Stegall v. Citadel Broadcasting Company

Decision Date02 December 2003
Docket NumberNo. 02-35399.,02-35399.
Citation350 F.3d 1061
PartiesLynda STEGALL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITADEL BROADCASTING COMPANY; Citadel Communications Corporation; Marathon Media LP, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Laura B. Allen, Seattle, Washington, for the plaintiff-appellant.

Courtney W. Wiswall (argued) and Paul Buchanan (briefed), Portland, Oregon, for the defendants-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington; Edward F. Shea, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-00-05064-EFS.

Before: DONALD P. LAY,* WARREN J. FERGUSON, and RONALD M. GOULD, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

FERGUSON, Circuit Judge.

The issue in this case is: what showing of pretext must a plaintiff in a retaliation suit make in order to overcome a defendant's motion for summary judgment, where the defendant has alleged legitimate reasons for the plaintiff's termination. Appellant Lynda Stegall ("Stegall") appeals the District Court for the Eastern District of Washington ("District Court")'s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant Marathon Media, L.P. ("Marathon"), which foreclosed a jury trial on Stegall's retaliation claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Washington Law Against Discrimination ("WLAD"). The District Court held that, although Stegall established a prima facie claim of retaliatory discharge against Marathon, she was unable to demonstrate that Marathon's nondiscriminatory reasons for terminating her were a pretext for retaliation. Stegall alleges that she was fired from KORD, a country music radio station, in retaliation for making complaints about gender discrimination and wage disparities between male and female employees at KORD. Because Stegall raises a triable claim with respect to her retaliation claim, we reverse the District Court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Marathon.

I BACKGROUND
A. Facts

Lynda Stegall was employed by Citadel Broadcasting Company ("Citadel") as an on-air personality at KORD, a country music station that played recent country music hits,1 since 1993. Beginning in 1997 or 1998, Stegall began to make complaints to her managers at Citadel that her male on-air personality co-host was sexually propositioning her and using sexually suggestive language on and off the air. She also complained that she was being paid less than her male counterparts and requested a raise. Allegedly, Citadel management did not adequately address her complaints.

Stegall's problems with KORD escalated in October 1998 when Stegall took time off from work because she fell ill from the stress and anxiety she was experiencing as a result of KORD's gender discrimination, and because her managers were being unresponsive to her grievances. When she returned to work, Stegall averred that Curt Cartier ("Cartier") who, at the time, was employed as the program director for another one of Citadel's radio stations, exhibited a great deal of hostility toward her. Stegall stated in her deposition that prior to her two week leave of absence, she and Cartier had been friends. Stegall had previously spoken with Cartier, as well as other station employees, on various occasions, about her complaints of gender discrimination at KORD. However, Stegall noted that upon her return, Cartier refused to speak with her. Stegall believed that Cartier was upset because she had walked out of KORD to protest the unequal treatment that she was receiving, and because she was given a raise in salary as a result.

In addition, Cartier allegedly told other station employees that he was angry at Stegall for getting what she wanted and had only been able to do so because she was a woman. On two occasions after coming back to work, Stegall alleges that Cartier yelled at her and denigrated her based on her gender, calling her names such as "slut," "bitch," and "whore," in the course of arguments that were seemingly about unrelated station matters.

On November 9, 1999, Marathon Broadcasting ("Marathon") purchased five Pasco, Washington radio stations from Citadel, including KORD. After taking over KORD, Marathon initially retained most KORD employees, a decision that was necessary to ensure continual, uninterrupted broadcasting.2 Upon Marathon's purchase of Citadel's stations, Eric Van Winkle ("Van Winkle") became the new general manager ("GM"), responsible for supervising KORD and the four other stations that Marathon acquired from Citadel. Prior to assuming the GM position with Marathon, Van Winkle worked in the central sales department for the five Pasco, Washington radio stations when they were owned by Citadel. Shortly after Van Winkle's promotion, he hired Paul Drake and Curt Cartier to serve as co-program directors of KORD under Marathon. Drake and Cartier previously held positions as program directors for other radio stations in the Pasco cluster. As program directors, Drake and Cartier were responsible for the content and presentation of KORD.

