Shipley v. Dugan

• Decision Date: 19 January 1995
• Docket Number: No. IP89-1126-C-T/G.,IP89-1126-C-T/G.
• Citation: 874 F. Supp. 933
• Parties: Selma SHIPLEY, Plaintiff, v. Susan Forster DUGAN, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana

874 F. Supp. 933

Selma SHIPLEY, Plaintiff, v. Susan Forster DUGAN, et al., Defendants.

No. IP89-1126-C-T/G.

United States District Court, S.D. Indiana, Indianapolis Division.

January 19, 1995.

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William E. Groth, Neal E. Gath, Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe, Indianapolis, IN, for plaintiff.

Jon Laramore, Deputy Atty. Gen., Office of the Attorney General, Michael R. Morow, Stephenson & Kurnik, Indianapolis, IN, for defendants.

Memorandum Entry Regarding Defendants' Motions for Summary Judgment

TINDER, District Judge.

This matter comes before the court upon the motions of Defendants Susan Forster Dugan ("Dugan"), Chris D. Monroe ("Monroe") and Norman D. Curry ("Curry") (collectively "the Judges") and Defendant Randy Allman ("Allman") for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The court, having considered the motions, affidavits and supporting and opposing briefs, finds that Defendant Judges' motion for summary judgment should be DENIED and Defendant Allman's motion for summary judgment should be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I. Background and Procedural History

Plaintiff Selma Shipley ("Shipley") applied in 1987 for an advertised opening for a probation officer in Bartholomew County, Indiana. At that time, Allman, who had been placed in charge of making an initial screening of candidates by the Judges, chose not to grant her an interview. Shipley then sought the intervention of the mayor of Columbus, Indiana, and upon his request, Defendant Dugan ordered Allman to interview Shipley. Following the initial screening, four individuals, not including Shipley, were passed through to the second phase of the hiring process and were interviewed by the Judges themselves. Following these interviews, Scott Hundley, who at the time was already a Bartholomew County employee and was familiar to the Judges, was chosen to fill the probation position.

Following Hundley's selection, Shipley filed a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") alleging that she had been passed over in the selection process because of her race and national origin. In 1989, during the pendency of the EEOC investigation, another position in the Bartholomew County probation department was advertised and Plaintiff again applied. She was again passed over in the selection process, this time receiving no interview at all. Seven applicants were interviewed by the Judges and Marcia Trisler was selected to fill the 1989 position. Following this selection, Plaintiff filed another EEOC complaint alleging that she was passed over for consideration for the 1989 position in retaliation for her filing the 1987 EEOC complaint. After receiving a right to sue letter, Plaintiff filed the instant suit alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

There is some dispute as to the nature of the selection process followed. Allman alleges that he merely collected the applications and all decisions as to which applicants would proceed to the second round of interviews were made by the Judges. The Judges contend that Allman made the initial screening of applicants and that they merely interviewed those applicants who received Allman's recommendation for another interview.¹ This dispute creates a genuine issue of material fact as to who was responsible for the initial screening of candidates. If Allman had the initial responsibility for screening candidates and if he discriminated against Plaintiff in the screening process, then he would be liable for his actions and the Judges would be liable in their official capacities as the representatives of the entity which employed Allman. If Allman had no screening role whatsoever and the Judges made all of the relevant employment decisions themselves, then Plaintiffs claims will likely fail because she has adduced no evidence to indicate any discriminatory animus on the part of the Judges in the selection process.

A complete description of the claims stated in Plaintiff's fourth amended complaint is set forth in the court's Entry Granting the Judges' Motion to Dismiss, Granting the County's Motion to Dismiss, and Granting in Part Defendant Allman's Motion to Dismiss the Fourth Amended Complaint dated February 4, 1993 at pp. 1-3. As a result of the February 4, 1993 entry and the court's Entry Granting Plaintiff's Motion for Reconsideration and Vacating in Part the Court's Entry of February 4, 1993 dated March 31, 1993, the following issues remain for resolution:

1. Count II states a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Defendant Allman in his individual capacity for depriving Plaintiff of her Fourteenth Amendment rights under color of state law regarding her attempt to obtain employment in 1989. Count II further states a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 against Defendant Allman in his individual capacity for discriminating against Plaintiff because of her race or national origin in the incident regarding the 1989 employment contract. Counts III and IV, to the extent they remain viable, merely repeat the § 1981 and § 1983 claims against Defendant Allman regarding the 1989 incident.

