Jones v. Robinson Property Group, L.P.
| Decision Date | 11 October 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-60688.,No. 04-60924.,04-60688.,04-60924. |
| Citation | 427 F.3d 987 |
| Parties | Ralph JONES; et al., Plaintiffs, Ralph Jones, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROBINSON PROPERTY GROUP, L.P., d/b/a Horseshoe Casino & Hotel, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Marc L. Schatten (argued), Glankler Brown, Memphis, TN, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
R. Pepper Crutcher, Jr., Deborah Lynn McNeely (argued), Balch & Bingham, Jackson, MS, for Defendant-Appellee.
Jason Michael Mayo (argued), E.E.O.C., Houston, TX, for U.S. Equal Opportunity Com'n, Amicus Curiae.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Before DAVIS, STEWART and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.
Ralph Jones appeals the district court's decision to grant summary judgment to Robinson Property Group in his race discrimination suit. Jones also appeals the district court's denial of his motion for leave to amend his complaint to add a claim of retaliation. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand this case back to the district court.
Appellant Ralph Jones (Jones) is an African-American male living in Tunica County, Mississippi. He is a certified poker dealer who has worked in various casinos as a poker dealer and in other capacities. He has also dealt in several major poker tournaments, including the World Poker Open held at the Horseshoe Casino. It is undisputed that Jones is a well qualified poker dealer, whose dealing skills are better than the average poker dealer in Tunica County, Mississippi.
Appellee Robinson Property Group (RPG) first opened the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel in Tunica, Mississippi, in 1995. Ken Lambert has served as the poker room manager at the Horseshoe since that time.
Jones alleges that he has repeatedly sought and been refused a position with RPG. Jones first applied for a position at Horseshoe in late 1994, before the casino opened. The parties dispute whether Jones sought a position as a poker room supervisor or a poker dealer. Lambert claims that Jones applied for a position as a poker room supervisor and when he informed Jones that the position had been taken, he offered Jones a position as a poker dealer instead, which Jones declined. Jones denies that Lambert offered him a poker dealer position. In May 1995, Jones applied for a poker floor person and a poker dealer position at Horseshoe. Jones was not hired for either position. Two weeks later, Jones complained to Anna West, Horseshoe's Director of Human Resources, that his non-hiring was due to racism. Jones asked her whether the casino had a problem with hiring blacks as poker dealers because he observed that there were no African-Americans working at the Horseshoe as poker dealers at that time. Lambert was summoned to respond to Jones' question. Lambert responded to Jones' complaint by stating that there were no qualified African-American poker dealers in Tunica County. Jones informed him that there were at least five qualified African-Americans in the area, including himself. Lambert testified that he became indignant at Jones' accusation, and he felt "misjudged" and "embarrassed." He claims that he nonetheless offered Jones a position as a poker dealer again. When Jones refused and he persisted in his racial allegations, Lambert testified that his feelings became hurt and he ended the conversation. Jones denies that he was offered a position as a poker dealer.
Between 1995 and 2002, Jones submitted applications for a poker dealer position no less than 10 times. Horseshoe has employed Jones in other departments and on a temporary basis as a poker dealer during high profile poker tournaments; however, Jones has never been hired by Horseshoe on a permanent basis. The record reveals that during the relevant time period the Horseshoe was hiring poker dealers for permanent positions. The Horseshoe generally employs a staff of 40-45 poker dealers. On the heels of Jones' discrimination allegation, Lambert immediately hired three African-American individuals as permanent poker dealers. In addition, Horseshoe hired at least nine white poker dealers in 1995. In May 1999, the Horseshoe hired one white poker dealer. In 2000, the Horseshoe hired five white poker dealers. The Horseshoe added six additional white poker dealers in 2001 and four white poker dealers in the first eight months of 2002. In September 2002, Jones filed his charge of discrimination with the EEOC. In the nine months preceding Jones' discrimination charge, the Horseshoe added thirteen full time poker dealers — ten were white, one was Asian-American and two were African-American.
