Hutchison v. Amateur Electronic Supply, Inc.
| Citation | 42 F.3d 1037 |
| Decision Date | 05 December 1994 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 94-1733,94-1778,s. 94-1733 |
| Parties | 66 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1275, 65 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,421 Greta L. HUTCHISON, Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. AMATEUR ELECTRONIC SUPPLY, INC., and Terry Sterman, Defendants-Appellants, Cross-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) |
Arthur Heitzer (argued), Jeffrey A. Kingsley, Milwaukee, WI, for plaintiff-appellant.
Daniel W. Stevens (argued), Esser, Dieterich & Stevens, Menomonee Falls, WI, for defendants-appellees.
Gwendolyn Young Reams, James R. Neely, Jr., Robert J. Gregory (argued), Lorraine C. Davis, E.E.O.C., Office of Gen. Counsel, Washington, DC, for amicus curiae E.E.O.C.
Jeff S. Olson, Fox & Fox, Madison, WI, for amicus curiae Wisconsin Employment Lawyers Ass'n and American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation, Inc.
Before CUMMINGS, ESCHBACH and MANION, Circuit Judges.
A jury awarded Greta Hutchison $80,000 in back pay from defendants on her claims of sexual harassment and retaliatory discharge. The district court denied Ms. Hutchison's request for a new trial on damages as well as her requests for reinstatement and prejudgment interest and awarded her $67,538.88 in attorneys' fees from defendants as well as $80,000 on the jury's award. Defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury's finding of a hostile environment. Plaintiff cross-appeals the denials of a new trial on damages, reinstatement, and prejudgment interest as well as the amount of attorneys' fees. 1
Ms. Hutchison began work at Amateur Electronic Supply, Inc. ("AES") as a file clerk in 1968. By the time of her termination in 1989 she had progressed to office manager. While she enjoyed her job and the increasing responsibility she received, the working environment was less than ideal. Ms. Hutchison encountered a formidable obstacle to her professional contentment in the person of Terry Sterman, the owner and president of AES. Sterman regularly quizzed female employees about the frequency and nature of their sexual relations. He also engaged in numerous sexually explicit telephone conversations with his brother, leaving his office door open to ensure that Ms. Hutchison and the other primarily female office workers would overhear his salacious comments. When Ms. Hutchison complained to Sterman on behalf of the office Sterman engaged in more egregious behavior as well. He referred to Peggy Peters, one of Ms. Hutchison's supervisees, as "Ms. Boobs," both to her face and to others including manufacturer representatives from outside the company, and told Ms. Hutchison that Ms. Peters did not have to work and that he kept her on staff strictly because of her looks. When Ms. Hutchison confronted Sterman about these statements and Ms. Peters' lack of production, he responded (Pl.Br. 6). Sterman went on to "console" Ms. Hutchison, telling her that he had taken a survey of the salesmen and found that they would rather date her than Peggy Peters.
staff, he refused to stop the offensively loud conversations.
Sterman also commented regularly on Ms. Hutchison's appearance, telling her "I like the way you look today" while looking her up and down. When Ms. Hutchison objected to these comments, Sterman responded by commenting more frequently and in front of male employees, often prefacing his remarks with "I know you don't like this but ..." (Pl.Br. 7).
Sterman frequently attempted physical contact with Ms. Hutchison and other female employees. Several times a week he approached Ms. Hutchison at her desk, brushing against her and pinning her in, and saying in response to her inquiry "I'm just watching you." Def.Br. 8. He would also partially block his female employees' way through the office, forcing them to brush against him or take detours to avoid contact.
Sterman announced his intention to fire Ms. Hutchison in October 1989 and in November 1989 hired a replacement. On December 22, 1989, the last working day before Christmas, he told Ms. Hutchison to "punch out."
Ms. Hutchison brought the instant suit on December 23, 1991, claiming that she was (1) discriminatorily terminated on the basis of age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 623 et seq., (2) discriminatorily terminated on the basis of her sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-2 et seq., (3) sexually harassed in violation of Title VII, and (4) terminated in retaliation for her opposition to Sterman's harassing behavior in violation of Title VII. The case was tried to a jury beginning on September 13, 1993. 2 On September 17, 1993, the jury returned a special verdict finding for Ms. Hutchison on her claims of sexual harassment and retaliatory firing and awarding her $80,000 in back pay from defendants.
