Baltazor v. Holmes
| Decision Date | 08 December 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-30435,97-30435 |
| Citation | 162 F.3d 368 |
| Parties | 78 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1209, 74 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,656, 131 Ed. Law Rep. 37 Catherine BALTAZOR, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Morris HOLMES and The Orleans Parish School Board, Defendants-Appellants, Maudelle Davis-Cade; Dr. J. Berenger Brechtel; Gail Moore Glapion; Carolyn Green Ford and Cheryl Q.W. Cramer, Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
William Francis Wessel, Charlotte Ann Lagarde, Wessel & Associates, New Orleans, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Ernest L. Jones, Lolis E. Elie, Elie, Jones & Gray, New Orleans, LA, for Defendants-Appellants.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Before REYNALDO G. GARZA, DUHE and STEWART, Circuit Judges.
Catherine Baltazor prevailed in a jury trial against her employer, the Orleans Parish School Board and its superintendent, Dr. Morris Holmes, on her claims of race and sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983. Our review of the record leads us to conclude that as a matter of law Baltazor did not prove any violations of Title VII by a preponderance of the evidence. Similarly, the record fails to support a cognizable violation of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983. Therefore, we find that the lower court should have entered judgment against Baltazor.
This action was filed by Catherine Ann Baltazor, a white female who served as a clerical employee of the Orleans Parish School Board ("School Board") for 18 years until her resignation on May 3, 1996. Baltazor was sixty-one years old at the time of her resignation. Asserting causes of action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983, Baltazor alleged that she was the victim of "reverse" racial discrimination as well as gender discrimination.
Baltazor began her employment with the School Board in July 1977 as a clerk at a grade 4 pay level. Baltazor's employment continued and she progressed and was assigned as Secretary I in the Child Nutrition Department until 1991, when she was transferred to a position in the Employee Relations Department. Baltazor claims that upon her transfer in 1991, she was assigned the duties, but not awarded the title of the former Office Services Manager, Allen Webre. Webre, a white male, had recently retired from that position. Following her transfer in 1991, Baltazor continued to earn $20,500 per year and was classified at a grade 6 secretarial pay level. Baltazor alleges that prior to his retirement, Webre was earning $1486 bi-weekly at a grade 14 salary level in the office services manager position in 1990. 1 Baltazor maintains that following her "assumption" of the position, she was kept at her secretarial pay and grade classification despite repeated requests for an increase in salary.
Holmes and the School Board argue that Baltazor was never given the position or all of the duties of office manager as she claims, but instead was transferred from the Child Nutrition Department to Employee Relations. They maintain that the decision to keep Baltazor classified as Secretary I at a grade 6 salary level was not uncommon. Holmes and the School Board explain that the move to Employee Relations was precipitated by Baltazor's October 1991 request for a transfer out of the Child Nutrition Department. At that time, Baltazor claimed that the black female assistant director for that department, Ms. Jackson, was "prejudiced" against her. Dr. Frank Fudesco, a white male associate superintendent who was head of several administrative units, promptly responded to Baltazor's complaints and transferred her to his department following her request. According to Baltazor, she served under Fudesco performing office manager-type job functions that included greater responsibility than was previously accorded to her at the Secretary I level. Baltazor claims that she persistently complained to Fudesco that: (1) unequal treatment was being inflicted upon her; (2) she was not being compensated for her position and duties; and (3) such failure was in violation of School Board policies.
Although Fudesco transferred Baltazor to his department and accorded her greater responsibilities, he did not take any action on Baltazor's request for a salary increase until his departure in July 1994. Ensuring that he would not be responsible for any action taken based on his suggestion, Fudesco mentioned toward the end of his June 10, 1994 exit memorandum that Baltazor had assumed a busy management position and recommended that she be reclassified to office manager. By this time, Dr. Morris Holmes, a black male, had become Superintendent of the School Board. Fudesco's exit memorandum presented the first occasion for Holmes to become aware of her requests.
Baltazor renewed and redirected her complaints to Fudesco's successor, Associate Superintendent, James Henderson, a black male. On March 10, 1995, Baltazor sent her direct supervisor, Henderson, what Holmes and the School Board allege was her first written request to be reclassified as office manager and to be raised from a grade 6 classification to a grade 12. She also requested that the raise be made retroactive to October of 1991. In effect, the increase would cover a 44-month period. Unlike Fudesco, Henderson took immediate action and attempted to have Baltazor's position reclassified to a higher grade level. On March 13, 1995, Henderson sent a response and recommendation to Holmes endorsing, in part, Baltazor's request. Specifically, Henderson requested a reclassifaction from grade 6 to grade 10. Baltazor criticizes Henderson's recommendation because the proposed increase in grade level and salary was not commensurate with Webre's status or remuneration. 2
Holmes forwarded the matter for consideration and further recommendation to the School Board's Director of Personnel, Ella Voelkel. 3 Voelkel is a white female who has served as the School Board's Director of Personnel since 1987. 4 Voelkel disagreed with Henderson's recommendation to Holmes, and in her memo to Holmes set forth her determinations that: (1) Baltazor had not been transferred to the position of office manager; (2) the previous office manager's duties had been reduced before his retirement; (3) if the office manager position were to be reestablished at a new salary level it would have to be "posted" for applications under the School Board's procedures; and (4) even if an office manager-type position were reestablished, the classification levels sought by Baltazor and recommended by Henderson were both excessive. 5 Holmes received Henderson's retraction and reasons following receipt of Voelkel's recommendation. 6 Relying on these two documents, Holmes denied the grade increase and reclassification.
