Kline v. City of Kan. City
| Decision Date | 15 February 2011 |
| Docket Number | No. WD 72208.,WD 72208. |
| Citation | 334 S.W.3d 632,111 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1126 |
| Parties | Kathleen KLINE, Appellant,v.CITY OF KANSAS CITY, Missouri, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Supreme Court Denied March 29, 2011.
Application for Transfer Denied
April 26, 2011.
Karen K. Howard and Joseph H. DeCuyper, Jr., Kansas City, MO, for appellant.Saskia C.M. Jacobse and Jamie L. Cook, Kansas City, MO, for respondent.Before Division Three: CYNTHIA L. MARTIN, Presiding Judge, GARY D. WITT, Judge and ZEL M. FISCHER, Special Judge.GARY D. WITT, Judge.
Kathleen Kline appeals the judgment of the trial court, which denied both her motion for new trial and motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict after a jury rejected her claims against the City of Kansas City, Missouri. Kline filed suit against the City for sex discrimination and retaliation pursuant to the Missouri Human Rights Act, section 213.010 1 et seq. , as it pertained to her prior employment with the Fire Department. We affirm.
From 1977 to 2006, Kline was employed as a firefighter with the Kansas City Fire Department (“Department”). At the time she resigned in 2006, Kline had been promoted several times to reach the position of battalion chief (only the fire chief and deputy chiefs are higher in the chain of command pursuant to the Department's organization).
Kline and the City have a history of employment related lawsuits, which will only be summarized as necessary for the purposes of the instant dispute on appeal. In 1994, Kline filed a Title VII lawsuit in the United States District Court, Western District of Missouri. After prevailing on her sex discrimination and retaliation claims against the City in a jury trial in 1997, Kline was awarded damages and the equitable relief of the trial court ordering the City to retroactively promote Kline to the position of battalion chief.
In 1999, Kline filed a second Title VII lawsuit against the City in the United States District Court, Western District of Missouri, which also alleged claims of sex discrimination and retaliation. This lawsuit alleged, inter alia, that the City discriminated against women by failing to provide locker-rooms to female firefighters that were comparable to the ones provided to male firefighters. After a plenary trial, the jury returned a verdict in Kline's favor in 2001.
In 2007, Kline filed the instant lawsuit against the City in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, which, as amended, alleged two claims pursuant to the Missouri Human Rights Act (“MHRA”), section 213.010 et seq. MHRA was enacted by the Missouri General Assembly, inter alia, “[t]o ... eliminate and prevent discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age as it relates to employment, [or] disability.” Section 213.030.1(1).
In Count One, Kline alleged that the City discriminated against her based upon her sex in violation of Section 213.055. The basis of Kline's sex discrimination claim was grounded in two distinct theories. To begin, Kline outlined her previous successful litigation against the City, and alleged that “[d]espite a jury verdict against Defendant ... during the period of January, 2001, through cessation of her employment, no efforts were made by Defendant to eliminate the discriminatory working conditions as to Plaintiff's facilities.” Specifically, Kline alleged that the “fire stations to which Kline was assigned to and sent to for business reasons did not have equal and/or comparable facilities as Defendant provided to its male Fire Department employees” and contended that the City was required by law to provide separate facilities “for women to wash and dress.”
Kline further alleged that the City discriminated against her based on her sex as it pertained to her July 2006 request “of Chief Dyer to trade posts with Battalion Chief Randy Mullens whose station had female facilities.” Although Kline acknowledged in her Petition that “Chief Dyer denied the trade request for the reason the battalion chief who agreed to trade with Kline had not been in his position for [the required] three years,” Kline alleged that this failure to grant the trade was based on discrimination because others had previously been allowed to transfer notwithstanding the fact that they “had not been in their positions for three years.”
In Count Two, Kline alleged that the City unlawfully retaliated against her pursuant to Section 213.070 because Kline initiated previous litigation against the City, as outlined above. Because she engaged in these protected activities, Kline alleged that she was “subjected to adverse actions by Defendant to wit: (a) Defendant never remedied Kline's unequal facilities and she was subjected to discriminating working conditions, (b) Plaintiff made a request for a trade which was denied by Chief Dyer, and (c) Defendant engaged in retaliatory discipline of Kline.”
From December 16, 2009, to December 22, 2009, these claims were tried before a jury, with counsel for each party presenting copious evidence to support their respective theories of the case.
The City presented the following (summarized) evidence to defend against Kline's claims of discrimination and retaliation. In October 2000, the City Manager hired Richard Dyer (“Dyer”) as the Fire Chief. One of the main goals the City had in hiring Dyer was to remedy the situation(s) that had resulted in Kline's prior successful litigation. To accomplish this goal, the City implemented a plan to convert fire stations into “gender plus facilities” that were “unisex” and allowed each firefighter privacy in that they were to sleep in a cubicle and use a restroom that could be locked for privacy. The goal of the City was not to convert all of the Department's facilities at one time because the cost would be too great; instead, in 2001 the City passed, via a general election, a fifteen year fire sales tax to pay the cost of updating the facilities, which would be updated as the funds became available to the Department. Some facilities would be remodeled to provide “gender plus facilities” while others would be completely replaced by new buildings with “gender plus facilities.”
