26 Fair empl.prac.cas. 1556, 27 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 32,167 Magdalena Garcia v. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center

660 F.2d 1217, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 17274, 27 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 32,167, 26 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1556
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedSeptember 30, 1981
DocketNo 80-2087
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 660 F.2d 1217 (26 Fair empl.prac.cas. 1556, 27 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 32,167 Magdalena Garcia v. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
26 Fair empl.prac.cas. 1556, 27 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 32,167 Magdalena Garcia v. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, 660 F.2d 1217, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 17274, 27 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 32,167, 26 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1556 (7th Cir. 1981).

Opinions

NICHOLS, Associate Judge.

This employment discrimination case comes before the court on plaintiffs’ appeal of the June 30, 1980, judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The Honorable George N. Leighton held that defendants Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, James A. Campbell, and Charles A. Freeman were entitled to judgment in their favor against plaintiffs as to all individual and class claims. We affirm.

In the district court plaintiffs Magdalena Garcia, Fernando Romero, and Victoria Perez, who were Latinos, sued on their own behalf and on behalf of other Latinos similarly situated in a class action pursuant to Rule 23(a) and (b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleged claims for relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq., and 42 U.S.C. § 1981.

The district court determined that the evidence did not establish by the standard of proof required by law that the plaintiffs individually or as a class were subjected to any disparate treatment or were the object of any disparate impact because of their race, color, national origin, or because any of them were Latinos. The district court’s definition of “Latino” was “any Spanish surnamed person or individual of Hispanic ancestry.” But he excluded Filipinos. It is asserted and denied that the district court was confused about the composition of the aggrieved class. This was potentially important because of the importance of statistical evidence and the noninclusion of blacks, the largest racial minority in the community, as members of the grievant cláss. In light of our other conclusions, clearing up any semantic confusion in this regard is not needed.

The district court issued a detailed and well reasoned decision in which it determined that defendant Rush’s hiring and transfer practices were and had always been racially neutral. In rendering its decision the court considered extensive evidence submitted during 18 days of trial without a jury, from May 27 to June 23, 1980. At trial, plaintiffs called 13 witnesses, used excerpts from four depositions, and offered and had received in evidence 70 exhibits. Defendants called 11 witnesses, offered and received in evidence 102 exhibits and then on rebuttal plaintiffs offered three additional exhibits. The reasoning of the court will be set forth herein where it has been challenged by plaintiffs.

Succinctly, plaintiffs claims were and are for alleged employment discrimination. More specifically the claims of the individual plaintiffs against defendants below were:

1. Discrimination against plaintiff Magdalena Garcia by harassment, discipline, and discharge because of her race or national origin in violation of Section 703 of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2.

2. Discrimination against plaintiff Victoria Perez in denying her transfer to the position of Lab Liaison Technician at Rush in violation of Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. She also alleged discrimination and retaliation by her discharge on August 17, 1976, in violation of Sections 703 and 704(a) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2 and § 2000e-3(a) and in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981, but at the conclusion of plaintiffs’ evidence, plaintiffs’ counsel withdrew this discharge claim under both statutes.

3. Purposeful and intentional discrimination against plaintiff Fernando Romero by Rush’s refusal to hire him because he was a Latino, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981.

Plaintiffs do not appeal from the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of [1220]*1220law concerning any of the individual claims of plaintiffs Garcia and Perez, and no issues respecting them remain in the case. Only the legal standard applied to the facts regarding plaintiff Romero are challenged.

The class claims against defendants under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 were:

1. Discrimination in refusing to hire qualified Latinos.

2. Making discriminatory assignments to Latino employees.

3. Utilizing discriminatory performance standards for Latino employees with respect to promotion, assignment, and tenure.

4. Discriminating against Latino employees by restraining and coercing them in the exercise of their rights to complain of discriminatory employment practices.

Plaintiffs do not challenge the trial court’s findings and conclusions that defendant did not discriminate against plaintiffs in assignments, or in utilizing performance standards for promotion, assignment, and tenure, or by restraining and coercing plaintiffs in the exercise of the rights to complain of discriminatory practices. The issues brought forward on appeal are comparatively few. Plaintiffs challenge the district court findings regarding only defendant’s hiring practices, and plaintiff Romero’s claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981.

I

Initially though, plaintiffs argue that this case should be reversed and remanded because the trial judge adopted the proposed findings and conclusions submitted by defendants. It does appear he used in haec verba many proposed findings that defendants submitted, or altered and rearranged them only in rather immaterial particulars. But a party cannot be penalized for the persuasive nature of his submissions. We do prefer to see findings that reflect an effort of composition by the trial judge. They furnish evidence that he really worked over and analyzed the fact issues. He must avoid giving the impression that he first decided who should win, and then made the findings that would best support the favored litigant on appellate review. Here, however, the record does contain other evidence of the concern Judge Leighton displayed with the fact issues. For instance, he requested additional evidence to verify the probativeness of defendants’ statistical evidence. See infra.

As plaintiffs correctly point out, this court has criticized the practice of adopting the prevailing party’s findings verbatim and without change. But such adoption does not invalidate the findings, although they may therefore be more critically examined. Photovest Corp. v. Fotomat Corp., 606 F.2d 704, 731 (7th Cir. 1979); and FS Services, Inc. v. Custom Farm Services, Inc., 471 F.2d 671, 676 (7th Cir. 1972).

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660 F.2d 1217, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 17274, 27 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 32,167, 26 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1556, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/26-fair-emplpraccas-1556-27-empl-prac-dec-p-32167-magdalena-garcia-ca7-1981.