Moorer v. Baptist Memorial Health Care, 03-5855.

Citation398 F.3d 469
Decision Date11 February 2005
Docket NumberNo. 03-5965.,No. 03-5855.,03-5855.,03-5965.
PartiesWilliam T. MOORER, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. BAPTIST MEMORIAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM; Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation (03-5855/5965); Cathy M. Hill; John N. Robbins (03-5855), Defendants-Appellants/Cross-Appellees.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

ARGUED: Paul E. Prather, Kiesewetter Wise Kaplan Schwimmer & Prather, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellants. Justin S. Gilbert, the Gilbert Firm, Jackson, Tennessee, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Paul E. Prather, Tanja L. Thompson, Kiesewetter Wise Kaplan Schwimmer & Prather, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellants. Justin S. Gilbert, the Gilbert Firm, Jackson, Tennessee, J. Houston Gordon, Law Office of J. Houston Gordon, Covington, Tennessee, for Appellee.

Before: BOGGS, Chief Judge; CLAY, Circuit Judge; HAYNES, District Judge.*

CLAY, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which HAYNES, D.J., joined. BOGGS, J. (p. ___), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Defendants Baptist Memorial Health Care System and Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation (collectively "Baptist") appeal the June 3, 2003 judgment of the district court in favor of Plaintiff William "Tate" Moorer on his claim for discriminatory discharge in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12117 ("ADA"). Baptist asserts that the district court erred in finding that it regarded Moorer as disabled and that it discharged Moorer because of his perceived disability. Baptist also challenges the district court's award of $250,000 to Moorer as compensatory damages for emotional distress. Moorer cross-appeals the district court's earlier grant of summary judgment in favor of Baptist on his claim under the Family Medial Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2601-2654 ("FMLA"). For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM the judgment in favor of Moorer on his ADA claim, but REVERSE the order granting summary judgment in favor of Baptist on Moorer's FMLA claim.

I. Background
A. Substantive Facts

Plaintiff William "Tate" Moorer worked for Defendants Baptist Memorial Health Care System and Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation for 17 years prior to his termination in 1997. Over the years, Moorer enjoyed a series of promotions, culminating in 1995, when Baptist promoted him to Administrator and Chief Financial Officer of Tipton County Baptist Hospital ("BMH-Tipton") and Lauderdale Baptist Hospital ("BMH-Lauderdale"). Moorer was the only administrator in the Baptist system who had responsibilities for two hospitals. His responsibilities included the day-to-day operation of the hospitals; the physical condition and safety of the hospitals; quality of patient care; the development of medical staff; the annual budgetary process and financial results; the leasing of space to physicians and collecting rent from them; and legal compliance. Starting in 1995, Moorer reported directly to Steve Mansfield, Chief Executive Officer for Baptist's regional hospitals.

On January 27, 1997, Mansfield and his direct supervisor, John Robbins, Baptist's Executive Vice President, met with Moorer to discuss a list of performance concerns set forth in a performance evaluation dated January 26, 1997. Approximately two weeks later, Moorer responded orally with a "plan of action" to address the concerns, and Mansfield and Robbins agreed to it.

In April 1997, Mansfield assumed a new role as the CEO of Baptist East, a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. His job duties were divided among several people, each of whom assumed the new job title of "market leader." On May 12, 1997, Cathy Hill became the market leader for all of the hospitals and physician practices in the West Tennessee market, and assumed responsibility for supervising Moorer. In transferring his West Tennessee duties to Hill, Mansfield met with Hill and gave her the January 26, 1997 performance evaluation that he had prepared for Moorer. Mansfield told Hill that Moorer had made progress in some areas, but not others, and that Hill should follow up on those areas of continuing concern.

On June 9, 1997, Hill met with Moorer and discussed the January 26, 1997 performance evaluation. She asked Moorer for "his feedback regarding that memo and where he was, where he saw himself in relation to those issues identified," and she asked for "his plan for corrective action." Hill told Moorer to put his feedback in written form and that it would be for "[her] eyes only." On June 16, 1997, Moorer faxed the requested memo to Hill, which Hill acknowledged receiving.