Defendants now appeal the trial court's denial of their renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law. Plaintiff Ms. Hutchison cross-appeals the district court's denial of her motion for a new trial on the issue of damages, denial of her motion for reinstatement and prejudgment interest, and the amount of attorneys' fees awarded.
Defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury's verdict finding a hostile environment. In reviewing this claim we are limited to determining "whether the evidence presented, combined with all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from it, is sufficient to support the verdict when viewed in the light most favorable to the [plaintiff]." E.E.O.C. v. Century Broadcasting Corp., 957 F.2d 1446, 1457 (7th Cir.1992). We "are particularly careful in employment discrimination cases to avoid supplanting our view of the credibility of the evidence for that of both the jury (in its verdict) and the judge (in not interfering with the verdict)." Hybert v. Hearst Corp., 900 F.2d 1050, 1054 (7th Cir.1990).
To be actionable under Title VII, a claim of sexual harassment stemming from a hostile environment must be based on conduct "sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim's employment and create an abusive working environment." Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 67, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 2405, 91 L.Ed.2d 49. "This is not, and by its nature cannot be, a mathematically precise test ... But we can say that whether an environment is 'hostile' or 'abusive' can be determined only by looking at all the circumstances." Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., --- U.S. ----, ----, 114 S.Ct. 367, 371, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993). From the totality of the circumstances presented in this case, the jury could easily have found that an actionable hostile environment existed.
Defendants argue that because Sterman's individual acts which created the hostile environment upon which this case is based would have been "equally offensive" to men or women, they cannot support a Title VII claim. We need not ponder long before disposing of this argument. One would hope that men would be "equally offended" by Sterman's treatment of Ms. Hutchison and his other female employees. That conduct is egregious enough to offend the sensibilities of men as well as women cannot serve to immunize it for Title VII purposes.
It blinks reality to claim that sexual conduct which demeans women by a man in a position of power, even if not directed at a specific woman victim, equally impacts male and female subordinates. 3 This disparate effect is the discriminatory element in a hostile environment. Moreover, Sterman directed his offensive treatment strictly at women. Defendants' argument that a male worker would be equally offended by having to brush against Sterman to pass between the file cabinets or by being pinned in by him at their desk, even if true, is irrelevant. Sterman did not force men to brush against him to get past, nor did he look them up and down and express his pleasure in their appearance. The evidence was more than ample to support the jury's verdict finding sexual harassment.
Plaintiff appeals the trial court's denial of her Rule 59(a) motion for a new trial on damages. When reviewing a Rule 59(a) motion we defer to the trial court and only reverse if the court has abused its discretion. To do so we would have to find the clear weight of the evidence against the jury verdict. Scaggs v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 6 F.3d 1290, 1293 (7th Cir.1993).
The jury awarded plaintiff $80,000 in back pay and no front pay. Plaintiff asserts that the undisputed evidence puts her lost back pay at more than $120,000, assuming she would not have received promised raises and bonuses and not including fringe benefits (which the jury was to have included in the award according to their instructions). Plaintiff's replacement earned more than $147,000 in salary and bonuses between January 1, 1990 and March 31, 1993. Plaintiff asserts that the only way the jury could have arrived at the $80,000 figure was by finding that she failed to mitigate her damages, and A Title VII victim is presumptively entitled to full relief. Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 421, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 2373, 45 L.Ed.2d 280. Once a plaintiff has established the amount of damages she claims resulted from her employer's conduct, the burden of going forward shifts to the defendant to show that the plaintiff failed to mitigate damages or that damages were in fact less than the plaintiff asserts. Gaddy v. Abex Corp., 884 F.2d 312, 318 (7th Cir.1989). To establish the affirmative defense of a plaintiff's failure to mitigate damages, the defendants must show that: (1) the plaintiff failed to exercise reasonable diligence to mitigate her damages, and (2) there was...
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