Anderson v. Genuine Parts Co., Inc.

• Citation: 128 F.3d 1267
• Decision Date: 14 November 1997
• Docket Number: No. 97-1049,97-1049
• Parties: 75 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 593 Kenneth L. ANDERSON, Appellant, v. GENUINE PARTS COMPANY, INC., Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

Page 1267

128 F.3d 1267

75 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 593

Kenneth L. ANDERSON, Appellant, v. GENUINE PARTS COMPANY, INC., Appellee.

No. 97-1049.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Sept. 10, 1997.

Decided Nov. 14, 1997.

Thomas J. Young, Omaha, NE, argued, for appellant.

Robert N. Godfrey, Atlanta, GA, argued, for appellee.

Before WOLLMAN, BRIGHT and LOKEN, Circuit Judges.

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge.

Kenneth Anderson worked as an "outside" sales representative for Genuine Parts Company (GPC) until GPC demoted him to an "inside" sales position, at a significantly reduced wage. Anderson initially accepted the demotion, but later resigned and brought this action under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-34 (ADEA), and the Nebraska Act Prohibiting Unjust Discrimination in Employment Because of Age, Neb.Rev.Stat. §§ 48-1001 to 1010 (1993). A jury returned a verdict of dismissal in favor of GPC and the district court denied Anderson's motions for a new trial and for judgment as a matter of law. Anderson then brought this appeal.

Anderson asserts the district court erred in: (1) excluding evidence of GPC's personnel policies and the jury verdict in the prior successful age discrimination suit against GPC by another "older" outside sales representative of the company; (2) denying his motion for judgment as a matter of law based on the theory of issue preclusion; and (3) excluding instruction on general damages under the Nebraska age discrimination statute. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Genuine Parts Company (d/b/a NAPA Auto Parts) is engaged in the business of retail and wholesale sales of automotive replacement parts. In Omaha, Nebraska, GPC has a distribution center and six branch stores. Dale King serves as the local manager responsible for the GPC stores in Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa. King supervises the store managers and outside sales force. Al Alexander, the general manager, oversees the sales and operation of the distribution center and GPC-owned stores for the Omaha operation.

In mid-December, 1992, Alexander met with his supervisors in Atlanta, Georgia and was directed to eliminate two positions from his "outside" sales force. Alexander testified that upon his return to Omaha he directed King to identify and recommend two "outside" sales representatives for demotion.

On January 7, 1993, Alexander and King met with Kenneth Anderson and Larry Maschka, in separate meetings, and advised them that GPC was removing them from the "outside" sales force and demoting them to "inside" sales positions at a substantially reduced pay. GPC gave both men several days to consider whether they wanted the "inside" positions. Both men accepted the new job assignments. GPC gave "reduction-in-force" reasons for the demotion and asserted reasons for selecting Anderson and Maschka as the most appropriate persons to be removed from the outside sales force. Specifically, GPC claimed that Maschka and Anderson's sales performances were not as promising ¹ as other outside sales representatives.

Anderson and Maschka were the two oldest and most senior of the nine "outside" sales representatives. Anderson and Maschka began working for GPC in 1959 and 1956, respectively. In 1991, GPC added two new "outside" sales representatives, David Muellner and David Zenchuk, both of whom are less than forty years old.

Maschka resigned his employment with GPC in April 1993 and went to work for Art's Auto Parts as an "outside" sales representative. Anderson resigned his employment with GPC in May of 1993 and also went to work for Art's Auto Parts as an outside sales representative. In his resignation letter to GPC, Anderson claimed that he considered his termination of employment to be a constructive discharge, stating that he was forced to leave the company or suffer a substantial decrease in retirement benefits.

Both Anderson and Maschka filed separate age discrimination actions. Maschka's age discrimination action was tried in March of 1996, resulting in a verdict in Maschka's favor. Specifically, the jury found GPC liable for age discrimination, determined that GPC's action was willful, and found that GPC constructively discharged Maschka from his employment. We affirmed the judgment in Maschka. Maschka v. Genuine Parts Co., 122 F.3d 566 (8th Cir.1997).

Following the jury's verdict in the Maschka case and shortly before trial in Anderson's case, GPC filed a motion in limine, requesting exclusion of certain portions of the GPC personnel manual regarding layoffs and termination from employment. The district court conditionally granted GPC's motion based on the district court's conclusion that the parties had stipulated in the uncontroverted facts of the Pretrial Order that Anderson was demoted. The district court reasoned that only provisions regarding demotions in the personnel manual would be relevant to Anderson's case. However, the manual did not contain any provision specifically applicable to demotions.

