Abrams v. Baylor College of Medicine
| Decision Date | 08 December 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-2475,84-2475 |
| Citation | 805 F.2d 528 |
| Parties | 42 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 806, 41 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 36,682, 55 USLW 2355 Lawrence M. ABRAMS, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, Defendant-Appellant, Cross-Appellee. Stuart A. LINDE, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, Defendant-Appellant, Cross-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Nancy Morrison O'Connor, Fulbright & Jaworski, William R. Pakalka, Houston, Tex., for defendant-appellant, cross-appellee.
Stuart M. Nelkin, Nelkin & Nelkin, Houston, Tex., for Abrams & Linde.
Stanley G. Schneider, Houston, Tex., Ellen S. Weisburd, Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith, Justin J. Finger, Jeffrey P. Sinensky, Jill L. Kahn, New York City, for amicus.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before BROWN, JOHNSON, and JOLLY, Circuit Judges
In 1977, Baylor College of Medicine (Baylor or the college) agreed to provide special cardiovascular services to the King Faisal Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. These services were to be provided by a team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, and other support personnel who were sent to Saudi Arabia for three month "rotation" periods. Since the first team departed for Riyadh in 1978, Baylor has not selected a single Jew to participate in the Faisal Hospital rotation program. In 1982, two anesthesiologists filed suit against Baylor claiming that they had unlawfully been denied the opportunity to participate in the program because they were Jews.
In this appeal, we review the District Court's judgment based on its findings that their claims were timely filed, and that the actions of the college constituted intentional discrimination, on the basis of religion, in violation of Title VII. On reviewing the record and concluding that the Court's findings are legally acceptable in light of the record viewed in its entirety, we affirm that judgment based on Title VII.
Baylor also appeals the very substantial attorney's fees the District Court awarded to the plaintiffs. Because we can discern no reasonable basis for a significant portion of the fees awarded, we vacate the fee award and remand for reconsideration and reallocation of attorney's fees.
The King Faisal Hospital (Faisal Hospital) is a large medical complex owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its facilities are devoted primarily to the care and treatment of members of the Saudi royal family, but are also made available to those members of the Saudi populace who are afflicted with particularly difficult illnesses. As a result of its unique situation in Saudi Arabia, Faisal Hospital offers fertile ground for the training of American physicians. Saudi Arabia has a high incidence of rheumatic fever, so the incidence of pediatric patients afflicted with congenital or heart-valve defects is markedly higher in that country than in the United States. That, in turn, presents physicians with a greater opportunity for clinical experience in the treatment of childhood heart disease than is generally available in America.
The stature of Faisal Hospital, the training opportunities it presented, and certain eleemosynary considerations, led Baylor to agree to provide cardiovascular surgical services to the Saudi hospital in 1977. The agreement, which continues in effect, provided that Baylor would send surgeons, anesthesiologists, and other operating room personnel to Riyadh for three month rotations. Baylor is reimbursed by the Saudis for the lion's share of the cost associated with the program, including the cost of providing salary, travel, and fringe benefits to the physicians and nurses participating in the rotations.
In order to ensure that the rotations are adequately staffed, the salaries for program participants are set at a very attractive level. Indeed, while stationed at the Faisal Hospital, Baylor physicians receive a salary almost twice that paid to their colleagues who remain behind to care for patients in Houston. The combination of clinical experience and an attractive salary has engendered substantial interest in the rotations among the Baylor faculty. Many Baylor physicians have taken several rotations in Riyadh.
Most of the participants in the Saudi rotations are drawn from Baylor's prestigious Fondren-Brown cardiovascular unit at the Methodist Hospital. The physicians at Fondren-Brown all have excellent professional and academic credentials, but the only criteria for participation in the program are membership on the Baylor faculty and certification--for the anesthesiologists--by the American Board of Anesthesiology or its foreign equivalent. 1 Physicians who possess these qualifications are not required formally to apply for a Saudi rotation. Instead, those who desire to participate merely communicate their interest by word of mouth to the Baylor administrators in charge of the program. Shortly thereafter, the interested physician is placed on a constantly changing scheduling sheet. At the time the physician is placed on the schedule, his name is also submitted for inclusion in the block entry visa issued by the Saudi government for the benefit of the Faisal Hospital rotation program.
The plaintiffs in this litigation are each cardiovascular anesthesiologists who met the objective criteria for participation in a Saudi rotation. Dr. Lawrence Abrams is a Board certified anesthesiologist who became a member of the Baylor faculty in July of 1978. Dr. Stewart Linde, a South African citizen, holds the equivalent of Board certification in anesthesiology and was employed as a Baylor faculty member in September of 1979. 2
Early in their employment, each of the plaintiffs indicated an interest in participating in a rotation, but each was informed that he could not participate because--as a Jew--he would be unable to secure an entry visa which would permit him to enter Saudi Arabia. 3 There is no evidence in the record that that statement represented the actual position of the Saudi government with regard to the participation of Jews in the program. In addition, there is no evidence that Baylor even attempted to ascertain the official position of the Saudi government on this issue. Despite this "visa problem," Abrams and Linde persisted in their desire to undertake a Saudi rotation. Nevertheless, each time a team departed for Riyadh, Jewish personnel were excluded from participation.
Dr. Abrams became a vocal critic of this practice. His chief complaint concerned the marked inequity in compensation and workload between the physicians who participated in the program and those who were excluded, because of their inability to take rotations. Dr. Abrams was eventually transferred by Baylor, over his objections, from Fondren-Brown to the Ben Taub Hospital. While Dr. Linde did not undertake vocal opposition to the policy, he was likewise excluded from participating in the Saudi rotations.
Dr. Abrams and Dr. Linde eventually filed charges of discrimination with the EEOC. Abrams filed his charge on November 7, 1982; Linde filed his on February 18, 1982. Both of these filings occurred substantially more than 180 days after the plaintiffs first became aware of their "visa problems." Baylor had, however, sent teams to Riyadh within 180 days preceding the filing of the plaintiffs' charges. When the timeliness of the claims was asserted by Baylor as a defense at trial, the District Court concluded that Baylor's policy of excluding Jews from the rotations constituted a continuing violation of Title VII. It therefore held that the claims had been timely filed.
The case proceeded to trial on the merits, and the District Court found that Baylor had intentionally discriminated against Abrams and Linde on the basis of their Jewish religion. 4 It therefore awarded them backpay relief based upon the number of rotations in which each could have participated during his tenure at Baylor. In addition, the Court awarded Abrams and Linde attorneys' fees in excess of $280,000. Baylor has appealed, contesting the findings of timeliness and intentional discrimination, and the award of attorneys' fees. The plaintiffs have undertaken a cross-appeal that is largely precautionary.
A district court's finding of intentional discrimination under Title VII is to be reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 572, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1511, 84 L.Ed.2d 518, 528 (1985). Indeed, the Supreme Court has stated
If the district court's account of the evidence is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety, the court of appeals may not reverse it even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly erroneous.
470 U.S. at 574, 105 S.Ct. at 1512, 84 L.Ed.2d at 528. In this Circuit, the clearly erroneous standard also governs review of a district court's finding of a continuing violation when relevant to the issue of the timeliness of a claim filed under Title VII. Glass v. Petro-Tex Chem. Corp., 757 F.2d 1554, 1560 (5th Cir.1985). With those standards of review in mind, we now examine Baylor's contentions that the District Court erred in its findings on the issues of timeliness and intentional discrimination.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination against any individual "because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-2. Title VII affords a private right of action to individuals aggrieved by unlawful discrimination but, in order to preserve their statutory rights, employees must file...
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