Weber v. Strippit Inc.

• Decision Date: 16 June 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-3392,98-3392
• Citation: 186 F.3d 907
• Parties: (8th Cir. 1999) DAVID WEBER, PLAINTIFF/APPELLANT, v. STRIPPIT, INC.; IDEX CORP.; JAMES BLACKSTONE DEFENDANTS/APPELLEES. Submitted:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 907

186 F.3d 907 (8th Cir. 1999)

DAVID WEBER, PLAINTIFF/APPELLANT, v. STRIPPIT, INC.; IDEX CORP.; JAMES BLACKSTONE DEFENDANTS/APPELLEES.

No. 98-3392

U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit

Submitted: June 16, 1999

Decided July 29, 1999

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Stephen W. Cooper, Minneapolis, MN, argued (Stacey R. Everson, Minneapolis, on the brief), for Appellant.

H. Kenneth Schroeder, Jr., Buffalo, NY, argued (Adam W. Perry, on the brief), for Appellee.

Before Richard S. Arnold and Ross, Circuit Judges, BYRNE,¹ District Judge.

Byrne, District Judge.

David Weber appeals from the district court's entry of judgment on a jury verdict for his former employer on age and perceived disability discrimination claims and from the district court's grant of defendants' motion for judgment as a matter of law on his actual disability discrimination claim. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In May 1990, Weber was hired by defendant Strippit, Inc. as an international sales manager for various Asian markets. Strippit is engaged in the manufacture of a broad range of tooling and machinery used to punch, bend, and shear sheet metal and employs approximately 400 hourly and salaried employees. After an initial training period at Strippit's headquarters in Akron, New York, Weber was officed out of his home in Minnesota.

On February 2, 1993, Weber, then 54 years old, suffered a major heart attack. Weber remained in intensive care for about nine days and was placed on physical and work restrictions. About a month later, Weber was again hospitalized for his heart condition and spent six days in intensive care. Following his second hospital stay, Weber was placed on strict physical limitations and was advised by his doctor not to work for nearly two months. On numerous occasions in 1993 and 1994, Weber was hospitalized for his heart disease, hypertension, anxiety, and related conditions. Weber continued to perform his job responsibilities throughout this period.

Beginning in October 1993, several months after Weber had returned to work following his second hospitalization, defendants required Weber to complete further training and advised him of the possibility that he would be required to relocate to Akron. In January 1994, Strippit reduced Weber's commissions and informed him that² his employment could be terminated at any time. Weber underwent another angioplasty in early 1994. Starting in May 1994, defendants informed Weber that he must relocate to Akron.³ Defendants eventually ordered Weber to either relocate to Akron or, if he was unwilling to leave Minnesota, to accept a position as a domestic sales engineer at a much lower salary. Weber told defendants that his doctor advised him to remain in Minnesota for six months for medical reasons prior to relocating. Defendants refused to wait the six months and, by the end of October 1994, Weber was either terminated or abandoned his employment.

Prior to trial, the district court dismissed numerous Minnesota tort law claims asserted by Weber. After Weber had presented his case at trial, the district court granted judgment as a matter of law for defendants on Weber's actual disability claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act (" ADA") and Minnesota Human Rights Act (" MHRA") but denied defendants' motion for judgment on Weber's perceived disability and age discrimination claims. At the Conclusion of trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict for defendants. Weber filed a post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial, which the district court denied. Weber timely appealed.

II. DISCUSSION

On appeal, Weber contends that defendants violated the equal protection clause when they exercised their peremptory challenges to remove jurors over the age of fifty. Weber also asserts that the district court erred in granting judgment as a matter of law on his actual disability claim and in charging the jury.

A. Peremptory challenges

During jury selection, defendants exercised all three of their peremptory challenges to remove jurors over the age of fifty. At that time, and again as part of his motion for a new trial, Weber alleged that defendants violated his right to a representative jury through this use of their peremptory challenges. The district court rejected Weber's claim, finding it unlikely that the Supreme Court would expand Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), to prohibit peremptory challenges based on age and that, even if Batson did apply to age, defendants had sufficient age-neutral reasons for striking the three jurors.

