Tuttle v. Missouri Dept. of Agriculture

• Decision Date: 28 April 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-1686,98-1686
• Citation: 172 F.3d 1025
• Parties: 75 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,830 Robin L. TUTTLE, Appellant, v. MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; John L. Saunders, Director, Missouri Department of Agriculture; Charles Ausfhal, Director of Grain Inspector of Division of Missouri Department of Agriculture, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1025

172 F.3d 1025

75 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 45,830

Robin L. TUTTLE, Appellant, v. MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; John L. Saunders Director, Missouri Department of Agriculture; Charles Ausfhal, Director of Grain Inspector of Division of Missouri Department of Agriculture, Appellees.

No. 98-1686.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Nov. 16, 1998.

Decided March 26, 1999.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc

Denied April 28, 1999.

Patrick J. Doran, Kansas City, MO, argued, for Appellant.

Craig Martin, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, MO, argued (Michael Pritchett, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, MO, on the brief), for Appellees.

Before McMILLIAN, FLOYD R. GIBSON and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.

FLOYD R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

This case concerns Robin Tuttle's claim that his former employer, the Missouri Department of Agriculture (Department), discriminated against him on the basis of his age, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. § 623 (1994), and Tuttle's claim that two of his former supervisors, Charles Ausfhal and John Saunders, violated his right to free speech by terminating him for speaking out on matters of public concern, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1994). Following a jury verdict in Tuttle's favor on both claims, ¹ the district court ² granted the Department's and Ausfhal's (collectively "the defendants") motion for judgment as a matter of law (JAML). Tuttle appeals the district court's order. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the district court.

I. BACKGROUND

Robin Tuttle had been employed as a Grain Inspector, Class I, with the Department's North Kansas City branch of the Grain Inspection Program for twenty-three years at the time of his termination in December of 1995. Tuttle was terminated as part of a reduction-in-force (RIF). Tuttle was fifty-one years of age at the time of his termination.

The Grain Inspection Program (Program) is the official designee of the United States Department of Agriculture's Federal Grain Inspection Service. As such, the Program is authorized to perform official federal grain weighing and grading. To qualify as an official grain grading agency, the Program must be operated on a fee-funded basis ³ and must utilize a merit, rather than patronage, system.

The Program utilizes six employee classifications: Grain Sampler, Grain Inspector I, Grain Inspector II, Grain Inspector III, Grain Inspector IV, and Grain Inspector V. ⁴ Grain Samplers are part-time employees whose main duties are sampling grain and transporting grain to a licensed grain grader. Grain Inspector Is are full-time regular employees who perform essentially the same function as Grain Samplers. Grain Inspector IIs are also full-time regular employees whose main duties are sampling and grading grain. Grain Inspector IIs must have a grain grading license to qualify for this position. At some point after Tuttle was hired, the Program stopped hiring Grain Inspector Is. ⁵

Between March of 1993 and June of 1996, the Program sustained losses of $1,200,000. In an effort to cut costs, the defendants eliminated the entire class of Grain Inspector Is at the North Kansas City branch in December, 1995. Five Grain Inspector Is were terminated as part of the RIF. Tuttle and the other Grain Inspector Is were invited to stay on with the Department as part-time Grain Samplers with decreased hours, pay and benefits. Tuttle rejected the Department's offer. All of the Grain Inspectors Is terminated in the RIF were over the age of forty and had been with the Department for a number of years.

On August 12, 1996, Tuttle commenced this action against the Department, alleging that his termination violated the ADEA. ⁶ Several months later, Tuttle amended his complaint to include Ausfhal and Saunders as defendants. In his amended complaint, Tuttle alleged that Ausfhal and Saunders had terminated him because, in the summer of 1995, he had spoken out on matters of public concern. Thus, Tuttle charged the defendants with violating his First Amendment right to free speech. ⁷

On August 13, 1997, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment with the district court. Tuttle responded to the motion on September 11, 1997. The district court did not rule on the motion prior to trial but took the motion under advisement. See Tr. at 91, 369-70. On October 20, 1997, the case proceeded to trial. Following the presentation of Tuttle's evidence, and again at the close of all the evidence, the defendants moved for JAML. See id. at 369; App. at 22-24. The district court overruled the motion and allowed the case to go to the jury.

