Jeffreys v. My Friend's Place, Inc.

• Decision Date: 26 July 1989
• Docket Number: No. 3-89-0049.,3-89-0049.
• Parties: Kirby A. JEFFREYS v. MY FRIEND'S PLACE, INC.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee

719 F. Supp. 639

Kirby A. JEFFREYS v. MY FRIEND'S PLACE, INC.

No. 3-89-0049.

United States District Court, M.D. Tennessee, Nashville Division.

July 26, 1989.

Jon D. Ross, Neal & Harwell, Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiff.

M. Reid Estes, Jr., Nashville, Tenn., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM

HIGGINS, District Judge.

On January 17, 1989, this action was brought by the plaintiff, Kirby A. Jeffreys, against the defendant, My Friend's Place, Inc. (MFP), doing business as Addictions Shoe Salon, of which the plaintiff was an employee. In his complaint, the plaintiff alleges that MFP, in violation of 28 U.S.C. § 1875 and Tennessee law, intimidated, coerced, threatened to discharge and did discharge him because he was selected for jury service by the courts.

On January 17, 1989, the plaintiff also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, directing that he be reinstated to the position of employment that he held with the defendant MFP prior to September 17, 1988. This matter was heard on January 25, 26, 27 and 31, 1989, on the plaintiff's motion. As these findings demonstrate, a preliminary injunction directing the defendant MFP to reinstate the plaintiff to his previous position as manager of Addictions is warranted under the applicable law and is necessary to protect jury service by citizens called upon to do their duty, the integrity of the federal judicial system and the right to trial by jury.

The Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1875 and the doctrine of pendent jurisdiction.

I.

The defendant MFP is a Tennessee corporation. MFP was doing business as Addictions Shoe Salon (Addictions), a retail establishment engaged in the sale of shoes in Green Hills Mall in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee. Mrs. Jennifer Isaacs is the President of MFP, and her husband, Mr. William Patrick Isaacs, is its Secretary. At all times relevant to these proceedings, Mrs. Jennifer Isaacs was acting within the scope of her authority as President and sole shareholder of defendant MFP, and Mr. William Patrick Isaacs was acting within the scope of his authority as Secretary of MFP.

From October 13, 1986 until September 17, 1988, the plaintiff was employed by MFP as manager of Addictions.

On or about August 6, 1987, the plaintiff received a summons to appear as a petit juror in this District. At that time, he requested to be excused temporarily from jury duty due in part to a conflict with a scheduled buying trip by plaintiff for defendant's shoe salon. Plaintiff's request was granted by the Court. (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 1.)

In December of 1987, the plaintiff was again summoned to appear as a petit juror. On December 11, 1987, Mrs. Isaacs telephoned Ms. Shari Tipton, the Deputy Clerk of this Court responsible for administering this District's plan for the random selection of petit jurors, regarding Mr. Jeffrey's jury service. From the testimony presented at the hearing it was clear that during this conversation Mrs. Isaacs was angry, rude and insulting to Ms. Tipton. Ms. Tipton stated that Mrs. Isaacs asked whether Ms. Tipton knew anything about the retail business and stated that she could not believe that Mr. Jeffreys had been summoned at such a busy time of year. Mrs. Isaacs asked that Mr. Jeffreys be excused. Ms. Tipton responded by advising Mrs. Isaacs that Mr. Jeffreys had not inform her there was a problem with his jury service and that if he had, she would have tried to work out something. She further informed Mrs. Isaacs that it was the practice of the Court to accommodate reasonable requests of jurors to be excused and reminded her that Mr. Jeffreys had been excused earlier in August of 1987.

Ms. Tipton removed Mr. Jeffreys' name from the list of jurors scheduled to appear on December 14, 1987, advised Mrs. Isaacs that Mr. Jeffreys was being excused¹ and asked Mrs. Isaacs to send a letter to the Court explaining the circumstances and setting forth the reasons for the request that Mr. Jeffreys be excused from jury service. Ms. Tipton also advised Mrs. Isaacs that if she or Mr. Jeffreys wanted a permanent excuse a request would have to be made to the Court.

Even though the Court did not receive such a letter from Mrs. Isaacs pertaining to the plaintiff's December jury service, Mr. Jeffreys was excused by the Court from jury service in December 1987 and was not absent from his job at that time.

In February 1988 Mr. Jeffreys was again summoned to appear as a petit juror. He again was excused from jury service for reasons concerning his employment with MFP. On April 18, 1988, the plaintiff was summoned to appear as a petit juror, at which time he was selected to serve on a jury and served in this Court on April 18, 19 and 20, 1988.

