Williams v. City of Sioux Falls

• Decision Date: 16 May 1988
• Docket Number: No. 87-5085,87-5085
• Citation: 846 F.2d 509
• Parties: 46 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 37,981 Porter WILLIAMS, and all those similarly situated, Appellant, v. CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, a Municipal Corporation; Rick Knobe, Mayor; Harold Wingler, Commissioner; Richard Peterson, Commissioner; Harold Mostrom, Director, Department of Community Development; Michael Crane, Former Assistant Director, Department of Community Development; Lyle Graff, former employee, Department of Community Development; individually and in their official capacities, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 509

846 F.2d 509

46 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 37,981

Porter WILLIAMS, and all those similarly situated, Appellant, v. CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, a Municipal Corporation; Rick Knobe,

Mayor; Harold Wingler, Commissioner; Richard Peterson,

Commissioner; Harold Mostrom, Director, Department of

Community Development; Michael Crane, Former Assistant

Director, Department of Community Development; Lyle Graff,

former employee, Department of Community Development;

individually and in their official capacities, Appellees.

No. 87-5085.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Dec. 15, 1987.

Decided May 16, 1988.

Clyde A. Christian, Omaha, Neb., for appellant.

Richard O. Gregerson, Sioux Falls, S.D., for appellees.

Before ARNOLD, FAGG, and BEAM, Circuit Judges.

BEAM, Circuit Judge.

Porter Williams appeals from a final judgment dismissing this action against the City of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and several city officials. Williams, a black contractor, alleges that he is the victim of racial discrimination resulting from activities carried out in the City's construction contract letting process. The district court ¹ dismissed the case, finding that Williams had failed to establish a case of intentional discrimination against himself or, more generally, against a certified class of minority contractors. After unsuccessfully seeking a new trial, Williams appeals, charging that the district court erred in overruling the motion for a new trial and in entering judgment in favor of the defendants. Upon a review of the record and the arguments of the parties, we affirm.

A. Background

Plaintiff Williams asserts three claims, each of which was considered and dismissed by the district court following a four day nonjury trial. The first, brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1981, 1983 and 2000d, alleges that the City and certain city officials discriminated against Williams during the bidding process on a demolition contract known as the "Beadle Project," which project contract was awarded by the City in November of 1980. Plaintiff's second claim, also brought pursuant to sections 1981, 1983 and 2000d, alleges that the defendants have engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination against all minority contractors through the City's failure to observe minority business enterprise (MBE) guidelines. These guidelines are imposed upon the City by the federal government because the City receives federal funds. The district court certified a class of minority contractors consisting of all minority contractors domiciled in South Dakota and those additional minority contractors not domiciled in South Dakota who had become eligible on or before July 1, 1984, to participate in the Sioux Falls MBE program. ² Finally, the plaintiff asserts that the City's alleged violation of MBE regulations is actionable under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, as a deprivation of rights secured by federal law. We address each of these claims separately.

B. Individual Claim--Beadle Project

The district court correctly recognized that under plaintiff's individual claim, each theory of recovery is viable only if the City intentionally treated the plaintiff less favorably because of his race. See Guardians Ass'n v. Civil Serv. Comm'n, 463 U.S. 582, 103 S.Ct. 3221, 77 L.Ed.2d 866 (1983); Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976). The court employed the traditional analysis utilized to decide questions of intentional discrimination, asking first whether the plaintiff had established a prima facie case. See McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973); Craik v. Minnesota State Univ. Bd., 731 F.2d 465 (8th Cir.1984). Because the court found that the plaintiff had not established a prima facie case, it was unnecessary for the court to proceed with the remaining steps of the McDonnell Douglas analysis. ³ The record supports the district court's conclusion.

The Beadle demolition project was divided by the City into five phases, each of which was to be bid separately. Williams was interested in submitting a bid on phase two, which phase involved the removal of a garage structure and site clearance. The bid specifications provided that the job should be completed in 30 days, with a per-day penalty assessed for each additional day necessary for final performance.

In light of his relative inexperience with the bidding process, Williams sought assistance from the City in the preparation of his bid on phase two. Several city officials provided Williams with a significant amount of technical and clerical help, enabling him to submit a bid of $5,000 on the project. Williams' bid was quite reasonable, falling midway between the bids of most other contractors, which proposals sought from $3,500 to $7,680 to complete the work. However, the project was awarded to General Excavating Company on a bid of $1.00. General Excavating planned to move the garage structure intact to another location for use as a workshop, and apparently concluded that the salvage value of the building was sufficient consideration for the building removal and site clearance.

Williams alleges that he was denied a fair opportunity to submit a competitive bid on this project because the City failed to inform him of the potential for obtaining a stripping order. A stripping order gives a demolition contractor extra time to enter upon the premises to remove objects the contractor wishes to sell as salvage. The City issues a stripping order only when there is an unexpected delay in an earlier phase of a project which, in turn, allows additional time for completion of demolition. The City does not dispute that it failed to inform Williams about the potential for receiving a stripping order on the Beadle project. The City insists, however, that it is unnecessary to discuss stripping orders with contractors, and that it would be unwise for any contractor to rely upon such a fortuitous factor in arriving at the amount of a bid.

The district court found that the City treated Williams the same as it did every other contractor with regard to advice about stripping orders. In fact, the district court concluded that the City provided the plaintiff with several hours of extra assistance which it did not give to nonminority contractors interested in the project. The district court said that even if Williams had known he might obtain a stripping order, there was no evidence that Williams would have bid less than the $1.00 proposed by General Excavating. Unlike General Excavating, Williams did not have an alternate use for the building which was to be removed.

We are unable to say that these findings are clearly erroneous. The district court considered all the evidence and thoroughly analyzed plaintiff's claim. The conclusion that the City did not intentionally deceive the plaintiff because of his race is supported by the evidence, and shall be upheld. See Walker v. Int'l Business Machines, 698 F.2d 959, 962 (8th Cir.1983).

C. Class Claim--MBE Regulations

The class claim alleges that the City has engaged in a pattern and practice of intentional discrimination against minority contractors by disregarding federal and local MBE regulations. To establish a prima facie case of class-wide discrimination, the plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendants "engaged in a pattern and practice of unlawful discrimination in various [City] policies, that 'discrimination was the [City's] standard operating procedure--the regular rather than the unusual practice.' " Craik, 731 F.2d at 470 (quoting Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 336, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1855, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977)).

The district court was presented with evidence concerning most, if not all, of the construction...