Smith v. Leggett Wire Company

• Decision Date: 27 October 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-6414,98-6414
• Citation: 220 F.3d 752,2000 WL 992232
• Parties: (6th Cir. 2000) Boyce A. Smith, a/k/a Woody Smith, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leggett Wire Company, et al., Defendants-Appellants. Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 752

220 F.3d 752 (6th Cir. 2000)

Boyce A. Smith, a/k/a Woody Smith, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leggett Wire Company, et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 98-6414

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

Argued: October 27, 1999

Decided and Filed: July 17, 2000

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Lexington; No. 95-00439--Karl S. Forester, District Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Susan C. Sears, Catherine S. Wright, FROST & JACOBS, Lexington, Kentucky, David R. Irvin, MOYNAHAN, IRVIN & SMITH, Nicholasville, Kentucky, for Appellee.

Robert B. Craig, Mark J. Sheppard, TAFT, STETTINIUS & HOLLISTER, Covington, Kentucky, for Appellants.

Before: MARTIN, Chief Judge; SUHRHEINRICH and SILER, Circuit Judges.

SUHRHEINRICH, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which SILER, J., joined. MARTIN, C. J. (pp. 763-67), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.

OPINION

SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judge.

Defendants Adcom Wire Company and Leggett & Platt, Inc., appeal an order awarding Plaintiff Boyce A. Smith $100,000, plus attorney's fees and costs, for wrongful termination of employment based on a jury's finding of racial discrimination. Defendants claim that the district court erred in denying their post-verdict motion for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(b) because there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that race was a substantially motivating factor in Adcom's decision to terminate Smith. Defendants also challenge the jury's finding that Leggett was sufficiently interrelated with Adcom to be held liable for Smith's wrongful termination. Finally, Defendants object to the district court's award of attorney's fees.

For the following reasons, we REVERSE.

I.

Boyce A. Smith ("Smith"), an African-American, worked as a wire drawing machine operator at Adcom Wire Company ("Adcom") in Nicholasville, Kentucky from 1974 until 1994. Adcom is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Missouri-based Leggett & Platt, Inc. ("Leggett"). During those years, Smith was paid on an incentive basis depending on his weekly productivity. Adcom considered Smith to be one of the most productive wire drawers in the plant.

In February 1994, Smith's incentive production numbers began to drop steadily for no apparent reason, resulting in decreases in his weekly paychecks. Smith complained to the plant superintendent, Chip Ford ("Ford"). Ford testified that he reviewed Smith's daily production totals and the raw data for his production, checked with the Quality Control Department, reviewed the lab reports on rejects for rejected wire, met with the plant accountant to make sure the calculations were correct, and reviewed the production numbers for other operators working on the same machines to determine if they were consistent. Ford informed Smith that he could not find anything amiss with the calculations.

Smith's production numbers continued to fall over the next month. Smith again complained to Ford, who testified that he could not find anything wrong. On March 16, 1994, Smith told his supervisor, Bobby Guy ("Guy"), that he was extremely upset about his incentive calculation. Shortly thereafter, Smith returned to Guy in a rage, and stated that unless his incentive pay was straightened out by the following morning, he, Smith, "was going to kill a bunch of M.F.s." Smith then left the Adcom plant, although he had not completed his shift.

Guy immediately reported the threat to Ford. Ford then reported the incident to the Plant Manager, Steve Riley ("Riley"). Riley discussed the matter with Ford and Bill Avise, the Vice President of Operations for the Leggett & Platt wire group, who happened to be visiting the Adcom facility. Ford then met with Guy in person. Ford stated that Guy looked scared, and that, at that point, Ford himself became scared. Ford met with Avise and Riley, and the three agreed that they would talk to Smith the next morning. They also called Nicholasville Police to let them know that an employee had made a threat, and asked that an officer be present the next morning.

The following morning, Smith returned to work as usual. Ford, Riley, and Avise met with Smith upon his arrival. According to Riley, when asked about the threat, all Smith would say was, "I might have said that." Riley felt that Smith was preoccupied with his incentive calculations. Riley suspended Smith and told him to return the following Monday. Smith left the plant without incident and without an escort. Riley called the police again and asked for a backup. On Monday, March 21, 1994, Adcom terminated Smith.

