Wade v. Mississippi Co-op. Extension Service

• Decision Date: 24 February 1976
• Docket Number: No. 74--2065,74--2065
• Citation: 528 F.2d 508
• Parties: 12 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1041, 11 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 10,770 Charlie F. WADE et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, United States of America et al., Plaintiffs-Intervenors-Appellees, v. MISSISSIPPI COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 508

528 F.2d 508

12 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1041,

11 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 10,770

Charlie F. WADE et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees United States of America et al., Plaintiffs-Intervenors-Appellees, v. MISSISSIPPI COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE et al Defendants-Appellants.

No. 74--2065.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Feb. 24, 1976.

William A. Allain, 1st Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Miss., A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen., C. A. Marx, Spec. Asst. to Atty. Gen., Jackson, Miss., Fred B. Smith, Ripley, Miss., Heber Ladner, Jr., Jackson, Miss., for defendants-appellants.

Frank R. Parker, Jackson, Miss., for Wade and others.

H. M. Ray, U.S. Atty., Oxford, Miss., Mary Planty, Steven B. Glassman, Title VI Section, Civ. Rights Div., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for U.S.A.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

Before BELL and DYER, Circuit Judges, and MEHRTENS, District Judge.

BELL, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court finding that the defendants had engaged in discriminatory employment practices, ordering declaratory and injunctive relief, and awarding reasonable attorneys' fees to plaintiffs. This class action was originally brought by employees and patrons of the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service (MCES) against MCES and various county, state and federal defendants. The Justice Department of the United States Government subsequently intervened as plaintiffs, and the federal defendants were realigned as parties plaintiff. The defendants urge on appeal that the findings of the district court were clearly erroneous and that the court exceeded its jurisdiction in ordering certain relief against the defendants and others. After consideration of all issues raised, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and vacate and remand in part.

The plaintiffs originally filed suit in April, 1970, alleging racial segregation and discrimination by MCES in employment practices and in delivery of services by MCES, in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000d et seq. and the Civil Rights Acts, 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1981, 1982, and 1983. ¹

The named plaintiffs are Charlie F. Wade, Laverne W. Lindsey, and Athaniel H. Moody, all employees of MCES; Howard T. Bailey, a Mississippi farmer; the minor children of Mrs. Odell Durham and Mrs. Laverne Y. Lindsey, members of racially segregated 4H clubs; and Mrs. Odell Durham, as a member of a racially segregated homemaker club. All the named plaintiffs are black. In December 1970, the district court certified this as a class action, and defined classes as set forth in the margin. ²

The present defendants are MCES and its director William Bost; Mississippi State University (MSU), the land grant college that receives state and federal funds for the MCES program, and its president, William L. Giles; the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning, which has supervisory authority over MSU; M. M. Roberts, the president of the Board of Trustees, and E. E. Thrash, the Executive Secretary and Director of the Board; and the individual members of the Board of Supervisors of Holmes County, Mississippi. The United States Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) and the administrator of the Federal Extension Service (ES--USDA) were also originally named as defendants.

The United States Attorney General moved to intervene as a plaintiff on March 25, 1971, under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000h--2, certifying that the action was one of general public importance. On that same day, plaintiffs moved to dismiss the original federal defendants. In an order on October 29, 1971, the district court granted the Attorney General's motion to intervene as a plaintiff but denied the plaintiffs' motion to dismiss the federal defendants, suggesting that separate representation of the USDA defendants and the Attorney General intervenor-plaintiffs might be appropriate. Subsequently, the district court reversed its position in an order on January 26, 1972, finding that 'the ends of justice would be best served,' by realigning the USDA defendants as parties plaintiff, taking 'identical positions with that of the United States.' The USDA defendants withdrew their original answer, which had denied all alleged discrimination, and filed a supplemental pleading on February 25, 1972, alleging racial discrimination in the operation and employment practices of MCES.

