Shannon v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 07 June 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 00 CIV. 1528(SAS).,00 CIV. 1528(SAS). |
| Citation | 156 F.Supp.2d 279 |
| Parties | William P. SHANNON, Plaintiff, v. FIREMAN'S FUND INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Michael P. Graff, Michael Siskin, Kurzman Karelsen & Frank, LLP., New York City, for Plaintiff.
Lawrence Piekes, Wiggin & Dana, Stanford, CT, for Defendant.
Plaintiff, William P. Shannon, brought this action pursuant to the New York State Human Rights Law ("NYHRL"), N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, and the New York City Human Rights Law (the "City law"), N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-107, alleging that the defendant, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company ("Fireman's Fund"), unlawfully terminated him because of his age.1 The case was tried before a jury and on December 22, 2000 the jury returned a verdict in favor of Shannon, awarding him $80,000.00 as compensation for emotional suffering caused by the unlawful termination.2
Fireman's Fund now moves for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Rule 50(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a new trial pursuant to Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or, in the alternative, remittitur of the jury's compensatory damage award.3 Shannon, in turn, moves for an award of attorneys' fees and other reasonable costs. For the reasons set forth below (1) Fireman's Fund's motion for judgment as a matter of law is denied; (2) Fireman's Fund's motion for a new trial is denied; (3) Fireman's Fund's motion for remittitur of the jury award is granted; and (4) Shannon's motion for attorneys' fees and costs is granted in part and denied in part.
Shannon was hired as a Senior Inland Marine Underwriter by William H. McGee & Co., Inc. ("McGee") in January 1980. In late 1996 or early 1997, the inland marine, commercial property, and special risk departments of McGee were consolidated to form the Inland Marine/Property Unit (the "Unit"). See Tr. at 626-27. Edward Helfers and Lisa Uzzo took charge of the Unit in January 1997 and promoted Shannon to Head Office Underwriter, assigning him primary responsibility over McGee's Midwest territory.4 See id. at 482-83, 626-27. Other Head Office Underwriters in the Unit included Louis Elias, Erica Mills and Stephanie Reneri. See id. at 482-83, 522-23. Additional underwriters in the Unit included Joseph McKeefry, responsible for catastrophe management, and Frederick Fisher and Donna Campbell, responsible for a package book of property and casualty business referred to as the CML product line. See id. at 104, 106, 603-07, 637-38; see also Plaintiff's Exhibit ("Pl.Ex.") 48.
On April 9, 1999, Fireman's Fund acquired McGee. At the time of the acquisition, a transition team was assembled to "find a way to quickly integrate both the McGee and the Fireman's Fund marine department[s] into one cohesive unit ...." Tr. at 589. The transition team sought to restructure the merged company so that it would have the flexibility to adapt to the changing insurance environment. See id. To do so, the company decided to adopt a regional approach to underwriting, increasing the authority of the underwriters in the regional and branch offices by allowing them to sign-off on risks without the approval of the home office. See id. at 591-92. As a result, the Head Office Underwriters were given less responsibility. In accordance with this new approach and after numerous discussions with Mike Miller, Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer for the Marine Profit Center,5 Helfers decided that two of the Head Office Underwriter positions in the Unit would be eliminated. See id. at 131-32. After deciding who would be let go, Helfers received an e-mail on August 26, 1999, from Paul Cocja, a human resources employee, asking him to prepare a staffing analysis—a brief summary explaining the reasons for any staffing decisions/recommendations. See id. at 55-56; Pl.Ex. 47. Where several employees were eligible to be cut, the staffing analysis was to address each employee's skills, performance approval, interviews, profile, and future potential. See Tr. at 58-59; Pl.Ex. 47. The next day Helfers completed his staffing analysis, indicating that Shannon would be let go because
Bill has an extensive background in inland .... Inland is the skill set which is prevalent in the new organization, the area for head office assistance and training will be related property .... Louis, Stephanie and Erica have property backgrounds .... Stephanie has the greatest future potential with the organization to be redeployed into the field at some junction .... Erica has experience in training which will be required going forward.
