E.E.O.C. v. Gaddis, 82-1959
| Citation | 733 F.2d 1373 |
| Decision Date | 02 May 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-1959,82-1959 |
| Parties | 34 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1210, 36 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1592, 34 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,348, 34 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,381, 39 Fed.R.Serv.2d 277 EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellee, and Hugh Stone III, Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellee, v. Preston G. GADDIS, Individually and d/b/a Morning American, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit) |
Richard L. Barnes of Nichols & Wolfe, Inc., Tulsa, Okl., for defendant-appellant.
Irene Hill, Atty., E.E.O.C., Washington, D.C. (David L. Slate, Gen. Counsel, Philip B. Sklover, Associate Gen. Counsel, Vincent Blackwood, Assistant Gen. Counsel, W. Sherman Rogers, Atty., E.E.O.C., Washington, D.C., on the brief), for plaintiff-appellee.
John Price, Tulsa, Okl. (Georgina B. Landman, Tulsa, Okl., on the brief), for plaintiff-intervenor-appellee.
Before SETH, Chief Judge, and BARRETT, and SEYMOUR, Circuit Judges.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) instituted this action On appeal Gaddis contends that: (1) Stone's claim under section 1981 is barred by the applicable statute of limitations; (2) the district court erred in its findings and conclusions; and (3) the court also erred in denying Gaddis an opportunity to make a post-trial argument. The EEOC argues that this court has no jurisdiction to review the above claims because Gaddis failed to file a timely appeal from the judgment on the merits. We conclude that we may consider the merits of Gaddis' claims, and we affirm the judgment of the district court.
under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e et seq. (1976) (Title VII) against Preston Gaddis individually and d/b/a Morning American (hereinafter referred to as Gaddis). The EEOC alleged that Gaddis intentionally committed an unlawful employment practice by discriminating against Hugh Stone, who is black. Stone intervened, asserting claims against Gaddis under Title VII and 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1981, 1983, and 1985(3) (1976). After a bench trial, the district court made findings of fact and conclusions of law and entered judgment against Gaddis on the Title VII and section 1981 claims. 1
I.
TIMELINESS OF THE APPEAL
Stone's complaint asserted a request for attorney's fees along with claims for monetary and injunctive relief. In its decision on the merits, entered March 25, 1982, the district court awarded Stone backpay under Title VII and compensatory and punitive damages under section 1981, in the total amount of $18,225. The court further concluded that Stone was entitled to attorney's fees pursuant to Title VII and 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988 (1976), but did not set an amount. The parties subsequently stipulated to the amount of attorney's fees, and the court then entered a second judgment on June 11, 1982. This judgment ordered the same relief provided in the March 25 decision and in addition awarded Stone $6,000 in attorney's fees. Gaddis filed his appeal on August 4, 1982, one hundred days after the March 25 judgment but within sixty days of the judgment setting the amount of attorney's fees. 2
In Gurule v. Wilson, 635 F.2d 782, 787 (10th Cir.1980), this court held that a judgment on the merits is not a final order for purposes of appeal if it does not address a prior request for attorney's fees made pursuant to section 1988. We extended the Gurule analysis in Glass v. Pfeffer, 657 F.2d 252, 255 (10th Cir.1981), and concluded that if a request for attorney's fees was not made before entry of judgment on the merits, "such application must be made within the ten-day period required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e) for alteration or amendment of a judgment." Id. We held that where a request for attorney's fees was made prior to the end of the ten-day post-judgment period, "there is no appealable final order until this issue is decided or abandoned." Id.
On March 2, 1982, shortly before the original judgment on the merits in the instant case, the Supreme Court ruled that a post-judgment application for attorney's fees is not a Rule 59(e) motion to alter or amend a judgment so as to be subject to the ten-day rule. See White v. New Hampshire Department of Employment Security, 455 U.S. 445, 451-52, 102 S.Ct. 1162, 1166-67, 71 L.Ed.2d 325 (1982). "[A] request for attorney's fees under Sec. 1988 raises legal issues collateral to the main cause of action--issues to which Rule 59(e) was never intended to apply." Id. at 451, 102 S.Ct. at 1166 (footnote omitted).
