Simmons v. McGuffey Nursing Home, Inc., 79-1434
| Decision Date | 16 June 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-1434,79-1434 |
| Citation | 619 F.2d 369 |
| Parties | 23 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 199, 23 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 31,034 Robert B. SIMMONS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. McGUFFEY NURSING HOME, INC., et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
William F. Prosch, Jr., Birmingham, Ala., for plaintiff-appellant.
Inzer, Suttle, Swann & Stivender, James C. Inzer, Jr., James C. Stivender, James Scott Sledge, Gadsden, Ala., for McGuffey Nursing Home, Inc., et al.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Before WISDOM, RONEY and HATCHETT, Circuit Judges.
This is an age discrimination case. Robert B. Simmons, the plaintiff, a 51-year-old man, contends that the McGuffey Nursing Home, Inc., (McGuffey) located in Gadsden, Alabama, violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., by terminating him as Administrator of the home. He was replaced by a 34-year-old man. 1
Mrs. Bessie McGuffey owned and operated the nursing home for many years. In December 1949 Robert Simmons married one of her daughters. In 1954 he went to work for McGuffey as a yard and maintenance man. By 1972 he was Administrator and a non-voting member of the Board of Directors. After the mother's death in 1973 her three daughters have been stockholders, jointly owning less than 50 percent of the stock. The remainder of the stock, and therefore control of the company, was placed in trust with a corporate fiduciary, Central Bank. The seven members of the Board of Directors consisted of the three sisters, an officer of the trustee bank, the accountant for McGuffey, the attorney for McGuffey, and the plaintiff.
Marital problems between Simmons and his wife flared up in 1975. They were separated in late 1975 and were divorced in January 1976. The district court found that "the circumstances surrounding the divorce were less than amiable (sic)".
In November 1976 the Board of Directors of McGuffey voted unanimously not to renew Simmons's contract for 1977. McGuffey's attorney was not present. Simmons agreed to stay on as Administrator until a replacement could be found. A 34-year-old man was hired in February 1977.
On May 12, 1977, Simmons filed a notice of intent to sue for alleged age discrimination with the Secretary of Labor. After the Department of Labor advised him that its efforts to eliminate the alleged discrimination through informal conciliation procedures had been unsuccessful, he filed suit on December 5, 1977. On January 2, 1979, the district court found that the decision not to renew the contract was based on Simmons's "strained relationship with three of the stockholders, one being his former wife and the others being former sisters-in-law" and that Simmons had shown no evidence "which might infer that age was even a factor in the decision not to renew plaintiff's contract." The Court granted a summary judgment for the defendants.
"The summary judgment procedure authorized by Rule 56 is a method for promptly disposing of actions in which there is no genuine issue as to any material fact or in which only a question of law is involved." 10 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2712 at 370. "On summary judgment the inferences to be drawn from the underlying facts contained in such materials must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion." United States v. Diebold, 1962, 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 994, 8 L.Ed.2d 176, 177.
A plaintiff suing under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act "makes out a prima facie case by showing (1) that he was within the statutorily protected age group, (2) that he was discharged, (3) that the employer sought to replace him with a younger person and (4) that he was replaced with a younger person outside the protected group". Marshall v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 5 Cir. 1978, 576 F.2d 588, 590. Once this occurs, "the defendant bears the burden of 'going forward' to demonstrate reasonable factors other than age for the plaintiff's discharge". Id. "Once the defendant-employer comes forward with evidence that the plaintiff was discharged because of reasonable factors other than age, the plaintiff must still bear the burden of...
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