Nichols v. American Nat. Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 08 September 1998
• Docket Number: No. 97-2032,97-2032
• Citation: 154 F.3d 875
• Parties: 77 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1338, 74 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,654 Margaret NICHOLS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AMERICAN NATIONAL INSURANCE CO., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 875

154 F.3d 875

77 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1338,

74 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,654

Margaret NICHOLS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AMERICAN NATIONAL INSURANCE CO., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 97-2032.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Jan. 15, 1998.

Decided Sept. 8, 1998.

Daniel P. Card, II, St. Louis, MO, argued (Andrew T. Pickens, IV, on the brief), for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Fred A. Ricks, Jr., St. Louis, MO, argued (Michelle M. Cain, on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee.

Before LOKEN, FLOYD R. GIBSON, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

MURPHY, Circuit Judge.

Margaret Nichols sued her former employer, American National Insurance Company (American National), alleging sexual harassment and constructive discharge, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. At trial American National's psychiatric expert was permitted to testify that Nichols exhibited poor "psychiatric credibility" and that her story was unreliable. Evidence was also admitted over Nichols' objection that she had once had an abortion which was against her religious beliefs. Evidence of certain sexual assaults by her supervisor and his attempt to keep her from disclosing them was excluded, as were records relevant to the determination of the date her employment ended. Nichols appeals from the judgment entered in American National's favor on the jury verdict and claims that the evidentiary rulings deprived her of a fair trial. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

I.

Nichols worked for American National during two time periods. She was first employed as a home service agent from April 1982 until she resigned in 1988. ¹ In July 1991 she was hired again and worked until she left the company in January 1993. In this second period she worked as an agent in two different district offices, first in Kirkwood, Missouri and then in St. Charles. Her duties in the district offices included collecting insurance premiums on existing accounts, developing a network for finding new customers, and selling insurance coverage to individuals. Most of her time was spent traveling to the homes of existing and prospective customers, making telephone calls from her house or from the office, and turning in funds and attending sales meetings at the district office.

A.

Nichols attempted to prove the following facts at trial, many of which were disputed by American National. She alleged that she was subjected to a hostile work environment by her superiors in both the Kirkwood and St. Charles offices, that the abusive treatment was based on sex and affected a term, condition, or privilege of her employment, that she reported it to several managers, and that she was forced to resign in 1993 because her working conditions were intolerable. She testified at trial that when she went to work in Kirkwood in July 1991, her supervisor, Del Swift, put his arm around her and tried to put his hand on her breast, that she rebuked him in front of her coworkers, and that he referred to her boyfriend as her "sugar daddy" and hit her on the buttocks while she was bending over. She also said that on two occasions a coworker held up a Playboy magazine in the office and made jokes about it, and that nothing was done about the incidents despite her complaints to Swift and two other managers. She also alleged that Bob Coates, her sales manager in Kirkwood and her district manager in St. Charles, frequently took hold of her knees or touched her breast with his elbow and made suggestive remarks while driving her to customer visits, that he often called or came to her home, and that on one occasion he grabbed her buttocks on a customer's front doorstep.

Nichols presented evidence that when she started at the Kirkwood office she was assigned to take over a book of insurance accounts that had lapsed and had missing funds. The accounts were in disarray, and her commissions and bonuses were lower as a result. She alleged that she complained about the problems to Swift, but he blamed her for any deficiencies, threw sales materials on the floor at meetings rather than handing them to her, and ultimately took away her sales materials and ordered her not to issue any new policies. Nichols testified that she reported Swift's conduct to the regional director, David Evavold, but that he took no action, and that she was humiliated when Swift and Coates accompanied her to collect premiums and would not allow her to handle money in front of customers for a period of twelve weeks. She testified that Evavold held a staff meeting regarding her account book at which he called her a thief but that he admitted when others were out of earshot that she was not.

There was evidence that Swift tried to fire Nichols in early July 1992 on the basis that premium money was missing from her book, but the home office rescinded the termination after she filed union grievances and appealed to central administration. Higher management sent Charles Baker to investigate the situation. He met with Nichols and other Kirkwood staff and asked her to write down all her problems with the book of insurance accounts. Nichols testified that Baker refused to entertain her complaints about sexual fondling and degrading remarks by her supervisors, however. He said he was only there to investigate matters relating to her account book, but that he would make a note that she had such other complaints. After Baker's investigation, management promised to remove from her record any reference to lapsed insurance policies and to provide back pay to compensate for lost commissions and bonuses. Nichols contends that the company never lived up to this agreement and that no investigation was ever made concerning her complaints about sexual harassment.

At this time Nichols was transferred to the St. Charles office where she remained until she left the company in January 1993. She claimed that because her policy lapse rates were not reduced in accordance with the agreement, her earnings continued to go down, and that Coates, who had become district manager in St. Charles, told her he wanted to replace her but continued to grab and fondle her knees, buttocks, and breasts. She said she repeatedly told Coates to stop touching her and that his advances were unwelcome, but she did not file a written complaint. American National had a sexual harassment policy which provided that a complaint against a superior in one's direct line of command could be filed with a central management officer. Nichols testified that she was afraid she would be fired if she tried to file such a complaint and that she had always been told at agency meetings that any written correspondence with the home office had to be approved by a manager.

Nichols alleged that she was forced to resign on January 25, 1993, after Coates told her he intended to replace her with a white male, attempted to rape her on January 22, and then three days later fondled her breasts and asked her to sign an undated resignation form in exchange for her pay check. She claimed that January 25, the date when Coates delivered her check and the resignation form, was the date of her resignation and constructive discharge. American National argued she had already resigned before January 22 and that she had not reported the attempted rape and January breast fondling to the EEOC so that evidence was excluded at trial.

B.

Nichols filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on November 15, 1993, alleging that American National had discriminated against her on the basis of her sex and that as a result she was forced to resign on January 25, 1993. After receiving a right to sue letter, she brought this action, raising sexual harassment and constructive discharge claims and seeking compensatory and punitive damages. ² She claimed that she would have earned more at American National if her working conditions had not been so abusive and that her lost wages should include the difference between her earnings after she was forced to leave the company and the amount she would have properly earned there. She also sought compensation for mental anguish, pain and suffering, and emotional distress during her employment with American National and afterwards.

American National moved to strike or dismiss the complaint on the ground that Nichols' EEOC charge was not timely. It claimed she gave oral notice of her resignation on or before January 15, 1993, which it considered the date of the adverse employment action on which she based her claims. It supported this contention with a nonproductivity report on Nichols completed by Bob Coates dated January 15 which indicated that she would be leaving the company on January 22, 1993. Under American National's interpretation, Nichols had 300 days from January 15, or until November 11, in which to file her EEOC charge, and her charge filed on November 15 was therefore untimely. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)(1); Ashley v. Boyle's Famous Corned Beef Co., 66 F.3d 164, 167 (8th Cir.1995) (en banc). Nichols claimed that January 25, the day she was forced to resign, triggered the 300 day period so that her EEOC charge was timely filed, but that even if the period started earlier, her complaint should not be dismissed because there were continuing violations of Title VII.

The district court treated the motion to strike or dismiss as one for summary judgment and denied the motion because a pattern of sexual harassment was alleged which continued beyond January 19, 1993. The court reasoned that acts on or after January 19 were undoubtedly covered by her November 15 charge and that it was also possible Nichols could recover for prior acts on her continuing violation theory except that she had not at this point rebutted the company's assertion that she had communicated her intent to resign by January 15. Nichols filed a motion for reconsideration and submitted an affidavit and a copy of notes...