King v. McMillan

• Decision Date: 03 February 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08-1667.,No. 08-1713.,No. 08-1974.,08-1667.,08-1713.,08-1974.
• Citation: 594 F.3d 301
• Parties: Lespia KING, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. George M. McMILLAN, Defendant-Appellant, and Octavia Johnson, Defendant. Lespia King, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Octavia Johnson, in her official capacity as Sheriff of the City of Roanoke, Defendant-Appellant, and George M. McMillan, Defendant. Lespia King, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Octavia Johnson, in her official capacity as Sheriff of the City of Roanoke, Defendant-Appellant, and George M. McMillan, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

594 F.3d 301

Lespia KING, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. George M. McMILLAN, Defendant-Appellant, and Octavia Johnson, Defendant.

Lespia King, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Octavia Johnson, in her official capacity as Sheriff of the City of Roanoke, Defendant-Appellant, and George M. McMillan, Defendant.

Lespia King, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Octavia Johnson, in her official capacity as Sheriff of the City of Roanoke, Defendant-Appellant, and George M. McMillan, Defendant.

No. 08-1667.

No. 08-1713.

No. 08-1974.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: October 30, 2009.

Decided: February 3, 2010.

ARGUED: John Adrian Gibney, Jr., Thompson McMullan, PC, Richmond, Virginia; Elizabeth Kay Dillon, Guynn, Memmer & Dillon, PC, Salem, Virginia, for Appellants. Terry Neill Grimes, Grimes & Williams, PC, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Melvin E. Williams, Grimes & Williams, PC, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellee.

Before MICHAEL, KING, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge MICHAEL wrote the opinion, in which Judge KING and Judge AGEE joined.

OPINION

MICHAEL, Circuit Judge:

Lespia King, a former deputy in the sheriff's office for the City of Roanoke, Virginia, sued Sheriff George McMillan in his official capacity under Title VII for sexual harassment and in his individual capacity under Virginia law for battery. While King's suit was pending, Octavia Johnson replaced McMillan as sheriff, and the district court substituted Johnson as the defendant in her official capacity in King's Title VII claim. The jury found for King on both claims. On appeal Sheriff Johnson argues that because each sheriff in Virginia is by state law a singular entity with an independent tenure, she could not be substituted in her official capacity as the successor to McMillan in the Title VII claim. Because acceptance of this argument would allow state law to override Title VII in violation of the Supremacy Clause, we conclude that Johnson's substitution was proper. Both Johnson and McMillan challenge the district court's rulings on the admission of certain evidence and the court's denial of their motions regarding liability and damages allowable. For the reasons explained below, we also reject these challenges. Accordingly, the judgments against both Johnson and McMillan are affirmed.

I.

A.

In August 2005 Lespia King, who had served as a deputy in the Roanoke sheriff's office, sued Sheriff George McMillan in the Western District of Virginia. King sued McMillan in his official capacity for sexual harassment in her employment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and in his individual capacity for battery under Virginia state law. While the suit was pending, Sheriff McMillan lost a reelection bid to Sheriff Octavia Johnson. Thereafter, the district court, invoking Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d), substituted Johnson in her official capacity as the defendant in King's Title VII claim. Because King prevailed at trial, we recite the facts in the light most favorable to her. ABT Bldg. Prods. Corp. v. Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, 472 F.3d 99, 113 (4th Cir.2006).

B.

In the summer of 2000, when she was twenty-two years old, King started her first full-time job as a jail deputy, working for Sheriff McMillan. Although Sheriff McMillan told his employees that he did not tolerate sexual harassment, he qualified this avowal by informing them that he was a "touchy-feely person" and that he liked touching people when he talked with them. J.A. 141. This self-characterization was an understatement when it came to McMillan's interactions with King during the four years she worked as one of McMillan's deputies.

Every six or eight weeks, on average, King had an encounter with McMillan during which McMillan made her uncomfortable by touching her in sexually aggressive ways and by making inappropriate (or suggestive) comments. The offensive remarks began during King's job interview with McMillan, when he told her that she was an attractive woman who would be "hit [ ] on" by male police officers. J.A. 266. Thereafter, when King encountered McMillan at work, he insisted on hugging her. King responded by "tens[ing] up" and trying to hug McMillan from the side to avoid frontal contact, but McMillan would grab her for a more invasive hug, slide his arms down her back, and place them around her buttocks. J.A. 263. McMillan also told King that he liked her hair long.

