Quigg v. Thomas Cnty. Sch. Dist.

• Decision Date: 22 February 2016
• Docket Number: No. 14–14530.,14–14530.
• Citation: 814 F.3d 1227
• Parties: Linda Jean QUIGG, Ed.D., Plaintiff–Appellant, v. THOMAS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Charles Evans, individually, et al, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

814 F.3d 1227

Linda Jean QUIGG, Ed.D., Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.THOMAS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Charles Evans, individually, et al, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 14–14530.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

Feb. 22, 2016.

Harlan S. Miller, III, Allan Leroy Parks, Jr., Atlanta, GA, William Phillips Tinkler, Jr., William Tinkler, Jr., Attorney at Law, PC, Decatur, GA, for Plaintiff–Appellant.

Randall C. Farmer, Patrick H. Ouzts, Gregory Doyle Calhoun & Rogers, LLC, Marietta, GA, for Defendant–Appellee.

Before WILSON, WILLIAM PRYOR, and GILMAN,^* Circuit Judges.

WILSON

, Circuit Judge:

Linda Quigg claims that the Thomas County School District (School District) and five individual members of the School District's governing board (School Board) discriminated and retaliated against her, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.,

and 42 U.S.C. § 1983, by refusing to renew her employment contract and filing an ethics complaint against her. The district court granted summary judgment to the School District and School Board members on all of Quigg's claims.

On appeal, Quigg argues, inter alia, that the district court erred because the summary judgment framework the court applied to her discrimination claims—the McDonnell Douglas¹ framework—is not the proper framework for evaluating mixed-motive claims that rely on circumstantial evidence. This threshold issue requires us to identify the appropriate summary judgment framework for analyzing such claims. We conclude that the proper framework for examining mixed-motive claims based on circumstantial evidence is the approach adopted by the Sixth Circuit in White v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., 533 F.3d 381 (6th Cir.2008)

—not the McDonnell Douglas framework. Under the framework set forth in White, "to survive a defendant's motion for summary judgment, a ... plaintiff asserting a mixed-motive claim need only produce evidence sufficient to convince a jury that: (1) the defendant took an adverse employment action against the plaintiff; and (2) [a protected characteristic] was a motivating factor for the defendant's adverse employment action." See 533 F.3d at 400

(internal quotation marks omitted).

Applying the proper mixed-motive framework to Quigg's discrimination claims, we hold that the district court erred in granting summary judgment on her claims against the School District and School Board members Scott Morgan and Mark Nesmith. However, we find that the court properly dismissed Quigg's remaining discrimination claims, as well as all of her retaliation claims. Therefore, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. BACKGROUND

Quigg served as the Assistant Superintendent of the School District from 1998 to 2007. In 2007, she became the Superintendent. The School Board appoints superintendents through term contracts, which are subject to renewal. The School Board consists of seven members, and a majority vote is required to renew a superintendent's contract. In appointing Quigg, the School Board granted her a three-year contract. Then, in 2008, the School Board extended her contract by one year, providing for an expiration date in mid-2011.

In 2008, 2009, and 2010, the School Board rated Quigg's overall performance as satisfactory or above satisfactory on her annual performance evaluations. Nevertheless, Quigg had a tumultuous relationship with several School Board members during that time. For example, Quigg openly supported opponents of School Board members Kay Streets and Charles Evans during the 2010 School Board election. That same year, the School Board sent documents related to certain School District programs to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) because various School Board members had ethical concerns about Quigg's administration of the programs. Additionally, although Quigg received an overall satisfactory rating on her 2010 performance evaluation, multiple School Board members reported in their individual evaluations of Quigg that she did not meet expectations on a number of criteria.

Given that Quigg's superintendent contract was set to expire in mid-2011, the School Board agreed to meet in February 2011 for a renewal vote on the contract. Prior to the vote, School Board members Morgan and Nesmith encouraged Quigg to reorganize her administration to provide for an assistant superintendent. Morgan and Nesmith told Quigg that she needed a tough "hatchet man" to address school policy implementation—a "guy" she could send to individual schools to "handle" things. Morgan and Nesmith recommended a specific male employee for the position, but Quigg suggested a female employee. In response, Morgan replied: "We have no males in the school system?" And, at another point during a conversation with Nesmith and Quigg about the assistant superintendent position, Morgan stated to Quigg: "[W]hat about a guy in this position? ... I'm just being honest about that, you know, a guy will—and I was just thinking from the standpoint of an offset." However, following these comments, Morgan named a female school employee as a possible candidate for the position.