The EEOC argues that White overruled Gurule, and that under the holding in White the March 25 judgment was a final order from which Gaddis failed to take timely appeal. We disagree. While White clearly overruled Glass, the ruling was narrow. The Court did not decide the appealability In Cox, we expressly overruled Gurule and held that "judgments finally disposing of the merits are appealable even though questions relating to attorney's fees have been left undecided." Id. at 331. This decision was issued after the instant appeal was filed. Given Gaddis' failure to file an appeal within sixty days of the March 25 judgment, we must determine whether Cox should be applied retroactively to preclude our review of the merits of that judgment.
of a judgment that does not finally dispose of a request for attorney's fees made in the complaint, the fact situation presented in Gurule and in the present case. Although this court subsequently relied on the rationale in White to conclude that Gurule should no longer be followed, see Cox v. Flood, 683 F.2d 330 (10th Cir.1982), we cannot agree that White overruled Gurule directly in view of the factual distinctions between the two cases.
Three factors are relevant to the nonretroactive application of judicial decisions.
Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson, 404 U.S. 97, 106-07, 92 S.Ct. 349, 355-56, 30 L.Ed.2d 296 (1971) (citations omitted); see also Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., 458 U.S. 50, 87-88, 102 S.Ct. 2858, 2880-2881, 73 L.Ed.2d 598 (1982) (plurality opinion); West v. Keve, 721 F.2d 91, 95 (3d Cir.1983).
All of the Chevron factors weigh in favor of nonretroactive application in this case. First, our decision in Cox made a clear break with past precedent, as exemplified by Gurule and Glass, upon which the parties may have relied. Moreover, in balancing the second and third Chevron factors, we conclude that retroactive application would impose a substantial inequity on Gaddis. At the time the March 25 judgment was entered, "a district court's disposition on the merits [was] not reviewable under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291 until the claim for attorney's fees [had] been resolved." Cox, 683 F.2d at 331. It would be most unjust to hold that review of the merits is barred because Gaddis did not file an appeal that would have been premature under the law at the time. See West, 721 F.2d at 95. Consequently, we decline to apply Cox retroactively. The appeal was therefore timely.
II.
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
Stone's cause of action accrued in early July 1978. He filed his complaint on March 20, 1981, more than two years and less than three years later. In concluding that Stone's suit was timely, the district court applied the three-year statute of limitations for an unwritten contract provided in Okla.Stat. tit. 12, Sec. 95 (Second) (1981), which accords with our decisions in Shah v. Halliburton, 627 F.2d 1055, 1059 (10th Cir.1980), and Zuniga v. AMFAC Foods, Inc., 580 F.2d 380, 386-87 (10th Cir.1978). On appeal, Gaddis argues that the controlling limitations period is that found in Okla.Stat. tit. 12, Sec. 95 (Third) (1981), which provides that an action for "injury to the rights of another, not arising on contract, and not hereinafter enumerated" must be brought within two years.
Because Congress has not enacted a statute of limitations expressly applicable to claims under sections 1981 and 1983, the courts must adopt the most analogous limitations The rationale supporting our conclusion in Garcia is equally applicable to claims brought under section 1981. "The interests protected and the evil sought to be remedied are similar under both Sec. 1981 and Sec. 1983, and no significant reason exists to justify differentiating between them for limitation purposes." Marshall v. Electric Hose & Rubber Co., 68 F.R.D. 287, 293 (D.Del.1975); see also Plummer v. Western International Hotels Co., 656 F.2d 502, 506 (9th Cir.1981); Movement for Opportunity & Equality v. General Motors Corp., 622 F.2d 1235, 1243 (7th Cir.1980). Accordingly, adopting the analysis set out in Garcia, we hold that all section 1981 claims are in essence actions for injury to personal rights. In so doing, we expressly overrule Shah and Zuniga to the extent they are inconsistent with this opinion. 3 Under this holding, the most analogous Oklahoma statute is the two-year limitations period for an injury to the rights of another. See Okla.Stat. tit. 12, Sec. 95 (Third). Stone's suit is therefore barred unless we determine that our holding should not be retroactively applied to the facts of this case.
period provided by state law. See 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988 (1976); Board of Regents v. Tomanio,...
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