Monteagudo v. Asociacion De Empleados Del Est.

• Decision Date: 26 January 2009
• Docket Number: No. 07-2341.,07-2341.
• Citation: 554 F.3d 164
• Parties: Michelle MONTEAGUDO, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. ASOCIACIÓN DE EMPLEADOS DEL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, Defendant, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

554 F.3d 164

Michelle MONTEAGUDO, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. ASOCIACIÓN DE EMPLEADOS DEL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, Defendant, Appellant.

No. 07-2341.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard September 12, 2008.

Decided January 26, 2009.

Jorge Martínez-Luciano, with whom Carmen Edith Torres-Rodríguez and Law Offices of Pedro Ortiz-Álvarez, PSC, were on brief for appellant.

Juan Rafael González-Muñoz, with whom González Muñoz Law Offices, P.S.C., María E. Margarida-Franco, Margarida Franco Law Office, and Carlos M. Vergne Law Offices, were on brief for appellee.

Before TORRUELLA, BALDOCK,^* and HOWARD, Circuit Judges.

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge.

Michelle Monteagudo brought suit alleging sexual harassment claims under federal and Puerto Rico law against her former employer, Asociación de Empleados del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico ("AEELA"),¹ in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. On June 1, 2007, a jury found that Monteagudo was subjected to sexual harassment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and Puerto Rico Laws 17, 69, and 100, and awarded her compensatory and punitive damages. AEELA moved for judgment as a matter of law on the Faragher-Ellerth affirmative defense pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50 and also moved for a new trial and remittitur of the damages award pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59. AEELA appeals the district court's denial of both these motions as well as certain evidentiary and discovery rulings made during trial. After careful consideration, we affirm.

I. Background

A. Monteagudo's Experience at AEELA

Monteagudo started working at AEELA in 1999 as a secretary in the Human Resources department. At that time, she was a non-permanent employee, substituting for the permanent secretary who was out on maternity leave. Monteagudo was supervised by Juan Francisco Arce-Díaz ("Arce"), a payroll, fringe benefits, and compensation manager for AEELA. At trial, Monteagudo testified that during her time as a substitute, Arce "would look at [her] as if he was appraising [her]." However, she "didn't give it much importance" because she did not view Arce's conduct to be that serious.

Monteagudo testified that Arce's conduct continued until Arce's permanent secretary returned from maternity leave, at which point Monteagudo stopped working in the Human Resources department. On October 2, 2000, after stints in AEELA's legal collections and legal affairs divisions, Monteagudo returned to the Human Resources department as a permanent employee. Once there, Monteagudo claimed that Arce engaged in inappropriate conduct towards her. For example, she remarked that Arce would come to her work station at least once a day where "he would stop and touch [her] on the shoulder." Monteagudo stated that she resisted Arce's advances by "throw[ing] his hand backwards so he'd leave [her] alone." She also complained that Arce would "invit[e][her] constantly to go out together" with co-workers on double dates.

Monteagudo testified to the unpleasantness she felt as a result of Arce's conduct: "How can I feel except bad? They were treating me like a piece of meat. I wouldn't like to go to work ... I didn't like to go into the office, because I knew what I would be involved and engaged in every day there."

On one such day, José Francisco Figueroa-Cana ("Figueroa"), a messenger for AEELA since 1996, witnessed Arce "plac[ing] his hand on [Monteagudo's] hip" in "an undesirable action." When he discussed this incident with Monteagudo, she told him that "that was something that normally took place ... that [Arce] would always try to seek a way so he could touch her." Figueroa testified that he was uncertain about what recourse Monteagudo should take because this was a matter that was "extremely difficult and quite delicate" given the people involved. Even though Figueroa was a union delegate, he decided against bringing the matter up to the union president because "it was extremely difficult to bring forth something like this dealing with who we dealt with," the union was a "very weak institution within AEELA," and because the union president had a "friendly relationship" with Orlando Vargas-López ("Vargas"), AEELA's Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations.

