Pennington v. City of Huntsville, Ala.
| Decision Date | 24 April 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. CV98-H-2026-NE.,CV98-H-2026-NE. |
| Citation | 93 F.Supp.2d 1201 |
| Parties | Michael Joel PENNINGTON, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Alabama |
Samuel Fisher, Joel S. Isenberg, Gordon Silberman Wiggins & Childs, Birmingham, AL, for Michael Joel Pennington, plaintiff.
Michael Joel Pennington, Madison, AL, pro se.
Michael L. Fees, C. Gregory Burgess, Allen L. Anderson, Fees & Burgess PC, Huntsville, AL, for City of Huntsville, defendant.
The Court has before it the January 10, 2000 motion of the defendant, the City of Huntsville, Alabama, for summary judgment. Pursuant to the Court's January 11, 2000 order, as amended by the Court's January 26, 2000 order, the motion was deemed submitted, without oral argument, on February 22, 2000.
Plaintiff Michael Joel Pennington commenced this action on July 27, 1998 by filing a pro se complaint1 alleging racial discrimination and also alleging religious retaliation. An amended complaint was filed on October 20, 1999. The amended complaint also alleged employment discrimination on the basis of race and retaliation based upon prior requests and grievances concerning religious accommodation, and sought to raise claims under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.2 (See Am. Compl. passim.) More specifically, the amended complaint stated that the plaintiff initially had been denied a promotion and that plaintiff later had been offered a promotion but on different terms than an employee of another race, both as a result of discrimination and retaliation. (See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 8-19.) In response, defendant's January 10, 2000 motion for summary judgment asserts that no genuine issues of material fact exist and that the defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. (See Def.'s Mot. Summ. J. 1.)
The parties have each filed briefs and submitted copious evidence in support of their respective positions concerning the pending motion for summary judgment. On February 1, 2000, the defendant submitted evidence3 in support of its motion, and on February 8, 2000, the defendant filed a supporting brief. On February 15 2000, the plaintiff submitted evidence4 in opposition to the defendant's motion. The plaintiff supplemented his evidentiary submissions on February 17, 2000.5 Finally, plaintiff filed an opposing brief on March 14, 2000. The issues having been thoroughly briefed, the defendant's motion for summary judgment is now ripe for decision.
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c), summary judgment is proper "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The party asking for summary judgment always has the initial responsibility of stating for the court the grounds for the motion and of pointing out those portions of the pleadings or other filings which it feels show the nonexistence of any genuine issues of material facts. See id. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. Once the moving party has met his burden, Rule 56(e) mandates that the non-movant must "go beyond the pleadings and by h[is] own affidavits, or by the `depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,' designate `specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.'" Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548 (quoting Rule 56).
The appropriate substantive law will guide the determination of which facts are material and which are simply irrelevant. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). All reasonable doubts about the facts and all justifiable inferences are resolved in favor of the non-movant. See Fitzpatrick v. City of Atlanta, 2 F.3d 1112, 1115 (11th Cir.1993). A dispute is genuine "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. But "[i]f the evidence is merely colorable ... or is not significantly probative ... summary judgment may be granted." Id. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (citations omitted).
The method used by the party moving for summary judgment to discharge its initial burden depends on whether that party bears the burden of proof on the issue at trial. See Fitzpatrick, 2 F.3d at 1115-17 (citing United States v. Four Parcels of Real Property, 941 F.2d 1428 (11th Cir.1991)(en banc)). If the moving party bears the burden of proof at trial, then it can meet its initial burden on summary judgment only by coming forward with positive evidence demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact; i.e., facts "that would entitle it to a directed verdict if not controverted at trial." Fitzpatrick, 2 F.3d at 1115. Once the moving party makes such a showing, the burden shifts to the non-moving party to produce "significant, probative evidence" presenting a genuine issue of material fact for trial. Id. at 1115-16.
If the moving party does not bear the burden of proof at trial, it can satisfy its initial burden on summary judgment in either of two ways. See id. First, the moving party may produce affirmative evidence negating a material fact, thus showing that the opposing party will be not be able to meet the necessary elements of its case at trial. See id. at 1116. Once the moving party satisfies its burden using this method, the non-moving party must counter with enough positive evidence to overcome a trial motion for a directed verdict. See id.
The second method by which the moving party who does not bear the burden of proof at trial can satisfy its initial burden on summary judgment is to affirmatively show the absence of evidence in the record to support a judgment for the non-moving party on the issue in question. See id. at 1115-16. This method requires more than a simple statement that the non-moving party cannot meet its burden at trial but does not require evidence negating the non-movant's claim; it simply requires the movant to notify the court that sufficient evidence to support the non-moving party's case is lacking. See Fitzpatrick, 2 F.3d at 1115-16. If the movant meets its initial burden by using this second method, the non-moving party may either identify for the court record evidence not noted by the movant but sufficient to overcome a directed verdict, or the non-moving party "may come forward with additional evidence sufficient to withstand a directed verdict motion at trial based on the alleged evidentiary deficiency." Id. at 1116-17. However, when responding to the motion, the non-movant may not rely on bare allegations of wrongdoing, but must come forward with some evidence of specific facts. See Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 358, 116 S.Ct. 2174, 135 L.Ed.2d 606 (1996) (citing Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992)).
As part of a proposed pretrial order, the parties submitted to the Court an agreed summary of the case. At the February 22, 2000 pretrial conference, both parties again reviewed and concurred in the agreed summary, which was incorporated into the Court's pretrial order. (See Feb. 22, 2000 Order 2-3.) Because the parties' summary is a fair and succinct recital of the undisputed facts of the case, the Court will set forth a somewhat condensed version of the relevant portions.
The plaintiff is a black male employed by the defendant City of Huntsville. Since 1988, the plaintiff has worked as a recreational aide, first on a part-time basis and later on a full-time basis. Until the winter of 1995, the plaintiff was assigned to the defendant's Scruggs Center. In 1994, however, the plaintiff filed a grievance seeking a religious accommodation and was then transferred to the Westside Center. (See Feb. 22, 2000 Order 2.)
The plaintiff later applied for a position as a neighborhood services programmer with the defendant in March of 1996. Five people, including the plaintiff, were certified to be interviewed for the opening. Following the interviews, Joey Flanders, a white male, was chosen to fill the position. Plaintiff then filed a grievance, on June 19, 1996, alleging that he had been denied the promotion because of retaliation and because of racial discrimination. The defendant's own Equal Employment Officer concluded that the plaintiff's prior request for a religious accommodation had been improperly considered in filling the neighborhood services programmer position. (See Feb. 22, 2000 Order 2.)
Following the Equal Employment Officer's findings, the job offer to Flanders was rescinded. (See Feb. 22, 2000 Order 2.) Richard Liles, who headed the Parks and Recreation Department, then conducted new interviews for the position. (See Feb. 22, 2000 Order 2-3.) After the new interviews, Flanders was again offered a job as a neighborhood services programmer at the Scruggs Center, but, this time, the plaintiff was also offered a position as a neighborhood services programmer at another center. However, the plaintiff's offer was subject to conditions not imposed upon the offer extended to Flanders. (See Feb. 22, 2000 Order 3.) Although not mentioned in the parties' summary, it is also undisputed that Liles eventually requested that the plaintiff indicate his acceptance of the offer, with all attached conditions, in writing and that the plaintiff responded that he would accept only when the defendant placed the conditions attached to the job offer in writing. (See Aug. 19, 1996 Liles Mem.; Aug. 23, 1996 Pennington...
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