Davis v. City of Waterloo
| Decision Date | 24 July 1996 |
| Docket Number | 95-509,Nos. 94-1516,s. 94-1516 |
| Citation | 551 N.W.2d 876 |
| Parties | 71 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 988 Larry E. DAVIS, Appellee, v. CITY OF WATERLOO, Iowa, Appellant. Larry E. DAVIS, Appellee, v. CITY OF WATERLOO, Iowa, Appellant. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Ivan T. Webber of Ahlers, Cooney, Dorweiler, Haynie, Smith & Allbee, P.C., Des Moines, for appellant.
Samuel C. Anderson of Swisher & Cohrt, P.L.C., Waterloo, for appellee.
Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and HARRIS, LARSON, CARTER, and TERNUS, JJ.
The City of Waterloo appeals from a judgment awarding damages and equitable relief to the plaintiff, Larry E. Davis, under state and federal civil rights statutes as a result of a finding of employment discrimination based on race. The dispute concerns Davis, who is white, having been passed over for a promotion in favor of Herb Thompson, an African-American. In a separate appeal, the city challenges the court's award of attorney fees to Davis. After reviewing the record and considering the arguments of the parties we affirm the judgment on the primary appeal. On the attorney-fee appeal, we vacate the judgment and remand the case to the district court for further proceedings.
In 1991 Ron Johnson, one of the city's two street department foremen, suffered a disabling head injury. The supervisor of the street department, Richard Grimm, and the public works director, John Meyer, initiated the process to find a temporary replacement for Johnson. Larry Davis, a white male, Herb Thompson, an African-American male, and three other white males sought consideration for the temporary foreman position. Davis received the highest evaluation score of the candidates and was recommended for the job. He began serving as temporary street department foreman in May 1991.
It remained uncertain whether Johnson would be able to return as foreman, and the city delayed declaring a vacancy in his position. During this period of delay, the temporary foreman position was reposted, applicants were reinterviewed, and Davis was again selected to fill that position on a temporary basis. Also during this time, Davis, who was not a high school graduate, acquired his GED. Had he not done so, he would not have qualified to be appointed to the foreman position on a permanent basis.
In July 1992 Johnson's job was declared vacant, and a civil service examination was administered. Davis, Thompson, and another white male, Robert Mullinex, attained the three highest scores. Davis scored highest on the examination, with Thompson and Mullinex placing second and third, respectively. They were placed on a list of qualified candidates for the foreman position. Grimm recommended Davis for the promotion. The city's affirmative action officer, Cora Turner, reviewed the candidate list and Grimm's recommendation. Because the city had no African-Americans among its nine foreman positions, she encouraged the city's public works director, Mr. Meyer, and the personnel director, Jim Rodemeyer, to recommend Thompson for the promotion. She maintained that "this would be consistent with the city's affirmative action plan." Meyer and Rodemeyer followed her advice and recommended to the city council that it promote Thompson to the foreman position.
After obtaining right-to-sue letters from the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and the United States Justice Department, Davis filed a racial discrimination suit in state court. After hearing the evidence presented, the trial court found that race played a significant role in the city's decision to promote Thompson instead of Davis. It further found that the promotion decision was based on a rationale not embraced by the city's affirmative action plan. Thus, the court concluded, there had been a violation by the city of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m) (Title VII), 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and Iowa Code section 216.6 (1995). It concluded, however, in its initial ruling, that it was uncertain who was the better qualified applicant had race not been made an issue. By way of relief, the court ordered that (1) Thompson's appointment to the foreman position be set aside; (2) after a six-month period in which Thompson was to receive additional training by the city directed toward the requirements of the foreman position, the job was to be reposted for applications; and (3) Davis should receive $10,000 as damages from the city for emotional distress and also be reimbursed for his attorney fees.