2. Counts I, II and III state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. against Defendants Dugan, Monroe, Curry and Allman in their official capacities for discriminating against Plaintiff in the hiring process based upon her race, color or national origin.

Much of the confusion engendered by the parties' briefs is a result of Defendants' failure to answer head-on the challenge posed by Plaintiff. To that end, some clarification of the court's interpretation of Plaintiff's claims is necessary to place the following discussion in the appropriate context. Plaintiff's complaint does not focus upon the final hiring decision in either 1987 or 1989. Rather, Plaintiff argues that, based upon her race or national origin and based upon the filing of her EEOC complaint, Defendant Allman discriminated against her in the screening process, and thus she was deprived of the fair opportunity to compete for the positions in question. By framing the issue in this manner, Plaintiff has relegated the question of whether she was more or less qualified than the candidates ultimately selected to only secondary importance. Title VII, section 1981 and section 1983 are offended by discrimination at any point in the selection process. Therefore, if Plaintiff can prove that Defendant Allman screened her out of the selection process based upon the impermissible characteristics of race or national origin or because she filed a complaint with the EEOC, Plaintiff will have prevailed and will be entitled to an injunction prohibiting such behavior in the hiring process in the future. Success at this point would also qualify Plaintiff as a prevailing party for purposes of the awarding of attorney fees. Once Plaintiff has established that the selection process was discriminatory, Defendants may prove mitigation of the harm by demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence that even if the process had been fair, Plaintiff would not have been chosen because she was not the most qualified candidate. Success by Defendants at this remedy stage will preclude the award of back pay or an injunction requiring the immediate hiring of Plaintiff to a position similar to the one she was discriminatorily denied.

With this procedural context in mind, it is clear that Defendants' almost exclusive focus upon the fact that Plaintiff is less qualified than the candidates ultimately chosen is not dispositive of the case at bar. Consequently, the court will review Defendants' motions to determine whether they nevertheless state a sufficient ground upon which summary judgment may be granted.

II. Summary Judgment Standard

The Seventh Circuit stated the standard for summary judgment in Howland v. Kilquist, 833 F.2d 639 (7th Cir.1987).

Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c) provides that a district court shall grant summary judgment "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." When the facts are disputed, the parties must produce proper documentary evidence to support their contentions, and may not rest on mere allegations in the pleadings, Posey v. Skyline Corp., 702 F.2d 102, 105 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 960, 104 S.Ct. 392, 78 L.Ed.2d 336 (1983), or upon conclusory statements in affidavits. First Commodity Traders v. Heinold Commodities, Inc., 766 F.2d 1007, 1011 (7th Cir.1985). In reviewing a grant of summary judgment, all reasonable inferences from the evidence presented must be drawn in favor of the opposing party. Matsushita Elecs. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).... The mere existence of a factual dispute will not bar summary judgment unless "the disputed fact is outcome determinative under governing law." Egger v. Phillips, 710 F.2d 292, 296 (7th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 918, 104 S.Ct. 284, 78 L.Ed.2d 262 (1983).

Id. 833 F.2d at 642.

The Supreme Court further clarified the scope of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 in Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) and Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In Celotex, the Court held that the initial burden is on the moving party to demonstrate "with or without affidavits" the absence of genuine issues of material fact and that, absent such material facts, judgment should be granted as a matter of law in the moving party's favor. 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. at 2552. Once the moving party has met its burden, the opposing party must "go beyond the pleadings" and designate specific facts to support or defend...