In addition to his conversations with Morgan and Quigg, Nesmith spoke to a parent of a School District student prior to the renewal vote about the superintendent position and the vote. Referring to the position of superintendent, the proposed assistant superintendent position, or alternatively, the office of the superintendent more generally, Nesmith told the parent: "[I]t is time to put a man in there."

A couple months before the renewal vote, Quigg expressed uncertainty about the vote. In a December 2010 e-mail, she wrote that she was "having a time with [her] Board" and indicated that at least three School Board members were "not on [her] side." Quigg later clarified that, as of that time, she did not believe she had the support of Board members Streets, Evans, or Nancy Hiers.

At the beginning of the February 2011 renewal vote meeting, Quigg rejected Morgan's and Nesmith's assistant superintendent proposal. Instead, Quigg proposed a reorganization plan providing for various "directors" to oversee different aspects of her administration. The School Board then voted five-to-two against renewing Quigg's contract. School Board members Streets, Evans, Nesmith, Morgan, and Hiers voted against Quigg. After the vote, Hiers told a School District employee that she voted against Quigg because Quigg "needed a strong male to work under her to handle problems, someone who could get tough."

A few months after the vote, Quigg filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the School District, alleging sex discrimination and retaliation. The following year—in February 2012—the School District lodged a complaint against Quigg with the PSC. The complaint was partly based on the documents the School Board sent to the PSC in 2010. The PSC found probable cause for the complaint and recommended suspension of Quigg's teaching license.

Thereafter, Quigg filed her Title VII and § 1983

discrimination and retaliation claims in district court. Quigg raised a number of claims against the School District: (1) a Title VII and a § 1983 mixed-motive sex discrimination claim for refusing to renew her contract;² (2) a Title VII retaliation claim for refusing to renew her contract; and (3) a Title VII retaliation claim for filing the PSC ethics complaint against her. In addition, Quigg brought a § 1983 mixed-motive sex discrimination claim against Streets, Evans, Morgan, Nesmith, and Hiers based on their individual votes against renewing her contract.³

After the School District and School Board members moved for summary judgment, the court held that Quigg presented only circumstantial evidence of discrimination and, applying the McDonnell Douglas framework, concluded that no triable issues of discrimination exist. The court also found that Quigg's various retaliation claims were without merit. Accordingly, the court granted summary judgment to the School District and School Board members on all of Quigg's claims. This appeal followed.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a summary judgment determination, drawing "all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the non-moving party." See Owen v. I.C. Sys., Inc., 629 F.3d 1263, 1270 (11th Cir.2011)

. Summary judgment may be granted only if "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c) (1985)). A genuine issue of material fact exists when "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non[-]moving party." Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. at 2510. Summary judgment is only appropriate if a case is "so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law." See id. at 251–52, 106 S.Ct. at 2512.

III. TITLE VII AND § 1983 DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS

We first address Quigg's Title VII and § 1983

mixed-motive sex discrimination claims against the School District and School Board members. "Title VII and [§] 1983 claims have the same elements where the claims are based on the same set of facts," and in such cases, the claims are subject to the same legal analysis. See Rioux v. City of Atlanta, 520 F.3d 1269, 1275 n. 5 (11th Cir.2008) (using a legal framework developed in the Title VII context to evaluate a § 1983 claim); Abel v. Dubberly, 210 F.3d 1334, 1338 n. 3 (11th Cir.2000) (per curiam). Therefore, we will address Quigg's discrimination claims together.

Discrimination claims brought under Title VII and § 1983

are typically categorized as either mixed-motive or single-motive claims.⁴ An employee can succeed on a mixed-motive claim by showing that illegal bias, such as bias based on sex or gender, "was a motivating factor for" an adverse employment action, "even though other factors also motivated" the action. 42...