O'Connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp.
| Citation | 56 F.3d 542 |
| Decision Date | 08 June 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-1214,94-1214 |
| Parties | 67 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1859, 66 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,606, 64 USLW 2063 James O'CONNOR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CONSOLIDATED COIN CATERERS CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Amicus Curiae. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit) |
ARGUED: George Daly, George Daly, P.A., Charlotte, NC, for plaintiff-appellant. Barbara L. Sloan, E.E.O.C., Washington, DC, for amicus curiae. James Bernard Spears, Jr., Haynsworth, Baldwin, Johnson & Greaves, P.A., Charlotte, NC, for defendant-appellee. ON BRIEF: Sharon Samek, George Daly, P.A., Charlotte, NC, for plaintiff-appellant. James R. Neely, Jr., Deputy Gen. Counsel, Gwendolyn Young Reams, Associate Gen. Counsel, and Lorraine C. Davis, Asst. Gen. Counsel, E.E.O.C., Washington, DC, for amicus curiae. Jacob J. Modla, Haynsworth, Baldwin, Johnson & Greaves, P.A., Charlotte, NC, for defendant-appellee.
Before HAMILTON and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges, and BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by published opinion. Judge HAMILTON wrote the opinion, in which Judge LUTTIG joined. Senior Judge BUTZNER wrote a separate opinion, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
James O'Connor (O'Connor) brought a claim against Consolidated Coin Caterers Corporation (Consolidated) pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C.A. Secs. 621-634 (West 1985 & Supp.1994), contending that Consolidated terminated him because of his age. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Consolidated, holding that O'Connor could not succeed on his claim of age discrimination. We affirm.
Consolidated operates cafeterias and vending machines primarily for use in industrial plants, businesses, schools and health care facilities. Although separately incorporated, Consolidated operates as a division of its parent company, Canteen Corporation (Canteen). In 1986, O'Connor was the general manager of Consolidated's northern region known as 4Cs North, which was centered in Raleigh, North Carolina, and served northern North Carolina and southern Virginia; Edward Williams (Williams) was O'Connor's direct supervisor, and Williams reported to Ted Arts (Arts), President of Canteen's Central Division.
In 1989, Canteen restructured its operations so as to have three geographic territories instead of four. As a result of this reorganization, O'Connor became the general manager of 4Cs South, which was based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and served southern and western North Carolina, as well as northern South Carolina, and Mike Kiser (Kiser) of Consolidated took over O'Connor's job as general manager of 4Cs North. Allen Hunter (Hunter) and Ted Finnell (Finnell), employees of Canteen, remained respectively the managers of Canteen's Greensboro/Raleigh and Greenville/Spartanburg operations.
On July 10, 1990, Williams reassigned three geographic territories from O'Connor to Kiser, resulting in the following management scheme:
Kiser Hunter O'Connor
4Cs North Manager Canteen Manager 4Cs South Manager
Burlington Raleigh Charlotte
Smithfield Greensboro Laurinburg
Tarboro Shelby
Hickory
Asheville
Albemarle
South Boston
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According to Consolidated, Williams reassigned the territories from O'Connor to Kiser because O'Connor was slow in responding to problem accounts. When this decision was made, Williams did not know that Arts was planning another reorganization to consolidate Canteen and Consolidated's operations.
Sometime subsequent to July 10, 1990, Arts contacted Williams, informing him that he wanted to reorganize Canteen and Consolidated's operations in North and South Carolina to reduce operating costs under the following terms: combine Consolidated with Canteen's North and South Carolina's operations into a single, larger geographic territory, have this new territory managed by Williams, and have Williams combine the management responsibilities of Finnell, Kiser, Hunter, and O'Connor. Subsequently, Williams decided to divide this new territory into two newly-organized districts: the Northern District serving northern North Carolina and southern Virginia, and the Southern District serving southern North Carolina and all of South Carolina. These two new districts were substantially larger in geographic territory than under the previous organizations. In August of 1990, this new "Carolinas Region" was organized as follows:
CAROLINAS REGION
Finnell Kiser
Southern District Northern District
Charlotte Burlington
Shelby Smithfield
Laurinburg Tarboro
Greenville Raleigh
Spartanburg Greensboro
Columbia South Boston
Hickory
Asheville
Albemarle
As a consequence of this reorganization, on August 10, 1990, O'Connor, age fifty-six, was discharged, and Hunter, age fifty-seven, was demoted.