In Batson, the Supreme Court held that the equal protection clause forbids prosecutors from striking jurors solely on account of their race. Batson, 476 U.S. at 93-94. The Court subsequently extended Batson to counsel participating in jury selection in civil cases, see Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co., Inc., 500 U.S. 614, 628 (1991), and to peremptory challenges based on gender, see J. E. B. v. Alabama ex rel. T. B., 511 U.S. 127, 141-42 (1994). Where Batson applies, the party asserting an equal protection violation must make a prima facie showing that the other party exercised a peremptory challenge on the basis of race or gender; the burden then shifts to the challenging party to offer a non-pretextual race or gender-neutral explanation for their strikes. See Davidson v. Harris, 30 F.3d 963, 965 (8th Cir. 1994); United States v. Brooks, 2 F.3d 838, 840-41 (8th Cir. 1993).

Neither the Supreme Court nor any other court has extended Batson to peremptory challenges based on age. Several circuits, in fact, have expressly considered and rejected the claim that Batson applies to age-based challenges, and other circuits have accepted age as a legitimate race or gender-neutral factor for exercising peremptory challenges. See, e. g., United States v. Maxwell, 160 F.3d 1071, 1075-76 (6th Cir. 1998); Howard v. Moore, 131 F.3d 399, 408 (4th Cir. 1997); United States v. Cresta, 825 F.2d 538, 544-45 (1st Cir. 1987); see also Barker v. Yukins, 993 F. Supp. 592, 605 n. 12 (E. D. Mich. 1998); State v. Everett, 472 N.W. 2d 864, 869 (Minn. 1991).

We decline to extend Batson to peremptory challenges based on age. As the Sixth Circuit noted in Maxwell, "[t]he practice of allowing peremptory challenges may be overridden only for the strongest constitutional reasons." Id. at 1076. Age, unlike race or gender, is not a suspect classification subject to strict or even heightened scrutiny under the equal protection clause. See, e. g., Massachusetts Bd. of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U.S. 307, 313-14 (1976); Humenansky v. Regents of the Univ. of Minn., 152 F.3d 822, 827 (8th Cir. 1998), petition for cert. filed, 67 USLW 3504 (U.S. Feb. 1, 1999). Thus, an age-based motivation for exercising peremptory challenges does not violate equal protection.

Even if Batson were extended to age-based peremptory challenges, the district court assessed the age-neutral reasons for defendants' exercise of their peremptory challenges and found them non-pretextual. Defendants had requested, for instance, that one of the three jurors be excluded because her brother-in-law had made claims of age discrimination against a former employer; when the court declined to strike the juror for cause, defendants exercised a peremptory challenge to exclude the juror. The district court further found that all three jurors' answers during voir dire could support defense counsel's view that the jurors were predisposed to rule against defendants. Because the district court's findings on discriminatory purpose were not clearly erroneous, see United States v. Wiggins, 104 F.3d 174, 176 (8th Cir. 1997), even a cognizable Batson claim would fail.

B. Actual disability claim

Weber's primary contention on appeal is that the district court erred in granting judgment as a matter of law for defendants on his actual disability claim under the ADA and MHRA. Specifically, Weber contends that his heart disease automatically qualifies as a disability under the ADA and, even if it does not, that he presented sufficient evidence that his heart disease substantially interfered with one or more major life activities.

We review the district court's grant of a motion for judgment as a matter of law de novo. See Schulz v. Long, 44 F.3d 643, 647 (8th Cir. 1995). Judgment as a matter of law is appropriate if there is insufficient evidence to support a verdict for the non-moving party. See Gray v. Bicknell, 86 F.3d 1472, 1478 (8th Cir. 1996). The evidence is insufficient if no reasonable juror could have returned a verdict for the non-moving party. Morse v. Southern Union Co., 174 F.3d 917, 922 (8th Cir. 1999). In making this determination, we view all facts and resolve all conflicts in favor of the non-moving party, giving him the benefit of all reasonable inferences. See Varner v. National Super Markets, Inc., 94 F.3d 1209, 1212 (8th Cir. 1996).

The ADA proscribes discrimination by an employer "against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual." 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). The MHRA similarly creates a civil cause of action against employers who discharge an employee because of a disability. Minn. Stat. § 363.03 subd. 1(2)(b); see Snow v. Ridgeview Med. Ctr., 128 F.3d 1201, 1205 (8th Cir. 1997). We have previously assumed, without deciding, that analysis of a disability claim under the MHRA mirrors analysis under the ADA. See Roberts v. KinderCare Learning Ctrs., Inc., 86 F.3d 844, 846 n. 2 (8th Cir. 1996). Because neither of the parties in this case draws any distinction between the analysis under the two statutes, we proceed on the same assumption.

To obtain relief under the ADA, a plaintiff must prove that he was disabled within the meaning of the ADA, that with or without reasonable accommodation he was able to perform the essential functions of his job, and...