E.E.O.C. v. Fruehauf Corp.
| Decision Date | 26 December 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-1356,78-1356 |
| Citation | 609 F.2d 434 |
| Parties | 21 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 362, 21 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 30,372 EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FRUEHAUF CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Vella M. Fink, Washington, D. C. (Abner W. Sibal, General Counsel, Joseph T. Eddins, Jr., Associate Gen. Counsel, and Lutz Alexander Prager, Washington, D. C., on brief), for plaintiff-appellant.
Norman E. Reynolds, Oklahoma City, Okl. (V. Burns Hargis, of Reynolds, Ridings & Hargis, Oklahoma City, Okl., on brief), for defendant-appellee.
Before McWILLIAMS, DOYLE and LOGAN, Circuit Judges.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought the present action against Fruehauf Corporation charging employment discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, Et seq. The alleged discrimination was Fruehauf's refusal to promote blacks to the position of foreman in Fruehauf's Oklahoma City facility. Fruehauf is a Michigan corporation doing business in Oklahoma and it maintains a shop in Oklahoma City where it services truck trailers. On motion, the action was dismissed on the ground that the action was not instituted within 180 days from the date of the filing of the individual charge of discrimination upon which the Commission's present action is based. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1). On appeal, we reversed and remanded for further proceedings. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Fruehauf Corporation, unpublished opinion No. 75-1686, filed May 17, 1976.
After remand, the case was tried to the court, sitting without a jury. The trial court in detailed findings and conclusions found for Fruehauf and entered judgment in its favor. Additionally, the trial court found that the action brought by EEOC against Fruehauf was not brought in good faith and was frivolous from its inception. Accordingly, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Fruehauf against EEOC in the sum of $25,000 as attorney's fees. EEOC appeals the judgment thus entered. We affirm in part, and reverse in part.
The Fruehauf shop in Oklahoma City is a relatively small one, employing only about 20 persons. There are two foremen. At the time of the trial of this matter there were 4 black employees, one of whom had been only recently hired. The other 3 blacks were long-time employees. Two of the black employees, Lloyd Edwards and Matt Clark, filed charges with the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission, alleging that Fruehauf had discriminated against them because of their race. Specifically, the complaint was that they had been passed over when the company was filling the position known as shop foreman. This complaint was forwarded to the EEOC, and the complaint was investigated by an EEOC investigator, one Donald Frazier, who had been with the EEOC for some time during the course of which he had investigated some 250 to 300 charges of discrimination. Frazier interviewed both Edwards and Clark, the complainants, and reviewed certain answers of Fruehauf to interrogatories. He then conducted a 3-hour on-the-site investigation of the Fruehauf shop. Frazier deposed the branch manager, one Eldon Goss, who was in charge of the shop, and did some additional interviewing of personnel. On the basis of Frazier's report the EEOC found that there was reasonable cause to believe that the charges of discrimination were true. Subsequent conciliation efforts failed, and the present suit was then filed.
The action was based on alleged discrimination against the 3 black persons who were long-time Fruehauf employees, which included one Harry King, in addition to Edwards and Clark. As above indicated, the trial court initially dismissed the action on the ground that suit had not been timely filed. On appeal, we reversed. On remand, the case was tried to the court. After all the evidence from both sides had been presented, the trial court found for Fruehauf and entered judgment to that effect.
The trial court found, Inter alia, that the EEOC had not made out a Prima facie case, and on appeal the EEOC argues that such finding is clearly erroneous, both as a matter of fact and of law. Whether a Prima facie case was made out by the EEOC is in our view largely a matter of semantics and for the sake of argument we are willing to concede that such was established. However, the trial court made other findings, amply supported by the record, which effectively preclude the EEOC from prevailing in this appeal.
Under the authorities one essential element in a case of this type is that there be a showing that the person in question be qualified for the position to which he aspire...
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