Nelson v. Boatmen's Bancshares, Inc.

• Decision Date: 06 June 1994
• Docket Number: 92-2124,Nos. 92-2120,s. 92-2120
• Citation: 26 F.3d 796
• Parties: 64 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1799, 65 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,184 Clarence L. NELSON, Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. BOATMEN'S BANCSHARES, INC., The Boatmen's National Bank of St. Louis, and Boatmen's Trust Company, Appellants/Cross-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 796

26 F.3d 796

64 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1799,

65 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 43,184

Clarence L. NELSON, Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. BOATMEN'S BANCSHARES, INC., The Boatmen's National Bank of St. Louis, and Boatmen's Trust Company Appellants/Cross-Appellees.

Nos. 92-2120, 92-2124.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Jan. 13, 1993.

Decided June 6, 1994.

Robert B. Hoemeke, St. Louis, MO, argued (Robert B. Hoemeke and Robert J. Golterman, on the brief), for appellant.

Jay E. Sushelsky, St. Louis, MO, argued, for appellee.

Before LOKEN and HANSEN, Circuit Judges, and MURPHY, ^* District Judge.

HANSEN, Circuit Judge.

Clarence L. Nelson brought this age discrimination case against the appellants (Boatmen's) pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. Secs. 621-634, and the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA), Mo.Ann.Stat. Sec. 213.055 (Vernon Supp.1993). A jury awarded Nelson $74,811.00 in compensatory damages under the ADEA and $184,783.99 in punitive damages under the MHRA. The magistrate judge, presiding by the consent of the parties and sitting as a district court, awarded Nelson $76,802.00 for front pay in lieu of reinstatement. Although the jury found that Boatmen's willfully violated the ADEA, the district court denied Nelson liquidated damages, finding that to do so would duplicate the punitive damages awarded by the jury under the state law claim. Boatmen's appeals and argues, among other things, that (1) there was not sufficient evidence to support the awards of compensatory and punitive damages, (2) any violation of the ADEA was not willful, and (3) the award of front pay was error. Nelson cross-appeals and argues that the district court erred in holding that awards of liquidated damages under the ADEA and of punitive damages under the MHRA constitute impermissible double recovery. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I.

Nelson's evidence revealed that he went to work for Boatmen's in April 1953 as a securities trader in the trust department. His responsibility was to buy and sell the various stocks and bonds that the portfolio managers in the trust department wanted to acquire or dispose of for the best price and terms available. He also served as the "eyes and ears" of the trust department with respect to what was happening "on the street" and in the market, and he was expected to keep the portfolio managers informed of any important information he may have come upon that might affect the holdings in the various portfolios managed by the trust department. As the years passed, Nelson tended to deal more and more with municipal bonds and common stocks, and the corporate bond trading was done by his younger coworker, Robert Fuller.

In December 1988, the trust departments at Boatmen's and at Centerre Bancorporation (Centerre) merged to form the Boatmen's Trust Company. Centerre employed three securities traders. After the merger, Nelson--then 61 years old and a Boatmen's employee for 37 years and the oldest of the five traders in the combined trust operations--was terminated. His was the only trader's position that was eliminated.

Before the merger, plans were laid to put all of the traders at a single location. Thomas Darnall, the senior vice president with responsibility for the newly merged trading departments, and a member of the management committee charged with implementing the merger, wrote a memo on April 27, 1989, to the company's director of human resources. In that memo, he recommended that when the two sets of traders were physically combined at one location later in the year, certain personnel actions be taken. Those recommendations were later fully implemented. With respect to the plaintiff, Darnall's specific recommendation was that "Clarence Nelson, currently Trust Officer, not be retained after the two units are combined but be offered early retirement at or before year-end or as soon as practical following the move this summer." (See Jt.App. at 285.) Darnall testified that he was aware of Nelson's eligibility for early retirement benefits based on his age and length of service. (Trial Tr. at 653.) Nelson was never informed of Darnall's recommendation.

Newspaper reports of the impending merger had appeared in June 1988. Nelson was concerned about how the merger of the two trading departments would affect his job. In August 1988, Nelson inquired of the personnel office about what his retirement benefits would be as of December 1988, December 1990, and December 1993. In August 1989, he made a similar request for retirement benefit information as of January 1, 1990. In August 1989, he went to Reuben Morriss, the president of Boatmen's Trust Company, whom Nelson had known for 25 years. Morriss assured Nelson that his job was safe and that he would have some input into how the consolidated trading department would be set up.