Having created two new, large districts, Williams chose Finnell, age forty, to manage the Southern District, and Kiser, age thirty-five, to manage the Northern District. According to Consolidated, crucial to selecting the managers for the new districts was the fact that there were substantially greater management responsibilities than had been required under the previous organizations and the new districts were substantially larger in geographic area. Williams asserted he selected Finnell and Kiser because he was Finnell's former direct superior, had firsthand knowledge of both men's work and abilities, and considered them competent to handle the greater responsibilities and larger geographic territory.
According to Consolidated, it did not select O'Connor to manage one of the two new districts because they served a greater number of customers, entailed more accounts, covered a substantially larger geographic territory, and O'Connor was slow in responding to problem accounts. Consolidated asserted that a critical factor in not selecting O'Connor was the fact that even before the second reorganization, Williams had reduced the size of O'Connor's territory from six territories to three. Given that O'Connor was slow with his already-reduced territory, Consolidated concluded that he could not handle an even larger region. Also, Consolidated asserted that O'Connor had not timely responded to a problem involving food delivery in unrefrigerated trucks.
Discrediting Consolidated's reasons for terminating him, O'Connor asserted that he was discharged because of his age; consequently, he brought suit under the ADEA. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Consolidated. Although observing that this case was not the typical reduction-in-force case characterized by mass layoffs, because here the reduction consisted of only O'Connor and Hunter and O'Connor was essentially replaced by Finnell, the district court nevertheless applied the modified McDonnell Douglas four-prong test used in reduction-in-force suits and concluded that O'Connor failed to establish a prima facie case because O'Connor failed to present any evidence that Consolidated did not treat age neutrally in deciding to terminate him. Next, the district court held that O'Connor failed to establish his case by the ordinary burden of establishing by direct and/or circumstantial evidence that he was terminated because of his age.
Subsequently, O'Connor moved for a new trial, ostensibly on the basis of newly-discovered evidence. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(a). O'Connor's proffered evidence was an affidavit of a former coworker, Phillip Dennis (Dennis). Because there had been no trial, but a grant of summary judgment, the district court construed O'Connor's motion as one for relief from judgment based on newly-discovered evidence and denied it. See Fed.R.Civ.P.60(b)(2). This appeal followed.
Rule 56(c) requires that the district court enter judgment against a party who, "after adequate time for ... discovery fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). To prevail on a motion for summary judgment, Consolidated must demonstrate that: (1) there is no genuine issue as to any material fact; and (2) it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In determining whether a genuine issue of material fact has been raised, we must construe all inferences in favor of O'Connor. See id. at 257-58, 106 S.Ct. at 2514-15. If, however, "the evidence is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law," we must affirm the grant of summary judgment in that party's favor. Id. at 251-52, 106 S.Ct. at 2512. O'Connor "cannot create a genuine issue of fact through mere speculation or the building of one inference upon another." See Beale v. Hardy, 769 F.2d 213, 214 (4th Cir.1985). To survive Consolidated's motion, O'Connor may not rest on his pleadings, but must demonstrate that specific, material facts exist that give rise to a genuine issue. See Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553. As the Anderson Court explained, the "mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the plaintiff's position will be insufficient; there must be evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the plaintiff." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252, 106 S.Ct. at 2512. Our review of a grant of summary judgment is plenary. See Cooke v. Manufactured Homes, Inc., 998 F.2d 1256, 1260 (4th Cir.1993).
Contending that his employment was terminated because of his age, O'Connor brought this suit against Consolidated pursuant to the ADEA. In order to establish his claim, O'Connor may rely on the...
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