Webb v. City of Chester, Ill.
| Decision Date | 19 September 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-2946,86-2946 |
| Citation | 813 F.2d 824 |
| Parties | 43 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 507, 42 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 36,869, 7 Fed.R.Serv.3d 549, 22 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 948 Debra WEBB, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CITY OF CHESTER, ILLINOIS, the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners of Chester, Illinois, and City of Chester Police Department, Defendants- Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Stephen W. Thomson, Reed Armstrong Gorman & Coffey, Edwardsville, Ill., for defendants-appellants.
Marilyn Sue Sachtleben, Runge & Gumbel, P.C., Collinsville, Ill., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before BAUER, Chief Judge, WOOD, Circuit Judge, and CAMPBELL, Senior District Judge. **
Plaintiff Debra Webb was hired as a police officer in Chester, Illinois, and shortly thereafter she was fired. She subsequently brought a sex discrimination suit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1982) against defendants City of Chester, Illinois, the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners of Chester, Illinois, and the Chester Police Department. 1 At the conclusion of a jury trial, the jury returned a verdict for plaintiff in the amount of $30,000. The district judge entered judgment on the jury's verdict. We affirm.
Plaintiff's brief career in law enforcement began in Mattoon, Illinois. She attended Lakeland College there and completed a two-year law enforcement program. As she finished the program in the spring of 1981, plaintiff applied for the position of police officer in Chester, Illinois. Plaintiff was notified that she must take a written examination and appear before the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners (the "Board") for an oral interview. In addition, she would be required to complete a physical examination at the time she was hired. Plaintiff subsequently took the written examination and appeared before the Board for an oral interview. She was scored on the examination and the interview and then ranked with the other applicants for the position. Her combined score placed her fifth on the list of applicants. All four of the applicants ranked ahead of plaintiff, however, either moved away from Chester or accepted other positions. That left plaintiff at the top of the list.
Plaintiff was hired by the Board on February 1, 1982. She then enrolled in a six-week training program at the Police Training Academy in Belleville, Illinois. During the training program, which included physical conditioning, plaintiff completed six written examinations and a firearms test. She received no grade below an 82 and several in the 90s. Plaintiff graduated from the Police Training Academy at the end of the six-week program on March 19th.
The day following her graduation, plaintiff began working as a police officer in Chester. Over the next two weeks, plaintiff worked twelve shifts. On April 7th, however, two and one-half weeks after graduating from the Police Training Academy, Chief Jack Houglan, the Chester Chief of Police, recommended in writing to the Board that plaintiff be fired. As the basis for this recommendation, Chief Houglan asserted that plaintiff had been "observed of being incapable and physiologically remissed to perform police functions in the City of Chester."
Two days after Chief Houglan wrote the recommendation to fire plaintiff, the Board held a meeting. On the basis of the written recommendation, and Chief Houglan's oral description at the meeting of six specific incidents he alleged demonstrated plaintiff's incompetence as a police officer, the Board voted to fire plaintiff. After the meeting, Chief Houglan contacted plaintiff and told her of the Board's decision. Plaintiff then telephoned one of the three Board members, Commissioner Lampkin, and was told by him that the Board did not need to give any reason for firing her because she was a probationary police officer.
The Board eventually hired a male to fill plaintiff's position as a police officer. Plaintiff subsequently filed this lawsuit alleging sex discrimination.
Defendants raise four issues on this appeal. Defendants first argue the district judge should have granted their motion for a directed verdict or for a judgment notwithstanding the jury's verdict. Second, defendants contend the district judge improperly admitted the testimony of some witnesses and improperly excluded the testimony of others. Third, defendants challenge the district judge's decision to allow plaintiff to amend her complaint in the middle of the trial. And finally, defendants assert the jury's verdict was excessive and thus warrants a new trial or at least a remittitur.
In reviewing a district judge's treatment of motions for directed verdicts, or of motions for judgments notwithstanding jury verdicts, our review is de novo. Although we give due deference to the district judge, our review of these motions is a legal determination, not a determination of whether the district judge ruled within some acceptable range of possible rulings. We discuss this standard of review more fully in our analysis of defendants' contentions to follow.
We review challenges to amendments of pleadings, on the other hand, under the abuse of discretion standard. Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, Inc., 401 U.S. 321, 330, 91 S.Ct. 795, 802, 28 L.Ed.2d 77 (1971); Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 230, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962); Bohen v. City of East Chicago, 799 F.2d 1180, 1184-85 (7th Cir.1986).
We also use the abuse of discretion standard in reviewing a district judge's admissions and exclusions of evidence. United States v. Buishas, 791 F.2d 1310, 1313 (7th Cir.1986); Kelsay v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 749 F.2d 437, 443 (7th Cir.1984); Ellis v. City of Chicago, 667 F.2d 606, 611 (7th Cir.1981).
And in reviewing attacks on jury verdicts for a new trial or for a remittitur, our review is again governed by the abuse of discretion standard. In re Innovative Construction Systems, Inc., 793 F.2d 875, 888 (7th Cir.1986) (); Joan W. v. City of Chicago, 771 F.2d 1020, 1023 (7th Cir.1985).
