Lane v. Ogden Entertainment, Inc.

• Decision Date: 24 July 1998
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 97-A-842-N.
• Citation: 13 F.Supp.2d 1261
• Parties: Delois T. LANE and Ida Mae Farris, Plaintiffs, v. OGDEN ENTERTAINMENT, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

13 F.Supp.2d 1261

Delois T. LANE and Ida Mae Farris, Plaintiffs, v. OGDEN ENTERTAINMENT, INC., Defendant.

Civil Action No. 97-A-842-N.

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Northern Division.

July 24, 1998.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Susan Kennedy, Barry D. Woodham, Haskell, Slaughter, Young, Johnston & Gallion, Montgomery, AL, Charles Michael Quinn, Rocco Calamusa, Jr., Gordon, Silberman, Wiggins & Childs, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiffs.

George A. Harper, Tangla L. Fudge, Jackson, Lewis, Schnitzler & Krupman, Atlanta, GA, Joseph Terrace Carpenter, Montgomery, AL, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ALBRITTON, Chief Judge.

This case is before the court for summary judgment consideration. Defendant originally filed a motion for summary judgment on May 8, 1998. Due to modifications of that motion, and extensions of time received by both sides, summary judgment did not come under submission until July 1, 1998, the day of the pretrial in this case. Further, a related motion — a motion to strike an affidavit submitted by Plaintiffs — did not come under submission until July 7. Matters are now fully before the court, and have been duly considered.

As discussed below, the court holds that the Defendant's motion for summary judgment is due to be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Defendant's motion to strike the Affidavit of Annice Lee is due to be DENIED.

I. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD.

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c), summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The party asking for summary judgment "always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of the `pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,' which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact." Id. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

If the movant succeeds in demonstrating the absence of a material issue of fact, the burden shifts to the non-movant to establish, with evidence beyond the pleadings, that a genuine issue material to the non-movant's case exists. See Clark v. Coats & Clark, Inc., 929 F.2d 604, 608 (11th Cir.1991); see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). A dispute of material fact "is `genuine' ... if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). If the non-movant's response consists of nothing more than conclusory allegations, the court must enter summary judgment for the movant. See Peppers v. Coates, 887 F.2d 1493 (11th Cir.1989).

II. FACTS

In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the evidence presented by the nonmovant, here the Plaintiffs, must be believed and all justifiable inferences must be drawn in their favor. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505. The facts, as viewed in that light, are as follows.

The Crux of the Complaint.

Delois Lane and Ida Mae Farris are the Plaintiffs in this suit. Both are black females and both are long-time employees of Ogden Entertainment in Montgomery, Alabama. Ogden is a contractor with the City of Montgomery. It caters banquets and such that are hosted by the City, or are hosted at City facilities. It has been operating the banquet facilities at the Montgomery Civic Center since about 1976 or 1977.

Plaintiffs bring their claims pursuant to Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Plaintiffs primarily claim that they were discriminated against because they were not promoted within their company. Ms. Lane adds to that, that she was effectively demoted through the loss of duties when a white male was hired over her. In addition, Plaintiffs also appear to claim at times that they were discriminated against when the employer stopped guaranteeing them 40 hours of pay, for less than 40 hours of work. Their complaint originally contained a number of additional claims, but all of those have been dropped.

Ms. Farris' particular promotion claim is somewhat peculiar. She bases it not on having actually applied for a position which was open. Rather, she says that she would have been promoted to the position of head cook, if Ms. Lane had not been discriminated against. In effect, she claims that if Ms. Lane had been promoted, she would have been promoted as a consequence. Farris would have stepped into the position formerly held by Ms. Lane. Most all of the facts, therefore, concern the position that Lane was seeking.

The Position of Chef.

There is a some confusion in this case over exactly what position Lane was seeking to fill. For the purpose of convenience, this court will call it the position of "chef." Ogden apparently considered some employees who filled the position to be "chef trainees," and not "chefs," depending on the status of their license Whichever the title, however, the job position was one and the same. See Scheiben Depo. at 155; id. at 28-29 (referring to single position of "location chef."). There was only one position, and one person in this position at a time.

