Dybczak v. Tuskegee Institute

• Decision Date: 01 August 1984
• Docket Number: No. 83-7037,83-7037
• Citation: 737 F.2d 1524
• Parties: 35 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 813, 34 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,552, 18 Ed. Law Rep. 580 Zbigniew W. DYBCZAK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, an Alabama corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1524

737 F.2d 1524

35 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 813,

34 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,552, 18 Ed. Law Rep. 580

Zbigniew W. DYBCZAK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, an Alabama corporation, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 83-7037.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

Aug. 1, 1984.

Alvin T. Prestwood, Claude P. Rosser, Jr., Prestwood & Rosser, Montgomery, Ala., for plaintiff-appellant.

Marvin S. Cohen, John M. Gibbons, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, Washington, D.C., Fred D. Gray, Gray, Seay & Langford, Tuskegee, Ala., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

Before KRAVITCH, JOHNSON and HATCHETT, Circuit Judges.

KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge:

In this employment discrimination action, plaintiff-appellant, Zbigniew W. Dybczak, challenges the district court's judgments in favor of defendant-appellee, Tuskegee Institute, entered on a jury verdict and on issues of equitable relief reserved to the court. Specifically, Dybczak asserts that the district court erred (1) in refusing to enjoin the Institute's alleged adherence to a policy of preferring black role models on its faculty and (2) in failing to charge the jury on the defendant's burden of proving it would have made the same employment decisions in the absence of discrimination. Concluding that the court below did not err in these respects, we affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Tuskegee Institute is an institution of higher learning, the student body and faculty of which are predominantly black. Zbigniew W. Dybczak, a white male of Polish descent, served as the dean of the School of Engineering at the Institute from 1960 to July 1981, after which he continued to serve as a professor of engineering. He was originally employed under a three-year contract, but after 1963 he served by appointment of the president on an annual basis. Of the Institute's eighteen officers in 1981, only Dybczak was white.

In December 1980, Dybczak began negotiations with the administration over the terms of his employment as dean for the 1981-82 academic year. In February 1981, he sent two memoranda to the president, Dr. L.H. Foster, seeking a significant increase in salary, one year of sabbatical and retroactive compensation for independently performed research. On March 2, Dr. Foster offered Dybczak a 7% salary increase and leave for seven months with pay, but declined to compensate him for the previous research. In a letter dated March 21, Dybczak restated his demands. On April 13, Dr. Foster acknowledged Dybczak's letter, but stated, "I am not prepared to negotiate further on these three matters." On June 5, Dr. Foster sent a letter to Dybczak, reappointing him as dean with a 7% increase in salary. On June 19, Dybczak replied that he was prepared to accept the reappointment subject to additional sabbatical and a salary increase. On June 22, Dr. Foster repeated that he was "not prepared to negotiate further on these three matters" and requested "a definite response to the offer and specific terms of your continued employment at Tuskegee." On July 1, Dybczak sent a one-sentence letter, stating, "I regret that I cannot accept your offer of April 13 and June 22." The next day, Dr. Foster responded that he regarded Dybczak's letter as a rejection of the offer of employment and that he accepted Dybczak's resignation. After a series of letters and a conference, Dr. Benjamin F. Payton, who succeeded Dr. Foster as president on August 1, 1981, offered to renew Dybczak's appointment as a tenured professor and to authorize seven months' sabbatical. Dybczak accepted the offer "under protest."

In September 1981, Dr. Payton appointed a search committee to solicit applications and nominate candidates for the newly vacated position of dean. The committee ultimately nominated four candidates. Although Dybczak did not apply for the position until the published deadline had expired, his application was forwarded to Dr. Payton. Dr. Payton appointed Dr. Vascar Harris, a black aerospace engineer, as dean, effective August 15, 1982.

In his complaint, as amended, Dybczak alleged that the Institute had discriminated against him in his employment on the basis of his race and national origin. He sought reinstatement, back pay and attorney's fees under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e, and damages under section 1981, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1981. The complaint also prayed for a temporary restraining order or, in the alternative, a preliminary injunction enjoining the Institute from appointing anyone other than Dybczak as dean and ordering the Institute to reinstate Dybczak as dean, and for a permanent injunction enjoining future discrimination against Dybczak. After a hearing, the district court denied preliminary injunctive relief. In his motion for partial summary judgment, Dybczak asserted that he was entitled to an injunction against the Institute's pattern and practice of discriminating in the implementation of a faculty hiring policy favoring blacks over whites as role models. Dybczak's motion for partial summary judgment and the Institute's motion for summary judgment were denied by the court.