"Under the 'abuse of discretion' standard of review, the relevant inquiry is not how the reviewing judges would have ruled if they had been considering the case in the first place, but rather, whether any reasonable person could agree with the district court." Deitchman v. E.R. Squibb & Sons, Inc., 740 F.2d 556, 563 (7th Cir.1984) (emphasis in original). In other words, "if reasonable men could differ as to the propriety of the [district] court's action, no abuse of discretion has been shown." Smith v. Widman Trucking & Excavating, Inc., 627 F.2d 792, 796 (7th Cir.1980).
Defendants contend the district judge improperly denied their motion for a directed verdict or for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict of the jury. We disagree.
"In reviewing a district court's grant of a motion for directed verdict [or for judgment notwithstanding the verdict], the standard to be applied by the court of appeals is the same as that applied by the trial court." Panter v. Marshall Field & Co., 646 F.2d 271, 281 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1092, 102 S.Ct. 658, 70 L.Ed.2d 631 (1981). That standard applied by the district judge, and by us on appeal, is "whether the evidence presented, combined with all the reasonable inferences permissibly drawn therefrom is sufficient to support the verdict when viewed in a light most favorable to the party against whom the motion is directed." Tice v. Lampert Yards, Inc., 761 F.2d 1210, 1213 (7th Cir.1985); Benson v. Allphin, 786 F.2d 268, 279 (7th Cir.) ("The standard for granting a directed verdict is very generous to the nonmovant."), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 172, 93 L.Ed.2d 109 (1986). The district judge does not resolve conflicts in testimony or weigh and evaluate the evidence. Those functions are reserved to the factfinder. See, e.g., Continental Casualty Co. v. Howard, 775 F.2d 876, 879 (7th Cir.1985), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 1641, 90 L.Ed.2d 186 (1986).
Nevertheless, the district judge is charged with determining whether "the evidence, taken as a whole, provides a sufficient probative basis upon which a jury could reasonably reach a verdict, without 'speculation over legally unfounded claims.' " Panter v. Marshall Field & Co., 646 F.2d 271, 281 (7th Cir.) (quoting Brady v. Southern Railway, 320 U.S. 476, 480, 64 S.Ct. 232, 234, 88 L.Ed. 239 (1943)), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1092, 102 S.Ct. 658, 70 L.Ed.2d 631 (1981).
These legal standards are applied here in the context of a sex discrimination claim brought under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1982). A successful section 1983 claim requires plaintiff to prove (1) defendants acted under color of state law, (2) defendants' actions deprived plaintiff of her rights, privileges, or immunities guaranteed by the Constitution, and (3) defendants' conduct proximately caused plaintiff's deprivation. Coleman v. Frantz, 754 F.2d 719, 722, 725 (7th Cir.1985); Crowder v. Lash, 687 F.2d 996, 1002 (7th Cir.1982). Moreover, plaintiff must demonstrate that defendants acted with discriminatory intent. Parker v. Board of School Commissioners, 729 F.2d 524, 528 (7th Cir.1984). Once plaintiff demonstrates these elements, and thereby makes out a prima facie case of sex discrimination, the burden then shifts to defendants to articulate a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for taking the action alleged by plaintiff to be discriminatory. If defendants do articulate such a reason, the burden shifts back to plaintiff to demonstrate that the proffered reason is merely a pretext for discrimination. See Texas Department of Community Affairs v....
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Cygnar v. City of Chicago
...against whom the motion is directed." Tice v. Lampert Yards, Inc., 761 F.2d 1210, 1213 (7th Cir.1985). See also Webb v. City of Chester, 813 F.2d 824, 827-28 (7th Cir.1987). In applying this standard, neither the district judge nor the appellate court may "resolve conflicts in testimony or ......
-
Valot v. Southeast Local School Dist. Bd. of Educ.
...Township, Bd. of Zoning Appeals, 966 F.2d 1031, 1036 (6th Cir.1992) (same as to single decision of zoning board); Webb v. City of Chester, 813 F.2d 824 (7th Cir.1987) (same regarding one-time action of firing police officer because of gender). The question here is not whether the Equal Prot......
-
Chicago Miracle Temple Church v. Fox
...proximately caused plaintiffs' deprivation.'" Volk v. Coler, 845 F.2d 1422, 1430 (7th Cir.1988) (quoting Webb v. City of Chester, Illinois, 813 F.2d 824, 828 (7th Cir.1987)). Plaintiffs must also prove that the defendants' discriminatory conduct was intentional. Id. at 1430-31; see also Arl......
-
Littlefield v. McGuffey
...suffered no out-of-pocket loss. Lastly, the jury's award is not out of line with other, similar awards. In Webb v. City of Chester, Ill., 813 F.2d 824 (7th Cir.1987), we approved an award that included $20,250 as compensation specifically for embarrassment and humiliation where a police off......