Alexander v. Caresource

• Decision Date: 14 August 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08-3880.,08-3880.
• Parties: Shawn ALEXANDER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CARESOURCE, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

576 F.3d 551

Shawn ALEXANDER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CARESOURCE, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 08-3880.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: April 21, 2009.

Decided and Filed: August 14, 2009.

ARGUED: Kendall Duane Isaac, The Isaac Firm, LLC, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellant. Vladimir P. Belo, Bricker & Eckler LLP, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Kendall Duane Isaac, The Isaac Firm, LLC, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellant. Vladimir P. Belo, Bricker & Eckler LLP, Columbus, Ohio, Mark R. Chilson, Bricker & Eckler LLP, West Chester, Ohio, for Appellee.

Before BATCHELDER and COLE, Circuit Judges; LAWSON, District Judge.^*

OPINION

DAVID M. LAWSON, District Judge.

The issue in this appeal of a grant of summary judgment to the defendant in this employment discrimination action is whether the plaintiff's response in the district court was adequate to establish a material fact issue in proving her prima facie case. The district court found the plaintiff's submissions wanting, and we agree. In responding to the defendant's motion for summary judgment, the plaintiff failed to submit adequate evidence in the form required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(e), and the other evidence in the record did not rebut the defendant's contention that it was entitled to judgment in its favor as a matter of law. Therefore, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I.

Plaintiff Shawn Alexander, an African American woman, applied for a job as a claims analyst with defendant CareSource Management Group in 2005. Although she was interviewed for the position, the defendant hired Caucasian applicants instead. The plaintiff believes that race played a role in the defendant's decision, as evidenced, she alleges, by the more rigorous application and interview protocols demanded of the plaintiff compared to the Caucasian applicants.

CareSource provides services for the administration of public sector health care programs, operating Medicaid health plans in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. In 2005, the claims department had approximately sixty employees and only two managers: Gary North and Linda Hay. In May and June 2005, CareSource sought to fill two claims analyst positions, one for Michigan and one for Ohio. Claims analysts are responsible for analyzing and processing claims that have been rejected from an automatic electronic processing system. North assumed responsibility for hiring the Michigan claims analyst, and Hay was responsible for the Ohio position. Prospective candidates would interview with human resources consultant Lara Bentley before meeting with North or Hay or both, depending on their availability. Both internal and external candidates were interviewed for the position, although, according to Bentley, the internal candidates were not asked questions about their preference regarding management structure because Bentley assumed they were already familiar with the management of the claims department.

The plaintiff apparently learned about the job openings from her friend Claudette Wheeler with whom she worked at Miami Valley Hospital. According to Lara Bentley's affidavit, Wheeler was interviewed on June 3, 2005, after being referred to Bentley by Charritye LeMoine, a CareSource claims department employee. Bentley says she waived the requirement that Wheeler complete an employment application because Wheeler was interviewing on her lunch break and therefore was under time constraints. Wheeler interviewed with only Bentley and Hay because North was not in the office. Bentley asked Wheeler about her preferred management style, and based on Wheeler's response Bentley concluded that Wheeler would thrive in a hands-off management atmosphere like the one in the claims department. Wheeler was offered a position on the same day as her interview, but declined the offer.

Alexander was interviewed for the open Michigan claims analyst position on June 29, 2005. Bentley recalls Alexander stating that she "preferred well-organized management and strong communication between herself and the department manager," which Bentley found incompatible with the management structure of the claims department. Record on Appeal ("ROA") at 60. Following this meeting, both North and Hay interviewed Alexander, and both found that Alexander was "unable to provide accurate and/or detailed responses to many questions asked." ROA at 54. They noted Alexander's belief that the acronym "COB" referred to "Collaboration of Benefits" rather than "Coordination of Benefits," and her inability "to fully explain the COB process." ROA at 54-55. As a result of the interview, Hay and North concluded that Alexander did not know enough about claims processing to work effectively as a claims analyst. She was not offered the job.

