47 Fair empl.prac.cas. 407, 47 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,122 C.J. Ard, Glen Peacock, Charles Porter, A.E. Scurlock, A.L. Barton v. Southwest Forest Industries47 Fair empl.prac.cas. 407, 47 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,122 C.J. Ard, Glen Peacock, Charles Porter, A.E. Scurlock, A.L. Barton v. Southwest Forest Industries
G. Thomas Harper, Robert S. Phifer, Haynsworth, Baldwin, Miles, Johnson, Greaves & Edwards, P.A., Charlotte, N.C., for defendant-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
Before HILL, Circuit Judge, HENDERSON*, Senior Circuit Judge, and VINING**, District Judge.
PER CURIAM:
In this appeal the single issue for resolution is whether the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida abused its discretion by granting the motion of the defendant, Southwest Forest Industries (Southwest), for a new trial in this action brought pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act,
C.J. Ard, age 56, Glen Peacock, age 52, Charles E. Porter, age 56, and A.E. Scurlock, age 57, were employed as foremen at Southwest‘s mill in Panama City, Florida. Southwest manufactures wood and paper products. The mill‘s manufacturing department consisted primarily of the pulp mill and the paper mill. Before 1984, еach facility was divided into two sections. The pulp mill was comprised of a “chemical” side, which encompassed the woodyard and the lime/kilm caustic areas, and the more complicated “pulp” operation, which consisted of the pulp and bleach plants. Similarly, the papеr mill was composed originally of the “paper machine side” and the “finishing and shipping side.” Ard, Peacock and Porter were pulp mill foremen while Scurlock worked as a finishing and shipping foreman in the paper mill.
In 1982 Southwest began to experience financial difficulties. In response to these hardshiрs, the company eventually implemented a plan of management reorganization. In essence, this plan endorsed a “crew” concept of management, which decreased the number of “working supervisors” and created new supervisory positions with increased responsibility. The principal proponents of the crew concept were James Stewart, who became the vice president and general manager of the paper mill in 1984, and Jack Prescott, a member of Stewart‘s staff.
Prescott assumed the responsibility for determining who would be placed in the new managemеnt positions. The plan roughly cut the number of working foremen in half in both the pulp and paper mill areas of the plant. Previously, the pulp mill operated with one shift supervisor over the chemical section and another over the pulp operation. Under the reorganization, one foremаn would oversee both the chemical and pulp activities. Similarly, Southwestern consolidated the paper machine foreman‘s responsibilities with the finishing and shipping supervisor‘s duties to create a single shift supervisor position.
In early 1984, after reviewing this information, Prescott submitted his proposals to the superintendents and assistant superintendents who directed the activities of the foremen. This proposal recommended the retention of Carthell Lewis, age 60, Steve Sexton, age 33, C.W. Scott, age 55, Alto Scurlock (the brother of A.E. Scurlock), age 52, and Porter as pulp supervisors under the reorganization. Prescott‘s recommendation called for the release of Ard, Peacock, L.A. Barnes, age 38, and Curtis Hodge, age 42. Upon further consultation with the pulp mill suрerintendents, however, Prescott altered his recommendation. According to Albert Strickland and Dick Youngblood, who were superintendents at that time, Hodge had displayed an ability to stay abreast of and handle problems at the mill without the assistance of the superintendents. In their view, this preparedness for potential problems in operation and independence in confronting these difficulties when they materialized made Hodge a superior choice to Porter for the added responsibility of the supervisor‘s role in the reorganization plan. Given this report, Prescott replaced Portеr with Hodge in his recommendation.
As noted above, the supervisory responsibilities on the paper mill side, which previously had been divided between the paper machine foreman and the finishing and shipping foreman, were consolidated in a single position. Because the paper machine оperation was more complex and because the finishing and shipping foremen were relatively inexperienced with the paper machine functions, Prescott recommended that Southwest retain the four paper machine foremen: B. Andrews, age 55, M. Andrews, age 60; L. Warren, age 59, and M. Smith, age 50. Art Mаshburn, age 51, George Robbins, age 54, A.L. Barton, age 55, and Scurlock, all finishing and shipping foremen, were not slated for retention.
The reorganization plan did create one new finishing and shipping supervisor position. Southwest considered all four of the displaced finishing and shipping foremen for the new job. Mashburn was sеlected because, according to Prescott, he held the same job before the position was eliminated in 1982 and had performed those same duties on a relief basis since 1982.
Southwest attempted to relocate the pulp and paper mill foremen who had not been assigned supervisоry positions in the reorganization. According to Prescott, however, the only available openings for which the displaced foremen arguably were qualified were two “predictive maintenance analyst” positions. From the available foremen, Prescott chose L.A. Barnes and George Rоbbins to fill these posts. Prescott testified that Barnes and Robbins were more familiar with the type of machinery involved in this job and that they possessed superior mechanical skills. Prescott personally observed Barnes’ mechanical work performance during a strike in 1982. The testimony of Cleveland Edward Ropеr and Kendall W. Johnson, both maintenance superintendents, also supported Prescott‘s view of Barnes’ and Robbins’ competence.
