Moore v. Robertson Fire Protection Dist.

• Decision Date: 13 November 2000
• Docket Number: No. 00-1220,00-1220
• Citation: 249 F.3d 786
• Parties: (8th Cir. 2001) CORNELIUS MOORE, APPELLANT, v. ROBERTSON FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT, BY AND THROUGH ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, TO WIT: VINCE GRILLO, STEVE KIRWAN, ROBERT S. ZOELLNER, IN THEIR OFFICIAL CAPACITIES, APPELLEES. Submitted:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 786

249 F.3d 786 (8th Cir. 2001)

CORNELIUS MOORE, APPELLANT, v. ROBERTSON FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT, BY AND THROUGH ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, TO WIT: VINCE GRILLO, STEVE KIRWAN, ROBERT S. ZOELLNER, IN THEIR OFFICIAL CAPACITIES, APPELLEES.

No. 00-1220

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Submitted: November 13, 2000

Filed: May 9, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Before Bowman, Heaney, and Beam, Circuit Judges.

Bowman, Circuit Judge.

Cornelius Moore, Herschell Walker, and Gerald Williams initiated suit against the Robertson Fire Protection District (Fire District) after the Fire District decided, based on a review of their resumes, not to interview each of them for the position of fire chief. Upon their rejection, they filed suit alleging that the Fire District had discriminated against them based upon their race in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2 (1994). The District Court ¹ granted summary judgment to the Fire District on the claims submitted by Walker and Williams, and they argue in Moore's brief to this Court (which purports to be their brief as well) that the grant of summary judgment was error. We find that Walker and Williams failed to appeal the summary judgment entered against them. Thus, we lack jurisdiction to entertain their arguments. Moore's claims proceeded to trial and a jury found in favor of the Fire District. Moore appeals the judgment entered on the verdict, claiming prejudicial error resulting from the District Court's decision not to submit a requested jury instruction and from the court's decision to limit information included in the stipulated testimony of a witness. We consider the merits of Moore's appeal and affirm.

I.

The Fire District is independently financed and operated by its local community. A publicly elected, three-member board of directors oversees its policy, personnel, and budgetary issues. In February 1998, in order to solicit applicants for its vacant fire- chief position, the board approved the placement of a help-wanted advertisement that had been prepared by an assistant fire chief who then was serving as acting fire chief. Moore, Walker, and Williams, all of whom are black, and sixteen other individuals submitted applications in response to the ad. After each board member reviewed the applications, they agreed to interview several of the applicants. One of those interviewed was black. The board did not select Moore, Walker, or Williams for an interview. They initiated this action after discovering that the board had hired David Tilley, a white who did not meet many of the requirements placed in the ad.

II.

We first conclude that Walker and Williams failed to appeal their summary- judgment dismissal. To appeal a district court decision, Rule 3 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure requires a party to timely file a notice of appeal with the district clerk. This notice of appeal must specify the party or parties appealing, designate the judgment being appealed, and name the court to which the appeal is taken. Fed. R. App. P. 3(c)(1).

The notice of appeal filed in this case fails to mention Walker or Williams in any way. Rather, it identifies Moore as the sole appellant. ² Further, it specifically references the judgment issued on December 1, 1999--the date of the jury verdict on Moore's claims ³ --as the judgment being appealed.

We recognize the policy of liberally construing a notice of appeal when the intent of the appeal is obvious and the adverse party incurs no prejudice. See Hawkins v. City of Farmington, 189 F.3d 695, 704 (8th Cir. 1999); see also Fed. R. App. P. 3(c)(4). In this case, however, neither Walker nor Williams provided any indication of an intent to appeal until the submission of Moore's brief, which contains arguments on their behalf. In these circumstances, to find that we have jurisdiction over the non- existent appeal by Walker and Williams would be to expand the policy of liberal construction beyond its scope and effectively eliminate the procedural requirements for an appeal. Inasmuch as Walker and Williams have not appealed, we lack jurisdiction to consider their arguments. ⁴

III.

We next address the first of two issues that Moore raises on appeal. Moore claims that the District Court erred by refusing to submit a requested jury instruction regarding pretext. He argues that the omission of this instruction impermissibly prevented the jury from considering whether the Fire District's reasons for not interviewing and hiring him were a pretext for race discrimination.

