Dinkins v. Charoen Pokphand Usa, Inc.

• Decision Date: 15 February 2001
• Docket Number: No. CIV. A. 99-D-847-N.,No. CIV. A. 99-D-1389-N.,CIV. A. 99-D-847-N.,CIV. A. 99-D-1389-N.
• Citation: 133 F.Supp.2d 1254
• Parties: Mary Nell DINKINS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CHAROEN POKPHAND USA, INC., Defendant. Equal Employment Opportunity Comm'n, Plaintiff, v. Charoen Pokphand, USA, Inc., et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

133 F.Supp.2d 1254

Mary Nell DINKINS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CHAROEN POKPHAND USA, INC., Defendant.

Equal Employment Opportunity Comm'n, Plaintiff, v. Charoen Pokphand, USA, Inc., et al., Defendants.

No. CIV. A. 99-D-847-N.

No. CIV. A. 99-D-1389-N.

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Northern Division.

February 15, 2001.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Jon C. Goldfarb, Joel S. Isenberg, Kell A. Simon, Nicole L. Gordon, Gordon, Silberman, Wiggins & Childs, Richard F. Horsley, Goozee, King & Horsley, Birmingham, AL, G. Thomas Jackson, Adams, Spivey & Adams, LLC, Clayton, AL, C. Gregory Stewart, Gwendolyn Y. Reams, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, DC, Jerome C. Rose, Jill L. Vincent, Mildred Byrd, Pamela K. Agee, Charles E. Guerrier, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Birmingham, AL, Elizabeth J. Hubertz, Robinson, Curley & Clayton, PC, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs.

Roderick K. Nelson, Patricia Anne Gill, Spain & Gillion, L.L.C., Birmingham, AL, William F. Patty, Daniel O. Rodgers, Beers Anderson Jackson Nelson Hughes & Patty, PC, Montgomery, AL, Horace G. Williams, Courtney Reilly Potthoff, Joel P. Smith, Jr., Horace G. "Chip" Williams, III, Williams, Potthoff, Williams & Smith, LLC, Eufaula, AL, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

DE MENT, District Judge.

This is a consolidated case. Before the court in the Dinkins case, 99-D-847-N, are three separate motions: (1) Defendant Patrick Smith's¹ Motion To Dismiss²; (2) Defendant Smith's Motion For Partial Summary Judgment³; and (3) Defendant Charoen Pokphand USA's⁴ Motion For Summary Judgment.⁵ Plaintiffs issued Responses, and Defendants filed Replies. The court also has considered additional materials filed by both parties. After careful consideration of the arguments of counsel, the relevant law, and the record as a whole, the court finds that CP's Motion For Summary Judgment is due to be granted and denied in part, that Smith's Motion For Summary Judgment is due to be granted and denied in part, and Smith's Motion To Dismiss is due to be granted.

I. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

The court exercises subject matter jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question jurisdiction) and 28 U.S.C. § 1367 (supplemental jurisdiction).

II. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

The court construes the evidence and makes factual inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). Summary judgment is entered only if it is shown "that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c). At this juncture, the court does not "weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter," but solely determines whether there is more than "some metaphysical doubt" about whether there is a genuine issue for trial. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (citations omitted); Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).

III. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A. The Corporate Hierarchy and CP's Harassment Policy

This case involves allegations of egregious sexual harassment. CP operates a live poultry processing plant in southeast Alabama. The company has a written policy against sexual harassment.⁶ Employees should report objectionable behavior to their direct supervisor, the personnel manager, or the human resources manager. The supervisor then has a duty to relay that complaint to an investigatory supervisor. (Def. Ex. KL-7 at 3; White's Dep. at 66-67.) Barry Hilgartner was CP's human resources manager; he reported directly to the company's president, and he supervised personnel manager Kevin Long. (Resp. at 2.)

The policy does not define the term "direct supervisor," and no evidence suggests that the workers were informed exactly who was their direct supervisor at any given time. Within certain areas of the plant, Teresa Baxter, Bobby Burnett, Tate Gatlin, Jerry Marsh, and Patrick Smith acted as supervisors. Above them in the chain-of-command was Kathy Morrow and, above her, was Ferrell Wright. (Hilgartner's Dep. at 103; White's Dep. at 19-21; Doc. No. 101.)

CP publicizes its anti-harassment guidelines in a handbook and a two-page policy sheet. The handbook often goes undistributed because it is unavailable. (Long's Dep. at 92-93, 97.) Likewise, although the supervisors ostensibly distribute copies of the policy during orientation, it is not discussed or reviewed. (Id. at 150; Pruitt's Dep. at 32.) New employees simply sign the policy and return it to management without receiving a copy themselves. (Resp. at 3; Hilgartner's Dep. at 40.)

