Cain v. Hyatt

• Decision Date: 03 April 1990
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 88-6665.
• Citation: 734 F. Supp. 671
• Parties: Clarence B. CAIN and Anthony Barone, Trustee, v. Joel HYATT, individually and t/a Hyatt Legal Services, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

734 F. Supp. 671

Clarence B. CAIN and Anthony Barone, Trustee, v. Joel HYATT, individually and t/a Hyatt Legal Services, et al.

Civ. A. No. 88-6665.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

April 3, 1990.

Lanier Williams, Richard J. Silverberg, Philadelphia, for plaintiff.

Martin Wald and Michael G. Tierce, Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, Philadelphia, for defendant.

MEMORANDUM

RAYMOND J. BRODERICK, District Judge.

In this nonjury case, plaintiff Clarence Cain alleges that the defendants' decision to remove him as regional partner of Hyatt Legal Services because he had contracted acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) violated the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, Act of October 27, 1955, Pub.L. No. 744 (codified as amended at 43 Pa.Stat.Ann. § 951 et seq.), which proscribes employment discrimination on the basis of non-job related handicap or disability. This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332. See Wolk v. Saks Fifth Avenue Inc., 728 F.2d 221 (3d Cir. 1984); Davis v. United States Steel Supply, 581 F.2d 335, 339 (3d Cir.1978); Petit v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 32 Fair Empl. Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1867 (E.D.Pa.1982). Having held a bench trial to consider the claim, the Court now finds in favor of the plaintiff.

I. Findings of Fact

The facts of this case are not in serious dispute. Established in 1977, Hyatt Legal Services (Hyatt) is a general practice law firm with over 150 locations nationwide. As with any large interstate enterprise, Hyatt is complexly structured. The firm's primary unit of operation is the office. Offices in geographical proximity to one another are denominated a region. Several regions, in turn, are grouped into a division.

Generally, staff attorneys are assigned to a particular office and hold a nonmanagerial, entry-level position within the firm's hierarchy. They interview and cultivate clients, make court appearances, generate documents, and otherwise engage in all the duties that legal practitioners undertake. Hyatt mandates that each staff attorney commence his or her day no later than 9 a.m., remain in the office until 8 p.m. two evenings each week, and work at least every other Saturday. In 1987, Hyatt employed approximately 500 staff attorneys, almost all of whom earned between $20,000 and $24,000 annually.

A managing attorney heads each office. In addition to carrying a caseload, the managing attorney oversees staff attorneys and legal assistants. The managing attorney recruits, instructs, tenders regular evaluations of personnel, hears client complaints, and is charged with maintaining the profitability of the office.

The regional partner, who supervises all managing attorneys situated in the region's offices, is more akin to a business manager than a practicing lawyer. Unlike staff or managing attorneys, regional partners do not have a caseload or represent clients. Instead, they recruit and train attorneys, evaluate subordinates, inspect offices and files, handle client complaints, organize seminars, and engage in various administrative duties. Like staff and managing attorneys, however, regional partners possess no equity in the firm and are at-will employees. In August 1987, there were 25 regional partners nationwide.

As noted earlier, regions are combined into divisions. Each division is headed by a national partner, who supervises the division's regional partners. National partners in turn report to a managing partner or a senior partner. The senior partners, defendants Joel Hyatt, Wayne Willis, William Brooks, and Susan Hyatt, promulgate firm policy and hold equity interests in the organization. In 1987, Willis also served as a managing partner.

Hyatt employees accumulate two sick days for every three months of service and one week of vacation time every six months. The firm also has a medical leave policy, which permits attorneys and legal assistants to take, as a matter of right, a thirty day unpaid leave of absence due to illness or injury. They may take up to three months with the approval of the supervising national partner. An employee does not forfeit benefits or seniority while on unpaid leave. The firm, however, does not guarantee that the employee can return to the exact position he or she had prior to an extended absence, although by policy it will make an effort to do so. When regional partners take pregnancy leaves, which have lasted over two months in duration, managing attorneys assume regional partner duties until they return.

On April 7, 1986, Cain, a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law with almost ten years' legal experience, entered Hyatt's Fast Track Regional Partner Program, which was specially tailored by Hyatt to attract talented and knowledgeable attorneys. Bypassing the usual entry-level position of staff attorney, Fast Track participants begin their employment with the firm as managing attorneys. Candidates have six months in which to be either promoted to regional partner or terminated.