In September 1999, Shannon, at age sixty-two, as well as Elias, age fifty-four, were fired as part of a reduction-in-force ("RIF") which resulted in the termination of eighty-seven company employees. Both Reneri and Mills, ages thirty-two and forty-four, respectively, were retained. At trial Shannon alleged that his age was a motivating and determining factor in Fireman's Fund's decision to terminate him. The jury apparently agreed.
Although Shannon originally filed this action in state court, Fireman's Fund removed the action to federal court on February 28, 2000. Prior to trial, the parties stipulated that Shannon had established a prima facie case of age discrimination under the NYHRL and the City law and thus the only issues to be tried were whether Fireman's Fund's articulated reasons for the termination were a pretext for unlawful discrimination, and if so, what damages has Shannon proven. See Joint Pretrial Order at 3. The parties further agreed that in the event Shannon prevailed at trial, the Court would determine the amount of back and/or front pay to which he is entitled. The trial began on December 18, 2000. At the close of Shannon's case Fireman's Fund moved for judgment as a matter of law with respect to liability as well as Shannon's claim for punitive damages. See Tr. at 496-507. The Court denied the motion as to liability but granted it with respect to punitive damages. See id. On December 22, 2000, the jury found in favor of Shannon and awarded him $80,000.00 as compensation for emotional suffering caused by the unlawful termination. In a decision dated March 1, 2001, the Court found that Shannon was entitled to $240,285.90 in back and front pay. See Shannon v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 136 F.Supp.2d 225 (S.D.N.Y.2001). Judgment was entered on March 20, 2001, and by stipulation dated March 21, 2001, the parties agreed to stay the execution of the judgment pending the disposition of Fireman's Fund's post-trial motions.
A court may render judgment as a matter of law when "a party has been fully heard on an issue and there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for that party on that issue ...." Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a)(1); see also Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 149, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000). The standard for granting judgment as a matter of law "mirrors" the standard for summary judgment such that the "inquiry under each is the same." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250-51, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); see Reeves, 530 U.S. at 150, 120 S.Ct. 2097. In ruling on such a motion, the trial court is required to
consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion was made and to give that party the benefit of all reasonable inferences that the jury might have drawn in his favor from the evidence. The court cannot assess the weight of conflicting evidence, pass on the credibility of the witnesses, or substitute its judgment for that of the jury.
Tolbert v. Queens Coll., 242 F.3d 58, 70 (2d Cir.2001) (quoting Smith v. Lightning Bolt Prods., Inc., 861 F.2d 363, 367 (2d Cir. 1988) (internal quotations and citation omitted)). In making its determination, a court should
review all of the evidence in the record [but] it must disregard all evidence favorable to the moving party that the jury is not required to believe..... That is, the court should give credence to the evidence favoring the nonmovant as well as that evidence supporting the moving party that is uncontradicted and unimpeached, at least to the extent that evidence comes from disinterested witnesses.
Reeves, 530 U.S. at 150-151, 120 S.Ct. 2097 (internal quotations and citations omitted); see also Raniola v. Bratton, 243 F.3d 610, 616 (2d Cir.2001). Thus, judgment as a matter of law should not be granted unless "(1) there is such a complete absence of evidence supporting the verdict that the jury's findings could only have been the result of sheer surmise and conjecture, or (2) there is such an overwhelming amount of evidence in favor of the movant that reasonable and fair minded [persons] could not arrive at a verdict against [it]." DiSanto v. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 220 F.3d 61, 64 (2d Cir.2000) (internal quotations and citation omitted); see also Epstein v. Kalvin-Miller Int'l, Inc., 139 F.Supp.2d 469, 474-76 (S.D.N.Y. Apr.17, 2001); Hiller v. County of Suffolk, 199 F.R.D. 101, 103 (E.D.N.Y.2001).
As noted above, the parties stipulated that Shannon had established a prima facie case of age discrimination under the NYHRL and the City law and thus the primary issue to be tried was whether Fireman's Fund's articulated reasons for the termination were a pretext for unlawful discrimination.8 Once a plaintiff's prima facie case is proven and the employer's non-discriminatory explanation has been given, "the McDonnell Douglas presumptions disappear from the case, and the governing standard is simply whether the evidence, taken as a whole, is sufficient to...
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