Kerr-Selgas v. American Airlines, Inc.
| Decision Date | 04 May 1995 |
| Docket Number | P,KERR-SELGA,No. 94-1972,94-1972 |
| Citation | 69 F.3d 1205 |
| Parties | 69 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 944, 67 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,780 Mary Janelaintiff, Appellee, v. AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. and Whadzen Carrasquillo, Defendants, Appellants. . Heard |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Arthur R. Miller, with whom Weil, Gotshal & Manges was on brief, for appellants.
Judith Berkan, with whom Rosalinda Pesquera and Mary Jo Mendez were on brief, for appellee.
Before CYR, Circuit Judge, COFFIN and BOWNES, Senior Circuit Judges.
Defendants American Airlines, Inc. ("American") and Whadzen Carrasquillo ("Carrasquillo") mount several challenges to the special verdicts which formed the basis for a $1,500,000 award to plaintiff Mary Jane Kerr-Selgas ("Kerr"), a former American employee, on her sex discrimination, retaliation, and invasion of privacy claims. We vacate the punitive damages award, and affirm the district court judgment as modified.
Kerr was hired by American as a reservations sales agent in the summer of 1974. Thereafter, she was transferred to the Cargo Sales Division as a telephone representative in 1975; promoted to junior freight account At trial, Kerr sought to establish that her promotion to account executive had been part of a plan by her Cargo Sales Division supervisor, defendant-appellant Carrasquillo, to manipulate her into an "amorous relationship." The evidence demonstrated that Carrasquillo treated Kerr unfairly after she rejected his sexual advances. He disparaged her in front of co-workers and clients, made intrusive inquiries and derisive comments concerning her private life and her personal appearance, and discriminated against her in job-related matters by excluding her from company activities and a complimentary trip abroad.
executive in March 1987, and to account executive in December 1987; then terminated on November 30, 1992, ostensibly in a company-wide reduction in force.
Kerr submitted a formal written complaint against Carrasquillo on March 9, 1992, which led to an offer from American that she remain an account executive under Carrasquillo's supervision, transfer to another position within the company, or leave the company. When Kerr later inquired about a possible transfer to a different division, she was informed that it had already been arranged by Carrasquillo without her knowledge. Kerr then wrote to the personnel manager, noting that she had been discriminated against and her March 9 complaint had never been answered, and advising that she opposed the prearranged transfer. Consequently, American revoked the scheduled transfer, and Kerr remained under Carrasquillo's supervision.
Two weeks later, Kerr received her first negative job performance evaluation from Carrasquillo, as well as a First Advisory alleging that she had disregarded his work-related instructions. She received a Second Advisory the following month. 2 Although American instructed Carrasquillo to withdraw the Second Advisory, it remained in her personnel file and American relied on it as a partial basis for her termination on November 30, 1992, which American explained as follows:
Missed revenue plan in every month during 1st and 2nd quarter in 1992. Employee does not encourage or foster team work in SJU Sales Office. She has been counseled by her supervisor regarding her behavior and poor judgment.
Shortly thereafter, Kerr lodged a sex discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), received a "right to sue" letter, and filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. The complaint alleged sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation under both commonwealth and federal law, as well as pendent commonwealth claims for wrongful termination and violation of her right to privacy.
At trial, Kerr established that she had exceeded her sales goal by a greater margin than any other salesperson in San Juan during the third quarter of 1992, and, contrary to Carrasquillo's allegations, that she got along well with co-workers and clients. As evidence of the allegedly pretextual termination, Kerr pointed to the close temporal proximity between her discrimination complaint, on the one hand, and the advisories and poor job-performance evaluation received from Carrasquillo.
Three weeks into the trial, the case was submitted to the jury on a special verdict form, which is set out in full as completed by the jury:
VERDICT
We, the Jury, find as follows:
A. SEX DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS:
1. Has plaintiff Mary Jane Kerr proved that her sex (gender) was, more likely than not, a motivating factor in defendants' employment decisions after July 15, 1991?
YES X NO _____
If your answer to question number 1 is "YES", please answer question number 2.
If your answer to question number 1 is "NO", do not answer question number 2 and proceed to answer the questions under the heading "Retaliation Claims".
