Holmes v. West Palm Beach Housing Authority, 01-13468.

• Decision Date: 08 October 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-13468.,01-13468.
• Parties: Alisa L. HOLMES, an individual, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. WEST PALM BEACH HOUSING AUTHORITY, a public corporation, Defendant-Appellee, Amefika Geuka, an individual, Kenneth Hawthorne, an individual, Scott Badesch, an individual, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

309 F.3d 752

Alisa L. HOLMES, an individual, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. WEST PALM BEACH HOUSING AUTHORITY, a public corporation, Defendant-Appellee, Amefika Geuka, an individual, Kenneth Hawthorne, an individual, Scott Badesch, an individual, Defendants.

No. 01-13468.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

October 8, 2002.

Richard Hyland, Robert Newton Harris, The Harris Law Firm, P.A., William J. Brown, William J. Brown, P.A., Miami, FL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Esther Elisa Galicia, George, Hartz, Lundeen, Flagg & Fulmer, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before MARCUS, FAY and WINTER^* Circuit Judges.

WINTER, Circuit Judge:

Alisa L. Holmes appeals from a judgment reducing the damages awarded her by a jury after a trial before Judge Huck. Appellant brought the present action against her former employer, appellee West Palm Beach Housing Authority ("WPBHA"), for, inter alia, gender-based denial of a promotion (the "discrimination claim"), retaliatory termination in response to her complaints of gender bias (the "retaliation claim"), both under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. ("Title VII"), and for common law defamation (the "defamation claim").

On appeal, appellant claims error in the district court's granting of WPBHA's post-trial motion for remittitur, which reduced the total lost back-pay/benefits awarded to appellant from $161,000 to $3,300. Although a special verdict jury interrogatory contained a misstatement, we conclude that it did not affect the issue on appeal. Because the evidence and liability findings would not, as a matter of law, support a back-pay/benefits award of more than $3,300, we affirm.

I.

Appellant was employed as WPBHA's Deputy Director of Finance/Administration beginning in July 1995. She reported to WPBHA's Executive Director, Samuel Simmons. Simmons later left that position, and, in March of 1998, WPBHA sought applicants for the Executive Director position. According to appellant, she was qualified for the Executive Director position, applied for the position, placed near the top in a ranking of forty applicants, and yet was not offered the position after the applicants (all male) ranked ahead of her declined employment offers. Appellant's complaint alleged that on August 27, 1998 she complained to several members of the board of WPBHA that she had not been offered the position of Executive Director because of her gender.

Over the same time period, appellant initiated a process whereby certain employees of WPBHA, including appellant, were reimbursed in cash for unused compensatory time accrued by working overtime. According to WPBHA, such reimbursements were contrary to WPBHA policy and past practice. On or about July 31, 1998, a total of approximately $20,000 was paid to employees in lieu of compensatory time, approximately $10,000 of which was paid to appellant. The WPBHA board directed an internal review of the payments, and, at a special meeting convened on October 1, 1998 to discipline appellant, the board voted to terminate appellant's employment. In September 1998, various allegedly defamatory statements by WPBHA board members concerning appellant's role and conduct in connection with the payments were published in local newspapers.

At trial, appellant pursued the three claims mentioned above. The discrimination claim asserted that WPBHA refused to offer her the position of Executive Director because of her gender, in violation of Title VII. The retaliation claim asserted that the reason for the termination of her employment by WPBHA was to retaliate against her for claiming gender discrimination, also in violation of Title VII. The defamation claim asserted that the statements made by WPBHA board members to local newspapers constituted actionable defamation. A four-day trial was conducted before a jury.

According to the district court's April 17, 2001 Omnibus Order on Post-Trial Motions (the "Omnibus Order"), the parties agreed in open court during trial that, in the event appellant prevailed on the discrimination claim but failed on the retaliation claim, lost back-pay/benefits would be limited to the difference in salary and benefits between the two positions from the denial of promotion to appellant's termination on October 1, 1998. This agreement, the existence of which is denied by appellant, was not reduced to writing and is not reflected in the transcript. However, in neither the district court nor in this court did appellant point to any evidence that the lost back-pay/benefits over the period would be more than $3,300.

