Neuren v. Adduci, Mastriani, Meeks & Schill

• Decision Date: 17 January 1995
• Docket Number: No. 93-7215,93-7215
• Parties: 66 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1533, 310 U.S.App.D.C. 82, 41 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1 Cathy S. NEUREN, Appellant, v. ADDUCI, MASTRIANI, MEEKS & SCHILL, et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 1507

43 F.3d 1507

66 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1533, 310

U.S.App.D.C. 82,

41 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1

Cathy S. NEUREN, Appellant, v. ADDUCI, MASTRIANI, MEEKS & SCHILL, et al., Appellees.

No. 93-7215.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Dec. 2, 1994.

Decided Jan. 17, 1995.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, 92cv01751.

George M. Chuzi, Washington, DC, argued the cause and filed the briefs, for appellant.

Joel P. Bennett, Washington, DC, argued the cause and filed the brief, for appellees.

Before BUCKLEY, GINSBURG, and SENTELLE, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge SENTELLE.

SENTELLE, Circuit Judge:

In 1991 appellee Adduci, Mastriani, Meeks & Schill ("AMM & S"), a Washington, D.C. law firm, terminated the employment of one of its senior associates, appellant Cathy Neuren. Neuren filed suit against both AMM & S and its individual partners in the U.S. District Court, alleging sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e et seq. (1988). At trial, AMM & S offered into evidence both documentary and testimonial evidence relating to Neuren's performance at another law firm prior to her employment with AMM & S, arguing that the evidence both impeached the credibility of Neuren's trial testimony and supported AMM & S's defense that Neuren was fired for legitimate business reasons. The district court admitted the evidence, and a jury subsequently found for the appellee AMM & S. Neuren appeals to this Court, contending that Rule 404 of the Federal Rules of Evidence bars admission of the disputed evidence. Although we agree that the district court erred in admitting the evidence concerning Neuren's conduct in her prior employment, we conclude that the error did not substantially affect the outcome of the case; consequently, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Introduction

Between May, 1989, and August, 1991, Cathy Neuren was a senior associate attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm of Adduci, Mastriani, Meeks & Schill, a small firm of about 15 lawyers. Neuren, a 1985 graduate of the University of Texas Law School, was previously employed for a brief period with another Washington, D.C. law firm, Dow, Lohnes & Albertson ("DL & A"), but left that firm in 1987. At AMM & S, Neuren specialized in international trade and property litigation before the International Trade Commission. In August, 1991, the partnership decided to terminate Neuren's employment based upon concerns over her difficulty in meeting deadlines and getting along with fellow employees. AMM & S partners notified Neuren of the decision, but kept her on the law firm's payroll until October 31, 1991, in order to ease her re-entry into the job market. In July, 1992, Neuren filed suit in United States District Court, alleging, inter alia, that her termination was the product of sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e et seq. (1988). The case was tried to a jury in October, 1993.

B. The Evidence at Trial

In attempting to prove sex discrimination, Neuren offered three days of testimony concerning her employment and termination at AMM & S--including testimony from a former co-counsel in a litigation matter, testimony from AMM & S's bookkeeper, Neuren's own testimony, and hostile testimony from an AMM & S partner. Her first witness, Donald Finkelstein, a Los Angeles attorney with whom Neuren worked as co-counsel in a litigation matter, testified that he was unaware of any deadline problems Neuren might have had in working together with him and that she did a "fine job" on their joint project.

Neuren testified that she joined AMM & S after leaving her former employer, DL & A, because she was "wasn't given very much international trade work" at DL & A. She testified that, early in her tenure at AMM & S, two partners reported to her in an evaluation session that the firm was "pleased with [her] work." She did not attend another evaluation session until an April, 1991, meeting with AMM & S partners Vincent J. Adduci and Barbara Murphy. In that session, Neuren testified that Adduci told her that her work was "the best among associates" and that it was "outstanding." Neuren admitted, however, that Adduci and Murphy expressed some concerns about her behavior at the firm. Specifically, they told her that she wasted too much time in casual conversations with the staff and that she should be more prompt in meeting deadlines. She further testified that on August 2, 1991, she was called into a meeting with Adduci and Michael Schaumberg, another AMM & S partner, in which she was informed that she was being fired. Neuren testified that she was not given a reason for the termination during the meeting; instead, the partners allegedly stated that the quality of her work was good. Nevertheless, the firm kept her on the payroll until October 31, 1991, and provided her a letter of reference to aid in her job search.

