Davis v. Con-Way Transp. Central Express, Inc.

• Decision Date: 18 May 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-2569.,03-2569.
• Citation: 368 F.3d 776
• Parties: Henry L. DAVIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CON-WAY TRANSPORTATION CENTRAL EXPRESS, INC., now known as Con-Way Central Express, Inc., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

368 F.3d 776

Henry L. DAVIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CON-WAY TRANSPORTATION CENTRAL EXPRESS, INC., now known as Con-Way Central Express, Inc., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 03-2569.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued December 10, 2003.

Decided May 18, 2004.

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Peter J. Agostino (Argued), Anderson, Agostino & Keller, South Bend, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Timothy L. Williams, R. David Ware (Argued), Constangy, Brooks & Smith, Atlanta, GA, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before EASTERBROOK, MANION, and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

Henry L. Davis lost his job with Con-Way Central Express on December 11, 2000. Con-Way asserts it "economically terminated" Davis and eliminated his position because of a downturn in the trucking industry. Davis alleges it was because of his race, African American, and in retaliation for filing two charges of discrimination against the company. The district court granted Con-Way's summary-judgment motion on Davis's race discrimination and retaliation claims. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

I. History

The following is an account of the facts developed by the lengthy record in this case, related in the light most favorable to Davis, as is required at the summary-judgment stage of any proceeding. See Rogers v. City of Chicago, 320 F.3d 748, 750 (7th Cir.2003). We pause to note that our findings track those made by the district court, upon which Davis has cast aspersions for its alleged failure to draw all inferences in his favor. After our own review of the parties' submissions, we find that the district court fairly summarized the evidence presented and did not neglect its duty. Rather, we are compelled to note that Davis has obviously misrepresented the record in more than several instances — both to the district court and to this court on appeal.¹

Davis worked for Con-Way's South Bend, Indiana service center in its maintenance department. Trucks delivered freight to the center and that freight was then sorted and reloaded onto other trucks for delivery within Con-Way's system. Davis started as a part-time, temporary employee in April of 1996, but was promoted in January of 1999 to the newly created shop maintenance specialist position, which was full time. The position, which had been added in some other Con-Way service centers, was designed to help get trucks on the road sooner and cut down on out-of-service time. When the service center manager at the time, Greg Monticcioli, proposed adding the position, Mike Grima, the director of maintenance and Monticcioli's superior, did not initially approve it. Grima thought that the South Bend service center was not large enough to warrant the extra staffing. He ultimately "flexed" to local management and approved the addition based on assurances that it would improve the center's efficiency. Grima then supported management's choice to promote Davis into the position.

Con-Way's organizational structure included several layers of management and branching reporting lines, which, for the purposes of this case, are important to understand. At all times during his employment with Con-Way, lead mechanic Dennis Radican directly supervised Davis. Radican reported to three superiors: the South Bend service center manager, a position held by Chuck Patrick beginning in June of 1999 after Monticcioli left; the field maintenance manager, Brian Keck; and the director of maintenance, Grima. Keck worked out of Con-Way's central region office in Indianapolis, Indiana. Grima worked out of division headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Patrick, who was in charge of the entire South Bend service center facility, reported to Dan Pence, the central region manager. Pence was responsible for fourteen service centers, including South Bend, and, like Keck, worked out of Indianapolis. Pence reported directly to Kevin Hartman, the vice president of operations, located in Ann Arbor. Hartman reported to Dick Palazzo, the president and CEO, also in Ann Arbor.

On October 26, 2000, in a staff meeting at its division headquarters, the company discussed the possible need for workforce reductions — termed "economic terminations" — based on forecasts of a slowing economy. Pence, Grima, Hartman, Palazzo, and other upper management were present, including Rick Trott, Con-Way's director of human resources. Region managers, including Pence, were directed to supply Hartman with a service-center-by-service-center plan of adjustments necessary to ensure each region met its established goals. It was stressed that the various service centers needed to "rightsize" by matching employee counts to current and forecasted business levels. The region managers were also directed to supply Trott with lists projecting economic terminations by location.

