Estate of Harris v. Papa John's Pizza

• Decision Date: 12 May 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-0201.,03-0201.
• Citation: 679 N.W.2d 673
• Parties: ESTATE OF Michael HARRIS, Grace Harris and Daniel Harris, Co-Administrators, Appellants, v. PAPA JOHN'S PIZZA and P.J. Iowa, L.C., Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

679 N.W.2d 673

ESTATE OF Michael HARRIS, Grace Harris and Daniel Harris, Co-Administrators, Appellants, v. PAPA JOHN'S PIZZA and P.J. Iowa, L.C., Appellees.

No. 03-0201.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

May 12, 2004.

Dorothy A. O'Brien of O'Brien & Greve, P.L.C., Davenport, and Jerry A. Soper of Soper Law Firm, P.C., Davenport, for appellants.

Robert D. Lambert of Bittner, Lambert & Werner, Davenport, and William J. Bush of Bush, Motto, Creen & Koury, Davenport, for appellees.

STREIT, Justice.

The facts of this case are as tragic as they are bizarre. An employee of a pizza restaurant told management his supervisor had sex with a subordinate. When his supervisor found out, he punched the employee in the chest. The employee died from the blow, a so-called "chest shot."

The employee's estate sued the pizza company, alleging retaliation and negligent supervision. The retaliation claim was premised upon the theory the employee was punished for reporting a violation of the company's sexual harassment policy. The district court dismissed both counts on summary judgment.

Because we find the "chest shot" may constitute an adverse employment action attributable to the pizza company, we reverse the district court's dismissal of the retaliation claim. We affirm dismissal of the negligent supervision claim, however, because it is preempted by the Iowa Workers' Compensation Act.

I. Facts and Prior Proceedings

P.J. Iowa, L.C. operates five Papa John's Pizza places in the Quad Cities area.¹ Michael Harris worked as a pizza maker and deliveryman at Papa John's Locust Street store in Davenport. In December 2000, Harris's immediate supervisor, Assistant Manager Robert Shields, had sex three times with a female subordinate. Although this activity violated company policy,² Shields claimed the liaison was well-publicized within the Locust Street store. He alleged his supervisor, General Manager Victor Meeks, congratulated him upon learning of his conquest.

On January 11, 2001, Harris graduated from high school. After the ceremony, Harris and a friend ordered a pizza from a Moline Papa John's. While picking up his pizza, Harris told the store's Assistant Manager, Melissa Stanley, about Shields's liaison.

What happened next is unsettled. According to Shields, the next day General Manager Meeks got off the phone with Stanley and told him Harris should be on his "shit list" for reporting his indiscretions. Shields knew that if his affair was revealed to upper management, he could get in trouble.

General Manager Meeks denied he told Shields that Harris should be on his "shit list." He also claims Shields denied the affair. Meeks said he told Shields he would talk to Harris about spreading rumors. According to Papa John's Area Manager, Meeks told Shields to talk to Harris about it.³

Sometime after midnight, an angry Shields confronted Harris on the phone. Harris told Shields he could not remember if he had told Stanley about Shields's indiscretions. Shields asked Harris to come down to the store, and Harris agreed, even though he was not scheduled to work. In itself, this was not an unusual occurrence. Shields, Harris, and another employee, Nathan DeFoe, had begun "hanging out" after work.

Harris arrived at the store. Shields later recalled their encounter:

I asked him if he remembered saying it, and he kept saying he didn't remember. Throughout the whole conversation he did say that he did remember saying it and that he asked what—because I asked him, you know, Can I ever trust you again? How can I ever trust you? He said, Well, what do I have to do to regain your trust.... That was when I asked him if he would take a chest shot.

Harris agreed to take a "chest shot," i.e., a punch.

DeFoe, who had been working with Shields that night, came over to watch. DeFoe described the scene:

Bobby was mad at him, and Mike didn't want Bobby to be mad at him anymore, so Bobby said, you know, This is how we can resolve it, and Mike agreed.... [It wasn't punishment.] They wanted to redeem their friendship. They wanted to be friends. They didn't want some girl to ... break up a friendship.

Harris braced for impact, and Shields punched him in the chest.

Harris suffered a cardiac arrhythmia, collapsed, and died. He was only nineteen years old.

Harris's estate filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits. On February 6, 2001, Papa John's carrier, Allied Insurance, denied the claim. Allied did so because it could not "substantiate that this injury arose in and out of the course and scope of his employment."

