Petit v. City of Chicago, 90 C 4984.

• Decision Date: 11 September 1998
• Docket Number: No. 90 C 4984.,90 C 4984.
• Citation: 31 F.Supp.2d 604
• Parties: Robert PETIT, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

31 F.Supp.2d 604

Robert PETIT, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant.

No. 90 C 4984.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

September 11, 1998.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Kimberly A. Sutherland, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs.

J. Paula Roderick, Earl L. Neal & Associates, Mary Catherine Cox, Michael A. Forti, Adrienne Hiegel, City of Chicago, Law Dept., Chicago, IL, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

HART, District Judge.

This lawsuit concerns the Chicago, Illinois Police Department's 1985-1988 sergeant promotional examination (the "1985-88 examination") that produced a 1988 eligibility list used between December 1988 and September 1991 in promoting 458 patrol officers to the rank of sergeant. The plaintiffs in this case are 326 individual officers and Lodge 7 of the Fraternal Order of Police (the "FOP"),¹ a union representing Chicago police officers below the rank of sergeant. The individual plaintiffs claim that defendant City of Chicago² committed racial or national origin discrimination in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by adjusting scores on the 1985-88 examination based on the race of the test taker ("racial standardization"). The adjustments favored African-Americans and Hispanics. All or most of the individual plaintiffs are non-Hispanic Whites. The individual plaintiffs, as well as the FOP, further complain that defendant discriminated by promoting Hispanics and women³ out of the order in which they were ranked based on the racially standardized test.⁴

Defendant moves for partial summary judgment seeking to (a) dismiss certain plaintiffs; (b) dismiss all the racial standardization claims; and (c) dismiss any remaining claims for injunctive relief. Defendant argues that 240 of the individual plaintiffs lack standing because they would not have been among the 458 officers promoted to sergeant even if racial standardization had not been applied. Also, defendant argues four individuals were not affected by racial standardization because they were promoted at the same time as they would have been even if there had been no racial standardization. As to the other 82 plaintiffs whose promotions were affected by racial standardization, defendant contends their claims fail because the undisputed evidence shows that the City had a permissible basis for applying racial standardization. The City contends that it was justified in applying racial standardization because, otherwise, use of the 1985-88 examination results would have had an adverse impact on African-Americans and Hispanics, thereby violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. If defendant's motion is granted in its entirety, there will still be 42 plaintiffs who have pending claims based on being affected by the out-of-rank-order promotions of Hispanics and women.

As to the FOP, defendant contends that the FOP lacks standing to bring monetary claims for individual members' denial of promotion. The FOP also prays for declaratory and injunctive relief, including that those who received promotions because of racial standardization have their promotions declared null and void. As to voiding the promotions, defendant contends that such relief is only permitted in limited circumstances that are not present in this case. As to any other declaratory or injunctive relief, defendant argues that such relief is moot because the City no longer engages in such preferential, out-of-rank-order promotions. For the same reason, the City argues that the individual plaintiffs' prayer for injunctive relief based on out-of-rank-order promotions is moot. As to the individual plaintiffs' prayer for injunctive relief based on racial standardization, the City argues that such relief is moot because the 1985-88 examination results have not been used since 1991, subsequent examinations were not adjusted for racial standardization, and there is no evidence that the City is likely to use racial standardization in the future.