CP had no harassment training manual for management until April 1999. (Long's Dep. at 80.) Personnel manager Long "may have glanced over" the manual, but he has never read it. (Id. at 82.) Moreover, neither Long, Hilgartner, plant manager Butch White, nor any other lower-level supervisors has ever attended training on ways to prevent and correct sexual harassment.⁷ Hilgartner, by all accounts, viewed his investigatory duties as more of a nuisance than anything. (Hilgartner's Dep. at 195-204.)

B. The Victims and Their Plight

1. Jeanelle Beasley

The harassment. Supervisor Jerry Marsh began tormenting Jeanelle Beasley soon after she came to work. Marsh told Beasley that "every time he looked into her eyes" it made his "dick trickle." He also told her that he had some lotion in his van and wanted to rub her with it. (Beasley's Dep. at 19-21.) Marsh would stand near Beasley, with an erection, simulating masturbation and anal intercourse with Beasley while she worked. He also grabbed Beasley between her legs, touched her breasts, followed her into the restroom and touched her inappropriately.⁸ (Id. at 19-20, 78-79, 87; Ross's Dep. at 53.) This unseemly conduct took place more than fifteen times over the course of several months. (Beasley's Dep. at 19.)

The complaints. Beasley "kept asking Marsh to stop, but he would not stop," so Beasley complained to Burnett and Baxter. (Id. at 21-22.) They had Beasley and another employee, Mary Nell Dinkins, write out a statement. Baxter and Burnett said they would bring the complaint to White's attention and said that White would speak with them the next work day. (Id. at 24.)

As it turned out, White never intended to meet with Beasley or Dinkins. When Baxter presented the complaint to Morrow, she threw it away and said, "Don't believe nothing they say. They not nothing but troublemakers." (Baxter's Dep. at 155-56.) Beasley finally found White, and he told Beasley that he did not believe her. (Beasley's Dep. at 36.) Marsh's harassment continued. Beasley eventually complained no less than three times, including twice to interim personnel manager Charles Hall. (Resp. at 13-14.) Hall observed that Beasley had filed suit against the company, but he did not elaborate upon this cryptic statement. (Beasley's Dep. at 87-88.)

2. Mary Nell Dinkins

The harassment. Supervisor Patrick Smith welcomed Mary Nell Dinkins to the plant by asking for her phone number. (Dinkins's Dep. at 34, 37, 52.) When Dinkins responded that she was married, "Smith said he was married too. `We can zip around and nobody's going to know.'" (Id. at 52-53.) Three days later, Smith began touching her buttocks and asking her to meet him at a fine local motel so he could "stick his dick in her pussy." (Id. at 62.) Even after Dinkins was transferred to another section of the plant, Smith would walk over, grab the chickens as they passed along the assembly line, spread their legs open, and tell Dinkins that "he was going to have her like that." (Id. at 61.)

Smith promised Dinkins a raise and a job transfer if she would have sex with him. He also mentioned that he was amenable to group sex. (Id. at 50-51, 60.) On at least one occasion, in the presence of witnesses, Smith slipped his hands between Dinkins's legs and ground his erect penis against her buttocks. (Id. at 66; Resp. at 19.) Smith asked Dinkins if her husband "ate her pussy" and declared that he could do a better job. He told Dinkins that "after he was finished with her, she would not be able to walk." (Resp. at 17.) This harassment occurred on a daily basis. "And most of the supervisors saw it." (Dinkins's Dep. at 83.)

The complaints. During her first week of employment, Dinkins verbally complained to Burnett, who said that Smith "was just playing; don't even pay him no mind." (Id. at 64-65.) Dinkins attempted to discuss her plight with Morrow, but Morrow told Dinkins to talk to Baxter. After making four fruitless verbal complaints to Burnett, Dinkins filed a written complaint. Eventually, White spoke to both Dinkins and Smith. Predator and prey presented conflicting stories. (Resp. at 18-19.) Dinkins was sent back to work; her written complaint was thrown away. (Baxter's Dep. at 155-56.)

Smith's misconduct continued well after each of the complaints. The touchings continued on a daily basis, as did the lewd gestures and the comments. Perhaps the crowning moment came when Smith followed Dinkins into the restroom, poked his head under the stall door, and frightened Dinkins while she changed her sanitary napkin. (Id. at 75-77.) Dinkins filed a second written complaint over this sickening incident, in response to which Wright said nothing could be done. (Id. at 80.)

3. Teresa Ross

Smith was not a monogamous harasser. On Teresa Ross's first day at work, Smith inquired into her marital status and volunteered to "take care of her" because she was the only woman on that subsection of the assembly line. (Ross's Dep. at 24.) The next day, he put his arm around Ross and touched her breasts. When Ross asked Smith, "What's wrong with you?" he snipped, "I see you ain't...