Pence conducted a conference call with his fourteen service center managers, including Patrick, on October 27, 2000 to report on the staff meeting and the economic conditions discussed. Thereafter, on Monday, October 30, 2000, Pence e-mailed his service center managers, giving them until the end of the week to suggest ways to respond to concerns about the downturn in current and projected business levels. In terms of economic terminations, he encouraged them "to look at all positions in every service center, and make sure we are making the proper cuts in all job classifications, including salary and hourly."

Patrick, who had already noticed that the business levels in South Bend were trending negatively, e-mailed Pence the next day with numerous suggestions. He included nine possible terminations, one of which was Davis. According to Patrick, he believed that the shop maintenance specialist position held by Davis, which had been created by Patrick's predecessor, Monticcioli, was no longer necessary given the economic circumstances.

Pence forwarded Patrick's termination recommendations to Trott in human resources. Trott, aware that Davis had previously filed two discrimination charges against the company,² sought justification for Davis's termination from the director of maintenance, Grima. Grima identified three centers, including South Bend, where the maintenance specialist position could no longer be considered "mission critical." In the other two centers, which were both larger than South Bend (they maintained a fleet of 150 and 184 trucks, respectively, compared to South Bend's 104), the maintenance specialist position was vacant. Grima determined that the absence of a maintenance specialist in those two facilities did not impair their ability to function and recommended that they remain vacant for the foreseeable future. As for South Bend, Grima supported the recommendation to economically terminate Davis and suggested eliminating his position entirely. Recounting that he never believed South Bend's size warranted the creation of the position, but permitted it because of local management's assurances of its success, he expressed that he had "seen no benefit whatsoever" from the position, as South Bend's productivity had not increased. He also noted that another similarly sized service center did not have a maintenance specialist position and had not "lost out on any operational `readiness' ...."

Trott, hoping that the economy would improve, decided to delay giving final approval for Davis's termination despite Grima's justification. However, seven of the nine economic terminations recommended by Patrick for the South Bend facility were implemented between November 8 and 14, 2000. The other candidate for termination quit before the company could act on Patrick's recommendation.

Economic conditions continued to slide, in Con-Way's estimation. On November 29, 2000, Patrick submitted to Pence another set of belt-tightening recommendations, including economically terminating two more employees and again recommending Davis's termination because his position was one they could "survive without." Since Davis's responsibilities had been previously handled by other employees before the creation of his position, Patrick reasoned that Davis's job duties could be reabsorbed. Pence again forwarded the recommendations to Trott.

Meanwhile, South Bend's failure to meet its profitability goals had not escaped the notice of vice president Hartman. On December 4, 2000, Hartman e-mailed Pence and Patrick directly about South Bend's profitability, stating that it was "obvious" more staffing reductions were needed. In terms of economic terminations, he encouraged Pence and Patrick to look at any area that would help return costs in line with revenues.

Pence telephoned Hartman to discuss his e-mail and to notify him that Patrick had anticipated his concerns and had already suggested additional economic terminations. In reviewing Patrick's suggestions with Hartman, Pence noted that Davis had been previously suggested as a candidate for economic termination, but that was not acted upon because of Trott. Hartman, who supported eliminating Davis because of the decrease in business levels at South Bend and because he believed the maintenance specialist position was not essential there, discussed the situation with Trott. It was then that he learned of Davis's race and his prior charges of discrimination against the company. Nevertheless, Hartman directed Pence to implement Patrick's suggestions for economic terminations, including firing Davis.

Davis's employment with Con-Way ended on December 11, 2000. At the time briefing closed in this matter, Con-Way had not filled Davis's position, his job duties having been assumed by Davis's former supervisor, Radican, and others in the maintenance department.

Including the ten at the South Bend facility, Con-Way ended up economically terminating approximately fifty employees in Indiana alone during the last quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001 in response to the perceived economic downturn.

On February 22,...