Sassaman v. Heart City Toyota

• Citation: 879 F. Supp. 901
• Decision Date: 13 December 1994
• Docket Number: No. S93-CV-183RM.,S93-CV-183RM.
• Parties: Janet SASSAMAN, Plaintiff, v. HEART CITY TOYOTA, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

879 F. Supp. 901

Janet SASSAMAN, Plaintiff, v. HEART CITY TOYOTA, Defendant.

No. S93-CV-183RM.

United States District Court, N.D. Indiana, South Bend Division.

December 13, 1994.

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John C. Hamilton, Doran Blackmond Ready Hamilton and Williams, South Bend, IN, for plaintiff.

Bradley L. Varner, Christopher A. Nichols, May Oberfell and Lorber, South Bend, IN, for defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MILLER, District Judge.

This cause is before the court on the plaintiff Janet Sassaman's petition for attorney fees (filed September 8, 1994 (# 61)), and on the defendant Heart City Toyota's motion for judgment as a matter of law or in alternative, for new trial or remittitur (filed September 16, 1994 (# 66)), Heart City Toyota's petition for attorney fees (filed September 16, 1994 (# 66)), and motion for oral argument and hearing on petition for attorney fees (filed September 23, 1994 (# 69)). For the reasons which follow, the court denies Heart City's motion for judgment as a matter of law or in the alternative for new trial or remittitur, denies Heart City's petition for attorney fees, and grants Ms. Sassaman's petition for attorney fees.

Logic dictates that the court first consider Heart City's motion for judgment as a matter of law, or in the alternative, for a new trial or remittitur.

I.

Janet Sassaman sued her former employer, Heart City, under the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1) and 42 U.S.C. § 1981a, alleging sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, and retaliation. On September 1, upon completion of a four-day jury trial, the jury returned a verdict for Ms. Sassaman on her sexual harassment claim. The jury awarded Ms. Sassaman $2,000 in compensatory damages and $20,000.00 in punitive damages. The following day, the clerk entered judgment on the verdict.

A.

Heart City has moved for judgment as a matter of law, or in the alternative, for a new trial or remittitur, pursuant to Rules 50, 54, and 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Heart City contends that it is entitled to judgment because Ms. Sassaman failed to prove all elements of her sexual harassment claim and because the evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to Ms. Sassaman, was insufficient to support the jury's verdict. Heart City contends that Ms. Sassaman failed to prove that Heart City management knew of the alleged sexual misconduct, but failed to take corrective action, or that sex was a factor in her treatment at Heart City.

Heart City contends that Ms. Sassaman's testimony with respect to her sexual harassment and discrimination claims was inconsistent and thus, entitled to little or no weight. Heart City also contends that Ms. Sassaman's failure to adhere to pretrial deadlines entitles it to a new trial. Finally, Heart City contends that the punitive damages award is excessive and bears no rational relation to the evidence.

Ms. Sassaman contends that Heart City has not and cannot establish the absence of evidence or reasonable inferences based on the evidence in support of her sexual harassment claim. She contends that Heart City's argument amounts to nothing more than the proposition that the jury should have afforded greater weight to Heart City's evidence than to Ms. Sassaman's evidence. Finally, Ms. Sassaman contends that Heart City has not established that the jury's award of punitive damages was grossly excessive.

A motion for judgment as a matter of law may be granted only if the evidence overwhelmingly favors the moving party.¹Scaggs v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 6 F.3d 1290, 1293 (7th Cir.1993) (citing Ross v. Black & Decker, Inc., 977 F.2d 1178, 1182 (7th Cir.1992), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 113 S.Ct. 1274, 122 L.Ed.2d 669 (1993)). The court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party and draw all reasonable inferences in the prevailing party's favor. Scaggs v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 6 F.3d at 1293; Tire Sales Corp. v. Cities Serv. Oil Corp., 637 F.2d 467, 472 (7th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 920, 101 S.Ct. 1999, 68 L.Ed.2d 312 (1981); see also Thomas v. Stalter, 20 F.3d 298, 301 (7th Cir.1994).

The court may grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law only where there is no substantial evidence or reasonable inference to support an essential element of the non-moving party's claim, Crowder v. Lash, 687 F.2d 996, 1002 (7th Cir.1982); a mere scintilla of evidence is not sufficient to support the jury's verdict. Tice v. Lampert Yards, Inc., 761 F.2d 1210, 1213 (7th Cir. 1985). The court should grant judgment as a matter of law when "without weighing the credibility of the witnesses there can be but one reasonable conclusion as to the verdict...." Freeman v. Franzen, 695 F.2d 485, 488 (7th Cir.1982) (citation omitted), cert. denied, 463 U.S. 1214, 103 S.Ct. 3553, 77 L.Ed.2d 1400 (1983); Johnson v. Baltimore & O.R. Co., 65 F.R.D. 661, 663 (N.D.Ind. 1974), aff'd, 528 F.2d 1313 (1976); see also Lippo v. Mobil Oil Corp., 776 F.2d 706, 716 (7th Cir.1985) (witness credibility is for the jury's determination). The jury's verdict cannot be set aside "so long as it has a reasonable basis in the record." Lippo v. Mobil Oil Corp., 776 F.2d at 716 (citations omitted).

