crimes unit," an assignment with which she was unsatisfied. The unit's basic purpose was to assist local police departments by providing officers--often female--to comfort and interview female victims of sex crimes. Annis was frustrated because members of the sex crimes unit were not permitted to make arrests, and because, as she perceived it, she was working on the unit only because she was a woman. Annis requested a transfer out of the unit on "numerous occasions."
While Annis was formally assigned to the sex crimes unit, she also did other police work. In 1985 or 1986, for example, Mosca approved Annis's participation with the Mamaroneck Police Department in an undercover narcotics investigation. During that time, she also worked in the general investigations unit and did surveillance and narcotics work.
In 1985 Mosca nominated Annis for the International Association of Women Police Award as "Woman Police Officer of the Year." He did this because he "thought she was doing a good job."
In the spring of 1987, Annis complained to the Police Benevolent Association ("PBA") about her mistreatment by the County Police. Mosca received a memorandum from his deputy commissioner, Thomas J. Sweeney, detailing what the president of the PBA had reported regarding Annis's complaints. Mosca told Sweeney "to look into any issues not resolved."
Also in the spring of 1987, Annis took the County's exam to get on the list to be promoted to sergeant. She did not make the list, however, because her application did not include documents to prove her prior service with Mount Vernon. Annis was upset with this turn of events because she had worked with Mosca at Mt. Vernon and thus felt his inexplicable failure to inform personnel of her employment history was a conspicuous omission. A personnel official testified, however, that the "normal practice and procedure" is to require documentation. Indeed, six other members of the County police were similarly penalized for lack of documentation.
In June 1987, Mosca signed a memorandum recommending that Annis's request to be transferred from the sex crimes unit to the warrant squad be held for consideration until it could be determined if there was room in the warrant squad and if Annis's position on the sex crimes unit could be quickly filled.
In the summer of 1987, Annis secured the appropriate records for her promotion, and in February 1988, she was promoted to sergeant. Annis acknowledged that no person below her on the eligibility list was promoted over her.
Annis was sworn in as a sergeant while wearing a dress rather than a uniform because, despite repeated requests over the years, she had not been issued a uniform.
In August 1990, Mosca became "very irate" at Annis, yelling and "making hand gestures" because she failed to sign the desk blotter when she "came in from the road." While written procedures do require a sign-in, a knowledgeable lieutenant admitted
In November 1990, there was another "failure to salute" episode, this one involving Colaneri. Annis testified that she failed to see him. Colaneri testified that she did see him, but turned her back on him. Although he said nothing at the time, Colaneri complained to Mosca, who told Colaneri to "write her up." Colaneri did so, filing an "Administrative Internal Complaint Report" describing the incident. Colaneri also directed two Internal Affairs supervisors to investigate the incident. Annis received a "warning letter" with regard to "proper military courtesy," including her failure to salute. There is ample evidence, however, that the rule about saluting is rarely, if ever, enforced. Colaneri even admitted that on previous occasions In December 1990, another incident arose from Annis's not signing the desk blotter. Seeing that Annis had failed to sign in when she entered headquarters, Mosca told her in a loud, aggravated voice that she was a "constant f-ck up."
when subordinate officers failed to salute him, he had...
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