Pears v. Mobile County
| Decision Date | 07 August 2009 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 08-0385-WS-B. |
| Citation | 645 F.Supp.2d 1062 |
| Parties | Edward PEARS, Plaintiff, v. MOBILE COUNTY, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama |
Jerry D. Roberson, Roberson & Roberson, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff.
Deena Renee Tyler, Brian Thomas Pugh, Satterwhite & Erwin, LLC, Harry V. Satterwhite, Mobile, AL, for Defendants.
This matter comes before the Court on defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (doc. 50). The Motion has been briefed and is ripe for disposition.1
Plaintiff, Edward Pears, is an African-American male who began working as a court police officer at the Mobile County Courthouse in December 1994. (Pears Dep., at 33-34, 37; Collier Dep., at 117-18.) He was discharged on January 22, 2007 for the stated reason that he had failed a mandatory drug test. (Graddick Decl., ¶ 5; Plaintiff's Exh. 21.) In his Complaint (doc. 1), Pears maintains that he was fired because of his race and in retaliation for having made internal complaints of race discrimination, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq.; as well as 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983. The three named defendants are Mobile County, 13th Judicial Police Department, and James Collier (individually and in his official capacity as police chief).
Although the Complaint focuses on Pears' discharge in January 2007, neither the termination of his employment nor the circumstances on which his claims of discrimination and retaliation are predicated can be understood in a vacuum. Review of Pears' employment history at the Thirteenth Judicial Police Department is imperative to understanding the parties' respective positions on summary judgment.3
As an initial matter, the summary judgment record reflects that Pears voiced complaints of race discrimination during his 12 years of employment with the Mobile Thirteenth Judicial Police Department. Most notably, on May 31, 2006, Pears submitted a written memorandum to all five supervisors in his chain of command, including Sgt. Gerry Hummel (his immediate supervisor), Lt. Bob Patterson, defendant James Collier (then-Chief of the Thirteenth Judicial Police Department), Mobile County Circuit Judge Joseph Johnston (then-Director of the Thirteenth Judicial Police Department), and Mobile County Circuit Judge Charles Graddick (Presiding Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court). (Plaintiff's Exh. 9; Pears Dep., at 170-71.) Pears' May 2006 memo was, by its terms, "a formal complaint regarding discriminatory practices by the Chief of Mobile Court police. . . ." (Plaintiff's Exh. 9.) Specifically, Pears wrote in that memo that Chief Collier "and/or his designees have continuously engaged in acts of blatant racial discrimination" in such areas as "scheduling, assignments, promotions, raises, and granting of overtime." (Id.) According to the May 2006 memo, Pears had brought these concerns to Chief Collier and his "designees" on multiple occasions, but "no favorable action has been taken" as they responded with "a lack of concern, unwillingness to intelligently discuss the issues . . . and actions which may be construes s [sic] retaliatory." (Id.) Pears' memo urged an investigation and implementation of a system "free of racially discriminatory actions." (Id.)
The May 2006 memo provoked an immediate and forceful response. On June 2, 2006, Chief Collier sent Pears a letter on Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Police Department letterhead that (1) unequivocally denied that Pears had ever come to him, Lt. Patterson or Sgt. Hummel regarding any items described in the memo; (2) notified Pears that he had breached chain of command protocols by bringing his concerns to Judges Johnston and Graddick, for which he would "face disciplinary action"; and (3) demanded that Pears furnish supporting details of his claims within 10 days. (Plaintiff's Exh. 10.)