After the district court's initial ruling, Davis filed a motion for amended findings and judgment under Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 179(b). In ruling on that motion, the district court modified some of its findings of fact and substantially altered the relief that it had originally granted. Other than the provision requiring special training for Thompson and the $10,000 damages awarded Davis for emotional distress, the prior order for relief was canceled. The court made a new finding of fact that Davis was clearly the most qualified applicant for the foreman position and clearly implied in that finding that it was the court's belief that, absent the improper injection of race in the promotion decision, Davis would have been appointed by the city council.
In an amended judgment and decree, the court ordered the city to appoint Davis to the position of street department foreman within thirty days of its order (by implication requiring the city to create a third street department foreman position). The court awarded Davis judgment for $11,434.11 for back pay from December 15, 1992, through July 21, 1994, and back pay from July 21, 1994, through the date of his appointment for the difference between his actual earnings and the earnings he would have received as foreman. The court reaffirmed its original order that Davis be awarded $10,000 in damages for emotional distress and set a hearing for determination on Davis's application for attorney fees. Following a February hearing, the court awarded Davis attorney fees in the amount of $45,179.26.
The city appeals. It argues that: (1) Davis failed to establish a violation of state or federal civil rights laws because he did not show racial discrimination in the promotion; (2) the city's affirmative action plan provided a nondiscriminatory rationale for the promotion; (3) the order to promote Davis was an improper grant of relief; (4) Davis should not receive any award of equitable relief because he did not have clean hands; and (5) some of the elements of damage awarded were improper. As previously noted the city, in a separate appeal, challenges the amount of attorney fees that were allowed for Davis's legal counsel. Additional facts relevant to deciding these appeals will be discussed in connection with the legal issues presented.
The city urges that because Davis, Thompson, and Robert Mullinex were all qualified for appointment to the foreman position as a result of having achieved the top three scores on the civil service examination, the council was free to select any of the three in its sole discretion. There were, the city argues, a number of nonracial reasons why Thompson might have been favored for the promotion. Using this premise, the city suggests that Davis cannot complain of the council's ultimate choice. Were this a case being decided under the civil service laws for public employees, this might be a valid contention. But, this is a racial discrimination case being decided under federal and state statutory protections against discrimination in employment, including public employment.
Within the arena of federal employment discrimination legislation (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 75 Stat. 253, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(m)), it has been made abundantly clear that this legislation protects white persons from discrimination based on race as much as it does African-American persons and other racial minorities. United Steelworkers v. Weber, 443 U.S. 193, 201, 99 S.Ct. 2721, 2726, 61 L.Ed.2d 480, 487 (1979); McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transp. Co., 427 U.S. 273, 281, 96 S.Ct. 2574, 2579, 49 L.Ed.2d 493, 501 (1976). Because public employment decisions constitute state action, the constitutional dimensions of this issue under the Equal Protection Clause of the federal constitution and our Iowa Constitution prompt us to take a similar view in applying the employment discrimination laws contained in Iowa Code section 216.6.
In adjudicating such controversies, it becomes necessary for the trier of fact to go beyond a search for legitimate reasons upon which a challenged employment decision might be based and to seek out the real reason for the decision that was made. This is not, as the city suggests, substituting the court's judgment for that of the city council. It is, rather, a determination of whether the council's judgment was based on legally impermissible factors.
In the present case, both the alleged state statutory violation and the alleged federal statutory violations were tried at law. Consequently, the trial court's findings of fact on these issues are binding on review, if supported by substantial evidence, and the case is otherwise reviewed for correction of legal error. Hulme v. Barrett, 480 N.W.2d 40, 41 (Iowa 1992); Smith v. ADM Feed Corp., 456 N.W.2d 378, 384 (Iowa 1990); Landals v. George A. Rolfes Co., 454 N.W.2d 891, 892-93 (Iowa 1990); Lynch v. City of Des Moines, 454 N.W.2d 827, 829 (Iowa 1990).
The evidence that race played a controlling role in Thompson's appointment is vividly clear. Traditionally, the decision of whose name is submitted to the council with recommendation for appointment or promotion within the street department was left to the head appointing authority for that department. This was the public works director, Mr. Meyer. In making these decisions, he relies heavily on the recommendation of the department head involved, in this case, Mr....
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