Denesha v. Farmers Ins. Exchange

• Decision Date: 03 November 1998
• Docket Number: Nos. 97-4373,97-4374,s. 97-4373
• Citation: 161 F.3d 491
• Parties: 78 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 691, 74 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,609 Charles Theodore DENESHA, Appellee, v. FARMERS INSURANCE EXCHANGE, Appellant. Charles Theodore DENESHA, Appellant, v. FARMERS INSURANCE EXCHANGE, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 491

161 F.3d 491

78 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 691,

74 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,609

Charles Theodore DENESHA, Appellee, v. FARMERS INSURANCE EXCHANGE, Appellant.

Charles Theodore DENESHA, Appellant, v. FARMERS INSURANCE EXCHANGE, Appellee.

Nos. 97-4373, 97-4374.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Sept. 24, 1998.

Decided Nov. 3, 1998.

Martin M. Meyers, Kansas City, MO, argued (Stephen C. Thornberry and Dennis E. Egan, on the brief), for Charles Theodore Denesha.

Leonard Singer, Kansas City, MO, argued (Curtis E. Woods, on the brief), for Farmers Insurance Exchange.

Before McMILLIAN, HEANEY, and FAGG, Circuit Judges.

HEANEY, Circuit Judge.

Charles Theodore Denesha brought this age discrimination suit against Farmers Insurance Exchange (Farmers), his former employer, pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 621-634 (West 1998), and the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA), Mo. Ann. Stat. § 213.055 (Vernon 1994). Farmers appeals from final judgments entered in the District Court for the Western District of Missouri. A jury awarded Denesha compensatory and liquidated damages under the ADEA and punitive damages under the MHRA. Upon post-trial motions the court granted Denesha further equitable relief in the form of attorneys fees and front pay and granted Farmers' motion for judgment as a matter of law with respect to punitive damages. Farmers appeals from denial of its motions for judgment as a matter of law or in the alternative a new trial on the issues of liability and willfulness under the ADEA, the award of front pay and liquidated damages, and the award of attorneys fees and costs. Denesha cross-appeals on the question of punitive damages and the amount of the front pay award. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. BACKGROUND

"We recite the facts in the light most favorable to the jury verdict and the district court's findings." Newhouse v. McCormick & Co., Inc., 110 F.3d 635, 637 (8th Cir.1997). In October of 1992, Charles Denesha was 55 years old and had been employed by Farmers as a Claims Representative (CR) for seventeen years. Denesha began his career with Farmers in 1975 as an Office Claims Representative ("OCR"), an entry-level office job handling small property claims over the telephone. In 1979, Denesha became a Field Claims Representative ("FCR") handling bodily-injury claims. In November of 1992, the Grandview Branch Claims Office ("BCO"), Denesha's place of work from 1975, merged with the Kansas City BCO. Prior to the merger, Denesha had never been denied a raise ¹ or formally disciplined.

In early December 1992, John White, the Branch Claims Manager for the Kansas City BCO, altered the salary review completed by Denesha's former supervisor, Julie Clark. ² White went beyond the review period in question to find examples of poor quality work in order to justify denying a raise. Prior to the denial of the raise, Denesha had received no negative information regarding his performance. In both his November and December case reviews, however, Denesha's new supervisor, Joe Wilfong, had stated that the "younger employees [are] running circles around the older employees." (Tr. at 1216.) When Denesha complained about the salary decision, Wilfong and White treated him differently from other employees, failing to follow various office procedures. In addition, Denesha was not given leave-time to catch up on files as were other transferees from the Grandview BCO.

In October 1993, Denesha was demoted to an entry-level OCR position. Despite the demotion, Denesha maintained his FCR files in addition to the new OCR workload. Notwithstanding White's and Wilfong's determination that Denesha's performance was inadequate, an audit by Farmers' regional office showed that Denesha was doing his job. Purportedly due to consumer complaints, Farmers terminated Denesha's employment in May 1994.