On a motion for summary judgment, the entire record is considered with all reasonable inferences drawn in favor of the nonmovant and all factual disputes resolved in favor of the nonmovant. Valance v. Wisel, 110 F.3d 1269, 1274 (7th Cir.1997); Patel v. Allstate Insurance Co., 105 F.3d 365, 367 (7th Cir.1997). The burden of establishing a lack of any genuine issue of material fact rests on the movant. Essex v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 111 F.3d 1304, 1308 (7th Cir. 1997). The nonmovants, however, must make a showing sufficient to establish any essential element for which they will bear the burden of proof at trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Wintz v. Northrop Corp., 110 F.3d 508, 512 (7th Cir.1997). The movant need not provide affidavits or deposition testimony showing the nonexistence of such essential elements. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. Also, it is not sufficient to show evidence of purportedly disputed facts if those facts are not plausible in light of the entire record. See NLFC, Inc. v. Devcom Mid-America, Inc., 45 F.3d 231, 236 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1104, 115 S.Ct. 2249, 132 L.Ed.2d 257 (1995); Covalt v. Carey Canada, Inc., 950 F.2d 481, 485 (7th Cir.1991); Collins v. Associated Pathologists, Ltd., 844 F.2d 473, 476-77 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 852, 109 S.Ct. 137, 102 L.Ed.2d 110 (1988). As the Seventh Circuit has summarized:

The moving party bears the initial burden of directing the district court to the determinative issues and the available evidence that pertains to each. "[A] party seeking summary judgment always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of `the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any' which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); id. at 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548 ("the burden on the moving party may be discharged by `showing' — that is, pointing out to the district court — that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case"). Then, with respect to issues that the non-moving party will bear the burden of proving at trial, the non-moving party must come forward with affidavits, depositions, answers to interrogatories or admissions and designate specific facts which establish that there is a genuine issue for trial. Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The non-moving party cannot rest on the pleadings alone, but must designate specific facts in affidavits, depositions, answers to interrogatories or admissions that establish that there is a genuine triable issue. Id. The non-moving party "must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts." Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). "The mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the [non-moving party's] position will be insufficient; there must be evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the [non-moving party]." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

Selan v. Kiley, 969 F.2d 560, 564 (7th Cir. 1992).

Pursuant to Local Rule 12(M), defendant provided a statement of facts as to which it contends there is no genuine dispute. To the extent plaintiffs contend any of these facts are disputed, Local Rule 12(N) requires that they provide a paragraph-by-paragraph response to defendant's Rule 12(M) Statement with specific references to the affidavits, parts of the record, or other supporting materials that they contend show there is a genuine factual dispute. All material facts set forth in defendant's 12(M) Statement will be deemed to be admitted unless properly controverted by plaintiffs. N.D. Ill. Loc. R. 12(N)(3)(b); Karazanos v. Madison Two Associates, 147 F.3d 624, 626 (7th Cir.1998); Dade v. Sherwin-Williams Co., 128 F.3d 1135, 1139-40 (7th Cir.1997).

The motion against the individual plaintiffs will be considered first. Resolving all genuine factual disputes in plaintiffs' favor and drawing all reasonable inferences from admissible evidence in plaintiffs' favor, the facts assumed to be true for purposes of summary judgment are as follows. Beginning in 1970, various lawsuits have been filed challenging the procedures for promoting Chicago police officers as being discriminatory. The 1973 and 1978-79 sergeants examinations were found to be discriminatory and affirmative relief was granted to benefit African-Americans, Hispanics, and women, including the imposition of some quotas.

In light of this past history, the City developed the 1985-88 examination. Claims regarding the 1985-88 examination were raised in United States v. City of Chicago, No. 73 C 2080 (N.D.Ill.) ("City of Chicago"). In City of Chicago, the City moved to impose a quota that would make adjustments favoring Hispanics and women, but that motion was denied. See Petit I, 766 F.Supp. at 609. A number of the plaintiffs in the present case intervened in City of Chicago. The intervenors' claims were subsequently dismissed, some with prejudice and some without prejudice. It was previously held that this dismissal has a preclusive effect on all the individual plaintiffs in the present case. Petit I, 766 F.Supp. at 610-13. Claims dismissed with prejudice in City of Chicago may not be litigated in the case sub judice. Plaintiffs are not precluded from challenging the racial standardization of raw scores; they are precluded from challenging both a scoring method that bunches scores in a narrow range and the elimination of questions from use in the final scoring.⁵

The City developed an examination that consisted of four parts for which it was determined the following weights would be...