Jauregui v. City of Glendale

• Decision Date: 26 July 1988
• Docket Number: No. 86-6750,86-6750
• Parties: 47 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1860, 47 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,169 Ricardo Luis JAUREGUI, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CITY OF GLENDALE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1128

852 F.2d 1128

47 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1860,

47 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,169

Ricardo Luis JAUREGUI, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CITY OF GLENDALE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 86-6750.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Jan. 7, 1988.

Decided July 26, 1988.

Scott H. Howard, Sr. Asst. City Atty., Glendale, Cal., for defendant-appellant.

David Alkire, Santa Monica, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before FERGUSON, BEEZER and LEAVY, Circuit Judges.

FERGUSON, Circuit Judge:

I.

Officer Ricardo Luis Jauregui is an Hispanic police officer serving in the City of Glendale Police Department ("the City"). Hired as a police officer in 1973, Officer Jauregui has repeatedly, yet unsuccessfully, sought promotion to the rank of Sergeant. Since 1980, he has reached the final stage of the Police Department's promotional process on seven occasions.

The City's process for promoting police officer candidates to the supervisory rank of sergeant includes both a written and an oral examination, as well as points attributed for time on the job and the candidate's most recent performance evaluation. After the tests have been scored and the points attributed, a list is created from which the three persons ranked highest are "certified" (in order of rank) by the Civil Service Commission to the Police Department, in what is traditionally called the "rule of three." ¹ Then, from that list of three candidates, the Chief of Police and the four Police Captains select the officer who will be promoted. This selection committee "assesses the suitability" of a candidate by using a combination of objective documentary criteria and subjective factors, including the candidate's interpersonal relationship skills.

After making the list of three and being passed over for promotion for the seventh time, Officer Jauregui brought suit against the City under both the disparate treatment and disparate impact theories, alleging that he had been discriminated against in violation of Title VII. The City claims that Officer Jauregui was never promoted because he possesses poor interpersonal relationship skills and strong interpersonal skills are essential for a police supervisor. ²

The district court concluded that Officer Jauregui had been discriminated against in violation of Title VII and should be promoted to Sergeant. The City timely appealed, arguing that the District Court made various errors in its findings of fact, conclusions of law, and evidentiary rulings that justify reversal of the judgment "without the necessity of remand." ³

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291.

II.

A.

In Title VII cases, a finding of discriminatory intent is a question of fact and reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. Anderson v. Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 573, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1511, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985). Questions of law are reviewed de novo. Atonio v. Wards Cove Packing Co., Inc., 827 F.2d 439, 443 (9th Cir.1987) (Atonio II ), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 1293, 99 L.Ed.2d 503 (1988). The City argues, however, that de novo review of all issues, including factual determinations, should be applied in cases of strong public interest to both employees and/or public agencies, particularly in Title VII actions involving promotional decisions. We reject this argument.

The standard of review for factual and legal determinations in Title VII cases is well established and leaves no room for variance. Factual findings are incontestably reviewed under the clearly erroneous This standard plainly does not entitle a reviewing court to reverse the finding of the trier of fact simply because it is convinced that it would have decided the case differently ... 'In applying the clearly erroneous standard to the findings of a district court sitting without a jury, appellate courts must constantly have in mind that their function is not to decide factual issues de novo.'

standard and questions of law are reviewed de novo:

Anderson, 470 U.S. at 573, 105 S.Ct. at 1511 (quoting Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 395 U.S. 100, 123, 89 S.Ct. 1562, 1576, 23 L.Ed.2d 129 (1969)). Moreover,

[i]f the district court's account of the evidence is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety, the court of appeals may not reverse it even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly erroneous.

This is so even when the district court's findings do not rest on credibility determinations, but are based instead on physical or documentary evidence or inferences from other facts.

Anderson, 470 U.S. at 573-74, 105 S.Ct. at 1511-12 (citations omitted) (emphasis added); See United States v. Yellow Cab Co., 338 U.S. 338, 342, 70 S.Ct. 177, 179, 94 L.Ed. 150 (1949); Gay v. Waiters' and Dairy Lunchmen's Union, 694 F.2d 531, 540 (9th Cir.1982); see also Yee v. Dep't of Envtl. Serv., Multnomah County, 826 F.2d 877, 880 (9th Cir.1987). "More than mere lip service to this standard requires that we ... not ransack the record, searching for mistakes." Casillas v. United States Navy, 735 F.2d 338, 342-43 (9th Cir.1984) (citations omitted). We therefore refuse to adopt the City's contention, since to do so would require that we ignore well-established and well-reasoned precedent.

