Logan v. Caterpillar Inc.

• Citation: 246 F.3d 912
• Decision Date: 04 April 2001
• Docket Number: No. 99-3972,99-3972
• Parties: (7th Cir. 2001) Terry Logan, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Caterpillar, Inc., Rita Knapp, David Wendling, Eric Rueschhoff, and Wendy Watta f/k/a Vosberg, Defendants-Appellees
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

Page 912

246 F.3d 912 (7th Cir. 2001)

Terry Logan, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Caterpillar, Inc., Rita Knapp, David Wendling, Eric Rueschhoff, and Wendy Watta f/k/a Vosberg, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 99-3972

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Argued October 26, 2000

Decided April 4, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 98 C 6391--Charles P. Kocoras, Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Easterbrook, Kanne, and Evans, Circuit Judges.

Kanne, Circuit Judge.

Caterpillar employee Terry Logan attempted to salvage a romantic relationship with co-worker Wendy Watta, formerly known as Wendy Vosberg. Instead of reconciliation, Logan's attempts to convince Watta to continue their relationship resulted in the loss of his job, the issuance of a restraining order, an indictment for residential burglary, and his arrest for criminal trespass. Logan brought suit against Caterpillar, Inc., Rita Knapp, a Caterpillar security officer, David Wendling, a Caterpillar security manager, Eric Rueschhoff, and Wendy Watta alleging sex discrimination and various counts of malicious prosecution. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants on all counts. On appeal, Logan challenges the district court's determinations that: (1) he failed to make a prima facie showing of sex discrimination because he did not show that a similarly situated female was treated more favorably; (2) he provided no evidence that Caterpillar's articulated reason for firing him was pretextual; and (3) the defendants did not initiate criminal proceedings against Logan such as would support a claim for malicious prosecution. We affirm.

I. History

This case arises out of the turbulent break up of two employees of Caterpillar's Aurora facility: Wendy Watta and Terry Logan. Watta asserts that she started to break off her nearly two year relationship with Logan in early 1997, but admits that she continued to see him sporadically throughout April and May. On May 30, 1997, Watta began dating Eric Rueschhoff, a Caterpillar employee who works at the Peoria facility. Many of the events surrounding Logan and Watta's break-up are disputed, but it is clear that their personal problems eventually seeped into the workplace.

On July 9, 1997, Bill Arbogast, the personnel manager for Caterpillar's Aurora facility, received an e-mail from Watta asking if she could meet with him regarding an employee that would not stop bothering her. Watta stated that she was concerned for her physical safety. At noon the following day, Watta met with Arbogast and informed him that the employee was bothering her at home and at work despite her continued requests to leave her alone. She said that she was installing an alarm system in her house because of the employee's harassment and that she was staying with friends until the alarm system was ready. Watta did not, however, reveal the identity of the offending employee.

Arbogast followed up on his meeting with Watta by asking Sandra Rossell, a consultant with Caterpillar's Employee Assistance Program, if she knew of any employee who might be bothering Watta. Rossell correctly suspected that the alleged harasser was Logan, a manufacturing project specialist whom she had been counseling for several weeks regarding his break-up with Watta. Rossell contacted Logan and explained that Watta had made a complaint against him without mentioning his name. Later that day, Logan approached Arbogast in his office and stated that he was "very frightened" about a personal matter. He explained that his relationship with Watta had recently ended and that he was receiving counseling to help him get through the break-up. According to Logan, Arbogast answered by telling him that he needed to keep his business life separate from his personal life.

Less than a week later, on July 14, 1997, Rita Knapp, a security officer at Caterpillar's Peoria facility, received a call from Detective James Pierceall of the Woodford County Sheriff's department. Pierceall stated that he had met with Caterpillar employee Eric Rueschhoff that morning regarding a series of threatening phone calls made to Rueschhoff's house. Rueschhoff explained that he suspected that the caller was Terry Logan because of Logan's prior relationship with Wendy Watta, now Rueschhoff's girlfriend. Rueschhoff also told Pierceall that he believed that Logan broke into his house because an address book and a greeting card that were taken from his house sometime during the weekend of June 20 later showed up in Watta's mailbox. These items were accompanied by an anonymous letter to Watta. The letter-writer, purporting to be a female Caterpillar employee, stated that she had overheard Rueschhoff making disparaging comments about Watta and wanted to warn her about him. Pierceall also informed Knapp that Watta had filed an internal complaint with Caterpillar against Logan. In response to this information, Knapp contacted the Aurora facility security manager, David Wendling, and confirmed that Watta had lodged a complaint about Logan's behavior.