On October 23, 1997, the jury returned a verdict for Tuttle on his ADEA claim, finding that the Department had acted willfully in terminating him. On the § 1983 claim, the jury found for Tuttle and against Ausfhal. On October 30, 1997, the defendants filed a renewed motion for JAML, or in the alternative, a request for a new trial. On January 29, 1998, the district court granted both of the defendants' motions. The district court held that "no reasonable jury could have returned verdicts in favor of Tuttle." App. at 22-24. This appeal ensued.

II. DISCUSSION

Tuttle argues that the district court erred by concluding that the evidence at trial was legally insufficient to support the jury's verdict. We review a grant of JAML de novo, applying the same standard as the district court. See Sims v. Sauer-Sundstrand Co., 130 F.3d 341, 343 (8th Cir.1997); Krumwiede v. Mercer County Ambulance Serv. Inc., 116 F.3d 361, 363 (8th Cir.1997). Accordingly, in our review we must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to Tuttle, assume that all evidentiary conflicts were resolved in favor of Tuttle and that Tuttle's evidence is true, and give Tuttle the benefit of all favorable inferences which may reasonably be drawn from the facts. See Clements v. Gen. Accident Ins. Co. of America, 821 F.2d 489, 491 (8th Cir.1987). We will uphold the district court's grant of JAML only if reasonable minds could not differ from the evidence. See id. Furthermore, "all the evidence must point one way and be susceptible of no reasonable inference sustaining the position of [Tuttle]." Jarvis v. Sauer Sundstrand Co., 116 F.3d 321, 324 (8th Cir.1997) (internal quotation omitted). Although Tuttle is entitled to the benefit of all reasonable inferences, "we may not accord him the benefit of unreasonable inferences." Hopper v. Hallmark Cards, Inc., 87 F.3d 983, 988 (8th Cir.1996) (internal quotation omitted).

A. ADEA CLAIM

As Tuttle's claims are based largely on circumstantial evidence, the familiar burden-shifting scheme developed by the Supreme Court in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 800-04, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), applies to this case. This three-step analysis first requires that Tuttle present a prima facie case of discrimination. Once Tuttle puts forth evidence sufficient to satisfy his prima facie case, a legal presumption of unlawful discrimination is created. See St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 506, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993). The burden of production then shifts to the Department to articulate a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for the adverse employment action. If the Department identifies a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for its action, the burden of production then rests with Tuttle. At that point, Tuttle must show that the employer's proffered reason is pretextual and that "he has been the victim of intentional discrimination." Id. at 508, 113 S.Ct. 2742 (internal quotation omitted). The burden of proof at all times remains with Tuttle. See Texas Dep't of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 256, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981).

To establish a prima facie case of age discrimination in a RIF context, Tuttle must show that he was in the protected age group, ⁸ that he satisfied the applicable job qualifications, that he was discharged and produce some additional showing that age was a factor in his termination. See Herrero v. St. Louis Univ. Hosp., 109 F.3d 481, 483-84 (8th Cir.1997). While it is clear that Tuttle has met the first three elements, we are doubtful that the "additional showing" element has been satisfied. Nonetheless, for the purposes of this appeal, we will assume that Tuttle sufficiently established each element of his prima facie case. See Lewis v. Aerospace Community Credit Union, 114 F.3d 745, 749-50 (8th Cir.1997), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 1392, 140 L.Ed.2d 651 (1998) (comparing lesser evidentiary standard necessary to establish prima facie case with that necessary to rebut nondiscriminatory explanations); Holley v. Sanyo Mfg., Inc., 771 F.2d 1161, 1165-68 (8th Cir.1985) ("we [should] not be overly rigid in our consideration of the evidence of discrimination a plaintiff may offer" to establish the "additional showing.").

As we have assumed that Tuttle established his prima facie case, we turn now to the Department's proffered explanation for Tuttle's termination. The Department contends that its termination of Tuttle was part of a cost-reducing RIF necessary for the Program's continued economic viability. The non-discriminatory reason advanced by the Department effectively rebuts the presumption of discrimination created by Tuttle's prima facie case. At this point, we focus our review on the ultimate factual issue: whether the Department intentionally discriminated against Tuttle based upon his age. See Feltmann v. Sieben, 108 F.3d 970, 975 (8th Cir.1997), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 851, 139 L.Ed.2d 752 (1998); Serben v. Inter-City Mfg. Co., Inc., 36 F.3d 765, 766 (8th Cir.1994) (per curiam).

Tuttle contends that he presented sufficient evidence from which a jury could reasonably infer that his termination was the product of age discrimination. Tuttle points to several pieces of evidence which allegedly belie the...