Wood v. Crown Redi-Mix, Inc.

• Decision Date: 07 August 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-3506.,02-3506.
• Citation: 339 F.3d 682
• Parties: Charles E. WOOD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CROWN REDI-MIX, INC., doing business as Crown Building Materials, Inc., Defendant-Appellee, General Team and Truck Drivers, Helpers and Warehousemen, Local 90; Robert E. Jackson, Secretary-Treasurer & B.A.; Frank B. Thompson, Sued as: Frank "Huck" Thompson, Business Agent, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 682

339 F.3d 682

Charles E. WOOD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CROWN REDI-MIX, INC., doing business as Crown Building Materials, Inc., Defendant-Appellee General Team and Truck Drivers, Helpers and Warehousemen, Local 90; Robert E. Jackson, Secretary-Treasurer & B.A.; Frank B. Thompson, Sued as: Frank "Huck" Thompson, Business Agent, Defendants.

No. 02-3506.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: June 11, 2003.

Filed: August 7, 2003.

Order Denying Petition for Rehearing and for Rehearing En Banc Denied: October 1, 2003.

The petition for rehearing en banc is denied. The petition for rehearing by the panel is also denied.

Appellee's motion for leave to file a response to the petition for rehearing is denied as moot.

Joseph Walsh, argued, Des Moines, IA (Donna M. Schauer, Des Moines, IA, on the brief), for appellant.

Greg A. Naylor, argued, West Des Moines, IA (Jeffrey D. Ewoldt, West Des Moines, IA, on the brief), for appellee.

Before BOWMAN, MURPHY, and BYE, Circuit Judges.

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

Charles Wood alleged that Crown Redi-Mix, Inc., terminated his employment in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12112 (2000). The District Court¹ granted Crown's motion for summary judgment, and Wood appeals. Because Wood has failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination under the ADA, we affirm.

We review the record in the light most favorable to Wood. See Sprenger v. Fed. Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, 253 F.3d 1106, 1108 (8th Cir.2001). In October 1998, Wood—employed by Crown as a ready-mix concrete truck driver—fell into a hole at a concrete plant and suffered permanent nerve damage. Because of this injury (which aggravated a previous back injury), Wood is limited in his ability to perform certain day-to-day activities. Wood's injuries also affect his ability to work: after the 1998 injury, Wood's treating physician prohibited him from driving a ready-mix truck, from lifting in excess of fifty pounds, and from performing extensive bending, twisting, and lifting. Crown terminated Wood's employment in March 1999 because Wood could no longer perform his ready-mix truck-driving job and because Crown did not have another open position to accommodate Wood's permanent restrictions. Believing Crown could have reasonably accommodated his restrictions, Wood filed a grievance with his union, but the union failed to take it to arbitration. He then filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which notified him of his right to sue under the ADA. He subsequently filed this suit against Crown, his union, and certain union leaders.

The District Court granted the summary judgment motions of all defendants on the basis that Wood failed to make out a prima facie case of discrimination under the ADA. Wood appeals only the grant of summary judgment in favor of Crown. We review the District Court's grant of summary judgment de novo. See Mitchell v. Iowa Prot. & Advocacy Servs., Inc., 325 F.3d 1011, 1013 (8th Cir.2003). Summary judgment is appropriate where "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact" and "the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c). A court's function at the summary judgment stage is not "to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

In order to establish a prima facie case of discrimination under the ADA, a plaintiff must demonstrate "that (1) he is disabled within the meaning of the ADA; (2) he is qualified to perform the essential functions of his job with or without reasonable accommodation; and (3) he suffered an adverse employment action under circumstances that give rise to an inference of unlawful discrimination based on disability." Dropinski v. Douglas County, Neb., 298 F.3d 704, 706-07 (8th Cir.2002). We turn to the first of these three elements. A plaintiff is disabled within the meaning of the ADA if he (A) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his major life activities, (B) has a record of such an impairment, or (C) is regarded as having such an impairment. 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2) (2000). Conceding that Wood has a physical impairment under § 12102(2), Crown argues that Wood's impairment does not substantially limit any of his major life activities. In response, Wood avers that his injuries substantially limit his major life activities of walking, standing, turning, bending, lifting, working, and procreation. Crown does not dispute that these activities are major life activities,² but it does not believe that Wood's injuries substantially limit his ability to perform them.

In Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky., Inc. v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184, 122 S.Ct. 681, 151 L.Ed.2d 615 (2002), the Supreme Court held that "to be substantially limited in performing manual tasks, an individual must have an impairment that prevents or severely restricts the individual from doing activities that are of central importance to most people's daily lives." Id. at 198, 122 S.Ct. 681. Although Williams concerned a limitation with regard to the performance of manual tasks, we recently explained that its holding applies to ADA claims concerning non-manual-task limitations. Philip v. Ford Motor Co., 328 F.3d 1020, 1025 (8th Cir.2003); Fenney v. Dakota, Minn. & E. R.R. Co., 327 F.3d 707, 715 (8th Cir.2003). In this case, therefore, we will consider whether each of Wood's impairments "prevents or severely restricts" Wood from performing a major life activity. See Williams, 534 U.S. at 198, 122 S.Ct. 681. In fulfilling this inquiry we should also consider (1) the nature and severity of Wood's impairment, (2) its duration or anticipated duration, and (3) its long-term impact. See 29 C.F.R. § 1630.2(j)(2)(2002); Cooper v. Olin Corp., Winchester Div., 246 F.3d 1083, 1088 (8th Cir.2001).

With this background, we begin with Wood's walking limitations. According to Wood, he can only walk approximately one-quarter of one mile before he must stop and take a rest. Wood Dep. at 84 (Mar. 15, 2002).³ Wood is numb in parts of the toes on his left foot and his left leg, and his left knee collapses. Id. at 179. He also stated that he walks "with a cane on occasion." Id. at 147. Wood can walk well enough, however, that he has not obtained a handicapped parking pass. Id. Given this evidence, we acknowledge Wood's ability to walk is limited, but, using the Williams standard, we do not believe the evidence demonstrates a severe walking restriction. This conclusion conforms with our precedent, which we believe Williams does not disturb, that "difficulty walking long distances or climbing stairs without getting fatigued" are "moderate limitations on major life activities [that] do not suffice to constitute a `disability' under the ADA." Weber v. Strippit, Inc., 186 F.3d 907, 914 (8th Cir.1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1078, 120 S.Ct. 794, 145 L.Ed.2d 670 (2000). We categorize Wood's walking limitations as moderate, not substantial, for ADA purposes. As such, although we are wary of "a bright line delineating the point at which a condition affecting an employee's ability to walk can be regarded as a disability within the ADA," for such a task would be "difficult, indeed perhaps not possible," Kelly v. Drexel Univ., 94 F.3d 102, 108 (3d Cir.1996), we are confident the record fails to show Wood's ability to walk is substantially limited.

We next consider the alleged limitations on Wood's ability to stand, turn, bend, and lift. Wood can perform household tasks such as laundry, washing dishes, and taking out the trash so long as they don't involve "a lot of bending," Wood Dep. at 148, because he can only bend to eighty degrees, Report of Robert C. Jones, M.D., at 2 (Sep. 19, 2000). He needs help from a friend to move heavy furniture. Wood Dep. at 148. His physician has ordered that he not lift more than fifty pounds. Report of Central Iowa Orthopaedics (Feb. 8, 1999). Based on this evidence, we conclude Wood's impairments do not prevent or severely restrict him from standing, turning, bending, or lifting. Instead, we view his restrictions as moderate. They are real, and they certainly inconvenience his life, but they are insufficient to sustain an ADA claim given the high bar set by Williams.

Wood's limited ability to stand, turn, bend, and lift are also relevant to his claim that he is substantially limited in the major life activity of working. Our analysis concerning the life activity of working is distinct from the analysis required by Williams. Fenney, 327 F.3d at 715 n. 15. A plaintiff alleging a substantial limitation in the ability to work must demonstrate an inability "to work in a broad class of jobs," Sutton v. United Air Lines, Inc., 527 U.S. 471, 491, 119 S.Ct. 2139, 144 L.Ed.2d 450 (1999), and show that "he has suffered a significant reduction in meaningful employment opportunities" as a result of his impairments, Philip, 328 F.3d at 1024. "An impairment that disqualifies a person from only a narrow range of jobs is not considered a substantially limiting one." Wooten v. Farmland Foods, 58 F.3d 382, 386 (8th Cir.1995) (quoting Heilweil v. Mount Sinai Hosp., 32 F.3d 718, 723 (2d Cir.1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1147, 115 S.Ct. 1095, 130 L.Ed.2d 1063 (1995)). The evidence shows that Wood's injuries prevent him from driving only a ready-mix concrete truck and that he is able to drive other trucks. In fact, since Crown terminated his employment, Wood has worked as a driver of at least two types of trucks, most recently a fifty-three-foot van trailer and a flatbed trailer, primarily hauling windows. Wood Dep. at 26. In that job, Wood has lifted up to sixty-five pounds on occasion, although with difficulty. Id. at 27. As Wood has introduced no evidence of an inability "to work in a broad class of...