With regard to liability on the discrimination claim, no party claims error in either the instructions or the special verdict form. The verdict form contained two questions relating to liability: the first asked whether gender was a substantial or motivating factor in appellee's decision not to promote appellant; the second, reflecting appellee's "same decision" defense,¹ asked whether she would have been denied the position "for other reasons even without considering gender." The jury answered "Yes" to the first question, i.e., gender was a factor in the denial of promotion, and "No" to the second, i.e., she would not have been denied promotion for other legitimate reasons. The jury therefore found WPBHA liable on the discrimination claim.

The problem on appeal arises from the jury's response to the verdict form questions regarding the retaliation claim. We begin with a discussion of the jury instructions. No claim is made that the jury was misled as to the elements of a valid retaliation claim. With regard to one of WPBHA's defenses to that claim, the jury was also told:

On [the retaliation claim], you should consider the [same decision] defense of the Defendant. An employer may fire an employee for a good reason, a bad reason, a reason based on erroneous facts, or for no reason at all, so long as its action is not a retaliation for a statutorily protected right.

An employer articulates a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for termination where the employer had an honest, good faith belief in the reason for termination, even if it turns out that the employer was mistaken in that belief.

Appellant does not claim error in the instruction on the same decision defense. The special verdict form asked two questions regarding the retaliation claim, followed by an instruction regarding consideration of damages relating to that claim. We quote the pertinent portion of that form:

[Retaliation Claim]

3. Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the Plaintiff's complaints of and reporting alleged gender discrimination was a substantial or motivating factor that caused Defendant to suspend or terminate her employment?

___________ YES _________ NO

4. Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the Plaintiff would have been terminated for other legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons even without considering gender?

__________ YES __________ NO

If your answer to # 4 is YES and/or NO to # 3 you have found for the Defendant and should not consider this claim in any damage award to the Plaintiff under question # 5.

No objection was made by either party to the instructions or jury form with regard to the retaliation claim.

As noted, the jury answered "Yes" and "No" to the corresponding questions relating to gender discrimination, thereby finding WPBHA liable on that claim. As to the retaliation claim, however, the jury answered "Yes" and "Yes" to the questions quoted immediately above, seemingly accepting WPBHA's "same decision" defense and rendering a verdict for WPBHA on that claim.

With regard to question 5 relating to damages, the jury initially requested that the court determine damages, indicating "court decision" on the verdict form. The district court then instructed the jury to continue deliberations over a damages award, whereupon the jury awarded $161,000 for lost back-pay/benefits and $16,000 for emotional pain and suffering. In answering questions 6-8, the jury found WPBHA liable for defamation, and awarded appellant $40,000 in damages for emotional pain and suffering.

Claiming that a back-pay/benefits award of $161,000 was disproportionate to the evidence of damages attributable to the discrimination claim alone — the retaliation claim having been rejected — and in excess of the claimed stipulation regarding damages under the discrimination claim, WPBHA moved for remittitur. The district court granted the motion in its Omnibus Order, reducing the $161,000 figure to $3,300, without offering appellant the option of a new trial. The district court explained its decision as follows:

[T]he Court finds the jury's award of $161,000.00 is grossly disproportionate and bears no rational relationship to the evidence at trial. Under these circumstances, the court may impose a remittitur to correct the error. Although the trial court may not generally unconditionally reduce an excessive award without affording the prevailing party the option of a new trial, it may do so when "it is apparent as a matter of law that certain identifiable sums included in the verdict should not have been there."

Omnibus Order, Joint App. at 8:8 (citations omitted). The remittitur was reflected in the final judgment entered by the district court. This appeal followed.

II.

Appellant's...