Prescott then presented his proposals to Stewart. Stewart discussed the reorganization plan with his superiors in management, and Prescott‘s recommendations wеre approved. On May 14, 1984, Stewart informed Ard, Peacock, Porter and Scurlock that Southwest was terminating their employment.
On January 2, 1985, the appellants filed this lawsuit in the district court. The case was tried to a jury between March 17, 1986 and March 26, 1986. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. On April 7, 1986, Southwest filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial. The district court denied the first motion but scheduled a hearing for the new trial motion. After the hearing, the district court granted Southwest‘s motion for a new trial. The action was then tried before a second jury between March 19, 1987 and March 25, 1987. This trial concluded with a vеrdict for Southwest.1
Generally, we review the district court‘s disрosition of a motion for a new trial under the abuse of discretion standard. Watts, 842 F.2d at 310-11; Hewitt, 732 F.2d at 1556. When the district court grants a motion for a new trial based on the weight of the evidence, however, our application of the abuse of discretion standard is “stringent.” Hewitt, 732 F.2d at 1556.2 This stricter approach is necessary “because when the jury verdict is set aside [the] usual deference to the trial judge conflicts with deference to the jury on questions of fact.” Id. When faced with such a conflict, we must examine the simplicity of the issues, the absence of any pernicious occurrences during the trial and whether the evidence is disputed. Id. If the issues are simple, the trial free of pernicious events and the evidence uncontested, then deference to the jury as factfinder is more appropriate. Id. However, the absence of these factors tends to support the trial judge‘s decision to grant the motion. Id.
The sole issue before thе jury in this case was whether Southwest‘s articulated reasons for not retaining the appellants were pretexts for age discrimination. The district court concluded that the great weight of the evidence did not support a finding of pretext. After carefully reviewing the transcript of the first trial and applying the principles discussed earlier, we conclude that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion.
As an initial matter, we note that the record reveals no evidence of any pernicious or undesirable occurrence at the trial. Next, we observe that the jury in effect had to consider only whether Southwest‘s dеcision to release the appellants stemmed from a discriminatory motive. Accordingly, under the rule in Hewitt, the evidence concerning the legitimacy of Southwest‘s reasons for the failure to retain Ard, Peacock, Porter and Scurlock must be practically undisputed to support the district court‘s grant оf the motion for new trial. Our review of the record reveals that the plaintiffs did not meaningfully dispute Southwest‘s evidence that the reorganization was an economic necessity and that it kept only the most qualified supervisors in the reorganization.
Southwest offered two reasons for not retaining the apрellants. The first explanation--that the reorganization was the result of economic necessity--is uncontradicted. Thus, the trial judge correctly concluded that the jury‘s verdict was against the great weight of the evidence if it was premised upon a finding that this first reason was a pretext for age discrimination.
Thе appellants contend that Southwest‘s second articulated reason--that it retained only the most qualified supervisors in the reorganization--was hotly disputed during the first trial and, therefore, the trial court invaded the factfinding province of the jury by resolving a contested factual question. We disagree. Although thе plaintiffs introduced some evidence to show that this proffered reason was pretextual, that evidence is so attenuated and weak that we cannot say the district court abused its discretion in concluding that the first jury verdict was against the great weight of the evidence.
The appellants call attention to evidence that, they maintain, supports the first jury verdict. First, they insist that the jury could have found that Southwest‘s articulated reason was pretextual based on an organizational chart prepared by Prescott. This chart contained a key which identified the age and education of all plant suрervisors. Prescott, however, noted that this chart was prepared before any reorganization plans existed and was not relied upon in any of the reorganization decisions. Furthermore, the chart contains the age and education of individuals in other areas of the mill that were not affected by the reorganization.
Finally, the dismissed employees argue that the court usurped the jury‘s function by making a credibility choice with respect to the testimony of their expert witness, Dr. Warren F. Mazek. Dr. Mazek conducted a statistical analysis of Southwest‘s reorganization decisions and concluded that the chance of dismissing these same supervisors at random was 3%, a statistically significant figure in his oрinion. As the district court observed, however, Dr. Mazek admitted that his statistical analysis failed to take into consideration all of Southwest‘s decisions in the reorganization, including those in the paper mill. Further, his analysis did not account for other variables relevant to reorganization decisions--educatiоn, experience and special skills, for example. Our reading of the record indicates that the trial judge did not reject Dr. Mazek‘s testimony. Rather, in reweighing the evidence, he simply did not assign it great weight when considered against the defendant‘s largely undisputed evidence.
Much of the evidence conсerning Prescott‘s methods in making the reorganization recommendations is not in dispute. Given this large amount of uncontradicted evidence, the district court, in exercising its prerogative to reweigh the evidence in considering a motion for new trial, properly determined that the jury‘s verdict was against the greаt weight of the evidence.3 We emphasize that a trial judge must defer to the jury‘s determination when issues of credibility are involved or the facts are in sharp conflict. Hewitt, 732 F.2d at 1556. Here we are not faced with such issues and we cannot say that the grant of a new trial was an abuse of discretion.
The judgment of the district court is
AFFIRMED.