Goodwin v. Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Mo.

• Decision Date: 06 March 1984
• Docket Number: Nos. 83-1161,s. 83-1161
• Citation: 729 F.2d 541
• Parties: 34 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 347, 33 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,223 Mary Susan GOODWIN, Appellee, v. The CIRCUIT COURT OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, Appellant, and William Corrigan, v. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI. Mary Susan GOODWIN, Appellee, v. The CIRCUIT COURT OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, and William M. Corrigan, Appellant, v. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI. Mary Susan GOODWIN, Appellee, v. The CIRCUIT COURT OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, and William M. Corrigan, Appellees, v. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, Appellant. to 83-1163.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 541

729 F.2d 541

34 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 347,

33 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,223

Mary Susan GOODWIN, Appellee, v. The CIRCUIT COURT OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, Appellant, and William Corrigan, v. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI.

Mary Susan GOODWIN, Appellee, v. The CIRCUIT COURT OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, and William M. Corrigan, Appellant, v. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI.

Mary Susan GOODWIN, Appellee, v. The CIRCUIT COURT OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, and William

M. Corrigan, Appellees, v. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, Appellant.

Nos. 83-1161 to 83-1163.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Nov. 15, 1983.

Decided March 6, 1984.

Shulamith Simon, Mark G. Arnold, Husch, Eppenberger, Donohue, Elson & Cornfeld, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant, Circuit Court of St. Louis County.

Burton Newman, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee Mary Susan Goodwin.

Before ROSS, ARNOLD and BOWMAN, Circuit Judges.

ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

Mary Susan Goodwin, a lawyer, claims that she was removed from her position as a hearing officer for the Juvenile Division of the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, because of her sex. She brought this action against the Circuit Court and Judge William M. Corrigan, presiding judge of the Juvenile Division, under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 2000e et seq. ¹ A jury awarded plaintiff nominal damages of $1 and punitive damages of $1,000 on her Sec. 1983 claim against Judge Corrigan. The District Court ² gave plaintiff a declaratory judgment against the Circuit Court on her Title VII claim, holding that she had been discriminated against because of her sex. ³ The District Court also awarded plaintiff attorneys' fees and costs of $17,972.29, this award being made against the Circuit Court under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(k) and against Judge Corrigan under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988. In addition, the Circuit Court was awarded judgment on its third-party claim against St. Louis County, requiring the County to reimburse the Court for whatever the Court had to pay Goodwin.

Judge Corrigan, the Circuit Court, and the County appeal. We affirm the judgment against Judge Corrigan. There was sufficient evidence to take the case to the jury on the issue of sex discrimination under Section 1983. As to the Title VII claim, we hold that the District Court erroneously placed the burden of proof on the Circuit Court. The judgment against the Court is vacated, and the cause remanded for a new finding to be made under the correct legal standard, which places the burden of persuasion on the issue of discrimination on the plaintiff. The appeal of the third-party defendant St. Louis County will be held in abeyance pending the District Court's new finding on the Title VII claim and our review of that finding. If in the end the Title VII claim is held to be without merit, the third-party action will be moot and fall of its own weight. Judgment against the third-party defendant is based solely on the Title VII judgment against the Circuit Court. Judge Corrigan does not have a judgment over against the County for reimbursement of whatever he must pay out by reason of the Section 1983 claim.

I. The Factual Background.

In November 1971, Judge Robert G.J. Hoester, the Circuit Judge then presiding over the Juvenile Court, hired Goodwin as a hearing officer for the Juvenile Court. She served in this position under four different juvenile judges until March 1979. During this time she heard about 1,000 juvenile status and child neglect cases a year.

In 1979, Judge Corrigan became juvenile judge. He took this job at the urging of several Circuit Judges who felt that he could restore public confidence in the Juvenile Court. Judge Corrigan investigated the situation at the Court and decided to make several changes. One of these changes involved the number of hearing officers. The judge determined that two of the three existing hearing-officer positions could be eliminated, and that the remaining hearing officer would be used to hear juvenile traffic and misdemeanor cases. This remaining position would itself be eliminated if legislation passed removing traffic offenses from Juvenile Court and moving them to adult court. One of the three hearing officers voluntarily stepped down, leaving Goodwin and Craig Donis, who had been a hearing officer for about two years.

