Gaston v. Home Depot Usa, Inc.

• Decision Date: 02 February 2001
• Docket Number: No. 99-1448-CIV.,99-1448-CIV.
• Citation: 129 F.Supp.2d 1355
• Parties: Fredrick GASTON, Plaintiff, v. HOME DEPOT USA, INC., d/b/a Home Depot, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

129 F.Supp.2d 1355

Fredrick GASTON, Plaintiff, v. HOME DEPOT USA, INC., d/b/a Home Depot, Defendant.

No. 99-1448-CIV.

United States District Court, S.D. Florida.

February 2, 2001.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Sharon L. Blake, Miami, FL, for plaintiff.

Anne Marie Estevez, Miami, FL, for defendant.

OMNIBUS ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

GOLD, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon the following motions:

1. Defendant Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. d/b/a Home Depot's ("Home Depot") Motion for Summary Judgment [D.E. 112], filed on October 17, 2000. Plaintiff Fredrick Gaston ("Gaston") filed a Response [D .E. 137] on November 27, 2000, and Defendant filed a Reply [D.E. 173] on December 20, 2000. In addition, Defendant filed a notice of supplemental authority [D.E. 175] on December 26, 2000.

2. Plaintiff Gaston's Motion for Summary Judgment on Liability and Against Defendant on Its Affirmative Defense of After Acquired Evidence [D.E. 116], filed on October 23, 2000 (with a corrected memorandum filed on November 7, 2000). Defendant filed a Response [D .E. 130] on November 15, 2000, and Plaintiff filed a Reply [D.E. 140] on November 28, 2000.

3. Defendant Home Depot's Motion for the Imposition of Sanctions Under Rule 11, 28 U.S.C. § 1927, and/or the Court's Inherent Powers [D.E. 165], filed on December 19, 2000. Plaintiff filed a Response [D.E. 178] on January 12, 2001, and Defendant filed a Reply [D.E. 185] on January 22, 2001.

4. Defendant Home Depot's Motion to Strike the Affidavits filed in Opposition to Home Depot's Motion for Summary Judgment [D.E. 170], filed on December 20, 2000. Plaintiff filed a Response on January 17, 2001 [D.E. 183], and Defendant filed a Reply [D.E. 189] on January 25, 2001.

5. Defendant Home Depot's Motion to Strike the Deposition Transcripts Filed by Plaintiff for Use by the Court with Respect to Pending Motions for Summary Judgment and for Fees Under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 [D.E. 176], filed on January 3, 2001. Plaintiff filed a Response [D.E. 188] on January 24, 2001.

Oral argument was held on all pending matters on January 26, 2001. This omnibus order resolves all the motions currently pending before the Court.

The Complaint, filed on May 19, 1999, alleges discriminatory treatment and discharge by Home Depot because of Gaston's race and national origin and in retaliation for his complaints of racial discrimination, and seeks relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1967, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. ("Title VII")¹ and 42 U.S.C. § 1981.² Jurisdiction of this Court is invoked pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331, federal question jurisdiction.

After careful consideration of the parties' arguments, analysis of the relevant case law, and review of the record as a whole, this Court concludes that summary judgment in favor of Defendant Home Depot is warranted.

I. Background

The parties have argued extensively about the pleadings and evidence that the Court may appropriately consider in evaluating the summary judgment motions. It is necessary to resolve these disputes prior to setting forth the undisputed facts so that it is clear which pleadings, affidavits, depositions, or other documents were considered and relied upon by the Court.

The Court did not consider Plaintiff's `controversion' of Defendant's statement of material facts not in dispute in support of its dispositive motion for summary judgment [D.E. 135] or the fourteen deposition transcripts filed by Plaintiff on December 19, 2000 `for use by the Court with respect to the pending motions for summary judgment and/or other pending matters' (see Plaintiff's Notice of Filing, D.E. 164; the transcripts are docketed as D.E. 149-163, inclusive). First, with regard to the controversion, the Rules of Civil Procedure do not make any allowance for the filing of such a document. See S.D.Fla.L.R. 7.5 ("The papers opposing a motion for summary judgment shall include a memorandum of law, necessary affidavits, and a single concise statement of the material facts as to which it is contended that there exists a genuine issue to be tried.") (emphasis added). Plaintiff did submit a Concise Statement of the Material Facts in Dispute in Opposition to Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment [D.E. 136], which the Court took into consideration. Plaintiff never moved for leave of Court to file the extra `controversion,' and, even if it had, it is clear that the document is unnecessary and adds little, if anything, towards resolution of the issues before the Court. Second, the fourteen deposition transcripts filed on December 19, 2000 have been disregarded because they are untimely, were filed without permission of the Court, and are not itemized or organized in any way that would indicate which portions are relevant and for what reasons. The fourteen depositions were filed after Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment was fully briefed and ripe and only one day before Defendant filed its reply memorandum in support of its motion for summary judgment. Therefore, all the issues were already fully briefed and the parties had already been given ample time to establish a record and put forth their arguments. Plaintiff's filing of fourteen voluminous depositions, comprising nearly 100 hours of deposition testimony, without any indication of the specific facts relied on by the Plaintiff, adds nothing to the pleadings and serves only to waste the Court's time and obfuscate the issues.