Due to the change in management and the impending station changes that it was bound to bring, Stegall inquired with Marathon about the security of her employment at KORD on several occasions before she was terminated. Shortly after Van Winkle became manager and Drake became co-program director, Stegall stopped by their individual offices to ask whether her job was secure. Both responded affirmatively.

In early December 1999, Stegall and Drake, now her direct supervisor at KORD, had a "get to know you" meeting during which Stegall relayed to Drake the complaints of gender discrimination that she had made to Citadel's managers in the past, and the problems she had been having with Citadel up until Marathon's purchase of KORD. Stegall stated in her deposition that she brought Drake up to speed about her prior concerns, and expressed a desire to see Marathon conduct things differently and remedy the gender inequities. Stegall noted that Drake did not speak much during this meeting and, as a result, she felt very uncomfortable.

Nine days after Stegall complained to Drake, on December 15, 1999, Marathon fired Stegall and one other female employee, Kristin Crume. Stegall was told during a meeting with Van Winkle, Drake and Cartier that they were planning changes for KORD which did not include her and, as a result, she was being terminated. At this time, Stegall inquired if anything she had done brought on the decision to fire her, and she was explicitly told that it had not. Rather, the decision, she was told, was solely about the future of KORD.

Similarly, when Stegall later applied for unemployment benefits, Marathon informed the state Employment Security Department that a business decision based on changing the programing and formatting was responsible for Stegall's termination, and that nothing she had done caused the discharge. However, after the commencement of this litigation, Van Winkle and Drake stated in their depositions that Stegall was fired in part because they were not satisfied with her overall attitude during the brief period of time3 she was employed by Marathon.

After Stegall's termination, Marathon began making changes to KORD. KORD was switched from station-selected music to a computerized music service; Marathon brought in Leah Knight, a syndicated host from Seattle; changed each of the shows and did on-air promotions about the format changes; stressed a different "brand" of country music;4 removed all of the daily on-air personalities; and replaced seven announcers on five shifts including every morning show host. The only former daily on-air personality who remained at KORD after the broad station change was Ed Dailey, who was removed from daily duties and given a four-hour Sunday morning "oldies" show. However, Stegall and one other woman5 were the only employees who were fired from KORD and not re-assigned to another station within the Pasco cluster.6

B. Procedural history

On August 2, 2000, Stegall filed this litigation against Citadel and Marathon, alleging gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation in violation of both Title VII and WLAD. On December 19, 2001, Stegall stipulated to the dismissal of all claims of sexual harassment and retaliation against Citadel, and stipulated to the dismissal of all claims of sexual harassment against Marathon. The District Court granted summary judgment to Marathon on Stegall's Title VII and WLAD claims of illegal retaliation, finding that Stegall was unable to demonstrate that Marathon's legitimate reasons for terminating her were pretextual. Because Stegall has proffered a substantial amount of specific circumstantial evidence that Marathon's reasons for terminating her were motivated by retaliation, we reverse the District Court's decision.

II STANDARD OF REVIEW

We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (2000). The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of Marathon, finding that, although Stegall made a prima facie showing of retaliation, she could not rebut the legitimate reasons put forth by Marathon for terminating her. "We review the district court's decision to grant summary judgment de novo." Godwin v. Hunt Wesson, Inc., 150 F.3d 1217, 1219-20 (9th Cir.1998) (citations omitted). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Stegall, we must determine whether any genuine issues of material fact exist, and whether the district court correctly applied the relevant substantive law. Id. at 1220. In doing so, "[t]he evidence of the [nonmoving] party is to be believed, and all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the facts placed before the court must be drawn in the light most favorable to [her]." Lindahl v. Air France, 930 F.2d 1434, 1437 (9th Cir.1991).

III DISCUSSION

Stegall contends that she was illegally terminated in retaliation for making wage...

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