After completing a two-week training session at the firm's headquarters in Kansas City, Cain was appointed managing attorney of the Falls Church, Virginia Office. The plaintiff's work in that position was exemplary, and, on November 24, 1986, he was promoted to regional partner of the firm's Philadelphia Region South. In December 1986, Hyatt management consolidated Philadelphia North and Philadelphia South into a single region, which comprised ten offices with thirty-five attorneys and another thirty-five staff members. Cain continued to serve as partner of this new region. His salary was $40,000 per year.

Because the Philadelphia region long had been languishing so seriously, by late January 1987 Willis divided the regional partner duties among three individuals. Cain performed most of the functions. A managing attorney and Fast Track participant, Earl Fisher, assisted with recruiting and reviewing the performance of staff members. Defendant Robert Croyle, who was a Hyatt national partner and Cain's immediate supervisor, took up residence in Philadelphia in order to focus his energies on the region's rehabilitation.

In March 1987, Cain's relationship with his superiors began to deteriorate. Although the plaintiff spent over half of his time recruiting, he regarded the task as distasteful and dull. Cain told Croyle that in particular he disliked the "sales" component of recruiting and that Hyatt needed someone to assume the responsibility full-time. He similarly demonstrated little desire to review the managing attorneys under his authority.

The plaintiff's conflict with Willis and Croyle stemmed partially from the fact that, as alluded to earlier, the Philadelphia region always had been an unhappy one. Since its inception in 1981, the region has never turned a profit on an annualized basis and even lost over a million dollars a year prior to 1986, has had a high turnover of regional partners, and, in 1987, was significantly understaffed. In fact, Philadelphia North did not even have a regional partner for at least six months prior to Cain's assumption of his post. Cain complained to his superiors that one person could not possibly rectify all the difficulties. The tensions that this situation naturally created were further aggravated by Cain's apparent disagreement with Hyatt's upper-level management about what strategy would best alleviate the troubles in Philadelphia. Croyle and Willis believed that the proper emphasis was on recruiting. The plaintiff, however, perceived the staff's lack of training to be source of the region's ills.

In May 1987, although Croyle had reprimanded Cain for processing client complaints in an unsatisfactory manner, the firm, with Croyle's approval, raised Cain's yearly compensation to $44,000, which rendered the plaintiff one of Hyatt's highest paid regional partners. The plaintiff then was hospitalized briefly for minor surgery in June. Croyle and Fisher handled the regional partner responsibilities during Cain's absence. Upon his return, and despite his pay raise, the plaintiff's seeming dissatisfaction with his position intensified. Prior to a June divisional regional partner's meeting in Washington, D.C., Cain had dinner at a hotel restaurant with Croyle and other colleagues. The plaintiff loudly voiced derogatory comments about the firm and its senior partners. During the course of the partner's meeting itself, Cain disrupted the proceedings with unprofessional remarks.

On the following day, Croyle and the plaintiff took a train back to Philadelphia. Croyle told Cain that if he ever engaged in such conduct again he would be fired. Croyle also reprimanded the plaintiff for his lack of organization and direction. Cain asked whether Croyle wanted him to resign, and Croyle said no. After Cain told Croyle that he felt overwhelmed by the job, the two agreed that Cain needed to devise a coherent scheme to rescue the region. The plaintiff stated he would draft a plan.

Croyle again criticized the plaintiff for his performance and attitude on July 6, 1987. He noted that Cain lacked energy and interest in executing his duties as regional partner. Cain replied that he was "not a cheerleader."

On July 13, 1987, Cain entered Pennsylvania Hospital with pneumocystis pneumonia. Three days later, he was diagnosed as having AIDS. When Croyle visited Cain in the hospital on July 21st, the plaintiff told Croyle that he had AIDS and asked him to speak with Dr. Michael Braffman, Cain's treating physician, about the condition. Cain related his desire to return to work as soon as possible and begged Croyle to help him retain his job.

Croyle conferred with Dr. Braffman on the next day. Dr. Braffman confirmed that Cain was recovering from his AIDS-related pneumonia. Although the doctor repeatedly stressed that he could not predict with certainty the future course of Cain's illness because that varied from patient to patient, he opined that Cain likely would be discharged from the...