Denesha then brought suit against Farmers, alleging that he was denied a raise and subsequently dismissed because of his age. Farmers contended that Denesha was denied a raise, demoted, and dismissed because of his poor performance. The jury found that Denesha's age was a determining factor in Farmers' decisions to deny the raise and to fire him. Pursuant to special verdict forms, the jury determined that Farmers' violation of the ADEA was "willful," thereby supporting an award of liquidated damages, and that Farmers' conduct was "outrageous," thereby supporting an award of $4 million in punitive damages under the MHRA. The district court set aside the award of punitive damages and by final order awarded Denesha $102,614 in back pay with liquidated damages in the same amount, $61,666.67 in front pay, and attorneys fees in the amount of $149,906.97. Both parties appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Jury Verdict on Denial of Raise and Subsequent Discharge

The first issue raised on appeal is whether the district court erred in denying Farmers' motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial on the claim that Denesha's denied raise and subsequent discharge were products of intentional age discrimination. Farmers contends that because Denesha's poor performance was well documented and because it treated him no differently than similarly situated employees, the district court committed clear error by sustaining the jury's verdict. Denesha, for his part, argues that even where the defendant offers a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason in support of its actions, the plaintiff may prevail by presenting sufficient evidence for a jury to infer the ultimate fact of unlawful discrimination.

This court reviews de novo the denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law, applying the same standard as the trial court. See Cross v. Cleaver, 142 F.3d 1059, 1066 (8th Cir.1998); Equal Employment Opportunity Comm'n v. HBE Corp., 135 F.3d 543, 554 (8th Cir.1998). The standard of review for sufficiency of proof in an age discrimination suit embraces the fundamental issue of "whether [the plaintiff] produced sufficient evidence to allow a jury reasonably to find that [the employer] intentionally discriminated against him on the basis of his age." Newhouse, 110 F.3d at 639 (quoting Ryther v. KARE 11, 108 F.3d 832, 835 (8th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 2510, 138 L.Ed.2d 1013 (1997) (alteration in original)). "Appellate review of a jury verdict is extremely deferential." Browning v. President Riverboat Casino-Missouri, 139 F.3d 631, 634 (8th Cir.1998). We will not reverse a jury verdict for insufficient evidence unless "after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude that no reasonable juror could have returned a verdict for the non-moving party." Ryther, 108 F.3d at 836. In reviewing a denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law, we must (1) consider the evidence in the light most favorable to Denesha, (2) assume that all conflicts were resolved in favor of Denesha, (3) assume as proved all facts that Denesha's evidence tended to prove, (4) give Denesha the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the proved facts, and (5) deny the motion unless all the evidence points one way and is susceptible of no reasonable inferences sustaining Denesha's position. See Nelson v. Boatmen's Bancshares, Inc., 26 F.3d 796, 800 (8th Cir.1994); Hicks v. Brown Group, Inc., 902 F.2d 630, 649 (8th Cir.1990). A motion for a new trial, by contrast, should only be granted if "the jury's verdict were against the great weight of the evidence so as to constitute a miscarriage of justice." Pulla v. Amoco Oil Co., 72 F.3d 648, 656 (8th Cir.1995). We review the denial of a motion for a new trial for abuse of discretion. See id.

The ADEA makes it "unlawful for an employer ... to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's age." 29 U.S.C. § 623(a)(1). Protection under the ADEA extends to persons age forty and older. 29 U.S.C. § 631. A plaintiff may meet his burden of establishing intentional age discrimination by relying on either direct or indirect evidence. See Beshears v. Asbill, 930 F.2d 1348, 1353 (8th Cir.1991) (citation omitted). Analysis under the MHRA follows that of the ADEA. See Hanebrink v. Brown Shoe Co., 110 F.3d 644, 646 (8th Cir.1997); McMullin v. McRaven, 882 S.W.2d 772, 774 (Mo.Ct.App.1994).

Farmers strenuously argues that no reasonable jury could find "both that the [employer's proffered] reason [for the action taken against him] was false, and that discrimination was the real reason." Ryther, 108 F.3d at 838 n. 5 (quoting St. Mary's Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 515, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993)) (emphases in original). Contrary to defendant's contentions, however, the fact that Farmers can offer legitimate reasons for plaintiff's denial of a salary increase and subsequent dismissal does not automatically entitle it to judgment as a matter of law. While Farmers offers a host of facially benign reasons for denial of the raise and the subsequent events leading up to and including Denesha's discharge, our review indicates that the record likewise amply supports the jury's conclusion that the offered reasons were merely a pretext for underlying age discrimination.

Substantial evidence in the record demonstrates that White and Wilfong did in fact judge Denesha's work by criteria different in both kind and quantum from that of other employees. In September 1992, in his last performance evaluation prior to the merger, Denesha received a rating of "very good." Clark, Denesha's supervisor at the time, recommended him for a program in which FCRs with a demonstrated ability to work without supervision were permitted to operate out of their homes. Clark also recommended a 4% salary increase based on her day-to-day supervision of...