With respect to the chain of command issue, it is undisputed that in August 2000, Chief Collier sent a memorandum on Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Police Department letterhead to all Department employees, including Pears. That memorandum provided that employees making written complaints to their immediate supervisors or Chief Collier "shall not send copies of the written letter or memo to anyone" else, and that the supervisor would determine "whether the letter or memo requires forwarding to other persons." (Plaintiff's Exh. 28.) Essentially, then, Chief Collier's August 2000 memo forbade Pears from submitting written complaints to Judges Johnston or Graddick. That is precisely what Pears did with his May 2006 memo.4 On June 16, 2006, Chief Collier notified Pears in writing that Pears was being suspended without pay for five days, effective June 19, 2006, because his May 2006 discrimination complaint violated the chain of command policy. (Plaintiff's Exh. 13.)5 The decisionmaker for this suspension was Judge Johnston. (Id.; Johnston Aff., ¶ 3; Collier Dep., at 39; Graddick Dep., at 30.) The June 16 memo cautioned Pears that "[s]ubsequent displays of disrespect and failure to follow directives will result in additional disciplinary action including termination." (Plaintiff's Exh. 13.) Plaintiff's evidence is that no other officer at the Thirteenth Judicial Police Department had ever been disciplined for not adhering to the chain of command policy. (Patterson Dep., at 35.) Plaintiff's evidence is also that the Department's discrimination policy expressly instructed employees that "[i]f the immediate supervisor is the person discriminating, report the situation to the Lieutenant or Chief." (Plaintiff's Exh. 8; Graddick Dep., at 40.) Indeed, Chief Collier understood that if a supervisor is the discriminatory agent, the employee is permitted by that discrimination policy to go above his head and bring his complaint directly to the supervisor's supervisor, chain of command notwithstanding. (Collier Dep., at 46.)6
Setting aside the chain of command issue and associated suspension, Pears authored a follow-up memorandum to Chief Collier on June 9, 2006, wherein he purported to provide detail supporting his claims of race discrimination. In particular, Pears complained that he had been denied overtime, that he had been denied access to court computers that less senior employees had been allowed to use, that he was assigned 5-day workweeks while less senior employees worked just 4 days in 10-hour shifts, that he was denied work hours (and the hours of his choosing) while the Lieutenant and Sergeant worked whenever they wanted, and that merit raises had been given only to less senior employees. (Plaintiff's Exh. 11.) Pears requested investigation into these matters. On June 26, 2006, Chief Collier sent Pears a point-by-point rebuttal of his accusations. At that time, Chief Collier purported to "refute all statements and concerns in your letter," accused Pears of improperly trying to "supervise [his] supervisors," and closed with an ominous warning that Pears was an at-will employee who could be terminated at any time, with or without cause. (Plaintiff's Exh. 14.)7
The five-day suspension of Pears in June 2006 was only the beginning of the disciplinary actions taken against him. On July 28, 2006, Sgt. Hummel sent Pears a "Letter of Reprimand" after the two men argued concerning the procedure for assigning weekend overtime shifts. Sgt. Hummel wrote that Pears had been "argumentative and challenging" to him in the presence of other officers and expressed displeasure at Pears' suggestion that he would go over Sgt. Hummel's head by taking up the matter with Lt. Patterson. Sgt. Hummel concluded that Pears' attitude "borders on insubordination" and that future disrespectful outbursts "could result in additional disciplinary action up to and including dismissal." (Plaintiff's Exh. 16.)8
On July 31, 2006, less than two months after Pears complained of race discrimination, Sgt. Hummel issued a performance review of Pears for the August 2005 through August 2006 time frame. This process was unusual, inasmuch as the Department had never before conducted written performance reviews of Pears or his co-workers. (Pears Dep., at 241; Patterson Dep., at 62.) Although that evaluation is just one sentence long, it states that Sgt. Hummel rated Pears' performance "unsatisfactory," with no explanatory verbiage. (Plaintiff's Exh. 17.) This evaluation was signed by Sgt. Hummel and by Pears, but there is no indication that it was reviewed or approved by anyone else.9 The record reflects that no other officer in the Department has ever received an "unsatisfactory" rating. (Pears Dep., at 241-42; Patterson Dep., at 62; Collier Dep., at 78.) Moreover, Pears disputes that his performance was, in fact, unsatisfactory during that time period. (Pears Dep., at 187.) There is no evidence, however, that this rating was ever used against Pears, or that it had a material adverse effect on Pears' employment. To the contrary, Judge Graddick, who ultimately was in charge of the Thirteenth Judicial Police Department, testified that he was unaware that performance evaluations were even being done. (Graddick Dep., at 33.) Chief Collier explained that the evaluation was placed in Pears' file, but that Pears received no other discipline or stigma as a result of that rating. (Collier Aff., ¶ 6.)
Then, on December 27, 2006, Lt. Patterson issued a "Written Reprimand" to Pears on the grounds that Pears had been "rude, disrespectful and sarcastic to patrons" entering Government Plaza eight days earlier. (Plaintiff's Exh. 29.) In the...
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