Knox v. State of Ind.

• Decision Date: 26 August 1996
• Docket Number: Nos. 95-1858,95-1902,s. 95-1858
• Citation: 93 F.3d 1327
• Parties: 71 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1519, 68 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,268 Kristi Blackburn KNOX, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. STATE OF INDIANA, Defendant-Appellant/Cross-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 1327

93 F.3d 1327

71 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1519,

68 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,268

Kristi Blackburn KNOX, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. STATE OF INDIANA, Defendant-Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

Nos. 95-1858, 95-1902.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued January 4, 1996.

Decided August 26, 1996.

Richard L. Darst (argued), Mantel, Cohen, Garelick, Reiswerg & Fishman, Indianapolis, IN, for Kristi Blackburn Knox.

Sabra A. Weliever (argued), Civ. Rights Section, Seth M. Lahn, Office of Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, IN, for State of Ind., in No. 95-1902.

Sabra A. Weliever (argued), Civ. Rights Section, Pamela Carter, Office of Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, IN, for State of Ind., in No. 95-1858.

Before ROVNER, DIANE P. WOOD, and EVANS, Circuit Judges.

DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judge.

Kristi Knox is employed as a correctional officer at the Correctional Industrial Complex (CIC) in Pendleton, Indiana. Subjected to blatant sexual harassment on the job, she brought this case under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5, against the State. After a jury trial, the jury returned a split verdict, ruling for Knox on one claim and the State on two others. The State appealed and Knox cross-appealed, both claiming that the jury instructions on the claims they lost were flawed, and both claiming that the evidence did not support the jury verdicts adverse to them. Bearing in mind the deference we owe to a jury verdict, we conclude that all three verdicts were sufficiently supported by the evidence, and that the instructions adequately stated the governing law. We therefore affirm the district court on all counts.

I

At the CIC, Knox first worked on "the line" of correctional officers on the second shift (3:15 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.). (At the times relevant to this case, she had not yet married, and thus her name appears as Kristi Blackburn in many parts of the record. We refer to her here as Knox, in keeping with the name she has used in this court.) Some time around October of 1990, she changed to the first shift because of the more reasonable hours. It was then that she first encountered Captain Robert Stewart. Stewart was the Lead Captain, who supervised all other captains, lieutenants, sergeants, and other correctional officers at CIC. He was, therefore, Knox's supervisor.

Starting in December 1991, Stewart began sending Knox electronic mail messages asking her for sex. He often propositioned Knox using acronyms; for example, he frequently asked her whether she wanted to have a HGTWM, which was later translated as a "horizontal good time with me." Stewart also repeatedly asked Knox out on dates, calling her on the telephone and leaving messages reminding her to check her e-mail. Whenever Knox would tell Stewart that she was not interested in dating him, or in having sex with him, he would ask her why not and pursue her further. On one occasion, when Knox turned him down (because she was involved with another man who she eventually married), Stewart responded, "Well, then, we can just maybe have sex." After Knox again rejected him, Stewart replied that he "definitely saw a shift change in [her] future." Knox was frightened, because she needed her job and Stewart was in a position to recommend, and perhaps effect, such a change.

After Stewart learned that Knox might have broken up with her boyfriend, his overtures (which had never stopped) increased. Knox responded to some of them equivocally, promising to write back later via e-mail, but always turning down Stewart's immediate proposals for sex, or (on one occasion) to "makeout." Stewart's friends at the CIC were also pressuring her to respond to him, frequently telling her that Stewart was "hot for her," and that he "wants her really bad." The language was often graphic, and the record leaves no doubt that Stewart was trying to set up a sexual encounter.

In February 1992, the day after Stewart called Knox at home asking for a date, Knox talked to Lisa Watson, another correctional officer, and told her the whole story. Watson told Knox that she had to report Stewart's actions. Watson then talked to Sergeant Vittatoe, who was Watson's immediate supervisor, who in turn spoke with Knox. Knox told Vittatoe the whole story, too, including Stewart's threat to change her shift. Vittatoe responded that this was sexual harassment and that it was his duty as a supervisor to report it. He did so, recounting the entire situation to Jayne Brown, the CIC affirmative action officer, on February 7, 1992.