Evidence adduced at trial indicated that in 1973 and 1975, the administration had been concerned about the number of blacks on the School of Engineering faculty. Dr. Foster testified that hiring blacks had been considered important because of their ability to serve as role models for the students and that he had been concerned about Dybczak's failure to seek more black applicants for the pool from which new faculty members were chosen. With respect to Dybczak's qualifications, Dr. Foster noted problems with Dybczak's performance of administrative duties, his desire to operate more autonomously and his apparent insensitivity to the overall mission of the Institute. With respect to Dr. Harris' qualifications, on the other hand, Dr. Payton testified that Dr. Harris' experience and scholarship in engineering fields related to aerospace science were important as Dr. Payton planned to reorient the School of Engineering and to introduce a program in aerospace science. He also identified Dr. Harris' general academic qualifications, his military service and his prior work with the dean of a larger engineering school as factors in his favor. The jury returned a verdict for the Institute on December 1, 1982, and on December 3, 1982, the district court entered a judgment on the verdict and a judgment denying equitable relief.

II. DENIAL OF INJUNCTION

Dybczak asserts that regardless of whether he was adversely affected by the Institute's alleged "policy of preferring the recruitment of black 'role model' professors," the policy constitutes a pattern and practice of discrimination warranting injunctive relief. In his brief, he states:

The Plaintiff's position is that he was entitled to an injunction prohibiting the Defendant's continued adherence to its pattern and practice of discrimination even if that pattern and practice did not cause the Plaintiff's loss of employment as dean or if it did not cause the Defendant not to reemploy him as dean.

It is well settled that where claims at law and in equity are joined and the legal claims are tried separately by a jury, the jury's verdict operates as a finding of fact binding on the trial court in its determination of the equitable claims. As the court observed in Williams v. City of Valdosta, 689 F.2d 964 (11th Cir.1982), "all findings necessarily made by the jury in awarding the verdict to [a party] are binding on the parties as well as on the trial court." Id. at 976. Insofar as the jury's verdict in this case establishes that the Institute did not discriminate against Dybczak, ¹ the question presented is whether an injunction which may benefit nonparties (white faculty candidates other than Dybczak), but which is wholly unrelated to the rights of the plaintiff (Dybczak) is mandatory in an individual action.

In Gregory v. Litton Systems, Inc., 472 F.2d 631 (9th Cir.1972), the Ninth Circuit recognized that injunctive relief which "may incidentally benefit many persons not before the court" is appropriate if "necessary to give a plaintiff or a group of plaintiffs relief to which they are entitled." Id. at 633-34. The court expressly disapproved of "injunctive benefits for nonparties [which are] neither incidental nor necessary to the resolution of the pending litigation." Id. at 634. In Meyer v. Brown & Root Construction Co., 661 F.2d 369 (5th Cir.1981), the Fifth Circuit observed:

Injunctive relief which benefits non-parties may sometimes be proper even where the suit is not brought as a Rule 23 class action. ... The court in Gregory noted that there are many cases where injunctive relief designed to assist a party will accidentally assist persons not before the court. This is not a case where injunctive relief need be designed for a just disposition of the action. That portion of the judgment granting injunctive relief is therefore reversed.

Id. at 374. From these precedents, we conclude that in a suit brought in the plaintiff's individual capacity, injunctive relief benefiting nonparties is not required if it in no way relates to the vindication of the plaintiff's rights. Accordingly, we hold that the district court did not err in refusing to enjoin the Institute's alleged adherence to a policy favoring blacks in faculty hiring. ²

III. JURY INSTRUCTIONS

Dybczak contends that the jury was improperly charged on the burden of proof with regard to discrimination. The jury, he argues, should have been instructed that once the plaintiff makes a prima facie showing

that the Defendant's pattern and practice of preferring blacks in employment at Tuskegee Institute was a substantial factor in the decision of the Defendant not to retain him or not to reappoint him as Dean .... then the Defendant has the burden of satisfying you, by a proponderance of the evidence, that the decision not to retain him or not...