Moland v. Bil-Mar Foods
| Decision Date | 13 February 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. C 96-4023-MWB.,C 96-4023-MWB. |
| Citation | 994 F.Supp. 1061 |
| Parties | Terri MOLAND, Plaintiff, v. BIL-MAR FOODS, a division of Sara Lee Corporation, and Sara Lee Corporation, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
In this employment discrimination lawsuit, the present motion for summary judgment raises what at first blush appears to be the straightforward issue of whether an employment relationship, a statutory requirement for an employment discrimination lawsuit brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., existed between plaintiff and defendants at the time plaintiff was assigned to work at a scale house on one of defendants' facilities. However, closer examination reveals that the critical issue before the court in this case is one which neither the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, nor any other federal court, has ever addressed in a published opinion and one which the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has left unanswered: "whether an employee of employer X may bring a Title VII action against employer Y when Y is not his employer, but merely someone whose discriminatory conduct interferes with his employment with employer X." Alexander v. Rush North Shore Medical Ctr., 101 F.3d 487, 493-94 n. 2 (7th Cir.1996), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ____, 118 S.Ct. 54, 139 L.Ed.2d 19 (1997).
Plaintiff Terri Moland filed this sex discrimination lawsuit on March 4, 1996, against defendants Bil-Mar Foods and Sara Lee Corporation (collectively "Bil-Mar" unless otherwise indicated). Moland, an employee of IBP Corporation ("IBP"), had been assigned to work at Bil-Mar's scale house at its turkey processing plant in Storm Lake, Iowa. Moland worked at the scale house until February 22, 1995, when IBP complied with a request from Bil-Mar that IBP no longer assign her to Bil-Mar's scale house. Moland's complaint alleges that she was subjected to sexual harassment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. Moland also alleges that defendants retaliated against her for reporting sexual harassment in the workplace in violation of Title VII. Bil-Mar answered the complaint on April 16, 1996.
Bil-Mar has moved for summary judgment. In its motion, Bil-Mar asserts that there are no genuine issues of material fact and argues that no employment relationship existed between Moland and Bil-Mar. Accordingly, Bil-Mar asserts that Moland cannot invoke the protections found in Title VII. Moland filed a timely resistance to Bil-Mar's motion. In her resistance, Moland contends that she had an employment relationship with Bil-Mar sufficient to entitle her to bring suit under Title VII. Moland also contends that an indirect employment relationship is sufficient to bring Bil-Mar within the ambit of Title VII. After the parties had submitted their initial briefs, the court sua sponte invited the parties to submit further briefing on two issues: first, whether the line of authorities relied on by Moland applies with equal force to Moland's claim of sexual harassment, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1), as well as to her allegation that defendants retaliated against her for reporting sexual harassment in the workplace, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a), given the differences in the language found in those two sections; and second, whether Bil-Mar, when faced with actual or constructive knowledge of alleged sexually harassing conduct, took "`prompt remedial action reasonably calculated to end the harassment.'" Callanan v. Runyun, 75 F.3d 1293, 1296 (8th Cir.1996) (quoting Davis v. Tri-State Mack Distribs., Inc., 981 F.2d 340, 343 (8th Cir.1992)). Additionally, because Bil-Mar's motion raises several issues of first impression in this circuit, the court set the matter for oral argument.
The court held telephonic arguments on Bil-Mar's Motion For Summary Judgment on January 20, 1998. At the hearing, plaintiff Moland was represented by Steve Hamilton of Hamilton Law Firm, P.C., Storm Lake, Iowa. Defendants were represented by Margaret M. Prahl of Heidman, Redmond, Fredregill, Patterson, Plaza & Dykstra, L.L.P., Sioux City, Iowa.
The court turns first to the standards applicable to motions for summary judgment, then to a discussion of the undisputed facts as shown by the record and the parties' submissions, and finally to its legal analysis of whether Bil-Mar is entitled to summary judgment on Moland's claims of sex discrimination and retaliation.
II. STANDARDS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
This court has considered in some detail the standards applicable to motions for summary judgment pursuant to FED.R.CIV.P. 56 in a number of recent decisions. See, e.g., Dirks v. J.C. Robinson Seed Co., 980 F.Supp. 1303, 1305-07 (N.D.Iowa 1997); Laird v. Stilwill, 969 F.Supp. 1167, 1172-74 (N.D.Iowa 1997); Rural Water Sys. # 1 v. City of Sioux Center, 967 F.Supp. 1483, 1499-1501 (N.D.Iowa 1997); Tralon Corp. v. Cedarapids, Inc., 966 F.Supp. 812, 817-18 (N.D.Iowa 1997); Security State Bank v. Firstar Bank Milwaukee, N.A., 965 F.Supp. 1237, 1239-40 (N.D.Iowa 1997); Lockhart v. Cedar Rapids Community Sch. Dist., 963 F.Supp. 805 (N.D.Iowa 1997). Thus, the court will not consider those standards in detail here.
Suffice it to say that Rule 56 itself provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
Rule 56. Summary Judgment
(b) For Defending Party. A party against whom a claim ... is asserted ... may, at any time, move for summary judgment in the party's favor as to all or any part thereof.
(c) Motions and Proceedings Thereon.... The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith 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 judgment as a matter of law.
FED.R.CIV.P. 56(b) & (c) (emphasis added). Applying these standards, the trial judge's function at the summary judgment stage of the proceedings is not to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter, but to determine whether there are genuine issues for trial. Quick v. Donaldson Co., 90 F.3d 1372, 1376-77 (8th Cir.1996); Johnson v. Enron Corp., 906 F.2d 1234, 1237 (8th Cir.1990). "An issue of material fact is genuine if it has a real basis in the [summary judgment] record." Hartnagel v. Norman, 953 F.2d 394, 395 (8th Cir.1992) (citing Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)). As to whether a factual dispute is "material," the Supreme Court has explained, "Only disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will properly preclude the entry of summary judgment." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Beyerbach v. Sears, 49 F.3d 1324, 1326 (8th Cir.1995); Hartnagel, 953 F.2d at 395.
When summary judgment is sought in an employment discrimination case, however, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has viewed such motions with caution. The court has often stated that "summary judgment should seldom be used in employment-discrimination cases." Crawford v. Runyon, 37 F.3d 1338, 1341 (8th Cir.1994) (citing Johnson v. Minnesota Historical Soc'y, 931 F.2d 1239, 1244 (8th Cir.1991); Hillebrand v. M-Tron Indus., Inc., 827 F.2d 363, 364 (8th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1004, 109 S.Ct. 782, 102 L.Ed.2d 774 (1989)); see also Snow v. Ridgeview Medical Ctr., 128 F.3d 1201, 1204 (8th Cir. 1997) (citing Crawford); Helfter v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 115 F.3d 613, 615 (8th Cir.1997) (quoting Crawford); Chock v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 113 F.3d 861, 862 (8th Cir.1997) (); Smith v. St. Louis Univ., 109 F.3d 1261, 1264 (8th Cir.1997) (quoting Crawford); Hardin v. Hussmann Corp., 45 F.3d 262 (8th Cir.1995) (...
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