Anderson's case came to trial in October of 1996. After the close of all of the evidence and prior to the submission of the case to the jury, Anderson requested that the district court enter judgment for plaintiff Anderson, as a matter of law consistent with the judgment entered in Maschka's action against GPC. Anderson's motion relied upon the doctrine of issue preclusion, asserting that GPC, having lost on the age discrimination claim in Maschka, should be bound to that determination in Anderson's case. The district court denied Anderson's motion. The jury returned a verdict of dismissal in favor of GPC. Anderson moved for a new trial and renewed his motion for judgment as a matter of law, both of which the district court denied. Anderson then brought this appeal from the adverse judgment.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Exclusion of GPC's Personnel Policies and Judgment in Maschka

Anderson contends that the district court erred by not allowing Anderson to submit evidence of GPC's personnel policies and the judgment entered in the Maschka case. We review the district court's denial of a motion for a new trial and its evidentiary rulings under an abuse of discretion standard. Schultz v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 105 F.3d 1258, 1259 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 56, --- L.Ed.2d ---- (1997). Additionally, the standard for considering a request for a new trial is whether the exclusion of the evidence was in error and "affected the substantial rights of any party sufficient to warrant a new trial." O'Dell v. Hercules, Inc., 904 F.2d 1194, 1200 (8th Cir.1990).

1. GPC's personnel policy manual in its entirety, GPC's layoff policy, and GPC's termination policy and checklist

The district court found that because Anderson's claim involved a "demotion" rather than a "termination" or "layoff," the jury should only consider those policies dealing with demotion. The district court based this determination on the parties' stipulations in the Pretrial Order. Specifically, in paragraph 7 of the "Uncontroverted Facts" of the Pretrial Order, the parties stipulated to the following statement: "Plaintiff was notified by the Defendant effective January 1, 1993 [that] Plaintiff was demoted to the position of a Counter Employee...." Jt.App. at 61. Furthermore, during trial, the following exchange occurred:

THE COURT: ... Are we talking about demotion, are we talking about--just what are we talking about? ...

MR. YOUNG: I agree, your Honor. The position of the plaintiff is this: We agreed that there was a demotion.

Jt.App. at 469.

Anderson argues that notwithstanding this exchange and the Pretrial Order, the parties' pleadings made it clear that this case involved the issues of termination and layoff, as well as demotion. Also, Anderson submits that Alexander and King both testified that Anderson was merely offered the inside sales position rather than ordered to accept the new position. According to Anderson, this testimony shows that Anderson was terminated and then offered a new position, rather than demoted.

Anderson further argues that the exclusion of this evidence unduly prejudiced his case. Anderson argues that the termination policy and termination checklist would have shown that GPC did not follow their own termination policy. Anderson notes that the personnel manual contained a voluntary and involuntary layoff policy that required GPC to terminate first those with the least seniority. Anderson maintains that this layoff policy in the personnel manual sets the general objective criteria to determine which persons should be removed during a layoff. According to Anderson, had this policy been followed, the two least senior sales representatives, Zenchuk and Muellner, would have been removed (Zenchuk and Muellner are both in their thirties and had the lowest dollar sales volumes for 1991 and 1992).

In our view, the district court's ruling did not constitute an abuse of discretion. The Pretrial Order supersedes all previous pleadings and "control[s] the subsequent course of the action unless modified by a subsequent order." Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(e). This court has previously ruled that, " '[t]he pretrial order measures the dimensions of a lawsuit.' " Hale v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 756 F.2d 1322, 1335 (8th Cir.1985) (quoting Seneca Nursing Home v. Secretary of Social & Rehabilitation Servs. of Kansas, 604 F.2d 1309, 1314 (10th Cir.1979)). "Accordingly, a party may not offer evidence or advance theories during trial which violate the terms of a pretrial order." Hale, 756 F.2d at 1335 (citing United States v. First Nat'l Bank of Circle, 652 F.2d 882, 886 (9th Cir.1981)). We therefore conclude that the district court did not err in relying on the Pretrial Order in defining the parameters of this trial and excluding termination policies as irrelevant. Moreover, Anderson offered no foundation evidence to show that GPC had previously followed termination policies when making other...