About a month later, Mr. Jeffreys received notice to appear as a petit juror on May 23, 1988. Ms. Tipton testified that on May 18, 1988, Mrs. Isaacs again telephoned her and spoke to her in an extremely rude and abusive manner. Mrs. Isaacs told Ms. Tipton that the plaintiff was the manager and buyer for Addictions and that he would not be coming in for jury duty unless Ms. Tipton wanted to come out and run the shoe store while Mr. Jeffreys served. Ms. Tipton told Mrs. Isaacs that she would remove him from jury service on May 23rd. Ms. Tipton further informed Mrs. Isaacs that she would have to call Mr. Jeffreys again in the future for jury service unless Mrs. Isaacs wrote a letter to the Court requesting that the plaintiff be excused from jury duty and the Court excused him permanently.

Subsequent to this May 18 telephone conversation, the Court received a letter from Mrs. Isaacs wherein she requested that Mr. Jeffreys be excused permanently from jury service for the remainder of 1988 and 1989 and further stated that she could not operate her business with the plaintiff gone. (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 3.) Although the Court denied defendant's request that plaintiff be excused permanently from jury service, plaintiff was excused from appearing in May 1988.

Mr. Jeffreys was again summoned to appear on June 27, 1988. On June 23, 1988, Mrs. Isaacs again had two telephone conversations with Ms. Tipton. The testimony shows that during both of these conversations, Mrs. Isaacs was threatening, angry, rude and abusive to Ms. Tipton. (Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 5). In the first telephone conversation on June 23th, Mrs. Isaacs advised Ms. Tipton that plaintiff was the manager of her store in Green Hills and that the store would have to close if plaintiff reported for jury service. Mrs. Isaacs further stated that she would call the Mayor's office, the media — that she would go to whomever she had to — but that plaintiff was not coming in for jury service the following Monday, June 27th, as he had been summoned to do. According to Ms. Tipton's testimony, Mrs. Isaacs repeated several times: "He will not be there Monday, I'm telling you right now, he will not be there Monday." She even told Ms. Tipton that she could "send the Marshal out." Mrs. Isaacs told Ms. Tipton that if Mr. Jeffreys reported for jury duty, he would lose his job and that she would "leave the decision in the plaintiff's hands — he could report to jury duty or he could keep his job." Ms. Tipton informed Mrs. Isaacs that there were laws against firing employees because of their service on jury duty, to which Mrs. Isaacs responded by saying that she would find another reason to fire the plaintiff. The Court credits the testimony of Ms. Tipton. Although in Court Mrs. Isaacs denied threatening to fire Mr. Jeffreys in this June 23rd conversation with Ms. Tipton, she did admit that Ms. Tipton told her that it was illegal to discharge an employee because of jury service. Ms. Tipton had no reason to provide Mrs. Isaacs with this information had Mrs. Isaacs not been threatening to fire Mr. Jeffreys. The alleged conduct of MFP, through its agent, Mrs. Isaacs, in threatening to discharge Mr. Jeffreys by reason of his jury service constitutes a violation of 28 U.S.C. § 1875.

Later in the day, Mrs. Isaacs again telephoned Ms. Tipton and stated that she had spoken with someone from the Mayor's office who wanted to know the name of the judge. Ms. Tipton gave the name and telephone number of the Chief Judge of this Court, the Honorable Thomas A. Wiseman, Jr.

Subsequently, Mrs. Isaacs telephoned Judge Wiseman with regard to plaintiff's jury service and left a message requesting that he return her call. Judge Wiseman returned Mrs. Isaacs' call and left a message for her, which in substance was that the plaintiff would report for jury duty on the following Monday and that if he did not report, Judge Wiseman would send the United States Marshal to bring him and Mrs. Isaacs into Court.

Mrs. Isaacs returned Judge Wiseman's call, at which time he informed her that he had been advised by Ms. Tipton that Mrs. Isaacs had threatened to fire Mr. Jeffreys and that the plaintiff would lose his job if he reported for jury duty the following Monday. The record shows that Judge Wiseman further advised Mrs. Isaacs that it was against the law for Mrs. Isaacs to fire Mr. Jeffreys or to take any adverse personnel action against him because of his jury duty. Mrs. Isaacs then told Judge Wiseman, in an abrasive and hostile manner, that the plaintiff was not going to serve and that she would go to the Mayor, the news media, or do whatever she had to do, but that Mr. Jeffreys was not going to serve on jury duty. When Judge Wiseman was firm with Mrs. Isaacs on the telephone concerning firing Mr. Jeffreys because of his jury service, she told him that she would find a reason to fire Mr. Jeffreys.² The conduct of MFP, through its agent, Mrs. Isaacs, in threatening to discharge Mr. Jeffreys by reason of his jury service in the telephone conversation with Judge Wiseman on June 23, 1988, constitutes a violation of 28 U.S.C. § 1875.

Mrs. Isaacs also threatened the plaintiff personally that she would fire him if he reported...