In order to demonstrate that Neuren's termination was the product of a legitimate, non-discriminatory business decision, AMM & S presented extensive evidence concerning the reason for her dismissal. First, several AMM & S partners testified concerning written evaluations of Neuren prepared by them in which the evaluators expressed grave concerns about Neuren's interpersonal skills and ability to meet deadlines. For instance, Schaumberg testified that several of the partners expressed concerns about "how timely her work was [and] how well she was getting along with the associates and staff." He further stated that these concerns limited Neuren's prospects of becoming a partner in a small firm like AMM & S. Schaumberg testified that he told Neuren in the August, 1991, termination meeting that the reason for her dismissal was her difficulty meeting deadlines and getting along with co-workers. He stated that Neuren's sex was "absolutely not" a factor in the decision to terminate her. Schaumberg's testimony was corroborated by other partners at the firm. Adduci testified that, in evaluating Neuren's work for him, he rated her timeliness and personal relations with office staff as "unsatisfactory," noting that her "strengths [ ] are overshadowed by her habitual tardiness in turning out work product." AMM & S offered several additional partner evaluations in which these concerns were expressed.

In addition to the evidence concerning Neuren's performance at AMM & S, appellees offered the evidence which is at issue before us: written evaluations of Neuren's work at DL & A and related testimony regarding Neuren's difficulty in getting along with staff and meeting deadlines while an associate at DL & A. One DL & A attorney testified that he had written in his evaluation of Neuren that she "must stick to deadlines and ask more questions when she does not understand the assignment," and that she "is sometimes difficult to work with...." Three other DL & A partners testified that they had given Neuren substantially similar evaluations. Neuren objected to the admission of the evidence, arguing that it unduly prejudiced her because it supported an inference that she would behave in the same manner at AMM & S. The court admitted the evidence over Neuren's objection.

Finally, Neuren offered limited evidence in order to demonstrate that AMM & S's asserted business justification for her termination was simply a pretext for unlawful sex discrimination. She admitted into evidence a 1991 evaluation of her work written by AMM & S partner Jeffrey Meeks, in which Meeks described Neuren's relations with nonlegal staff by writing, "Extremely difficult on secretarial and support staff. A bitch!" Trial Transcript, October 5, 1993 (Morning Session), at 67. Neuren's pretext theory was also based upon evidence that a male associate with like problems at the firm was retained after she was terminated. She testified that she had informed the partners that this associate had allegedly made racist remarks to her on a continuous basis. She presented the testimony of AMM & S bookkeeper Katherine Callwood, who asserted that the male associate spoke to her infrequently because she was black. Callwood admitted on cross-examination that she had never heard the associate make racist remarks, that she frequently worked with her office door closed and locked, and that she had never related her concerns to anyone in the firm. Finally, Neuren elicited testimony concerning this associate's 1991 evaluation by Barbara Murphy, in which she stated that his writing skills needed some improvement and that he would occasionally take too much time on a project if he were not otherwise busy. Murphy later testified, however, that the associate did not exhibit the difficulties in relating to the support staff that Neuren did and has since improved his writing skills.

After considering the evidence from both sides, including the DL & A evidence, the jury determined that AMM & S did not violate Title VII in dismissing Neuren. Neuren appealed to this court, arguing that the district court improperly admitted the DL & A evidence.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Impeachment and Character Evidence

AMM & S argues that the DL & A evidence was admissible to demonstrate that Neuren had the same difficulties at a previous law firm that she had at AMM & S or, failing that, to impeach her testimony regarding her reasons for leaving DL & A. We review the district court's admission of the DL & A evidence for abuse of discretion, see Jankins v. TDC Management Corp., 21 F.3d 436, 440 (D.C.Cir.1994), and conclude that the district court abused its discretion in admitting the evidence.

AMM & S contends that the district court was correct in reasoning that the DL & A evidence was admissible because it demonstrated that Neuren had displayed similar work-related problems in her former...