Goldsmith v. City of Atmore

Decision Date04 August 1993
Docket NumberNo. 92-6429,92-6429
Citation996 F.2d 1155
Parties62 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 769, 63 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 42,642 Delphine Edwards GOLDSMITH, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CITY OF ATMORE; Howard Shell, individually and in his official capacity as Mayor of City of Atmore, Alabama, Defendants-Appellants.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Joe Thompson, Brewton, AL, Susan Williams Reeves, Birmingham, AL, for defendants-appellants.

Ronnie L. Williams, Mobile, AL, for plaintiff-appellee.

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

Before FAY, Circuit Judge, JOHNSON, Senior Circuit Judge, and MERHIGE *, Senior District Judge.

JOHNSON, Senior Circuit Judge:

This case arises on appeal following a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff-appellee Delphine Edwards Goldsmith on her claim that her employer, the City of Atmore ("the City"), and its mayor, Howard Shell, transferred her to a different employment position in retaliation for her threats to file a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("the EEOC"). The City and Mayor Shell appeal the district court's entry of judgment in accordance with the jury verdict. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the district court's entry of judgment and remand the case back to the district court for further proceedings.

I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE
A. Factual Background

In October 1979, Goldsmith, a black female, began working for the City as a clerical worker in the City Clerk's Office. In September 1988, the City Council announced an opening in the position of City Clerk caused by the current City Clerk's impending retirement. Goldsmith applied for the City Clerk opening, but the City Council instead awarded the position to a white female.

Upon learning that the City had selected a white female to fill the City Clerk position, Goldsmith suspected that her application had not been properly considered because of race discrimination. Goldsmith advised City Councilman Curtis Harris that she planned to consult an attorney about the possibility of filing charges with the EEOC. The morning after Goldsmith's conversation with Councilman Harris, Harris called on Mayor Shell at his office in City Hall. Immediately after Harris departed, Mayor Shell called Goldsmith into his office to inform her that the City Clerk position had been filled and "there was nothing [Goldsmith] could do about it." From this statement, Goldsmith concluded that Harris had informed Mayor Shell of her plans to file an EEOC complaint and that Mayor Shell was attempting to discourage her from doing so.

On the afternoon of Friday, December 2, 1988, approximately three weeks after Harris met with Mayor Shell, Shell advised Goldsmith that he was transferring her to a clerical position at the City Library. Mayor Shell told Goldsmith to clean out her desk and turn in her keys by the end of the day because she would not be returning to City Hall. The following Monday, Goldsmith began working at the same salary in the City Library, where she has worked throughout the pendency of these proceedings.

B. Procedural History

On December 22, 1988, Goldsmith filed an EEOC charge against the City, alleging that the City racially discriminated against her by failing to award her the City Clerk position, and that the City then retaliated against her by transferring her to the City Library when she revealed her intention to take legal action on the race discrimination claim. The EEOC issued Goldsmith a notice of her right to institute a civil action on the charge, which Goldsmith received on June 25, 1990.

On August 20, 1990, Goldsmith, proceeding pro se, filed her EEOC right-to-sue notice, together with a memorandum containing a summary of her allegations against the City, in federal district court. Goldsmith's case was assigned to a federal magistrate judge who ordered Goldsmith to file a formal complaint by September 28, 1990.

Goldsmith retained counsel and filed an amended complaint against the City on September 28, 1990. In her complaint, Goldsmith again raised the race discrimination and retaliation claims contained in her EEOC charge. Goldsmith alleged that each of these actions violated her rights under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1981 and under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 1981 (West 1981); 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 2000e-2(a), 2000e-3(a) (West 1981). The City was served with notice of this complaint on October 11, 1990.

On March 4, 1991, Goldsmith filed a motion to amend her complaint in order to add (1) Mayor Shell as a defendant on the section 1981 and Title VII claims, (2) a cause of action against the City and Mayor Shell under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983, and (3) a demand for trial by jury. See FED.R.CIV.P. 15, 39(b). Over the City's objections, the district court granted Goldsmith's motion to amend her complaint.