Ogden began operating in Montgomery around 1976-77, and for the first 13 years had no chef at their location. Mr. Scheiben — the general manager of Ogden's location in Montgomery — testified that he performed the functions of chef from around 1977 until 1990, along with his duties as manager. Scheiben Depo. at 47. He was never listed on any documents as chef, however. Scheiben Depo. at 66.

Ms. Lane's old Position.

Ms. Lane claims that she sought promotion to chef from her present position as head cook or kitchen supervisor. Again, there is quite a bit of confusion over exactly what her position was termed. Scheiben testified that there was not presently a position of kitchen supervisor. Id. at 68. He also testified, however, that when Ogden was opened this position was "one in the same" with head cook, the position held by Ms. Lane Id. at 68-69. For convenience again, the court will refer to the position as "head cook."

There is evidence in this case that Lane's duties alternated at times as head cook. Scheiben testified at one point that Lane had never had any duties in addition to those that she presently has; rather her job had always been to "read the menus and cook the meals." Id. at 72. Evidence has been presented, however, that Lane's duties have been diminished as males were brought over her in the position of chef. Scheiben even said that she also had duties including "coordinating and supervising employees" at times. Scheiben Depo. at 77. He also said that he consulted with her regarding ordering in the early years, and that she took inventories. Id. at 79-80.

Lane testified that for the first 13 years that she worked for Ogden (until a chef was hired), it was her responsibility to "hire employees, take care of the incoming groceries, do the scheduling, d[o] the basic cooking, see that it gets out on time," and supervise between 10 and 20 employees. Lane Depo. 8:13—9:5. She did not actually order the groceries herself, nor was she technically a manager. Her boss, Fred Scheiben, actually ordered the groceries, and managed the kitchen and office. Id. at 18:15—19:19.

In 1990, Lane lost all of her supervisory duties, however, when Scheiben hired a chef to fill a new position. Id. at 9:20—10:8. Ms. Lane feels that the "good times" stopped then. Id. at 21:5-12. 1990 was "when Mr. Scheiben hired a white male and brought him in the kitchen and took my position, demoted me and took my position and give it to the white male." Id.

The white male that Ms. Lane is referring to is Rob Cawley. Cawley, in the words of Ms. Lane, "took the job as supervisor ... did the ordering, ... did the checking in of the groceries, and ... helped Mr. Scheiben in the office," with paperwork. Lane Depo. 21:20—22:5. (Ms. Lane had never before helped with the paperwork. Id. at 22:9-10.). The only duties of Lane which Mr. Cawley took were the checking in of the groceries, and making recommendations to Mr. Scheiben as to which applicants should be hired. Id. at 23-24.

Ogden's Hiring Policies.

In order to determine whether Ogden discriminated against Ms. Lane in not promoting her to chef, it is important to look at what hiring policies Ogden had. It is important to know why the others were hired, and not Lane. The phrase "Ogden's hiring policies" is somewhat of a misnomer, however. It wrongly assumes that Ogden had anything which might properly be termed a policy.

Lane claims that she never even knew that the Defendants were looking to hire a chef in 1990. The first she learned of it was the day that Cawley showed up for work. Lane Depo. 25:21-26:1. She complained to Mr. Scheiben that Cawley had taken her position. Scheiben told her that it was "Ogden's doing," that "Ogden wanted a chef." Lane Depo. 27. He states that the company was growing, its business was expanding, and that he needed someone to take some of the duties that he had formerly performed. The City of Montgomery's building managers requested that Ogden hire a chef, although the City never put this to paper, and never imposed any requirements on the chef. Scheiben Depo. at 103.

Whether Lane was not offered the position is a fact in dispute. Scheiben, in fact, claims that he offered the job to Lane on numerous occasions, even before Cawley was hired. Id. at 110:1-3. Scheiben testified that he "repeatedly asked Ms. Lane if she would like to have or learn or adopt or attend a school to acquire the position as the location chef," but Lane told him that "she did not want the responsibilities and that we could work her long hours and wouldn't pay overtime."...