The Michigan claims analyst position ultimately went to Kim Seiber, who had been employed by CareSource in a provider customer service position. Seiber, apparently, is Caucasian. She interviewed for the position on June 28, 2005, the day before Alexander. According to North, Seiber provided "satisfactory" answers to his questions and he believed that she had received positive performance reviews in her previous position. ROA at 54.

On July 7, 2005, Bentley telephoned Alexander to inform her that the position was given to another candidate. The following day, Alexander filed a charge of race discrimination with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). On May 11, 2006, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission concluded that there was probable cause to believe that Care-Source violated the law when it did not hire Alexander. The determination states that Alexander met the job qualifications for the claims analyst position, and after she was refused the job, CareSource continued to interview others "with very similar qualifications as Charging Party." ROA at 81. The report then stated:

On June 3, 2005, Respondent interviewed a Caucasian applicant for Claims Analyst. Unlike Charging Party, this similarly situated person was not required to submit an employment application, and was offered a position the same day she was interviewed by Respondent. Charging party became aware of these facts only because she worked alongside this person during Respondent's interview process.

Ibid. On May 2, 2007, citing the Ohio Civil Rights Commission's finding, the EEOC issued a determination that there was probable cause to believe that the allegation of race discrimination was true; but on May 9, 2007, the EEOC issued a correction, stating that the May 2, 2007 document was "null and void, and of no legal significance." ROA at 15. The EEOC issued a right-to-sue letter that same day.

On May 24, 2007, Alexander filed a pro se complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. She was granted in forma pauperis status. The complaint — which is not verified — states that she believes she was "unlawfully discriminated against because of my race, African American." ROA at 9. Attached to the complaint is the charge of discrimination filed by the plaintiff with the OCRC and the EEOC. In this charge, which was notarized and signed under penalty of perjury, Alexander states that she is an African American, the position at CareSource was offered to Wheeler, a Caucasian, and Wheeler's interview was less rigorous than Alexander's because Wheeler was asked less difficult questions. Counsel entered an appearance on behalf of Alexander on July 12, 2007 but did not file an amended complaint. The parties consented to plenary jurisdiction over the case by United States Magistrate Judge Michael Merz under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c).

Alexander took at least two depositions in the case, but it does not appear that she sought formal discovery in any other form. CareSource moved for summary judgment, attaching three affidavits, one with "interview notes" of the candidates. Alexander responded, attaching various documents, including the letters from the OCRC and the EEOC, and portions of depositions of CareSource's employees. Alexander never submitted an affidavit to the district court, nor any pages of her deposition transcript. She did, however, submit a document purporting to be her resume. The resume states that she has a high school education, and worked as a data processing clerk from 1988 to 1994. From 1994 to 2003, she worked as a claims processor for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. From 2003 to 2006 she worked for Miami Valley Hospital as a patient account representative. According to her complaint, she was laid off by the hospital in 2006 and was forced to live in a homeless shelter.

Alexander also submitted a document that purports to be a resume of David Roush. It appears that Roush had worked since 2000 as a claims analyst for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Before that he worked in various customer service jobs since 1980. According to Alexander's brief, Roush was hired for a claims analyst position covering Indiana, he did not have a completed application on file, and he is Caucasian.

CareSource responded to the plaintiff's submissions by asking the district court to strike all of Alexander's exhibits except the deposition transcripts because they were not authenticated by an affidavit or deposition testimony. The district court granted the motion to strike the exhibits as well as the motion for summary judgment, and entered judgment against Alexander on June 3, 2008. Alexander filed a timely notice of appeal and contends that the district court erred by granting summary judgment and disregarding her exhibits.

II.

This court reviews a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo and applies the same standard as the district court. Farhat v. Jopke, 370 F.3d 580, 587 (6th Cir.2004); Lake v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 73 F.3d 1372, 1376 (6th Cir.1996). The parties' arguments in this case suggest that it may be useful to review those standards once again.

Both claimants and p...