2. Have defendants American Airlines and Whadzen Carrasquillo proved, more likely than not, that they would have made
the same employment decision(s) concerning plaintiff even if the unlawful motive, namely plaintiff's sex, was not present?
3. Has plaintiff Mary Jane Kerr proved that her reporting the claim to the employer or her filing of a discrimination charge with the Puerto Rico Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was, more likely than not, a motivating factor in defendants' employment decisions to terminate her employment after July 15, 1991?
YES X NO _____
If your answer to question number 3 is "YES", please answer question number 4.
If your answer to question number 3 is "NO", do not answer question number 4 and proceed to answer the questions under the heading "Sexual Harassment".
4. Have defendants American Airlines and Whadzen Carrasquillo proved, more likely than not, that they would have made the same employment decision concerning plaintiff even if unlawful motive, namely plaintiff's filing of a discrimination charge with the Puerto Rico Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, was not present?
5. Has plaintiff Mary Jane Kerr proved that she was, more likely than not, subject to "hostile environment" sexual harassment by Whadzen Carrasquillo while he was her supervisor since July 15, 1991?
YES _____ NO X
If your answer to question number 5 is "YES", please answer question number 6.
If your answer to question number 5 is "NO", do not answer question number 6 and proceed to answer the questions under the heading "Right to Privacy".
6. Have defendants American Airlines and Whadzen Carrasquillo proved, more likely than not, that the behavior complained of did not affect a tangible condition of Mary Jane Kerr's employment?
7. Has plaintiff Mary Jane Kerr proved that her right to privacy was, more likely than not, violated by Whadzen Carrasquillo while he was her supervisor since July 15, 1991?
8. Have defendants proved that there was just cause for the layoff of plaintiff Mary Jane Kerr on November 30, 1992?
YES _____ NO X
If your answer to question number 8 was "NO", please indicate the amount of severance pay plaintiff is entitled to in dollars: $20,000.00.
F. DAMAGES:
If your answer to any of the questions numbered 1, 3, 5 or 7 was "YES", then proceed to answer questions numbered 9 and 10. If your answer was "YES" only to question number 8, do not answer the questions numbered 9 and 10 and return your verdict.
9. Under the law given to you in the judge's instructions, state the amount of compensatory damages plaintiff should be awarded.
$1,000,000.00; multiplied by 2 = $2,000,000.00 3
10. Under the law as given to you in the instructions, state the amount, if any, of punitive damages that the plaintiff should be awarded. State such award in the space numbered 10B. If you decide not to grant punitive damages, say so by placing an "X" in the space numbered 10A.
10A. _______ Punitive damages should not be awarded.
10B. $350,000.00 in punitive damages should be awarded.
San Juan, Puerto Rico, March 17, 1994.
/s/ [Signed by foreperson]
After conferring with counsel, the district court determined that the jury responses to certain special verdicts were inconsistent. The court suggested to counsel that the jury be asked to "['T]ell us what you mean ... when you answer[ed] questions number two and number four in the affirmative? [']." Counsel neither took exception to the proposed resubmission, nor to the following formulation which the court put to the jury:
Please explain to us the meaning of your verdict, part A (sex discrimination claims) and part B (retaliation claims). Was it your intention to find in favor of the plaintiff or in favor of the defendants, in each of these claims?
The jury responded that it intended to find for Kerr on the sex discrimination claims and on the retaliation claims, as reflected in special verdicts 1 and 3. The district court thereupon entered judgment against American and Carrasquillo, jointly and severally, for $2,000,000 in undifferentiated compensatory damages on the sex discrimination, retaliation, and invasion of privacy claims under Puerto Rico law; $350,000 in undifferentiated punitive damages on the federal claims; and $20,000 in "severance pay" on the wrongful discharge claim.
Contending that there was no inconsistency among the special verdicts, the defendants moved for judgment as a matter of law, or for a new trial, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b), and, in the alternative, for a remittitur. Then, for the first time, defendants asserted that the resubmission to the jury, previously agreed upon by all parties, contravened the Seventh Amendment and Fed.R.Civ.P. 49(a) (...
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