The District Court submitted the following instruction as the substantive legal standard governing the jury's deliberation on whether the Fire District had discriminated against Moore on account of his race:

Your verdict must be for Plaintiff, Cornelius Moore and against Defendant, Robertson Fire Protection District on plaintiff's claim of race discrimination if all the following elements have been proved by the greater weight of the evidence:

First, Defendant failed to hire Plaintiff; ⁵ and Second, Plaintiff's race was a motivating factor in Defendant's decision.

If either of the above elements has not been proved by the greater weight of the evidence, your verdict must be for defendant and you need not proceed further in considering this claim.

This instruction is a modified version of instruction 5.01 from the Eighth Circuit Manual of Model Civil Jury Instructions (Model Instructions). The District Court further elaborated on the instruction by telling the jury that "[t]he term 'motivating factor' means a consideration that moved the Defendant towards [sic] its decision."

Moore requested that a "pretext instruction"--a modified version of Model Instruction 5.95--be submitted as an add-on to the definition of "motivating factor." This instruction read:

You may find that Plaintiff's race was a motivating factor in defendant's decision not to hire plaintiff, if it has been proved by a greater weight of the evidence that Defendant's stated reasons for its decision are not the true reason, but are a "pretext' [sic] to hide discriminatory motivation.

Addendum to Appellant's Br. at 2. The District Court determined that the pretext instruction was unnecessary and did not submit it to the jury.

It is well established that district courts are entrusted with broad discretion in the formulation of jury instructions. Laubach v. Otis Elevator Co., 37 F.3d 427, 429 (8th Cir. 1994). On appeal, we do not examine the challenged instruction in isolation, but instead consider it within the context of the entire set of jury instructions. Id. We will reverse a judgment based on instructional error only if the instructions when viewed as a whole "'contained an error or errors that affected the substantial rights of the parties.'" Ryther v. Kare 11, 108 F.3d 832, 846 (8th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 521 U.S. 1119 (1997) (quoting Hastings v. Boston Mut. Life Ins. Co., 975 F.2d 506, 510 (8th Cir. 1992)).

Applying this standard of review, we conclude that the District Court did not abuse its broad discretion by declining to give an instruction on pretext. The instructions provided by the District Court presented the proper legal standard for the jury's consideration, namely, whether Moore's race was a motivating factor in his non- selection. In deciding the "motivating factor" question, the jury was free to consider Moore's evidence of pretext. In fact, our review of the record shows us that Moore introduced scant evidence of pretext. We note that Moore's entire case is built around the fact that David Tilley, the individual ultimately hired as the Fire District's chief, did not meet many of the qualifications in the employment advertisement. The facts elicited during the trial, however, offered uncontradicted, race-neutral explanations for this decision. ⁶

The Fire District's board was not involved in creating the job advertisement. Rather, it performed only a cursory review of an advertisement prepared by an assistant fire chief temporarily acting as the Fire District's chief. This individual, who also applied for the permanent position as chief, prepared the advertisement with qualifications that, coincidentally or not, matched his own. Not surprisingly then, the board members, when reviewing applications and interviewing individuals, found additional qualities relevant to their decision. In particular, the evidence showed that David Tilley, the individual ultimately selected as chief, was the only applicant to mention in his resume that one of his objectives as chief would be to create a plan to help the Fire District survive during and after the expansion of Lambert Airport. Trial testimony indicated that the Lambert Airport expansion, which would greatly reduce the Fire District's tax base, was considered of great importance to the continued existence of the Fire District. Additionally, Tilley had spent numerous years working in labor-management relations and was the only applicant who sought and received approval from the Fire District's union membership. The record demonstrates that serious problems had existed between the union and the previous fire chief and that the Fire District desired to alleviate the morale problems that resulted from this rift. ⁷ Although Tilley did not possess all of the firefighter-related experience listed in the advertisement, he had strong management and administrative skills garnered through his oversight of the business affairs of the nine-hundred-member firefighter and paramedic union in St. Louis County. ⁸ Given the state of the evidence, which provides little to create a fact issue on pretext, the District Court properly exercised its discretion in declining to submit a pretext instruction. ⁹

Finally, although the District Court elected not to submit a pretext instruction, it in no way prevented Moore from...