Baltazor filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") on May 18, 1995. Approximately four months after she filed her claim, Baltazor testified that she received "a carefully construed memo" in which Henderson notified her that he had changed his mind on his decision to support, in part, her request for a reclassification. She resigned her position on May 3, 1996. Her position was not filled following her resignation. On July 18, 1996, the EEOC provided Baltazor with a right to sue letter under Title VII, prior to the completion of the School Board's investigation of her claim.
Baltazor filed this suit on January 16, 1996. She asserted separate causes of action under both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983. Named as defendants were both the School Board and Holmes, as superintendent of the school system. Holmes and the School Board timely moved for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a) at the close of Baltazor's case before the jury. The judge deferred his ruling and the jury awarded Baltazor compensatory damages in the amount of $200,000 against the School Board and punitive damages in the amount of $125,000 against Superintendent Holmes. The court entered judgment accordingly. Holmes and the School Board filed a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law under Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b). The court again deferred its
ruling, but eventually denied both Rule 50 motions and set forth its reasons in a minute entry dated March 24, 1997. Holmes and the School Board timely appeal the jury verdict in Baltazor's favor and the denial of their Rule 50 motions.
We accord great deference to the jury's verdict when evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence. Under this standard, we view all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and reverse only if the evidence points "so strongly and overwhelmingly in favor of one party that the court believes that reasonable [jurors] could not arrive at any contrary conclusion." Boeing v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 374 (5th Cir.1969)(en banc).
We review de novo the lower court's ruling on a motion for judgment as a matter of law under Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a). Omnitech Int'l, Inc. v. Clorox Co., 11 F.3d 1316, 1322-23 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 815, 115 S.Ct. 71, 130 L.Ed.2d 26 (1994). Again, we view all evidence and reasonable inferences in favor of the non-movant. If reasonable persons could differ in their interpretation of the evidence, the motion should be denied. Only when the facts and the reasonable inferences are such that a reasonable juror could not reach a contrary verdict may the district court properly grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law. Texas Farm Bureau v. United States, 53 F.3d 120, 123 (5th Cir.1995).
In McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), the Supreme Court held that a complainant, like Baltazor, in a Title VII trial carries the initial burden of establishing a prima facie case of racial...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Rodriguez v. Bexar Cnty. Hosp. Dist.
...municipality's lawmaking officers or by an official to whom the lawmakers have delegated policymaking authority"); Baltazor v. Holmes, 162 F.3d 368, 377 (5th Cir. 1998); Eugene v. Alief I.S.D., 65 F.3d 1299, 1304-05 (5th Cir. 1995), cert. denied sub nom. Conley v. Eugene, 517 U.S. 1191 (199......
-
Abdeljalil v. City of Fort Worth, 4:98-CV-342-A.
... ... that other police department employees engaged in such conduct so that it became a pervasive practice within the police department, see Baltazor ... Page 622 ... v. Holmes, 162 F.3d 368, 377 (5th Cir.1998) (evidence of one person's racial comments does not establish that such remarks so ... ...
-
Andrade v. City of San Antonio
...only deliberate conduct by a municipality which actually causes an injury is compensable under Section 1983). 148. See Baltazor v. Holmes, 162 F.3d 368, 377 (5th Cir.1998); and Eugene, 65 F.3d at 149. City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 389, 109 S.Ct. 1197, 103 L.Ed.2d 412 (1989); Pemba......
-
Agoh v. Hyatt Corp., CIVIL ACTION NO. H-12-1398
...v. Nueces County, Texas, ___ Fed. Appx. ___, No. 13-40453, 2013 WL 6670973, at *2 (5th Cir. Dec. 19, 2013), citing Baltazor v. Holmes, 162 F.3d 368, 377 n.11 (5th Cir. 1998). Regarding the third prong of a prima facie case, an adverse employment action for Title VII discrimination claimsbas......
-
Title Vii Is Color Blind: the Law of Reverse Discrimination
...the decision-maker expressed a desire to hire a woman, and there was a pattern of hiring women in the past) with Baltazor v. Holmes, 162 F.3d 368, 375 (5th Cir. 1998) (finding no prima facie case where decision-makers were of the same race as the plaintiff), Patton v. United Parcel Service ......