Approximately one week later, on July 22, 1997, Caterpillar security officer Leon Mills received a phone call from Officer Stacy Friddle of the Yorkville police department asking how to get in touch with Watta. Officer Friddle explained that the Yorkville police were called to Watta's residence at 2:00 a.m. because her security alarm went off. The police determined that a cat probably set off the alarm, but while speaking with Watta regarding the incident, the officers learned that Watta installed the alarm system because of problems with a co-worker named Terry Logan. When Watta told the officers that she would be in Oklahoma for the next few days on a business trip, they agreed to keep an eye on Watta's house. Several hours later, at 4:40 a.m., Officer Friddle noticed Logan pull into Watta's driveway, open the garage door, and drive into the garage. She confronted a nervous Logan and asked him if he had permission to be there. Logan said that he often checked on Watta's house while she was away, yet he acted very strangely when asked whether Watta would agree that she had authorized him to be there. Logan claimed that he was checking the garage for flammables, but did not reply when asked specifically what he was looking for. In response to Friddle's questioning Logan became frightened and began dry heaving in the corner of the garage. Eventually, after determining that Logan did not know about the security system and did not have a key to the house, the officers took his picture and allowed him to leave.

After Officer Friddle recounted the morning's events, Mills relayed the information to Wendling, Knapp, and Logan's supervisor, Joe Porter. Knapp contacted Watta in Tulsa and told her that the police had apprehended Logan in her garage that morning. During their conversation, Watta confided in Knapp that she had been having problems with Logan for some time and stated that she had instructed him not to contact her in any way. Knapp responded that she would like to meet with Watta to discuss the situation, and Watta agreed. On July 25, 1997, Knapp, Watta, Rueschhoff, and Detective Pierceall met at the Peoria Sheriff's office to discuss Watta's problems with Logan.

After hearing Watta's account of the situation, Knapp arranged to meet with Logan and Wendling in Wendling's office at Caterpillar's Aurora facility on August 5. At this meeting, Knapp identified herself as a Caterpillar security officer and proceeded to question Logan about his relationship with Watta. Several times during the meeting, Logan became very emotional. He repeatedly told Knapp that he had "done some really dumb . . . things lately" and that he was not proud of the things he had done. After the meeting, Knapp and Wendling both prepared reports of their conversation with Logan. Both of these reports reflect that Logan admitted to: (1) using the company e-mail system for personal use; (2) breaking into Rueschhoff's house through an unlocked side window; (3) making approximately thirty harassing phone calls to Rueschhoff's residence; (4) mailing the card stolen from Rueschhoff's house to Watta; and (5) fabricating a letter to Watta from a female Caterpillar employee in an attempt to discredit Rueschhoff. Logan also admitted contacting Watta on July 29 and August 1 in contravention of Arbogast's directive to leave Watta alone.

At some point during the meeting with Knapp and Wendling, Logan informed them that he takes the prescription drug Ritalin several times a day because he has Attention Deficit Disorder. Logan claims that he asked Knapp and Wendling for permission to take his medication during the meeting and they refused. Knapp and Wendling deny this; they claim that Logan informed them at the end of the meeting that he had not taken his medicine for several hours and proceeded to remove a bottle from his pocket and take a pill. At the conclusion of the interview, Knapp and Wendling escorted Logan to the Caterpillar medical office where Logan met with Sandra Rossell. Following this meeting, Logan agreed to voluntarily admit himself to the psychiatric unit at Mercy Hospital.

Logan now states that he can not remember making any of the above admissions to Knapp and Wendling. Logan does not deny making the admissions; rather, he claims that he was suffering from Ritalin withdrawal and thus was incompetent to discuss the events surrounding his break-up with Watta. Logan claims that Knapp and Wendling were aware that his admissions were inherently unreliable because they denied his request to take the Ritalin. He also claims that his admission to a psychiatric hospital shortly after his meeting with Knapp and Wendling is further evidence of the unreliability of his admissions.

After reviewing Knapp's report of the Logan interview, the Yorkville...