That evening, Brown met with Knox, Vittatoe, and Watson to discuss Knox's statements about Stewart. According to Brown's notes, she was convinced that "Stewart previously, then recently, has created a very uncomfortable working condition for [Knox]. He made it known from the start that his intentions were purely sexual. [Knox] is in fear of retaliation, gossip, losing her job, etc." Brown asked Knox, Watson, and Vittatoe to make written statements, which they did, on that same day. On February 11, 1992, Willard Plank, Investigator for the Internal Affairs Division of the Department of Corrections (DOC), interviewed Knox, while the DOC had Lonnise Robinson interview Stewart. The report Knox filed with Brown, and her subsequent discussion with Plank, constituted her formal complaint to the DOC.

Stewart initially denied any knowledge of why Knox would have filed a complaint against him, but his tune changed when he found out that the investigator had copies of the e-mails he had sent to Knox. He then admitted that he understood how his behavior could be interpreted as sexual harassment. Indeed, this was not the first time Stewart had found himself in this kind of situation. At the disciplinary hearing that took place on February 27, 1992, approximately two weeks after his interview with Robinson, Stewart acknowledged that he had had a sexual relationship with another subordinate, Laura Callahan (a correctional officer at the Indiana Reformatory), about which the same superintendent had spoken to him within the past six months. Stewart admitted that while he was engaged in the sexual relationship with Callahan, he had given her an inappropriately favorable evaluation. And Callahan was not the only other one. Michelle Rowland, another female officer at the CIC, testified that Stewart had made graphic sexual proposals to her as well (for example, asking whether she was "ready to be the buffet for the day."). Stewart also had a relationship with Officer Beth Wadsworth, also from the CIC, who later left the institution.

On March 4, 1992, the superintendent issued his report and recommendation regarding the harassment allegations filed by Knox. In his Pre-Deprivation Meeting Minutes (his written record of findings), the superintendent found that Stewart had engaged in sexual discrimination. The minutes recounted Stewart's past problems with workplace sexual liaisons and noted that he had been "individually ... talked to on several occasions" about "social/sexual overtures to subordinates." After review of the report submitted by the Internal Affairs Division of DOC, Stewart was found guilty of engaging in sex discrimination and in conduct unbecoming staff. The report referred to the "constant and repeated warnings which have been provided to you, along with the material that you had an opportunity to read and sign indicating that you understand what sexual harassment is." The superintendent ordered that Stewart be reduced in rank from Lead Captain to Correctional Officer immediately and that he be given a written reprimand in lieu of being suspended from duty without pay for ten days. The minutes concluded by stating as follows:

Your continued conduct of social and sexual proposals to female staff impose a substantial civil liability not only to yourself, as an individual, but to the Major, to Mr. Dueth, and myself and upon the Department of Corrections.

When Stewart was first interviewed by the DOC regarding the sex harassment charge, the investigator, Robinson, told Stewart that the harassment charges had been filed by Knox. Angry, he told his friends at the CIC, who in turn began to make insulting and demeaning statements about Knox around the institution, both to staff and in front of inmates. Stewart's friends made it known that they intended to make Knox's life "hell," and that they were going to "get her." On May 7, 1992, Knox spoke to Brown about the relentless campaign of fellow employee harassment she was enduring as a result of the sexual harassment complaint she had filed against Stewart. In spite of her knowledge of the severity of the underlying situation and the notoriety of the offender, Brown did nothing at the time, telling Knox that she could not investigate unless Knox gave her the names of the people who were allegedly speaking negatively about her. Shortly after this meeting, troubles broke out at the CIC. There was a hostage incident on May 11, 1992, for which Brown was a member of the Situation Control Team in charge of negotiations. Brown was also busy interviewing and providing support counseling to staff, which took most of her time for the next few weeks.

In the meantime, however, Knox was able to find out the names of some of the people who were making her life miserable. She gave Brown four names on June 7, 1992. Brown followed up, requesting statements from the four witnesses on June 8 and 9. On June 9, the Superintendent issued a memorandum that was intended to inform CIC employees that negative gossip about fellow employees would not be tolerated. The memorandum stated, in part, that this gossip "constitutes a form of retaliation against staff who have followed policy and procedure and then have been verbally attacked by some employees for doing so." In addition, Brown verbally counseled all four officers identified as gossipers and recommended disciplinary action against one of them.

II

Knox filed this case under Title VII against the...