Canady v. John Morrell & Co., C 01-4086-MWB.
| Decision Date | 03 March 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. C 01-4086-MWB.,C 01-4086-MWB. |
| Parties | Debra M. CANADY, Plaintiff, v. JOHN MORRELL & CO., a Delaware Corporation, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
Stanley E. Munger, Jay Elliott Denne, Munger, Reinschmidt & Denne, Sioux City, IA, for plaintiff.
Melanie L. Carpenter, Gary P. Thimsen, Woods, Fuller, Shultz & Smith, PC, Sioux Falls, SD, Scott C. Folkers, Scott Folkers Law Firm, Sioux Falls, SD, Leslie R. Stellman, pro hac vice, Barry Bach, Hodes, Ulman, Pessin & Katz, PA, Towson, MD, for defendant
In another in a series of recent lawsuits against defendant John Morrell & Co., which operates a meat packing plant in Sioux City, Iowa, plaintiff Debra Canady, an African-American female, asserts claims of racial and sexual harassment and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Once again, on John Morrell's motion for summary judgment, the key issue in the case is not whether the plaintiff was "harassed." Key issues are, instead, whether the "harassment" was because of a protected characteristic, whether the "harassment" in question was sufficiently severe and pervasive to be actionable, and whether John Morrell knew or should have known that the "harassment" was because of a protected characteristic. Because this lawsuit is one in a series against the same defendant, and involves issues similar to those in some of the other cases in the series, comparisons are inevitable, but the case must be judged on its own merits. To put it another way, the question is, what, if any, unique "spin" is presented by the claims and the record in this particular case?
In this action pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, filed August 13, 2001, plaintiff Debra Canady asserts the following claims against her former employer, defendant John Morrell & Co.: (1) hostile environment sexual harassment; (2) hostile environment racial harassment; and (3) retaliation for complaining about sexual and racial harassment. This matter is set for trial to begin on April 14, 2003. At the time that John Morrell filed its motion for summary judgment in this case, on December 16, 2002, the motion addressed all of Canady's claims, and therefore, could have obviated the need for any trial. However, on February 25, 2003, Canady was granted leave to amend her complaint to add claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA), as well as Title VII. Thus, even if granted in its entirety, John Morrell's motion for summary judgment would not fully dispose of this action.
Canady resisted John Morrell's motion for summary judgment on her original Title VII claims on January 17, 2003, and John Morrell filed a reply in further support of its motion on February 3, 2003. The court heard the parties' oral arguments on John Morrell's motion for summary judgment on February 20, 2003. At the oral arguments, plaintiff Debra Canady was represented by Jay E. Denne of Munger, Reinschmidt & Denne, L.L.P., in Sioux City, Iowa. Defendant John Morrell & Co. was represented by Leslie Robert Stellman of Hodes, Ulman, Pessin & Katz, P.A., in Towson, Maryland. John Morrell's motion for summary judgment is now fully submitted.1
Although whether or not a party is entitled to summary judgment ordinarily turns on whether or not there are genuine issues of material fact for trial, see, e.g., Quick v. Donaldson Co., 90 F.3d 1372, 1376-77 (8th Cir.1996), the court will not attempt here a comprehensive review of the undisputed and disputed facts in the record. Rather, the court will present here only sufficient factual background to put in context the parties' arguments for and against summary judgment on Canady's claims. More attention will be given to specific factual disputes, where necessary, in the court's legal analysis.
Canady, an African-American female, has been employed by John Morrell since 1991. At the times relevant to her complaint, she worked on the "cut floor," boxing different cuts of meat, and weighing and stamping the boxes. She contends that, from about 1998 through the end of her employment with John Morrell in 2001—and, indeed, earlier—she was sexually and racially harassed by various coworkers, but she acknowledges that none of the harassment was by supervisory personnel.
More specifically, Canady points to evidence that, on various occasions, she was subjected to offensive epithets, including "nigger," "monkey," "bitch," and "fat ass," primarily from white and Hispanic males, although she acknowledges that some of the comments came from other female employees. She also alleges that when female employees used lip balm or ate bananas or hot dogs, male co-workers would make sexually suggestive comments. She also asserts that, when she would bend over in the course of her duties, male employees would make sexually suggestive comments or throw items, including pieces of meat, at her buttocks.
Canady points to evidence of still more specific incidents of alleged sexual and racial harassment. She alleges that a coworker, Edwardo Labarredo, routinely physically harassed her on the line and that managerial personnel accused them both of causing the conflict. John Morrell contends, and Canady does not specifically dispute, that after frequent meetings involving Labarredo, Canady, and John Morrell managerial personnel, Labarredo and Canady were each given an "ultimatum" to stop their conflicts, and that they were eventually assigned to separate work areas to prevent further conflicts. The parties agree that Labarredo was eventually fired. John Morrell asserts that Labarredo's termination was, at least in part, because of his conflicts with Canady, although John Morrell acknowledges that the primary reason that Labarredo was fired was that he made a false injury report. The parties agree that Labarredo was fired in 1997, which precedes the period of harassment identified in Canady's complaint, and may precede the period for which any relief might be available under Title VII.
Canady also alleges that, within a oneweek period, she was "kicked in the butt" by Kim Henshaw, a Native American coworker, and that a Hispanic male twisted a plastic barrel out of her hands in a manner that she found threatening. When Canady found the response of managerial personnel to her complaints about these two incidents to be inadequate, she became so upset that she called the police to the plant to report the "assaults."
Canady also recounts an incident in August of 2000 when a female supervisor, Connie Mitchell, began swearing at her, apparently because Canady refused to follow a job directive issued by Mitchell. Mitchell was not Canady's direct supervisor and Canady contends that she refused to follow Mitchell's directive for that reason. The record reflects that Canady began swearing back at Mitchell, and that Canady was later disciplined for her conduct and for failure to follow Mitchell's directive. Similarly, Canady alleges that another female quality control worker, who was apparently named Penny, called Canady a "bitch" on several occasions, although Canady acknowledges that Penny treated other employees the same way, regardless of their gender or race. Canady contends that her complaints about harassment brought no effective response from management.
In response to Canady's claims, John Morrell alleges that there were numerous occasions on which Canady was chastised or disciplined for using foul language or exhibiting hostile conduct toward co-workers. These incidents included one in which Canady called a co-worker a "faggott," and another incident in which she called a female co-worker "fucking white trash," a "fucking white bitch," a "fucking slut," and a "white cunt." When the latter co-worker responded by calling Canady a "bitch," John Morrell contends that its investigation revealed that Canady said, Canady was again...
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