Lindsey v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co.

• Decision Date: 24 February 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-7198,86-7198
• Citation: 810 F.2d 1094,43 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 143
• Parties: 43 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 143, 42 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 36,945, 55 USLW 2495 Dolen E. LINDSEY, Plaintiff-Appellant, Cross-Appellee, v. AMERICAN CAST IRON PIPE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee, Cross-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1094

810 F.2d 1094

43 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 143,

42 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 36,945, 55 USLW 2495

Dolen E. LINDSEY, Plaintiff-Appellant, Cross-Appellee, v. AMERICAN CAST IRON PIPE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee, Cross-Appellant.

No. 86-7198.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

Feb. 24, 1987.

Robert L. Wiggins, Jr., Birmingham, Ala., for plaintiff-appellant, cross-appellee.

J. Fredric Ingram, Thomas, Taliaferro, Forman, Burr & Murray, Michael L. Lucas F.A. Flowers, III, Birmingham, Ala., for defendant-appellee, cross-appellant.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Before GODBOLD and VANCE, Circuit Judges, and SWYGERT ^*, Senior Circuit Judge.

SWYGERT, Senior Circuit Judge:

In a return visit to this court, Dolen Lindsey appeals the district court's denial of his claim for liquidated damages in this age discrimination suit. Lindsey's employer, American Cast Iron Pipe Company (ACIPCO), cross-appeals from the district court's award of prejudgment interest to Lindsey. We believe that the Supreme Court's opinion in Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston, 469 U.S. 111, 105 S.Ct. 613, 83 L.Ed.2d 523 (1985), supports both an award for liquidated damages and prejudgment interest in this case. Therefore, we reverse the denial of liquidated damages and affirm the prejudgment interest award.

Lindsey sued ACIPCO for violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. Secs. 621-34. He alleged that ACIPCO had refused to promote him to assistant manager of its data processing department because of his age. The jury returned a verdict for Lindsey, but the district court granted ACIPCO's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. On the initial appeal, this court reversed the district court, reinstated the jury verdict, and remanded the case for entry of judgment. Lindsey v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 772 F.2d 799, 802 (11th Cir.1985) (Lindsey I ). The district court reinstated the jury verdict and awarded Lindsey backpay with interest and injunctive relief, but it denied Lindsey liquidated damages.

I

Section 7(b) of the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 626(b), provides for liquidated damage awards when an employer "willfully" violates the Act. In Trans World Airlines v. Thurston, 469 U.S. 111, 105 S.Ct. 613, 83 L.Ed.2d 523 (1985), the Supreme Court held that an ADEA violation is willful if "the employer either knew or showed reckless disregard for the matter of whether its conduct was prohibited by the ADEA." Id. at 128-29, 105 S.Ct. at 625.

At trial, Lindsey presented evidence that demonstrated that when he asked about the promotion, ACIPCO's Vice President of Finance and Treasurer John Foshee said that "the company would be looking for a person younger than Lindsey." Lindsey I, 772 F.2d at 801. ACIPCO countered with evidence that it refused to promote Lindsey for legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons. Id. The jury, however, rejected ACIPCO's reasons as mere pretext ¹ and credited Lindsey's account. Id. at 802. The jury accordingly found that ACIPCO had intentionally discriminated against Lindsey because of his age. On the first appeal, this court held that substantial evidence supported the jury's finding. Id. at 801-02. In addition, the defendant admitted at trial that it knew that the ADEA prohibited employers from considering an employee's age in making employment decisions. Thus, in Lindsey I, this court reversed the district court's entry of judgment notwithstanding the verdict and reinstated the jury's verdict.

On remand, neither the plaintiff nor the defendant presented additional evidence on the willfulness issue. The district court then decided the issue, applying the Thurston "knowing or reckless disregard" standard. In deciding the issue, the district court relied upon ACIPCO's proffered nondiscriminatory reasons for not promoting Lindsey. ² ACIPCO argues that Lindsey waived his right to a jury trial on the liquidated damages issue and that it was proper for the district court to decide the willfulness issue on remand. ³

We need not decide whether Lindsey waived his right to a jury trial on that issue because even assuming that he did, the district court should not have denied liquidated damages. The court was not at liberty to make findings that conflicted with the jury's findings. When some issues are tried to the jury and some to the court, the jury issues generally should be heard first. Otherwise, collateral estoppel or res judiciata could apply and deprive litigants of their jury trial rights. See, e.g., Beacon Theatres, Inc. v. Westover, 359 U.S. 500, 508-09, 79 S.Ct. 948, 955, 3 L.Ed.2d 988 (1959). This principle extends to the instant case, in which the jury tried the liability issue and the court tried the damages issue. Once a jury has necessarily or actually decided an issue, the district court may not reconsider it. Moreover, "[i]t is well-settled that the 'court may not make findings' contrary to or inconsistent with the jury's resolution ... of that same issue as implicitly reflected in its general verdict...." Craft v. Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, 793 F.2d 140, 143 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 110, 93 L.Ed.2d 59 (1986) (quoting Ohio-Sealy Mattress Mfg. Co. v. Sealy, Inc., 585 F.2d 821, 844 (7th Cir.1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 930, 99 S.Ct. 1267, 59 L.Ed.2d 486 (1979)).