About a month after King started her job, McMillan was at the shooting range and happened to notice that King was having difficulty putting on her new leather gun belt. Unsolicited, McMillan stepped in to assist, touching King repeatedly in the waist area as he inserted the fasteners around her inner belt. This incident embarrassed King and made her "very uncomfortable." J.A. 267. McMillan's recurring harassment caused King to dread having contact with him; when she could, she would hide to avoid him.

King was especially intimidated by McMillan for two reasons. First, he controlled her job and working conditions, and there was no one superior to him in the chain of command. Second, he was "physically overwhelming"—six feet four inches tall, weighing 270 pounds. J.A. 323. King, on the other hand, was five feet four inches tall and weighed about 120 pounds when she began working for McMillan.

In 2003 King met privately with McMillan to request a shift transfer. Several times during the meeting McMillan patted King's knee or touched her leg. He also asked her to sit on his lap and told her that she would have to choose him over her boyfriend (also a sheriff's office employee) if she wanted a transfer or promotion. Worried that McMillan would not approve the shift transfer otherwise, King sat on McMillan's lap and gave him a hug. McMillan then asked for a kiss. To get out of the situation, King tried to give McMillan a "dry peck" on the cheek, but he turned his head so that the kiss landed on his lips. J.A. 272.

Sometime later, at a regional jail association dinner, McMillan seized the opportunity to take further liberties with King. McMillan greeted King by hugging her, sliding his hands downward, and placing them around her buttocks. McMillan then told King that he would hold her until her boyfriend noticed and became jealous. As word of the incident spread, several of King's coworkers commented to her that she had been "struck by the gropealope," a phrase used by some to describe McMillan and his harassment. J.A. 275. King was "very embarrass[ed]" because "[i]t seemed like everybody knew that [she] had been pawed at [and] grabbed in public at a dinner." J.A. 276. After these incidents King suffered health problems, including weight gain, temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ), sleeplessness, and nightmares about McMillan.

By early 2004 King had concluded that working under McMillan was intolerable, and she applied for another job. McMillan learned of this development, and on March 10, 2004, he called King into a conference room and shut the door. He urged her not to quit. He told her that she "could have a great career" in his office and gain an immediate promotion to the "position that [she] wanted" (working in the courtroom), if she would just choose him over her boyfriend. J.A. 278. McMillan also told King that she was very attractive, that he liked her longer hair style, that her "legs looked really, really good" in the skirt she had worn to the jail association dinner, and that she would be dating him if he were younger. J.A. 279. At the end of the meeting McMillan asked King for a hug, grabbed her around her waist, and pulled her down to sit on his lap. McMillan told King that he would not let her go until she gave him a kiss. King tried to give him a peck on the cheek, but McMillan insisted upon a "real kiss." J.A. 280. After McMillan forced a full kiss on King's lips, she ran out of the room into a restroom, where she cried for about ten minutes. King submitted a letter of resignation several days later.

The district court admitted testimony, over objection from McMillan and Johnson, from other women who worked for McMillan, either as employees or providers of contractual services, and who were sexually harassed by him. The women testified that McMillan made inappropriate sexual remarks to them, asked them for kisses and hugs, and touched them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable.

C.

The jury returned liability verdicts for King on both the Title VII and battery claims. The jury awarded King $50,000 in compensatory damages on the Title VII claim, $175,000 in compensatory damages on the battery claim, and $100,000 in punitive damages on the battery claim. The court remitted the compensatory damages on the battery claim to $50,000, and the judgment order provided that there could be only one recovery for compensatory damages, not to exceed $50,000.

Johnson and McMillan both appeal. Johnson argues that the district court improperly substituted her under Rule 25(d) as a defendant, in her official capacity, in King's Title VII claim. Both Johnson and McMillan challenge the district court's admission of the testimony from other women, who described McMillan's harassment of them. McMillan challenges the court's denial of his motion for judgment as a matter of law on the battery claim, its allowance of punitive damages on that claim, and its denial of his motion for a new trial. Johnson also claims that the district court's evidentiary rulings entitle her to a new trial.

II.

A.

Sheriff Johnson contends that the district court erred in substituting her, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d), as the defendant in place of McMillan in King's Title VII claim, which was filed against McMillan in his official capacity. Johnson argues that she, in her official capacity, cannot be substituted as McMillan's successor because under Virginia law "her service as Sheriff beg[an]an entire new...