On September 11, 1995, Smith sued Leggett, Adcom, and L&P Acquisition Company-8 Inc. in federal court under the Kentucky Civil Right Act, Ky. Rev. St. §§ 344.040 et. seq., on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. Smith alleged in pertinent part that he suffered unequal treatment while employed at Adcom and that he was terminated because of his race. He also asserted that Defendants engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination.

Smith testified at trial that co-workers and supervisors regularly made racially discriminatory comments in his presence at work. Smith stated that on his first day of work in 1974, some employees threatened him, stating: "You're [sic] nigger ass ain't going to work here." Smith also testified that on one occasion in the late 1980's or early 1990's, Smith's supervisor Sammy Guy circulated a racially discriminatory and lewd cartoon around the plant. The cartoon depicted an African-American man with a rope around his neck and connected to his penis standing in front of a Caucasian woman. The cartoon was entitled "How a Black Man Commits Suicide." Sometime after 1993, Smith heard his supervisor, Bobby Guy, telling a "nigger" joke. Guy admitted using the term. Smith testified also that sometime in the 1990's he heard foreman Ronnie Curry referring to a black employee as a "gorilla." Smith stated that he complained to Curry. Smith also stated that he had "been to a supervisor once before and my foreman" to complain about use of the "N" word.

Smith testified that he inquired about promotion and was told that he needed a high school diploma. He later learned that several of the white supervisors did not have high school diplomas. Smith signed up to be promoted in 1990. However, in 1993, Bobby Guy, who is white, received the position even though he had never run a wire drawing machine or set one up. Smith testified that in his twenty years with Adcom, the company never had a black supervisor. Furthermore, Smith offered evidence that Adcom never employed more than four or five blacks at one time, and that between 1992 and 1994, the numbers of black employees was reduced by half through involuntary terminations. Smith also presented statistics showing that between the years 1989 through 1995, there were no black supervisors at the Leitchfield plant, the Adcom plant, or the Winchester plant. Smith further testified that he thought that he was discharged because for years he had complained about the lack of black supervisors.

Smith also asked the jury to infer discriminatory purpose because other white employees received less severe discipline for offenses similar to Smith's. Employee Willie Reed brought a gun to the plant, but was not terminated. On August 8, 1992, Employee Cecil Hopper, threatened a supervisor with bodily harm, but received only a written warning despite a disciplinary record. On February 1, 1994, employee Jeff Banta heated up a pair of pliers and touched them against a coworker's neck, yet he received only a verbal warning.

Defendants maintained that Smith's threat, not his race, was the reason for his termination. Riley testified that he was concerned about the threat because he knew Smith had guns. As plant manager, Riley stated that he felt an obligation to ensure the safety of all plant employees.

The district court granted judgment as a matter of law to Defendants on Smith's failure to promote claim and pattern or practice discrimination claim. The jury found that Adcom fired Smith on the basis of race and awarded him $100,000 in damages. Defendants then moved pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(b) for a post-verdict judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial. The district court denied the motion. The court then awarded Smith $135,547.48 in attorney's fees and $2,347.19 in costs and entered a final judgment.

II.

Defendants argue that the evidence failed to establish that Smith was terminated because of his race. Specifically, Defendants contend Smith did not prove that the proffered reason for Smith's termination - his threat to kill coworkers - was pretext for racial discrimination.

We review a district court's denial of Defendants' Rule 50(b) motion de novo. See K&T Enterpr., Inc., v. Zurich Ins. Co., 97 F.3d 171, 175 (6th Cir. 1996). Kentucky law governs the standard of review in this case. See Morales v. American Honda Motor Co., 151 F.3d 500, 506 (6th Cir. 1998) (holding that in diversity cases, a state-law standard of review applies when a Rule 50(b) motion for judgment as a matter of law is based on a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence). Under Kentucky law, a post-verdict motion for judgment as a matter of law should be granted only if "there is a complete absence of proof on a material issue in the action, or if no disputed issue of fact exists upon which reasonable minds could differ." Washington v. Goodman, 830 S.W.2d 398, 400 (Ky. Ct. App. 1992); see also Morales, 151 F.3d at 506 (quoting Washington). All reasonable favorable inferences should be drawn in favor of the nonmovant. See Baylis v. Lourdes Hosp., Inc., 805 S.W.2d 122, 125 (Ky. 1991); see also Morales, 151 F.3d at 506 (quoting Baylis).

Because Ky. Rev. St. Chapter 344 mirrors Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), we use...