On Thursday, March 1, three days before making his decision about whom to retain as a hearing officer, Judge Corrigan stepped into the office of Commissioner Branom at the Juvenile Court and reportedly said, "This court will never run well so long as there are women in charge." ⁴ Judge Corrigan could not remember making the remark but did not deny that he made it. Branom testified that he laughed at this remark and that Judge Corrigan said it smiling, with "a twinkle in his eye," and made the remark partly to "needle" Branom's secretary, Holly Jaeger, whom the judge had frequently "needled" despite the fact that it upset her. He also testified that in his opinion the expression "women in charge" referred to Corinne Richardson, the director of the legal department. Branom said that shortly before the judge made the remark, he had had a conversation with the judge in which Branom expressed his disapproval of an action that Richardson had taken.

The next day Judge Corrigan called upon a four-member committee of Juvenile Court officials to express its preference over who should be retained as a hearing officer and who should be moved into the legal department. Two members voted to retain Donis as a hearing officer (Commissioners Lemay and Branom), and two voted to retain Goodwin (Richardson, director of the legal department, and Ken Hensiek, director of social services and chief juvenile officer). Lemay stated he felt that Donis had a better working knowledge of the law than Goodwin, and Branom stated that Donis was better at trying cases in the courtroom. Richardson testified that she voted to retain Goodwin as a hearing officer because she had prior experience with Donis in the legal department and would feel "comfortable" if he were reassigned there. Hensiek testified that he voted to retain Goodwin as a hearing officer and move Donis to the legal department because he felt Donis had fairly extensive experience with the legal department and was the better person to assume those responsibilities. At the end of the meeting, the judge told the committee members that this was a difficult decision and that he would think about it over the week end and let them know on Monday.

The judge testified that he decided on Sunday, March 3, to retain Donis as hearing officer and move Goodwin into the legal department. He testified that he based this decision on complaints he had heard about Goodwin, specifically that she handled hearings more like a social worker than a judicial officer and that she was deficient in her knowledge of the rules of evidence. On Monday, March 5, he informed Goodwin of his decision.

In October 1980, Goodwin filed this suit for employment discrimination. Shortly thereafter, the judges of the St. Louis County Circuit Court met to discuss the suit. At this meeting, Judge Corrigan stated to Judge Hoester that the litigation was Judge Hoester's fault, because he "had taken [Goodwin] out of the kitchen, taken her apron off, and put a robe on her." Judge Corrigan testified that he was joking when he made this remark. Judge Hoester testified that he knew that Judge Corrigan often made such remarks in jest but on this occasion was not sure whether the remark was intended as a joke or not.

II. The Jury Verdict Under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983.

Judge Corrigan attacks the jury verdict under Sec. 1983 on the following grounds: (1) the District Court committed reversible error by incorrectly instructing the jury that the burden of persuasion was on the defendant; (2) the District Court erred in not instructing the jury on the defense of good-faith immunity; (3) the claim of sex discrimination is not supported by sufficient evidence; and (4) the award of punitive damages is not supported by sufficient evidence and is contrary to the law. ⁵

A. The burden of persuasion.

During the plaintiff's closing argument counsel began to say that the defendant must prove his defense. Counsel for Judge Corrigan objected to this statement as a misstatement of the law. The following dialogue then occurred (Tr. 486-87).

THE COURT: The complication, of course, is that under the existing law the burden on any defendant only becomes a burden if the fact finder finds that the plaintiff has proven a prima facie case of discrimination and that's always subject--because jurors are not accustomed to handling these kinds of cases but under the law, the plaintiff must first make a prima facie showing. Then if the plaintiff makes that prima facie showing the burden shifts to the defendant to show that he did not act in a discriminatory way.

MR. PADBERG: Excuse me, Judge. May I make a record on that, please?

THE COURT: All right. I tell you what we might do. Let me--let me do it this way. I'll sustain the objection to the statement made by Mr. Newman here and we will proceed and you will hear the instructions of the Court. Disregard my oral explanations because I think the instructions make clear to you where the burden and the shifting burden is.

Defense counsel then made no further objection.

The order and burdens of proof laid down by the Supreme Court for Title VII cases apply also to cases of race and sex discrimination in employment brought under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1981 and 1983. See, e.g., Person v. J.S. Alberici Constr. Co., 640 F.2d 916, 918 (8th Cir.1981) (claim of racial discrimination under Sec. 1981). The burden of persuasion remains at all times on the plaintiff. Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 252-56, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 1093-95, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). The District Court's initial statement...