Scales v. J.C. Bradford and Co., s. 90-5006
| Citation | 925 F.2d 901 |
| Decision Date | 19 March 1991 |
| Docket Number | 90-5526,Nos. 90-5006,s. 90-5006 |
| Parties | 55 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 612, 55 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 40,563, 19 Fed.R.Serv.3d 460 Deniece SCALES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. J.C. BRADFORD AND COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) |
Margaret L. Behm (argued), Margaret C. Mazzone, Dodson, Parker, Shipley, Behm & Seaborg, Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiff-appellant.
Richard R. Parker, Steven R. Blackburn (argued), Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, Nashville, Tenn., for defendant-appellee.
Before MARTIN and JONES, Circuit Judges, and ENGEL, Senior Circuit Judge.
Deniece Scales, a female, brought this action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e, et seq., and the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 206(d), against defendant, J.C. Bradford and Company. Scales claimed that Bradford violated Title VII by denying her promotions because of her gender and by retaliating against her for filing a gender discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Scales also claimed that Bradford violated the Equal Pay Act, alleging that she was paid lower wages than similarly situated male employees.
Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(f)(3), the district court referred this matter to a United States magistrate to conduct all necessary proceedings. During the process of discovery, a dispute arose as to the proper scope of discovery. Scales requested, inter alia, the production of Bradford's "master payroll record" for the years of 1981 to 1986. Bradford objected to this request as overly broad and unduly burdensome. The magistrate ordered Bradford to comply with this production request with the exception of partners-owners who were deemed to be irrelevant. Both parties filed objections to the magistrate's ruling. The district court reversed the magistrate's ruling in part, limiting Scales' access of payroll information to nonpartner employees who worked in the same department as Scales for the time period from June 1, 1983, to December 31, 1986.
A full trial was conducted before the magistrate on August 1-5, 1988. On January 6, 1989, the magistrate issued his report recommending that judgment be entered for Scales on her claims of discriminatory promotion practices and retaliation in violation of Title VII, but that judgment be entered for Bradford on plaintiff's claim under the Equal Pay Act. Both parties filed objections to the report and sought review by the district court. The district court adopted the magistrate's report except as to Scales' Title VII claim under a disparate impact theory. The district court ruled that Scales had failed to establish a disparate impact claim under Title VII and overruled the magistrate's report with respect to this finding. The district court reduced Scales' recovery from $48,820 to $21,634 to reflect its decision concerning her Title VII claim.
Scales subsequently filed an application for attorney's fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-5(c). Scales requested a "lodestar" amount of $83,057.75, with an upward adjustment of between thirty-three percent and seventy-five percent. 1 Bradford timely filed a memorandum in opposition to Scales' application for fees. The district court reduced the hourly rate charged by Scales' attorneys and reduced the lodestar amount due to plaintiff's limited success. The district court gave plaintiff an enhancement of five percent to account for various factors. The total fee award was $18,773.83.
Scales has appealed from the decisions of the district court concerning a number of issues. First, Scales contends that the district court erred in limiting her discovery to requests to Bradford employees working in her department. Scales further contends that the district court erred in both affirming the magistrate's report with respect to her disparate treatment claim and by reversing the magistrate's report concerning her disparate impact claim. Finally, Scales contends that the district court abused its discretion by denying her prejudgment interest on her award and by reducing her requested attorney fees.
Scales was hired by Bradford as a secretary on August 11, 1980. Scales, who is a high-school graduate, had prior clerical and secretarial skills, but no prior brokerage experience. In October, 1981, she was promoted to bookkeeper in the municipal bond department. Scales consulted with EEOC officials on May 29, 1984, concerning the hiring of Steve Scott. However, she wrote a letter dated June 11, 1984, in which she stated that "steps have been taken to remedy the situation to my current satisfaction." On June 12, 1985, Scales filed the EEOC charge that gave rise to this action. On September 11, 1985, plaintiff was promoted to the position of broker service representative, but did not receive a raise immediately. Scales did not perform broker representative duties on a full-time basis until December 1, 1985. Scales continued to work as a broker representative until September, 1986, when she went on maternity leave. On November 12, 1986, Scales notified Bradford she was moving to Memphis, Tennessee, because her husband had been transferred there. She submitted her resignation to become effective on November 30, 1986.