A motion for a preliminary injunction was filed on January 1, 1973, which was denied after a hearing in February, without prejudice to renewal of the motion upon subsequent trial of the merits. The trial was held before the district court without a jury in July, 1973. The judgment of the court ordering declaratory and injunctive relief was entered on February 9, 1974, Wade v. Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service, N.D.Miss., 1974, 372 F.Supp. 126. In a supplemental opinion, entered on June 17, 1974, Wade v. Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service, N.D.Miss., 1974, 378 F.Supp. 1251, the district court awarded reasonable attorneys' fees to the plaintiffs, on the basis of this court's holding in Morrow v. Crisler, 5 Cir., 1974, 491 F.2d 1053, under the 'private attorney general' theory. The district court did not address the issue whether the defendants' conduct had been unreasonable and obdurate.

The district court certified that its February judgment was appealable pursuant to Rule 54(b), F.R.Civ.P., and also its judgment awarding attorneys' fees. ³ We will first summarize the factual findings of the district court and then consider the various grounds for appeal urged by the defendants.

The MCES Program and Structure

MSU is the land grant college directed by the Mississippi legislature to administer the Extension Service throughout the state, as authorized by the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, 7 U.S.C.A. § 341 et seq. MCES is the division of MSU that directly administers the Mississippi Extension Program. The object of the Extension Service is to promulgate 'useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture and home economics, and to encourage the application of the same' among the people of the United States. Financing is accomplished with federal moneys matched by funds from the state and counties participating in the program, in the following propertions: Fifty per cent federal, thirty per cent state and twenty per cent county. National leadership is provided by USDA and specifically through ES--USDA, which is an agency within USDA.

All of the MCES programs are essentially educational, with an important goal being self-betterment. The activities of MCES are carried out primarily at the county level and fall within four general categories: agriculture, home economics, 4H youth development, and community or resource development. MCES employs over 1,000 persons, a little less than half of whom are professional staff. The remainder are either nonprofessional aides or clerical employees.

At the state level, there is a director who has direct responsibility for staff organization, personnel and budget matters overall program development, and policy matters relating to employment. Such policies must receive the approval of USDA and ES--USDA. There are also a number of state specialists, who have responsibility for particular fields of knowledge and expertise.

The state is divided into four districts, each with 20 or 21 counties, which are the second highest administrative levels. At the district level, the district agent provides liaison between the state MCES and county MCES personnel and also directs the male and female district program leaders.

At the county level, overall program responsibility is placed in the county leader, who also has administrative or supervisory responsibility over other MCES employees in his county. In each county there is a county agent, who is male and who almost always serves as the county leader. His primary responsibility as county agent is providing agricultural services to farmers in the county. The county agent is appointed by the county board of supervisors, upon the recommendation of the state MCES office.

Within each county, there is an extension home economist who is female and who is responsible for providing services to homemakers, including the training of leaders for local homemaker clubs. There may also be one or more 4H youth agents in each county, who may be either male or female and who are responsible for providing leadership training or other support activities for local 4H clubs.

The 1965 Merger

Prior to January 1, 1965, MCES was operated as a racially dual organization, consisting of a white Extension Service staffed only by whites and a similarly structured but separate Negro Extension Service, staffed mainly by blacks. The Negro branch was housed separately at both the county and state level, and there were Negro County Extension offices in only 56 of the state's 82 counties. The black county personnel were designated as Negro County Agents and Negro County Home Demonstration Agents. The Negro County Agent had supervisory and administrative responsibility for the other Negro personnel working in his county.

Beginning in 1963, the director of the Extension Service, William Bost, began to plan for a merger of the two separate services. This came to fruition in 1965, when the titles of Negro County Agents were changed to Associate County Agents, without any change in the titles of the white County Agents. The titles of all Negro Home Demonstration Agents were changed to Associate Extension Home Economists, while white Home Demonstration Agents were designated Extension Home Economists. Two years before the merger, all white County Agents has been designated as County Leaders.

Shortly after the name changes were effected, the county personnel began to be housed...