Two former Horseshoe employees allege that Ken Lambert has made racially offensive statements during his tenure at the casino. Lesley Mims, a poker dealer and part-time supervisor at Horseshoe until 2001, claimed that Lambert used the n-word "very often," although later in her deposition she testified that he used the n-word "without any qualms whatsoever" but it wasn't very often. She testified that in 1997 or 1998, a highly qualified African-American female applied for a position as a poker dealer, but was not hired. She also stated that she queried Lambert as to why such a talented black woman was not hired, to which Lambert allegedly responded "these good old white boys don't want black people touching their cards." Later, Mims averred that she actually could not remember whether it was Lambert or Jim Presley, Lambert's assistant at the time, who made the statement. Mims claimed that this discriminatory attitude was prevalent at Horseshoe. As proof, she noted that there were very few black dealers employed at the Horseshoe even though there were qualified black dealers available in the area. Sam Thomas, a former Horseshoe employee, claims that Lambert told him in 1994 or 1995, "maybe I've been told not to hire too many blacks in the poker room."
Lambert denies ever making the comments attributed to him or that racial animus ever infected his hiring decision. He testified that his refusal to hire Jones resulted from his conclusion that "Ralph Jones is not a well-liked person." He contends that two of his shift supervisors told him that Jones is not well liked. However, the two shift supervisors Lambert named, Brooks Bradley and Terry Bargy, deny ever giving a negative opinion of Jones to Lambert. To the contrary, Bargy testified that he liked Jones and Bradley stated that Jones was a "nice guy." Lambert also testified that his decision not to hire Jones was based on his own observation that Jones is "pushy." He doubts Jones' integrity based on the fact that Jones misjudged him by accusing him of race discrimination in 1995.
On September 3, 2002, Jones filed a charge of race discrimination with the EEOC alleging that Lambert, and thus RPG, refused to hire him as a poker dealer because of his race. After obtaining a right to sue letter from the EEOC, Jones filed suit on January 6, 2003, alleging race discrimination under Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The complaint also alleged Lambert and RPG committed race discrimination against another plaintiff, Nathaniel Allen.1 On January 28, 2004, Jones petitioned the district court for leave to amend his complaint to add a claim that RPG refused to hire him in retaliation for his complaints of discrimination. The magistrate judge recommended that the motion to amend be denied on the ground that Jones had not adequately explained the delay in filing the motion to amend. The district court agreed with the magistrate judge's determination and denied the motion. The district court subsequently granted summary judgment against Jones on his race discrimination claim. The district court held that Jones had not submitted direct evidence of racial discrimination and Jones had failed to establish a prima facie discrimination case using circumstantial evidence. After granting summary judgment in favor of RPG, the district court's clerk granted RPG's motion for costs under Rule 54(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Jones appealed the award of costs to the district court on the grounds that he is indigent and cannot afford to pay. The district court affirmed the clerk's order taxing costs. Jones filed a timely appeal from the district court's rulings.
This court reviews the grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment de novo, applying the same legal standards as the district court applied to determine whether summary judgment was appropriate. Lamar Adver. Co. v. Cont'l Cas. Co., 396 F.3d 654, 659 (5th Cir.2005) (citation omitted). A summary judgment motion is properly granted only when, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, the record indicates that there is "no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." FED.R.CIV.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
We review the district court's denial of a leave to amend for abuse of discretion. Schiller v. Physicians Res. Group Inc., 342 F.3d 563, 566 (5th Cir.2003) (citations omitted).
Jones presents a claim for discrimination under both Title VII and § 1981, but the analysis under both statutes are identical, Raggs v. Mississippi Power & Light Co., 278 F.3d 463, 468 (5th Cir.2002), the only substantive differences between the two statutes being their respective statute of limitations and the requirement under Title VII that the employee exhaust administrative remedies. See Celestine v. Petroleos de Venezuella SA, 266 F.3d 343, 351 (5th Cir.2001); see also Cervantes v. IMCO, Halliburton Servs., 724 F.2d 511, 513 n. 4 (5th Cir.1984). Because neither of these differences are pertinent here, we need not separately analyze the merits of the claim under each statute...
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