Smith v. Monsanto Chemical Co.

• Decision Date: 23 September 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-2032,84-2032
• Citation: 770 F.2d 719
• Parties: 38 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1141, 37 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 35,452, 38 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 35,549 Danny SMITH, Appellee, v. MONSANTO CHEMICAL CO., Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 719

770 F.2d 719

38 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1141,

37 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 35,452,

38 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 35,549

Danny SMITH, Appellee, v. MONSANTO CHEMICAL CO., Appellant.

No. 84-2032.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted March 12, 1985.

Decided Aug. 12, 1985.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Sept. 23, 1985.

William T. Weidle, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant.

Doris Gregory Black, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee.

Before McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and FAGG, Circuit Judge.

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge.

Monsanto Chemical Co. (Monsanto) appeals from a final judgment entered in the District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in favor of Danny Smith in an action alleging violations of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5 (1982), and 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1981 (1982). A jury awarded Smith $150,000.00 actual damages on the Sec. 1981 claim and the district court awarded him $21,508.00 back pay, attorneys fees, reinstatement of seniority and costs for prevailing in his Title VII action. For reversal Monsanto argues that the district court erred in denying its motions for (1) judgment n.o.v., (2) a new trial, and (3) remittitur. For the reasons discussed below, we reverse the judgment of the district court.

Smith, a black man, was hired by Monsanto in July 1978 to work in its Queeny Plant located in St. Louis, Missouri. Smith's job was to maintain the supply and equipment section of the plant attendant department, and his responsibilities included unloading and sorting laundry. On March 11, 1982, after he had finished unloading and sorting a load of laundry, Smith walked out of the plant, through the security gate and into the employee parking lot carrying three rag towels. Smith went to his car and locked the rag towels in the trunk. While walking back to the plant, Smith was approached by chief of security Keith Hacker and foreman Jack Baltzell. Hacker asked Smith what he had put into the trunk of his car. Smith responded, "some towels," and then opened the trunk, showing Hacker the three rag towels. Hacker asked Smith why he had taken the towels, to which Smith replied, "to wipe off my car." Hacker then told Smith to return the towels to the service building, which Smith did.

Shortly after the parking lot incident, Hacker and two union officials went to the laundry area where Smith was working and asked Smith what had occurred. Smith repeated in substance what he had previously told Hacker. On March 15, 1982, Smith reported to work as usual and was informed that he was suspended pending a decision on discharge. On March 16, 1982, Monsanto terminated Smith for the alleged theft of company property.

Monsanto has an established company policy requiring that employees obtain a material pass in order to take company property out of the plant. ¹ Smith failed to request a material pass on March 11, 1982, to remove the three rag towels from the plant. Smith testified at trial that he was aware of the material pass rule but did not believe a pass was required to take rag towels into the parking lot. There was also testimony by two employees that they and other employees have used the rag towels for personal, non-job-related tasks in the employee parking lot without first obtaining a material pass.

After his discharge Smith filed a grievance pursuant to the union contract and the case was subsequently submitted to arbitration. On July 27, 1983, the arbitrator found that Smith had violated the material pass rule but had no intent to steal the rag towels. The arbitrator determined that Smith should be reinstated but that he should lose back wages and seniority between March 16, 1982, and July 27, 1983, for violating the material pass rule.

Prior to the arbitration proceeding, Smith had filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging that his termination was racially motivated. Following an investigation, the EEOC determined that there was no reasonable cause to believe that Smith was discharged because of his race. The EEOC did, however, provide Smith with a Notice of Right to Sue on August 4, 1982. Smith timely filed the present action in the district court alleging that he was discharged because of his race in violation of Title VII and Sec. 1981. A jury returned a verdict in favor of Smith on the Sec. 1981 claim and the district court found in favor of Smith on the Title VII claim.

Monsanto argues on appeal that the district court erred in denying its motion for judgment n.o.v. because there was insufficient evidence that Smith's discharge was racially motivated. Monsanto also argues that the district court's finding that Smith's termination was the result of racially disparate treatment in violation of Title VII is clearly erroneous. Monsanto argues that there was no evidence tending to support Smith's allegations that the punishment he received for stealing was more severe than punishment received by white employees accused of stealing.

We will first address Smith's Sec. 1981 claim. After Smith had met his burden of establishing a prima facie case of discriminatory discharge, ² Monsanto responded that its reason for discharging Smith was that all employees who had less than five years seniority were discharged for stealing, without consideration of other factors, as a company policy. Smith then attempted to show that Monsanto's proffered reason for his discharge was merely a pretext for discrimination. See Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 252-56, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 1093-95, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981); McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802-04, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 1824-25, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973); Johnson v. Bunny Bread Co., 646 F.2d 1250, 1253 (8th Cir.1981). "Where, as here, the case has been fully tried on the merits, the adequacy of the party's showing at any particular stage of the McDonnell Douglas ritual is of no consequence." Elliot v. Group Medical & Surgical Service, 714 F.2d 556, 564 (5th Cir.1983) (footnote omitted). "Each separate stage merges into the ultimate question of whether the plaintiff has established sufficiently a case of intentional discrimination." Carter v. Duncan-Huggins, Ltd., 727 F.2d 1225, 1232 (D.C.Cir.1984); see also United States Postal Service v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 714-15, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 1481-82, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983).

Our inquiry in reviewing a judgment n.o.v. is the same as the district court's when it intitially considered the motion.

[W]hen a motion for a directed verdict or for judgment notwithstanding the verdict is made, the court must assume that all of the evidence supporting the party opposing the motion is true, and must, in addition, give that party the benefit of all reasonable inferences drawn from that evidence. The case may be taken from the jury only if no rational jury could find against the moving party on the evidence so viewed.

Dace v. ACF Industries, Inc., 722 F.2d 374, 376 (8th Cir.1983).

In the present discrimination case our inquiry is whether no reasonable jury could find that Monsanto discriminated against Smith on the basis of race, considering Smith's evidence and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom to be true. "[The] jury verdict [will be] overturned 'only where the evidence points all one way and is susceptible of no reasonable inferences sustaining the position of the nonmoving party.' " Zoll v. Eastern Allamakee Community School District, 588 F.2d 246, 250 (8th Cir.1978) (emphasis in original), citing Giordano v. Lee, 434 F.2d 1227, 1231 (8th Cir.1970).

Smith's primary contention in support of his claim of discriminatory discharge is that he was treated more harshly than similarly situated white employees. Smith argues that his punishment for stealing company property was more severe than that received by similarly situated white employees who had removed rag towels from the plant without a material pass. Smith argues that the statistical records kept by Monsanto pertaining to employees accused of stealing reveal that black employees are discharged more frequently than white employees, while white employees tend to receive more lenient treatment. Smith draws these conclusions by looking at the statistics for all employees who had been accused of stealing. Monsanto claims, however, that it terminated Smith because he had less than five...