Monteagudo, perhaps partly as a result of her conversation with Figueroa, did not report Arce's conduct to her superiors as required by AEELA's sexual harassment policy.² This policy was in effect and distributed to Monteagudo while she was a permanent employee. At trial, Monteagudo explained that she did not report the sexual harassment "[b]ecause the person I needed to complain with were all friends." She added: "Either it be the executive director or the human resources director, they're all friends amongst themselves. We're talking about some managerials [sic] versus an employee who virtually had started working a few days before." She claimed that the Executive Director, Pablo Crespo-Claudio ("Crespo"), was friends with Vargas and Arce "[b]ecause of conversations held by Orlando Vargas and Francisco Arce themselves," noting that "I tend to understand that if some people go out together to drink liquor, they're friends who go out to be together." Crespo admitted in his testimony that he may have gone out for drinks with Vargas and Arce.

Monteagudo testified that Arce's inappropriate behavior towards her continued for several months leading up to an incident during a group outing to a local bar, where in the parking lot, Arce "pulled [her] towards him to try to kiss [her]." Monteagudo pushed him away that evening, but testified that when she returned to work the following Monday after the incident "the attitude displayed towards [her] by Mr. Vargas and Mr. Arce" was "different" and that the additional work given to her was excessive. Also, when she complained to Vargas that she was performing two positions simultaneously, in addition to assisting colleagues from other divisions, Vargas "slammed the desk very hard and told [her] that if [she] filed a complaint, the next day [she] would be dismissed."

At trial, Monteagudo described her work conditions as intolerable due to the fact that her superiors did not permit "anyone at all to stop over to talk to [her], even to just say good morning." Further, she explained the emotional toll AEELA's actions took on her: "[E]very evening I'd be crying, I would leave work crying, because there was a constant scolding for everything, everything I did was wrong. Everything." Thus, Monteagudo stated that she was left with no choice but to resign, resulting in what the jury later found to be a constructive discharge: "Obviously, if somebody is putting so much pressure on you and threatening to kick you out if you complain before the union, obviously that person doesn't want to have you there anymore. And that's why I resigned."

B. AEELA's Motions

At the end of Monteagudo's presentation of her argument, AEELA orally moved for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50 stating the following: "At this time we want to move for judgment as a matter of law, not on the merits of the case, which are obviously subject to credibility issues for the jury, but on the subject of [the] affirmative defense limited by the Supreme Court in the case of Ellerth and Faragher regarding vicarious liability by an employer." AEELA noted that its motion was based on this "single discrete issue." The district court denied AEELA's motion. At the close of all evidence and before the case went to the jury, AEELA renewed its motion under "the Faragher issue" stating that "[p]retty much in our case in chief, nothing further was added, as far as factually towards this defense. It would be the same arguments of law and fact, but we need to raise it to preserve it." The district court again denied AEELA's motion.

On June 1, 2007, the jury found Monteagudo was subjected to sexual harassment in violation of Title VII and Puerto Rico Laws 17, 69, and 100,³ and awarded her compensatory and punitive damages.⁴ On June 15, 2007, AEELA again filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law on the basis that Monteagudo was not subjected to a "severe or pervasive" hostile work environment and that AEELA met the burden of proof required in the Faragher-Ellerth defense. AEELA argued that no reasonable jury could find that Monteagudo's failure to use the procedures specified by AEELA's sexual harassment policy was reasonable. AEELA also moved for a new trial and for remittitur of the damages award.

The district court denied AEELA's motion for judgment as a matter of law, noting first that AEELA did not object to the court's instruction on the Faragher-Ellerth defense. The district court then offered the following reasons for its denial of AEELA's motion:

At trial, Plaintiff testified that her supervisor, Arce, sexually harassed her by repeatedly touching her on the shoulders, asking her out, and one occasion trying to kiss her. She also testified that Vargas, Defendant's Human Resources Director, was aware of Arce's unlawful behavior and was an active participant in the harassment. Vargas, on another occasion, had threatened to fire Plaintiff if she complained about excessive workload. Finally, Plaintiff testified that Pablo Crespo, Defendant's Executive Director, was friends with Arce and Vargas. Plaintiff's testimony was bolstered by Figueroa Cana, another of Defendant's employee [sic], who said during trial that he had told Plaintiff that she did not have a real opportunity of obtaining relief because of the high ranking officers involved in the harassment and cover up. In light of the above, the court cannot conclude that no reasonable jury could have found that Plaintiff acted reasonably when she failed to follow Defendant's anti-sexual harassment policy.

In a separate order, the district court denied AEELA's motion for a new trial on damages noting that "the...