Sargent v. INTERN. BROTH. OF TEAMSTERS

• Decision Date: 26 May 1989
• Docket Number: No. 87-CV-72117-DT.,87-CV-72117-DT.
• Parties: Ernest SARGENT, Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN, AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, FOOD AND BEVERAGE DRIVERS, WAREHOUSEMEN; Helpers Local Union No. 337; Al Schrier, Coca-Cola Supervisor, Detroit Coca-Cola Bottling Company, and the Corporate Company, Resident Agent, Jointly and Severally, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

713 F. Supp. 999

Ernest SARGENT, Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN, AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, FOOD AND BEVERAGE DRIVERS, WAREHOUSEMEN; Helpers Local Union No. 337; Al Schrier, Coca-Cola Supervisor, Detroit Coca-Cola Bottling Company, and the Corporate Company, Resident Agent, Jointly and Severally, Defendants.

No. 87-CV-72117-DT.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, S.D.

May 26, 1989.

Ann Claire Van Ash, Detroit, Mich., for plaintiff.

Jerome S. Coleman, Farmington Hills, Mich., Linda Hylenski, Detroit, Mich., and Daniel S. Bowling, Atlanta, Ga., for defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

HACKETT, District Judge.

Now before the court are defendants' motions for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56.

This suit was originally filed in the Wayne County Circuit Court and arose out of plaintiff's termination from defendant Detroit Coca-Cola Bottling Company (Coca-Cola). Plaintiff's seven-count complaint included claims of violation of the Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act, breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of duty of fair representation and negligent hiring.

Defendants timely removed this matter and invoked this court's jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b). Plaintiff later stipulated to the dismissal of all counts of his complaint but those that alleged a breach of contract, breach of duty of fair representation and a violation of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, and amended his complaint to include a claim of tortious interference with contractual relations.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff began working for defendant Coca-Cola in 1978 as a mailroom clerk. Shortly afterwards, plaintiff was promoted to the auditing department and later, at his request, became a general laborer.

During the summer of 1978, plaintiff was transferred to defendant Coca-Cola's Madison Heights warehouse. There plaintiff continued to work as a general laborer until February, 1979, when he became a hi-lo driver after grieving for the position.¹

Plaintiff was assigned to the afternoon shift, but on occasion he would work midnights. At various times, and dependent upon which shift plaintiff was assigned, plaintiff was supervised by Dave Paula (Paula), Richard Edwards (Edwards), Hank Moritz (Moritz), Ed Bartolotti (Bartolotti), Dave Grech (Grech) and defendant Al Schrier (Schrier). Bartolotti and Schrier are white.

Plaintiff, being a member of defendant International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Food and Beverage Drivers, Warehousemen: Helpers Local Union No. 337 (Union) since his hire in 1978, became a union steward in 1980. While a steward, plaintiff became involved with a dissident Teamster group for a brief period. Defendant Union was not aware of his association with the group.

Richard Gremaud (Gremaud) and Robert Spencer (Spencer) are both business agent/representatives for defendant Union and were assigned to represent employees at defendant Coca-Cola Madison Heights Warehouse. Gremaud twice appointed plaintiff to a negotiating committee with respect to the collective bargaining agreements. Gremaud did so because he had heard that plaintiff was a good steward and employee, and very knowledgeable of the working conditions in the warehouse. Spencer was on the same negotiating committee as plaintiff in 1981 or 1982.

Plaintiff received his first reprimand on January 15, 1979, for participating in an unauthorized work stoppage. The work stoppage was prompted by the condition of the warehouse and, up to this point, plaintiff had had no employment problems, at least that he could recall.

Plaintiff's next reprimands were issued by Bartolotti. The first of these occurred in May, 1980, and resulted in a three-day suspension when plaintiff came to the defense of an employee who had been arrested and jailed. Plaintiff explained:

A That particular night, I had received a call from an employee who was on my shift wife and she was concerned about her husband losing his job and that he was in jail. So I informed her who to talk to after she explained to me the circumstances. And she called back on the code line and I don't remember what supervisor she talked to but somehow or another it got back that he was in jail for molesting a child, which was not true. And the guy who was spreading the rumor, before I had left, I went back out on to the floor and I had asked him to, you know, don't be spreading that type of rumor around like that. And the supervisor came out and he started, you know screaming at me (Plaintiff's dep., pp. 59-60).