For Ms. Sassaman to prevail on her sexual harassment claim the evidence must support a finding that: (1) Ms. Sassaman suffered sexual misconduct having the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with her performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment; (2) the sexual misconduct was severe and pervasive; (3) Heart City knew or had reason to know of the conduct while it was occurring; and (4) Heart City failed to take reasonable corrective action. See Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., ___ U.S. ___, ___ _ ___, 114 S.Ct. 367, 370-71, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993); Saxton v. AT & T Co., 10 F.3d 526, 533-36 (7th Cir.1993); Juarez v. Ameritech Mobile Communications, Inc., 957 F.2d 317, 320 (7th Cir.1992).

The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to Ms. Sassaman, with all reasonable inferences drawn in her favor, supports the jury's verdict; the evidence does not overwhelmingly favor Heart City. Ms. Sassaman testified at trial about the conduct of Kevin Cunningham (Heart City's new car sales manager), Roger Ellis (assistant sales manager at Heart City), Claire McDonald (used car sales manager at Heart City), and Gerald Suszko (general manager of Heart City).²

According to Ms. Sassaman, Roger Ellis had a way of humiliating her every day: he would stand in the show room and flick his tongue at her; Mr. Ellis told her about his sexual exploits with his wife and asked her to join them; he bragged to her about sliding under a female sales-person in the showroom and seeing a "juicy pussy"; when she would pick up the clean-up man Louis, Mr. Ellis would ask her if they had fun and if she liked black dicks better than white ones.

Mr. McDonald had a way of getting too close to her — putting his arm around her and rubbing against her elbow. Once, Mr. McDonald brushed across her breasts. Mr. McDonald asked her many questions about being single and about her male companionship. Mr. Cunningham would laugh when Mr. Ellis flicked his tongue at Ms. Sassaman. Charles Barrett, a former salesman at Heart City, testified that he worked with Ms. Sassaman and observed her with used cars management. Mr. Barrett testified that Mr. McDonald treated her with disrespect and did not treat her like he treated the males. Mr. Barrett testified that on numerous occasions the management failed to assist Ms. Sassaman.

Ms. Sassaman testified that Mr. Cunningham treated her differently than he treated the salesmen. She testified that: she had to clean the popcorn machine when the male salespersons did not³; Mr. Cunningham would not allow her to let customers go alone on demonstration rides when male salespersons were so allowed; Mr. Cunningham would not let her smoke although smoking was allowed on the premises and men were allowed to smoke⁴; everything Mr. Cunningham gave her he either threw at her or mixed up; Mr. Cunningham insisted that she tell him when she was taking her lunch break, but that other salesmen would come and go as they pleased; Mr. Cunningham would not permit her to use the computer locator system,⁵ but permitted other salespersons to use it; and Mr. Cunningham made it difficult for her to work deals with customers.⁶

According to Ms. Sassaman's testimony, Mr. Cunningham told Ms. Sassaman to tell one customer to "fuck her" because he did not want to deal with him. When Ms. Sassaman switched days off with another salesperson to have her birthday off and to spend the weekend in Chicago, Mr. Cunningham ordered her to take a test at Lochmandy Motors on the day she was to have off. He would not show her how to run the computerized test; rather, he told her, "You're a woman, you can figure it out". She later learned that she could have taken the test at any time and did not have to take the entire test at once. Mr. Cunningham sent Ms. Sassaman to a seminar in Indianapolis on less than a day's notice and insisted that she ride with a new salesman, Craig. After the trip, Mr. Ellis and Cunningham asked Craig if he "got any pussy" while in Indianapolis.

On the day that Ms. Sassaman was terminated, Heart City was participating in a dealer show. Mr. Cunningham told Ms. Sassaman to stay at the store, even though she was the first on the "up" list. Although Mr. Cunningham said he would soon send a salesman to relieve her, he did not do so until noon. Mr. Cunningham brought sandwiches for all the male sales representatives, but not for Ms. Sassaman. When Mr. Cunningham told Ms. Sassaman that she was fired, he offered as an explanation that women are not cut out to be car sales people and that they should be home with their kids.

Ms. Sassaman testified that Gerald Suszko, Heart City's...