At trial, Kline admitted that during the relevant time period no one ever walked in on her while using a restroom or shower, nor did she ever walk in on anyone else.
Prior to Dyer being hired as the Chief of the Department, battalion chiefs had free rein to decide how to handle trade assignments themselves because the Department had no rules pertaining to these trades. Dyer believed that this system was inefficient and limited his ability to manage the Department. Accordingly, in 2002, Dyer set up a policy for the Department wherein trades would not be granted for battalion chiefs unless both participants had served at least three years in their current capacity, or there was a showing of extraordinary circumstances.
In 2006, Kline requested a mutual trade with Randy Mullens, allegedly so that she could work at a station with separate female facilities. Dyer denied the trade request on multiple grounds: (1) Mullens had only been at District 108 for approximately six months; (2) if the trade had been allowed there would have been three battalion chiefs at District 108 in a seven month period; (3) Dyer had heard from another employee of the Department that Kline had intended to retire during August 2006; and (4) neither Kline nor Mullens presented to Dyer any extraordinary circumstances that necessitated the trade.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of the City on both counts.
Kline subsequently filed a motion for new trial, and a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. On March 2, 2010, the trial court entered its judgment denying both of Kline's motions.
Kline now appeals, bringing seven Points. Further facts will be outlined as relevant in the analysis section below.
On appeal, Kline brings six Points that allege the trial court erred in denying her motion for new trial. Gallagher v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 238 S.W.3d 157, 162 (Mo.App. E.D.2007), outlined the appropriate standard of review for these claims:
We review the trial court's denial of a motion for new trial for abuse of discretion. We will reverse the trial court's decision only where we find a substantial or glaring injustice.... An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court's ruling is clearly against the logic of the circumstances before the court at the time and is so unreasonable and arbitrary that it shocks one's sense of justice and indicates a lack of careful consideration.
Id. (citations omitted).
In Point One, Kline argues that the trial court erred in denying her motion for new trial because the trial court should have prevented the City's witnesses from testifying “to facts which [the City] did not disclose prior to trial” in violation of applicable discovery rules. “A trial judge has wide latitude in ruling on whether to admit or exclude evidence.” Giles v. Riverside Transp., Inc., 266 S.W.3d 290, 295 (Mo.App. W.D.2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). “Under Rule 61.01, a trial court may admit or exclude testimony where a party provides incomplete or evasive answers to discovery requests, including interrogatories.” Mitchell v. Schnucks Mkts., Inc., 100 S.W.3d 109, 112 (Mo.App. E.D.2002). “We defer to the trial court's broad discretion in administering the rules of discovery.” Feiteira v. Clark Equip. Co., 236 S.W.3d 54, 61 (Mo.App.E.D.2007). “When a discovery ruling is challenged, we consider whether the challenged act, under the totality of the circumstances, has resulted in prejudice or unfair surprise.” Id.
On appeal, Kline focuses on two specific examples wherein she alleges the City presented “new evidence” at trial that should have been previously disclosed during discovery. Both of these...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Manzara v. State
...appellate courts are not advocates and, generally, issues not raised by the parties will not be addressed. See Kline v. City of Kansas City, 334 S.W.3d 632, 640 (Mo.App.2011). Nonetheless, because of the importance of this issue, were this issue dispositive I would be in favor of asking for......
-
Host v. BNSF Ry. Co.
...proposition that a copy of the statute or regulation can be admitted into evidence as an exhibit. See, e.g., Kline v. City of Kansas City, 334 S.W.3d 632, 645 (Mo.App.W.D.2011) (noting plaintiffs argument that statutes should have been admitted into evidence because she had standing to sue ......
-
J.C.M. v. J.K.M.
...objection")."[W]e will not convict a trial court of error on an issue that it had no chance to decide." Kline v. City of Kansas City , 334 S.W.3d 632, 641 n.4 (Mo. App. W.D. 2011) (quoting Goralnik v. United Fire & Cas. Co. , 240 S.W.3d 203, 210 (Mo. App. E.D. 2007) ). Father’s point is den......
-
Rayman v. Abbott Ambulance, Inc., ED 105126
...to brief them on appeal, would manipulate the adversarial process and interfere with the court’s neutrality. Kline v. City of Kan. City, 334 S.W.3d 632, 648 (Mo. App. W.D. 2011) ; see also First State Bank of St. Charles v. Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co., 277 S.W.3d 749, 753 (Mo. App. E.D. 2008) ......