Miner v. Mid-America Door Co.

• Decision Date: 22 January 2002
• Docket Number: No. 96,502.,96,502.
• Citation: 2003 OK CIV APP 32,68 P.3d 212
• Parties: James MINER and Matthew Grudowski, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. MID-AMERICA DOOR COMPANY, Defendant/Appellee.
• Court: United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma

68 P.3d 212

2003 OK CIV APP 32

James MINER and Matthew Grudowski, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. MID-AMERICA DOOR COMPANY, Defendant/Appellee.

No. 96,502.

Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, Division No. 4.

January 22, 2002.

Certiorari Denied March 10, 2003.

Lori L. Young, Baumert, Cummings, Hiatt & Young, Ponca City, for Plaintiffs/Appellants.

Rachel C. Mathis, Jason L. Glass, Richards & Connor, Tulsa, for Defendant/Appellee.

Released for Publication by Order of the Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, Division No. 4.

Opinion by JOE C. TAYLOR, Judge:

¶ 1 Plaintiffs, James Miner and Matthew Grudowski, appeal from the trial court's order granting summary judgment in favor of Defendant, Mid-America Door Company (Defendant or Mid-America), in this action alleged to have stemmed from sexual harassment by Plaintiffs' co-worker and alleged supervisor. The issue on appeal is whether the evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to Plaintiffs, demonstrates that disputed issues of material fact exist to support Plaintiffs' claims. Based on our review of the record and the applicable law, we find that, as to Plaintiffs' theories of recovery based on discrimination and retaliatory discharge under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended), disputed facts exist and the trial court erroneously interpreted Oklahoma law. We therefore reverse its judgment in part and remand for further proceedings.

Background Facts and Procedural History

¶ 2 Mid-America is a manufacturer of overhead doors. Plaintiffs, both male, are former assembly line workers who were initially employed in late 1999 to work at the company's Ponca City plant. The parties agree that Plaintiffs' claims arise primarily from verbally abusive and physically threatening conduct by Terry Hutson, a male co-worker who worked on the line. Though Mid-America denied Hutson was Plaintiffs' "supervisor" as Plaintiffs claimed, Plaintiffs presented evidence that Hutson had the authority to direct their daily work activities and assign them tasks. There is no claim that any of the parties is homosexual.

¶ 3 In deposition testimony, Plaintiffs testified Hutson regularly verbally abused them and physically threatened them, calling them demeaning and humiliating names that focused on their masculinity and genitalia.¹ Plaintiffs testified this conduct occurred daily and continually, and that their complaints to Mid-America's management were neither taken seriously nor reasonably and promptly addressed. Plaintiff Miner also testified Hutson had physically assaulted him after Miner suggested Hutson should get to work on a project rather than complain about it.

¶ 4 Though Plaintiffs testified Hutson generally was rude to everyone on the job, they testified that they did not hear him make sexually explicit comments and genital references to Mid-America employees who were female, nor did he physically threaten female workers. Though Hutson denied directing his conduct at Plaintiffs "because they were male," he also testified that the only employees to whom he directed such conduct were other male workers. He further testified that he recognized such comments were not appropriate for the workplace.

¶ 5 In February 2000, both Plaintiffs were terminated, purportedly for reasons related to absenteeism. They filed this action after exhausting their administrative remedies with the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

¶ 6 Plaintiffs' petition alleged hostile work environment sexual harassment and retaliatory discharge in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1), as implemented in Oklahoma by the state Anti-Discrimination Act, 25 O.S.1991 §§ 1101 through 1901.² They also asserted state-based, common law tort claims for wrongful termination based on breach of public policy and breach of an implied contract of employment; assault and battery; and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Their allegations included Hutson's abusive behavior; Mid-America's failure to reasonably respond to Plaintiffs' complaints about the behavior; Mid-America's alleged termination of Plaintiffs in retaliation for complaining about Hutson's behavior and consulting an attorney; and Mid-America's alleged failure to follow the progressive discipline procedure of its employee policy and procedures manual in discharging Plaintiffs.

¶ 7 Mid-America denied Plaintiffs' allegations, asserted a number of affirmative defenses, and, following discovery, moved for summary judgment, arguing the undisputed facts showed Plaintiffs could not prove their claims as a matter of law. The trial court granted the motion in part, finding Hutson's "abusive language and actions ... while vile and repugnant, did not constitute gender based discrimination," and thus could not support Plaintiffs' Title VII discrimination claim. The court further found the undisputed facts failed to support Plaintiffs' claim for breach of implied employment contract, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and thus entered summary judgment in Mid-America's favor on those theories.