The next incident occurred in October, 1980, and resulted in a five day suspension. Plaintiff explained:

A Well, on this particular one, there was going to be a layoff and when you tell someone that they're going to get laid off and don't know who's going to get laid off, it was a big uproar. Everybody wanted to know—They thought I knew. I knew nothing about layoff. Ed came out and told that there was going to be a big layoff.

Q Ed?

A Supervisor. So everybody kept coming to me asking me, "Am I going to get laid off? Am I going to be laid off?"

So after while, there was a group of people around me, you know. So Ed came up and broke up the group. And I wanted to take a pallet of glass down a hole. Fran was also moving glass.

Q Francis Kimbrough?

A Francis Kimbrough. We were both hi-lo drivers. And he went in the hole first. I was sitting out waiting for him to come out. And I was by the bottle sorting line. So one of the guys on the bottle sorting line, he walked over to the hi-lo and say. "Am I going to get laid off," and by that time, Ed was watching. He came over and he just started screaming and yelling and blah blah this, and carried on. And so I requested to see the plant manager. He told me no, I couldn't see the plant manager.

Q The plant manager is who?

A Was Ken Bouman at the time.

Q Okay.

A Right. So he just continued yelling, I mean embarrassed me. Everybody stopped and looked. Pointing his finger in my face and everything else. So I just got off the hi-lo and walked up to the front to see the plant manager, and at that time he called me a fucking nigger.

* * * * * *

A After I got off the hi-lo and started walking up front, he just said, "That fucking nigger," `cause he didn't believe I'd walk off the floor on him (Plaintiff's dep., pp. 74-76).

In this instance, Bartolotti charged plaintiff with interfering with and refusing to follow the orders or instructions of a supervisor.

Plaintiff grieved both reprimands. In August, 1981, just prior to arbitration of both grievances, defendant Coca-Cola offered to settle the grievances with plaintiff. Sheila Finney (Finney), defendant Coca-Cola's labor relations and compensation manager,² did so because neither Bartolotti nor plaintiff acted properly.³

Also during August, 1981, plaintiff was reprimanded by Paula, his afternoon shift supervisor, for excessive tardiness. Plaintiff did not contest or grieve this disciplinary action.

After the settlement of plaintiff's grievances, plaintiff continued to work afternoons and Bartolotti was transferred to midnights. Plaintiff only had to deal with Moritz, with whom plaintiff had "no problems."

Sometime later, plaintiff was assigned to the midnight shift where he was supervised by defendant Schrier. On November 26, 1985, plaintiff's first suspension under defendant Schrier occurred. Defendant Schrier charged plaintiff with insubordination and poor work performance and suspended him for seven hours. Plaintiff explained:

A Okay: What happened this particular night—I'm trying to see—I had been having problems with Al. I was given the less desirable jobs, far as a hi-lo driver, and this particular night, he came up to me and he instructed me to move some pallets from the other side of the line.

* * * * * *

A And I went around and I moved the pallets. And then I came back around and went on the dock. And I had a pallet of clear glass on the forks, and Hank, who's the afternoon shift supervisor—the afternoon makes the holes for the midnight shift to put away the glass in it—when they come in, and Hank was instructing me of where to put the glass, Al came back there screaming at me and telling me that I wasn't keeping up with the line, and he had told me to move those pallets, and he wanted me to move those mother-fucking pallets, was his exact words right now.

So I told Al I had already moved the pallets. So I put the glass away. Then I got a pallet of green glass and came back. And I guess he went to Hank.

I said, "Hank, where does the green glass go?" And this time Al came back screaming again, but this time moreso at Hank than me. And I drove back up to the line.

Then after Al had the discussion with Hank, he walked up to me and he told me that he didn't want to catch me talking with nobody; I was to stay on this line. And then he looked over there and there were some more pallets over there. I had already moved one stack of pallets. The guy had made another stock of pallets. `Cause he was throwing cases on to the line and they stake up the pallets. This was a different stack completely. And he said they could suspend me for insubordination `cause he had told me three times to move the pallets, and I told him I had already moved the pallets. Then he said I was bordering on insubordination and he could suspend me. And I told him to go ahead, suspend me. So I was suspended for seven hours that day (Plaintiff's dep., pp. 157-159).

Defendant Schrier's version of the incident differed from plaintiff's:

A All right. The line was backed up, and I was looking for Ernie and I couldn't find him. He was on the back dock somewhere. I finally found him and I told him—I said, Ernie, you have got to keep that line cleared, there is nine people standing there doing nothing, you know, you have got to keep that line clear. He didn't say

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