In Bradford's municipal bond department, there are three categories of non-partner positions: municipal institutional sales representative, broker services representative, and broker sales representative bookkeeper. There were no written qualifications for the broker representative and municipal sales positions, and no written evaluations or formal application process for promotions.
These three positions have separate and distinct responsibilities. A municipal sales representative is a commissioned municipal bond salesperson who sells bonds to potential investors. Bradford requires a municipal sales representative to have a Series 7 Registration from the National Association of Securities Dealers. On the other hand, broker representatives do not deal directly with the public; they evaluate bonds for Bradford's municipal sales representatives and brokers and, with supervision, purchase bonds for Bradford's bond inventory.
Scales claims that four hirings or promotions by Bradford resulted in a delay of her promotion to the broker representative position, and she claims this delay was based upon her gender. The individuals hired or promoted were Doug Eley, Steve Scott, Galen Foster and John Murfee.
One occasion on which Scales alleges that she was denied a promotion involved Bradford's hiring of Galen Foster in April, 1985. According to the partner in charge of this department, Foster had been in the trucking business and did not know much about bonds. Foster was trained on the municipal bond desk for a period of four months as a municipal sales representative.
Scales claims that the district court abused its discretion by limiting her discovery of Bradford's payroll records. During the course of discovery, Scales requested, inter alia, that Bradford produce its "master payroll record" for all its employees for the years 1981-1986. Bradford has approximately 1,000 partners and employees in 51 offices located in 13 states. Bradford objected to this request. The district court limited Scales' discovery request to employees of Bradford's Nashville municipal bond department for the time period from June 1, 1983, to December 31, 1986. In reviewing the district court's decision to limit discovery, this court will intervene only if it was an abuse of discretion resulting in substantial prejudice. Ghandi v. Police Dept. of City of Detroit, 747 F.2d 338, 354 (6th Cir.1984), cert. denied sub nom. Ghandi v. Fayed, 484 U.S. 1042, 108 S.Ct. 774, 98 L.Ed.2d 861 (1988); Humble v. Mountain State Construction Co., 441 F.2d 816, 818-819 (6th Cir.1971).
Scales contends that the district court's ruling limiting her discovery made it impossible for her to prove her Title VII gender discrimination claim. 2 It is well-settled that information concerning an employer's general employment practices is relevant even to a Title VII individual disparate treatment claim. See McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973); EEOC v. Roadway Express Inc., 750 F.2d 40 (6th Cir.1984) (). A plaintiff who must shoulder the burden of proving that the reasons given for her denial of promotions are pretextual should not normally be denied the information necessary to establish that claim. See, e.g., Burns v. Thiokol Chemical Corp., 483 F.2d 300 (5th Cir.1973). However, this desire to allow broad discovery is not without limits and the trial court is given wide discretion in balancing the needs and rights of both plaintiff and defendant. See Trevino v. Celanese Corp., 701 F.2d 397 (5th Cir.1983). The focus of plaintiff's complaint was on the treatment she received from Bradford while working in its municipal bond department in Nashville. In her complaint, Scales alleged that on three separate occasions Bradford hired a man to fill a position in which she had expressed an interest. Where, as here, the employment decisions were made locally, discovery may be properly limited to the employing unit. See Earley v. Champion International Corp., 907 F.2d 1077 (11th Cir.1990).
Furthermore, the district court found that plaintiff's husband, who was a former employee of Bradford and was now employed at a competitor of Bradford, had attempted to hire personnel away from Bradford. The court therefore concluded that discovery on a company-wide basis could cause Bradford substantial injury. Taking these factors into consideration, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in limiting the scope of discovery. See Marshall v....
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