In May 1989, the company's Board of Directors named Nelson a Senior Trust Officer. However, neither the monthly published list of officers nor his personnel file ever reflected the change in title. When Nelson called Darnall's attention to the fact that the list of authorized traders and their titles that was sent to brokerage houses showed him only as a "trust officer" while his colleagues all had new or updated titles, Darnall told him to type in "senior" on the list and send it on to Mr. McGuire (another member of the management committee).

In late October 1989, Darnall came to Nelson and told him that an evaluation of the traders would be done by talking with the in-house portfolio managers and research analysts and with the brokerage firms with whom the traders dealt. Darnall told Nelson that if he received a low evaluation, he would be given a chance to raise it by correcting any deficiencies. In fact, Nelson was not given such an opportunity. Furthermore, all of Nelson's pay raises for the previous five years had been merit increases, and Nelson introduced evidence from brokers and portfolio managers attesting to his superior abilities and qualifications as a securities trader.

On November 14, 1989, Nelson was called to Reuben Morriss's office, where he was handed a letter from Morriss terminating his employment as of November 30, 1989. Morriss followed a "discussion outline" prepared for him by the personnel office when he delivered the termination letter. Morriss was the final approval authority for the adverse action and relied on the recommendation Darnall had made to terminate Nelson.

Nelson later sued Boatmen's, alleging that he was fired because of his age. Boatmen's disagreed and contended that Nelson's position was eliminated due to a need for fewer traders in the new company's work force. The jury found that Nelson's age was a determining factor in Boatmen's decision to fire him.

II.

In support of its argument that the evidence was insufficient to prove that Nelson was fired because of his age, Boatmen's contends that Nelson's position was properly eliminated as a result of a nondiscriminatory, objective evaluation process undertaken to implement a reduction in its work force necessitated by the merger. Boatmen's therefore contends that the district court erred in denying its motion for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial.

In reviewing a denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law, we must determine whether there is sufficient evidence to support a jury verdict. White v. Pence, 961 F.2d 776, 779 (8th Cir.1992). We must (1) consider the evidence in the light most favorable to Nelson, (2) assume that all conflicts in the evidence were resolved in favor of Nelson, (3) assume as proved all facts that Nelson's evidence tended to prove, and (4) give Nelson the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the facts proved. See id. A motion for judgment as a matter of law " 'should be granted only when all the evidence points one way and is susceptible of no reasonable inferences sustaining [Nelson's] position.' " Frieze v. Boatmen's Bank, 950 F.2d 538, 540 (8th Cir.1991) (quoting Washburn v. Kansas City Life Ins. Co., 831 F.2d 1404, 1407 (8th Cir.1987)). On the other hand, a motion for a new trial should be granted if, after weighing the evidence, a district court concludes that the jury's verdict amounts to a miscarriage of justice. See White, 961 F.2d at 779-80 & 779 n. 4. We review the denial of a motion for a new trial for abuse of discretion. See Lowe v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., 802 F.2d 310, 310-11 (8th Cir.1986).

A.

As the Supreme Court recently explained,

It is the very essence of age discrimination for an older employee to be fired because the employer believes that productivity and competence decline with old age.... Congress' promulgation of the ADEA was prompted by its concern that older workers were being deprived of employment on the basis of inaccurate and stigmatizing stereotypes.

Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins, --- U.S. ----, ----, 113 S.Ct. 1701, 1706, 123 L.Ed.2d 338 (1993). Thus, to make a prima facie case of age discrimination, Nelson must show "that 1) he was within the protected age group, 2) that he was performing his job at a level that met his employer's legitimate expectations, 3) he was discharged, and 4) his employer attempted to replace him." Radabaugh v. Zip Feed Mills, Inc., 997 F.2d 444, 448 (8th Cir.1993). Because Boatmen's terminated Nelson as part of a reduction in force, Nelson also must make an "additional showing" that age was a factor in his termination. See Holley v. Sanyo Mfg. Co., 771 F.2d 1161, 1165 (8th Cir.1985). To carry his ultimate burden of persuasion, however, Nelson must prove that age "actually motivated [Boatmen's'] decision." Biggins, --- U.S. at ----, 113 S.Ct. at 1706 (emphasis added). To meet this burden, Nelson must convince the factfinder that Boatmen's had an age-related discriminatory animus, which requires "evidence of conduct or statements by persons involved in the decisionmaking...