Browne v. Signal Mountain Nursery, L.P.

• Decision Date: 29 September 2003
• Docket Number: No. 1:01-CV-351.,1:01-CV-351.
• Citation: 286 F.Supp.2d 904
• Parties: Yvonne M. BROWNE, Plaintiff, v. SIGNAL MOUNTAIN NURSERY, L.P., et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee

286 F.Supp.2d 904

Yvonne M. BROWNE, Plaintiff, v. SIGNAL MOUNTAIN NURSERY, L.P., et al., Defendants.

No. 1:01-CV-351.

United States District Court, E.D. Tennessee, Southern Division.

September 29, 2003.

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Rosemarie L. Bryan, Shumacker, Witt, Gaither & Whitaker, PC, Chattanooga, TN, Jimmy F. Rodgers, Jr., Summers & Wyatt, PC, Chattanooga, TN, for plaintiff.

G. Michael Luhowiak, Christine Mabe Scott, J. Robin Rogers, Strang, Fletcher, Carriger, Walker, Hodge & Smith, Chattanooga, TN, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

COLLIER, District Judge.

Following an adverse jury verdict, Plaintiff Yvonne M. Browne ("Plaintiff") filed her Motion For New Trial (Court File No. 137) pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 59. In her motion, Plaintiff identifies a number of grounds as a basis for a new trial. Defendants Signal Mountain Nursery, David Steele, and Laurel Steele ("Defendants") filed a response (Court File No. 139). Having carefully considered Plaintiff's arguments, Defendants' response, and the applicable facts, the Court, for the following reasons, will DENY Plaintiff's motion.

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The standard of review for such a motion is well established. Under Fed. R.Civ.P. 59, a court may set aside a jury verdict and grant a new jury trial "for any of the reasons for which new trials have heretofore been granted in actions at law in the courts of the United States." Fed. R.Civ.P. 59(a). Courts have generally interpreted this language to allow a new trial when a jury has reached a "seriously erroneous result," which may occur when (1) the verdict is against the weight of the evidence; (2) the damages are excessive; or (3) the trial was unfair to the moving party in some fashion (i.e., the proceedings being influenced by prejudice or bias). Holmes v. City of Massillon, 78 F.3d 1041, 1045-46 (6th Cir.1996) (citations omitted). A court exercises its discretion in disposing of a motion for new trial. See Anchor v. O'Toole, 94 F.3d 1014, 1021 (6th Cir. 1996); Davis v. Jellico Cmty. Hosp., Inc., 912 F.2d 129, 133 (6th Cir. 1990) (limiting a court's responsibility to preventing an injustice). The district court's decision is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Barnes v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., 201 F.3d 815, 820 (6th Cir.2000). Reversal is warranted only if the appellate court has "a definite and firm conviction that the trial court committed a clear error of judgment." Id. (quoting Logan v. Dayton Hudson Corp., 865 F.2d 789, 790 (6th Cir. 1989)).

Plaintiff relies upon the third prong, i.e., unfair trial, in seeking a new trial on numerous grounds, asserting judicial error caused prejudice to Plaintiff and rendered the trial unfair. In deciding whether to grant a new trial on the basis of prejudice through judicial error, the Court considers each argument under the umbrella of Fed. R.Civ.P. 61:

No error in either the admission or the exclusion of evidence and no error or defect in any ruling or order or in anything done or omitted by the court or by any of the parties is ground for granting a new trial ..., unless refusal to take such action appears to the court inconsistent with substantial justice. The court at every stage of the proceeding must disregard any error or defect in the proceeding which does not affect the substantial rights of the parties.

Plaintiff must therefore show two things in order to justify a new trial on the grounds of judicial error. As a preliminary matter, she must show the Court actually acted erroneously in making a ruling. Then, once error has been established, Plaintiff must show the error prejudiced the proceedings in a substantive way.

II. RELEVANT FACTS

From the evidence introduced at trial and from the parties' pleadings and memoranda, the Court summarizes the pertinent facts. In August 1999, Plaintiff began working for Defendant Signal Mountain Nursery, L.P. ("SMN"). She initially worked in the sales/perennial department and later was transferred to work with Nabeel Bader ("Bader") in the greenhouse department. Bader was employed as SMN's "grower" and had some expertise regarding the growing of the various plants SMN raised and sold. Although Carol Wetzel was Plaintiff's immediate supervisor, Bader had authority to direct Plaintiff's daily work activities. There was no evidence presented at trial that he had power to make or influence any decisions that would have affected Plaintiff's economic welfare (i.e., a promotion, her pay, etc.) or to take disciplinary action against her. Within the parameters of his duties as "grower," Bader simply had the ability to assign Plaintiff daily tasks. Bader was not the only person with authority over Plaintiff. She reported to another supervisor and had regular contact with the owners of SMN and others in management positions. On one occasion she even received permission from one of the owners to go home because she was not feeling well.