It is not necessary to strike or entirely disregard, for purposes of summary judgment, any of the other documents filed by the parties. Defendant has moved to strike the affidavits filed by Plaintiff in opposition to Defendant's motion for summary judgment³ pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e),⁴ arguing that the affidavit testimony consists almost exclusively of baseless legal conclusions, irrelevant anecdotes, speculative statements, and hearsay declarations in lieu of any facts. Rule 56(e) states that affidavits shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein. Furthermore, it states that affidavits may be supplemented with depositions, answers to interrogatories, or other affidavits. To the extent any affidavit or deposition testimony is hearsay,⁵ it is may not be considered for summary judgment purposes unless it would be admissible at trial for some purpose, e.g., the statement might fall within an exception to the hearsay rule, might not actually constitute hearsay at all (because it is not offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted), or it might be used solely for impeachment purposes (and not as substantive evidence). See Macuba v. Deboer, 193 F.3d 1316, 1323-24 (11th Cir.1999). The Eleventh Circuit has interpreted Rule 56 as "allowing otherwise admissible evidence to be submitted in inadmissible form at the summary judgment stage, though at trial it must be submitted in admissible form." McMillian v. Johnson, 88 F.3d 1573 (11th Cir.1996). When an affidavit submitted in support of, or opposition to, a motion for summary judgment contains inadmissible evidence, the court may strike the inadmissible portions of the affidavit and consider the rest. See Lee v. National Life Assurance Co., 632 F.2d 524, 529 (5th Cir.1980).

The general relief of striking the thirteen affidavits in question in their entirety requested by Defendant is overly broad and the affidavits in question do not contain inadmissible testimony to the extent alleged by the Defendant. The more prudent and required course is to consider the admissibility of relevant statements within the disputed affidavits under Rule 56(e) on an individual basis. Upon review, the Court finds that, even if the Defendant's motion to strike was denied in its entirety, the affidavits fail to create any material issues of fact that would deny summary judgment. The affidavits have been considered by the Court and determinations as to the admissibility of particular statements have been made on an individual basis and incorporated into the statement of the facts and analysis of the case, with all ambiguities and doubts resolved in favor of the Plaintiff.

The parties have not moved to strike any other evidence or exhibits submitted with the motions for summary judgment. Accordingly, the facts, taken in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, reveal the following.

Plaintiff Fredrick Gaston ("Gaston") is a black, African-American male. In February 1998, Gaston began working as a full-time associate for Defendant Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. d/b/a The Home Depot ("Home Depot"). In 1992, Gaston was promoted to the salaried, managerial position of Assistant Store Manager ("ASM"). From early 1992 to March 1994 and then again from July 1996 until his termination in July 1997, Gaston was an ASM at Store 207, located in Cutler Ridge, Florida. In the interim, from March 1994 to July 1996, Gaston was an ASM at Store 210 in Kendall, Florida. Sometime at the end of 1996 or early 1997, Plaintiff was made the Administrative Assistant Store Manager at Store 207. The job duties of the ASM included supervising associates, working with other assistant managers and managers, and evaluating associates. Plaintiff never had a contract of employment and was always an "at-will" employee.

As part of his job, Gaston received Home Depot's orientation training and its Employee Handbook, as well as numerous additional periodic training courses. Home Depot has policies prohibiting harassment and discrimination, as well as policies prohibiting retaliation against someone because he or she made a complaint of harassment. Furthermore, Home Depot prohibits disrespectful, harassing, or discriminatory behavior toward associates, including using abusive or threatening behavior or language against an associate, undermining the company, management, or...