B.

The City next argues that the District Court erred in several of its evidentiary rulings and findings of fact, and suggests that these errors are so egregious as to warrant reversal of the judgment. Evidentiary rulings, however, "are not reversible absent clear abuse of discretion," Clady v. County of Los Angeles, 770 F.2d 1421, 1433 (9th Cir.1985) (citation omitted), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1109, 106 S.Ct. 1516, 89 L.Ed.2d 915 (1986), and this court cannot reverse "absent some prejudice." Cassino v. Reichhold Chemicals, Inc., 817 F.2d 1338, 1342 (9th Cir.1987) (citation omitted), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 785, 98 L.Ed.2d 870 (1988).

The trier of fact must assess the evidence admitted, make credibility determinations and, ultimately, make findings of fact. These decisions are entitled to substantial deference. See Anderson, 470 U.S. at 575, 105 S.Ct. at 1512. In reaching these decisions, the "trier of fact may properly reject uncontradicted testimony so long as it does so with good reason." Frank Music Corp. v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., 772 F.2d 505, 514 n. 8 (9th Cir.1985) (citing NLRB v. Klaue, 523 F.2d 410, 414 (9th Cir.1975)). "Such evidence properly may be rejected because of its inherent unbelievability, because a witness's demeanor raises doubt as to his sincerity, or because the testimony is clouded with uncertainty." Id. (citing Woods v. United States, 724 F.2d 1444, 1452 (9th Cir.1984); Lewis & Taylor, Inc. v. Commissioner, 447 F.2d 1074, 1077 (9th Cir.1971)). See also Smith v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 800 F.2d 930, 935 (9th Cir.1986). Furthermore, this court has noted that "the district judge may accept some statistical inferences and reject others based upon his perception of the oral and documentary evidence placed before him." Contreras v. City of Los Angeles, 656 F.2d 1267, 1273 (9th Cir.1981) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1021, 102 S.Ct. 1719, 72 L.Ed.2d 140 (1982).

1.

The City wished to present testimony from Officer Jauregui's former wife and her sister to support the City's defense that During the trial, the City elicited testimony from approximately twenty-six persons regarding Officer Jauregui's interpersonal relationship skills. The City sought to bring forth several additional witnesses to offer similar testimony. The district court refused to allow these witnesses to testify, concluding that such testimony would be cumulative.

Officer Jauregui possessed poor interpersonal relationship skills. The district court refused to allow this testimony on the ground that it was irrelevant since it related to events dating far before the relevant period of the lawsuit. ⁴

The City also sought to introduce testimony regarding the City-wide anti-discrimination procedures that have been in force since 1983. Three Black officers had testified that although they were victims of discrimination, they made no formal complaints through this system because they believed that to do so would be fruitless. ⁵ The City sought to discredit their testimony by showing that the system was indeed effective since complaints had been filed in other City departments. The district court refused this testimony, finding it irrelevant, because the lawsuit was not directed at the City of Glendale generally, but rather at the Police Department specifically.

The only apparent "prejudice" suffered by the City as a result of these evidentiary rulings is that they lost the case. Such is not sufficient prejudice, otherwise every losing party could obtain a reversal based on that fact alone. To show reversible prejudice a party must demonstrate that the allegedly erroneous evidentiary ruling more probably than not was the cause of the result reached by the court. Kisor v. Johns-Manville Corp., 783 F.2d 1337, 1340 (9th Cir.1986). Moreover, the record offers nothing which indicates that the district court in any way abused its discretion in making these evidentiary decisions.

2.

The City challenges the accuracy of the district court's findings that at the time of trial and during the relevant time period, the supervisory levels of the Glendale Police Department were composed exclusively of white males. ⁶ These factual determinations, however, were made in accordance with a pre-trial conference order approved by the City.

A district court may issue a pre-trial conference order establishing facts and formulating issues to be resolved at trial under Federal Rule of Civil...