Plaintiff testified within a few weeks of moving to work with Bader, he began to make comments about how pretty she looked and touched her face. She stated matters soon got worse and Bader began touching her buttocks, rubbing her shoulders, and brushing up against her. He even tried to touch her groin area and then asked her if she liked to be kissed down there. She stated these advances were unwelcome.

On January 19, 2000, Plaintiff told Kim Steele about her problems with Bader. Kim is the daughter of the owners of SMN, David and Laurel Steele, and was acting general manager in January because her parents were on vacation. After meeting with Plaintiff, Kim called her parents. David Steele told Kim to hire an attorney to look into the allegations and also instructed her to give Plaintiff a week off with pay during the investigation. The attorney hired by Defendants interviewed Bader and talked with Kim Steele. On January 31, 2000, David Steele returned from vacation and met with Bader and Plaintiff. In conducting the investigation, Laurel Steele met with several other employees. Some of the employee reports completed as a part of this investigation were admitted into evidence at trial.

On March 14, 2000, Plaintiff was working with Kim Steele potting some flower bulbs.¹ During one of the breaks, Kim discovered a SMN apron that was assigned to Plaintiff. In the pocket of the apron Kim discovered six plant bulbs. Three of the bulbs were crocosmia and three were cyclamens. The bulbs weighed a half pound each. Kim accused Plaintiff of stealing the bulbs. Plaintiff denied she stole the bulbs and said they simply fell into her pocket while she was planting them. David Steele thought Plaintiff was attempting to steal the bulbs and, for that reason, terminated her employment.

Prior to her time at SMN, Plaintiff worked at several other places of employment. At trial some of her previous co-workers and supervisors testified about her flirtatious nature and several incidents where she would engage in bodily contact of a sexual nature at work with either them or male customers at work. The testimony of these prior colleagues was admitted at trial after an in camera hearing in which the Court heard the testimony of the various witnesses and argument from counsel as to the admissibility of this evidence under Fed.R.Evid. 412.

At trial, Defendants submitted into evidence Plaintiff's applications for employment at SMN and other jobs. On these applications she was asked to list all prior places of employment. She did not list some of her prior places of employment where she had been involved in flirtatious behavior and had been forced to leave.

After five days of trial, the case was submitted to the jury. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Defendants and Plaintiff filed the present motion.

III. DISCUSSION

Plaintiff raises several alleged errors she contends warrant a new trial. However, in many instances Plaintiff fails to explain how these alleged errors prejudiced her case in any manner. More importantly, as discussed more fully below, she cannot show how the failure to correct any of these errors would be inconsistent with substantial justice. Most of the issues identified by Plaintiff involve evidentiary rulings or procedural matters over which the Court is accorded a great deal of discretion. See Trepel v. Roadway Express, Inc., 194 F.3d 708, 716 (6th Cir. 1999) (noting all evidentiary rulings are reviewed for "abuse of discretion"). Only one of the alleged errors, an alleged improper jury instruction, raises a substantial legal issue and this alleged error shall be addressed first.

A. Improper Jury Instruction on the Definition of "Supervisor"

A motion for a new trial premised on a challenge to a jury instruction requires the court evaluating the challenge to consider the instructions as a whole, and then determine whether they were misleading or provided an inadequate understanding of the law. Sallier v. Brooks, 343 F.3d 868 (6th Cir.2003); Bowman v. Koch Transfer Co., 862 F.2d 1257, 1263 (6th Cir.1988). Plaintiff challenges the Court's jury instructions relative to the issue of whether Bader was the Plaintiff's coworker or supervisor. The importance of this distinction is not lost on the Court. In a hostile work environment case, the status of the alleged harasser has a determinative impact on the elements the plaintiff must prove and the defenses available to the defendant. See Williams v. Gen. Motors Corp., 187 F.3d 553, 560 (6th Cir.1999). If the harasser is a coworker, the plaintiff must show the defendant, through its supervisory or management level employees, failed to take appropriate and effective action once it had notice of the alleged offensive conduct. Id. at 561. However, if the harasser is a supervisor, the plaintiff need not prove this additional element.² Id. Accordingly, whether the alleged harasser was a supervisor or merely a coworker is an important issue in the case.

Plaintiff argues the Court's instructions to the jury were...