The district court here erred as a matter of law by redeciding factual issues already necessarily determined by the jury. ⁴ Because the jury rejected ACIPCO's reasons for its actions as pretext for age discrimination, the court was not free to resurrect those same reasons to prove ACIPCO's "good faith."

In addition, by entering new findings of fact that are inconsistent with our decision in Lindsey I, the district court circumvented the law of the case and exceeded the mandate that issued from that decision. This court reinstated the jury verdict, and the jury's fact findings became part of our mandate.

Under the law of the case doctrine, a district court may not deviate from the appellate court's mandate. See, e.g., Wheeler v. City of Pleasant Grove, 746 F.2d 1437, 1440 (11th Cir.1984); City of Cleveland v. Federal Power Comm'n, 561 F.2d 344, 348 (D.C.Cir.1977); see also 1B J. Moore, J. Lucas & T. Currier, Moore's Federal Practice p 0.404 (2d ed. 1983). A district court, however, may reconsider an issue and disregard the appellate mandate when "(1) a subsequent trial produces substantially different evidence, (2) controlling authority has since made a contrary decision of law applicable to that issue, or (3) the prior decision was clearly erroneous and would work manifest injustice." Wheeler, 746 F.2d at 1440 (quoting United States v. Robinson, 690 F.2d 869, 872 (11th Cir.1982)).

The district court here could not circumvent the general law of the case principle, notwithstanding the fact that the Supreme Court opinion in Thurston changed the legal standard for determining whether to award liquidated damages. The Court decided Thurston after the district court initially tried this case. The decision did not alter the facts already determined by the jury. While the district court could have empanelled a new jury or heard additional evidence on its own, it did not do so and neither of the parties offered additional evidence on the willfulness issue. Instead, the court applied the Thurston standard to its own, new findings of fact that were inconsistent with the facts established by the jury verdict and the first appeal. By thus resurrecting discredited testimony, the district court violated the mandate of Lindsey I.

Applying the Thurston standard for liquidated damages to the jury's fact findings, we hold that Lindsey is entitled to liquidated damages. The jury found that ACIPCO intentionally discriminated against Lindsey because of his age and that its "legitimate" reasons for its decision were merely pretext for the discrimination. In addition, the defendant admitted at trial that it knew the ADEA prohibited consideration of an employee's age in making employment decisions. ⁵ Together these facts satisfy the strictest prong of the Thurston willfulness standard: the employer knew that its conduct violated the ADEA. Thus, no danger exists in this case of imposing liquidated damages upon an employer who made a good faith effort to comply with the ADEA.

The Supreme Court tightened the liquidated damages standard to avoid imposing them in every case. In Thurston, the Court examined the legislative history of the ADEA to ascertain the appropriate threshold for liquidated damages awards. 105 S.Ct. at 624-25. The Court rejected the more lenient "in the picture" standard applied in FLSA liquidated damages cases and adopted the somewhat stricter "knew or showed reckless disregard" standard. Id. The Court explained that the lesser standard "would allow the recovery of liquidated damages even if the employer acted reasonably and in complete 'good faith'. Congress hardly intended such a result." Id. at 625 n. 22. On the other hand, the Court refused to require evil motive, bad purpose, or intent to violate the ADEA. Id. at 624 n. 19. The Thurston standard falls somewhere between automatic recovery of liquidated damages and recovery limited only to aggravated circumstances.

The Thurston Court applied the new standard to TWA's retirement plan in a disparate impact situation. Id. at 625-26. The standard is easier to apply in such a case because there is no initial finding of intentional discrimination. See, e.g., Kossman v. Calumet County, 800 F.2d 697, 702 (7th Cir.1986) (Attorney General warned county of illegality of its retirement policy--clear case of knowing violation); Whitfield v. City of Knoxville, 756 F.2d 455 (6th Cir.1985) (good faith belief that ADEA could not constitutionally apply to city's retirement policy--no liquidated damages). Unfortunately, courts are finding the standard less helpful in...