On October 30, 2001, the Estate sued Papa John's. The suit alleged Papa John's (1) violated the Iowa and Federal Civil Rights Acts, insofar as it retaliated against Harris for reporting a violation of its sexual harassment policy; and (2) negligently supervised its employees, resulting in Harris's death. The Estate also sued Shields for battery, but this count of the petition is not before us.

Papa John's filed two motions for partial summary judgment. In the first motion, Papa John's sought dismissal of the Estate's civil rights claims, because, it maintained, the Estate could not prove retaliation. The district court agreed, and dismissed the claims. In its second motion, Papa John's argued Harris's death "arose out of and in the course of his employment," and therefore the Estate's negligent supervision claim was preempted by the Iowa Workers' Compensation Act (IWCA). The district court ruled in Papa John's favor again. The Estate appeals from these adverse summary judgment rulings. The Estate alleges the district court erred in ruling (1) it could not prove retaliation and (2) the IWCA preempts its claim for negligent supervision.

II. Standard of Review

Appellate review of a grant of a motion for summary judgment is for errors at law. Graber v. City of Ankeny, 656 N.W.2d 157, 160 (Iowa 2003). Summary judgment is warranted only where there is "no genuine issue of material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.981(3) (2002).

A factual issue is material only if the dispute is over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit. The burden is on the party moving for summary judgment to prove the facts are undisputed. In ruling on a summary judgment motion, the court must look at the facts in a light most favorable to the party resisting the motion. The court must also consider on behalf of the nonmoving party every legitimate inference that can be reasonably deduced from the record.

Phillips v. Covenant Clinic, 625 N.W.2d 714, 717-18 (Iowa 2001) (citations and internal quotations omitted).

III. Merits

A. Retaliation

The Estate contends Papa John's violated Harris's civil rights when Shields gave him a chest shot. The Estate characterizes the chest shot as retaliation for reporting Shields's sexual harassment of a subordinate. The district court dismissed this claim, ruling Shields's actions were not attributable to Papa John's. The Estate appealed.

Papa John's defends the district court ruling on essentially two grounds. First, Papa John's argues the Estate's retaliation claim must fail because there is no evidence it took adverse employment action against Harris. Second, Papa John's points out there is no evidence Shields sexually harassed his subordinate; where there is no sexual harassment, Papa John's claims, there can be no retaliation.

1. Adverse Employment Action Attributable to Papa John's

The retaliation provision of Title VII states:

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against any of his employees ... because he has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by this subchapter, or because he has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this subchapter.

42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e-3. Similarly, the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA) states:

It shall be an unfair or discriminatory practice for ...

Any person to discriminate or retaliate against another person in any of the rights protected against discrimination by this chapter because such person has lawfully opposed any practice forbidden under this chapter, obeys the provisions of this chapter, or has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any proceeding under this chapter.

Iowa Code § 216.11(2) (2001). Title VII was designed to ensure equal opportunity in employment for all, regardless of sex. Pecenka v. Fareway Stores, Inc., 672 N.W.2d 800, 803 (Iowa 2003) (citing Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp., 400 U.S. 542, 544, 91 S.Ct. 496, 497-98, 27 L.Ed.2d 613, 615 (1971)). The ICRA was modeled after Title VII, and therefore we have consistently employed federal analysis when interpreting the ICRA. See id. Nonetheless, the decisions of federal courts interpreting Title VII are not binding upon us in interpreting similar provisions in the ICRA. Id.

To establish a prima facie case of retaliation under Title VII and the ICRA, a plaintiff must show: (1) the plaintiff engaged in protected activity; (2) the employer took adverse employment action against the plaintiff; and (3) a causal connection between the protected activity and the adverse employment action. Channon v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 629 N.W.2d 835, 861-862 (Iowa 2001) (citing, in part, Manning v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 127 F.3d 686, 692 (8th Cir.1997)). Once the plaintiff establishes a prima facie case, the burden shifts to the employer to rebut a presumption of retaliation. See Cross v. Cleaver, 142 F.3d 1059, 1071-72 (8th Cir.1998)

.

In the district court, Papa John's argued the Estate could not establish that it took adverse employment action against Harris. The district court did not conclude a "chest shot" was not an adverse employment action but held Shields's actions were not attributable to Papa John's. The court dismissed the Estate's retaliation claim.

Although the parties continue to frame the issue in this...