The City and Mayor Shell subsequently filed separate motions for summary judgment on Goldsmith's claims. Before the district court ruled on the summary judgment motions, Goldsmith orally abandoned her claim of race discrimination at the parties' pretrial conference. As a result, the sole issue remaining on summary judgment was the allegedly retaliatory transfer of Goldsmith from the City Clerk's Office to the City Library. In her briefs opposing the motions for summary judgment, Goldsmith asserted that her complaint alleged only (1) section 1981 and Title VII claims against the City, and (2) section 1981 and section 1983 claims against Mayor Shell.

On December 16, 1991, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the City and Mayor Shell on Goldsmith's section 1981 claims, ruling that claims of retaliation were not cognizable under section 1981. However, the district court allowed Goldsmith to proceed to trial on her Title VII claim against the City and on her section 1983 claim against Mayor Shell. 1

On November 21, 1991, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 ("the 1991 Act") became law. See Civil Rights Act of 1991, Pub.L. No. 102-166, 105 Stat. 1071 (1991). On December 20, 1991, Goldsmith filed a motion for leave to amend her complaint pursuant to the 1991 Act (1) to claim compensatory and punitive damages on the Title VII claim against the City, and (2) to reassert the section 1981 claims against the City and Mayor Shell. See id. §§ 101, 102. On January 15, 1992, the district court ruled that the relevant provisions of the 1991 Act applied retroactively to Goldsmith's claims, and the court therefore granted Goldsmith's motion to amend her complaint. Goldsmith then filed her final amended complaint which contained (1) section 1981 and Title VII claims against the City, and (2) section 1981 and section 1983 claims against Mayor Shell.

The case proceeded to trial on January 27, 1992. At the conclusion of Goldsmith's presentation of evidence, the City and Mayor Shell moved for judgment as a matter of law. The district court granted judgment in favor of the City on Goldsmith's section 1981 claim. In addition, the district court appears to have deemed Goldsmith's section 1983 claim against Mayor Shell abandoned based on the representation by Goldsmith's attorney that Goldsmith could not establish any property interest in her job at the City Clerk's office. 2 In any event, the district court ruled that the "remaining claims"--"this Title 7 claim against the City and the 1981 claim against the defendant, Shell"--would be sent to the jury.

At the conclusion of trial, the district court instructed the jury on Goldsmith's Title VII and section 1981 claims. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Goldsmith on both claims, awarding $15,000 in compensatory damages and assessing Mayor Shell $25,000 in punitive damages. The district court denied the defendants' motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and also denied Goldsmith's request for reinstatement at City Hall. 3 After the district court entered final judgment in accordance with the jury verdict, the City and Mayor Shell filed this appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

On appeal, the City and Mayor Shell challenge the district court's entry of judgment in favor of Goldsmith. Therefore, the only causes of action at issue in this appeal are those on which Goldsmith prevailed: (1) the section 1981 claim against Mayor Shell; and (2) the Title VII claim against the City. The City and Mayor Shell argue that the district court committed numerous errors in applying the law governing section 1981 and Title VII claims. We address only those issues necessary to dispose of this case on appeal.

A. The District Court's Retroactive Application of the 1991 Act

The City and Mayor Shell contend that the district court committed reversible error when it allowed Goldsmith to amend her complaint to invoke the provisions of the 1991 Act. According to the City and Mayor Shell, the 1991 Act does not apply retroactively to cases already pending at the time of its enactment. The district court's decision to give the 1991 Act retroactive effect is a conclusion of law subject to this Court's de novo review. See Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. 232, Inc., 920 F.2d 815, 818 n. 4 (11th Cir.1991); Wright v. Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 913 F.2d 1566, 1572-73 (11th Cir.1990).

In Baynes v. AT & T Technologies, Inc., 976 F.2d 1370, 1372 (11th Cir.1992), this Court held that the provisions of the 1991 Act which (1) expand the causes of action under section 1981, (2) grant the right of trial by jury in Title VII cases, and (3) allow plaintiffs to recover compensatory and punitive damages for Title VII claims, do not apply retroactively to cases in which the district court rendered judgment before the 1991 Act became effective. More recently, this Court concluded that "the reasoning of Baynes ... compels the conclusion that the same provisions of the Act involved in Baynes are not retroactively applicable to cases ... which were pending but had not resulted in final judgment as of the...

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