¶ 8 The court, however, denied Mid-America's motion as to Plaintiffs' state-law claim for wrongful (retaliatory) discharge, based in part on its determination that facts were disputed as to whether Plaintiffs' termination was retaliatory, and in part on its determination that the Oklahoma Supreme Court "implicitly" held, in Collier v. Insignia Financial Group, 1999 OK 49, 981 P.2d 321, that Title VII does not provide an adequate remedy for retaliatory discharge. Plaintiffs lodged this appeal, asserting error in the court's rulings on their Title VII, breach of implied contract, and intentional tort theories of recovery.³

Standard of Review

¶ 9 On review of an order granting a motion for summary judgment, we "will examine the pleadings and evidentiary materials to determine what facts are material to [the] cause of action, and to determine whether the evidentiary materials introduced indicate whether there is a substantial controversy as to one material fact and that this fact is in the movant's favor." Ross, by and through Ross v. City of Shawnee, 1984 OK 43, ¶ 7, 683 P.2d 535, 536

. Review of such a judgment presents this court with a legal issue, meaning that our examination of the trial court's decision is de novo, i.e., without deference to the lower court's determination. See Neil Acquisition, L.L.C. v. Wingrod Inv. Corp., 1996 OK 125, ¶ 5, 932 P.2d 1100, 1103.

¶ 10 Summary judgment is appropriate only if the record discloses uncontroverted material facts that fail to support any legitimate inference favoring the well-pled theory of the party against whom the judgment was granted. The court must review and construe the evidence presented, together with all inferences and conclusions to be drawn from it, in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. See First Nat'l Bank & Trust Co. of Vinita v. Kissee, 1993 OK 96, ¶ 7, 859 P.2d 502, 505

; Rose v. Sapulpa Rural Water Co., 1981 OK 85, ¶ 2, 631 P.2d 752, 754. "Even when basic facts are undisputed, motions for summary judgment should be denied, if under the evidence, reasonable persons might reach different conclusions from the undisputed facts." Prichard v. City of Okla. City, 1999 OK 5, ¶ 19, 975 P.2d 914, 917.

Analysis of Plaintiffs' Claims and Theories of Recovery

Title VII—Sexual Harassment

¶ 11 Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is an unlawful employment practice to discriminate against an individual "because of such individual's ... sex." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). The Act also prohibits discharge of an employee because the employee "has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice" by Title VII. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). A claim under federal law for discrimination based on sexual harassment pursuant to § 2000e-2 was first established in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986), where the United States Supreme Court recognized that sexual harassment may take two forms: (1) harassment involving the conditioning of employment benefits on sexual favors, known as quid pro quo harassment; and (2) harassment that is so severe and pervasive that, while it may not affect economic benefits, it creates a hostile or offensive working environment that effectively alters the victim's conditions of employment and results in an "abusive working environment." Id. at 65-67, 106 S.Ct. at 2404-05. See also Marshall v. OK Rental & Leasing, 1997 OK 34, ¶¶ 12-13, 939 P.2d 1116, 1119-20

(disapproved of on other grounds by Collier v. Insignia Fin. Group, 1999 OK 49, 981 P.2d 321).

¶ 12 Plaintiffs' claims are based on alleged hostility in their work environment that would not have occurred if they had not been male. In other words, they assert that, because of their gender, they were subjected to harassment in the form of verbal and physical abuse that was sufficiently severe and pervasive to create an abusive working environment, and that they were terminated because they complained to management and hired an attorney.

¶ 13 The fact that Plaintiffs and Hutson are all males does not impede Plaintiffs' claim. The United States Supreme Court recognized same-sex sexual harassment as a cognizable claim under Title VII in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., 523 U.S. 75, 118 S.Ct. 998, 140 L.Ed.2d 201 (1998). There, a male employee brought an action against his former employer, co-workers, and supervisor based on their conduct of subjecting him to repeated sex-related, humiliating conduct, including threats to his physical well being. Holding specifically that "nothing in Title VII necessarily bars a claim of discrimination `because of ... sex' merely because the plaintiff and the defendant ... are of the same sex," id. at 79, 118 S.Ct. at 1001-02, the court delineated the critical areas of inquiry...