Hill and Moorer met on July 9, 1997 to discuss Moorer's June 16, 1997 memorandum. Hill promised to provide Moorer with a list of goals that he was to accomplish, and Moorer agreed to meet those goals. On July 21, 1997, Hill prepared a draft memorandum containing performance goals, but never gave it to Moorer. That memorandum acknowledged that Moorer had made efforts to correct certain performance deficiencies, but added that he needed to improve his overall job performance and that failure to do so by September 15, 1997 might result in his termination.

On July 22, 1997, Hill was attending a meeting of the West Tennessee Baptist Health Services Group Board, a meeting that Moorer also attended. Hill was standing in a corridor, outside of the meeting room, when she greeted Moorer and thought she perceived the smell of alcohol on his breath. At trial, Hill described the interaction as follows:

Quite frankly, as I had thought about this, you know, Mr. Moorer had told me in his — in his letter that he sent me that he had sleepless nights worrying about some of these performance issues. So at that particular night, ... I felt that Mr. Moorer was too smart and knew — had worked for Baptist too long to know that — to know better than to come to a meeting, but I wasn't sure if the performance issues were causing an alcohol [sic] or if there was an alcohol performance issue, I didn't know.

During the meeting, Hill observed Moorer slump in his chair with his chin on his chest, and then straighten up and be "rather fidgety" in his seat. She also noticed that his complexion appeared ruddy. Moorer denies that he had been drinking alcohol, and instead explains that, after smoking cigarettes, he had washed his mouth out with Listerine just prior to the meeting. He attributed his fatigue and his ruddy complexion to the tropical vacation from which he had recently returned.

Hill did not confront Moorer about her perception of alcohol on his breath, but instead, two days later, told Robbins about the incident. About a week after that, Hill, Robbins, and Larry Braughton, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, discussed the issue. Braughton recommended that Hill contact "CONCERN," which is Baptist's Employee Assistance Program. Hill followed this suggestion and contacted Patrick Minderman, Director of CONCERN, during the first week of August 1997. She told Minderman that "there was a high level administrator in the Baptist system that [sic] she was concerned about because of his work performance problems." Hill called Minderman again, possibly a week or two later, indicating that she was still concerned about this employee and provided more detailed information. During that call, she identified Moorer by name, telling Minderman that Moorer had been having performance problems for the last year and mentioned that Moorer had shown up at a meeting with alcohol on his breath.

On August 6, 1997, Hill sent an e-mail to Robbins and Braughton concerning Moorer as a follow-up to the conference the previous week. The e-mail stated, in part:

I have made the contact recommended, had confidential discussions and was given the following recommendation:

1. Act Swiftly... Our resource1 agrees with our assessment of high likely hood [sic] that the pivot incident2 is good indicator of broader, lon[g] term issue.

2. Discuss performance issues and as a SIDE part of that concern, make management referral giving individual small amount of time to make decision and first interview. Do not use the observation 2 weeks ago as primary emphasis.

3. Plan on minimum of 3-4 weeks of leave for the individual.

4. Plan to terminate if refuses to act on management recommendation.

The e-mail concluded with a "[b]ack up plan[ ]" to cover for Moorer during his leave "until we get a better idea of long term situation."

Hill testified that "Mr. Minderman had given us the specific recommendations regarding how to handle Mr. Moorer's situation." At trial, however, Minderman denied telling Hill that Moorer had an alcohol problem or making a recommendation that Moorer might need to be terminated. He also did not recall telling Hill that the July 22 incident in which Hill smelled alcohol on Moorer's breath was a "good indicator of [a] broader, long-term issue"; he further denied that such an incident would be a good indicator of a broader, longer-term issue. In fact, Minderman had no assessment of Moorer's condition as of August 6, 1997. He flatly denied telling Hill that Moorer should be placed on leave for treatment or that Hill should plan a leave for him.

On August 12, 1997, Hill, Robbins, and Braughton discussed Hill's August 6, 1997 e-mail and agreed to it as the appropriate plan of action. Collectively, they decided to refer Moorer to the CONCERN program for a fitness for duty evaluation. With input from Braughton, Robbins, and legal counsel, Hill prepared a letter to Moorer that outlined alleged performance deficiencies and goals that Moorer was expected to meet. The letter was a revision of the draft letter Hill had prepared on July 22, 1997 but never gave to him. The letter noted, in part, "While I find that you have made efforts to correct the noted deficiencies and have made some improvements in some areas,...

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