Arthur Hypolite v. City of Houston, Texas

493 F. App'x 597
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedOctober 15, 2012
Docket12-20065
StatusUnpublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 493 F. App'x 597 (Arthur Hypolite v. City of Houston, Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arthur Hypolite v. City of Houston, Texas, 493 F. App'x 597 (5th Cir. 2012).

Opinion

PER CURIAM: *

Plaintiffs-Appellants Arthur C. Hypolite (“Hypolite”), Bernard Garrett (“Garrett”), and Willie Pratt (“Pratt”) (collectively “Appellants”) appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Defendant-Ap-pellee City of Houston, Texas (“City”) on their discrimination and retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. We AFFIRM.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Facts

Appellants, who are black, were employees of the City at the time of the alleged discrimination and retaliation. Between their hiring dates 1 and the events relevant to the instant ease, all three filed at least one Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) Charge of Discrimination (“charge”) and/or one lawsuit against the City alleging race-based employment discrimination.

*600 Relevant to the claims in this case is Johnny Crawford, et al. v. City of Houston, No. H-02-618, 2 which Appellants and others filed against the City on February 19, 2002 for failing to promote them to the position of senior inspector.

1. Hypolite

Hypolite, then a community service inspector with the City’s Neighborhood Protection Division, had a history of tension with a white supervisor who had a Confederate flag tattoo. After receiving notice that the supervisor was retiring, Hypolite sent an e-mail on April 23, 2002 from his work account to the City’s Neighborhood Protection e-mail group that stated, “It appears that the confederate [sic] flag will no longer be with NPD as of April 30, 2002. That will be another blessing for our Neighborhood Protection Division. May the confederate [sic] flag go in peace.” The next day, Hypolite was suspended for seven days without pay for several Department and City policy violations, including improper use of e-mail and racial slurs.

On September 22, 2002, Hypolite was given a written reprimand for failing to wear his City-issued uniform. 3 On February 14, 2003, Hypolite filed a complaint with the EEOC alleging that the suspension and reprimand were retaliation for filing previous EEOC charges. The EEOC subsequently issued a determination letter, opining as to the uniform charge only that “it is reasonable to believe that [Hypolite] was retaliated against for participating in a protected activity....” It made no findings on the suspension. On May 19, 2004, Hypolite submitted his letter of resignation to the City.

2. Garrett and Pratt

After receiving at least one verbal warning about his failure to wear his City-issued uniform, in September 2002 Garrett was suspended for fifteen days for failing to wear the uniform and for insubordination. On November 20, 2002, Garrett filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC alleging that the suspension was due to racial discrimination and retaliation.

On Feb. 22, 2003, the City’s Aviation Department held a job fair at which Garrett and Pratt applied for several promotions. The parties dispute how Garrett and Pratt’s applications were received by the human resources (“HR”) representatives at the fair. Garrett and Pratt assert that they were “well received and told [their] qualifications for the position were excellent.” An HR representative later approached them while still at the fair and asked whether they were the people who had filed multiple complaints against the City. Thereafter, they were told their applications had been lost and they could not be interviewed because the interviewers had left.

The City, by contrast, asserts that the applications were reviewed by City HR personnel who determined that Garrett and Pratt did not have the requisite minimum construction experience for the positions. The parties agree that neither Garrett nor Pratt was offered an interview for any of the three positions to which they applied at the job fair.

On May 12, 2003, Garrett and Pratt filed charges with the EEOC alleging race dis *601 crimination and retaliation in connection with not being selected for the job fair positions.

On May 1, Garrett and Pratt interviewed for the positions of division manager and chief inspector. On March 1, 2004, they applied and interviewed for the position of assistant chief inspector. All of these positions would have promoted Garrett and Pratt within their current department. They were not selected for any of these positions.

On March 5, 2004, the EEOC issued determination letters to Garrett and Pratt that opined that “it was reasonable to believe that [they were] denied a job interview [at the job fair] in retaliation for participating in a protected activity.”

B. Procedural History

On April 13, 2004, Appellants filed the instant lawsuit in district court, alleging violations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and 42 U.S.C. § 1985. On May 12, 2005, the district court entered an order staying proceedings in the instant case until Crawford, No. H-02-618, was resolved. The City was granted summary judgment in Crawford, and this Court affirmed. Crawford v. City of Houston, 260 Fed.Appx. 650 (5th Cir.2007).

The City subsequently moved for summary judgment in the instant case, which the district court granted. This appeal followed. 4 In their brief, Appellants waived their right to appeal as to their 42 U.S.C. § 1985 claims.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Standard of Review

We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same standards as the district court. Terrebonne Parish Sch. Bd. v. Mobil Oil Corp., 310 F.3d 870, 877 (5th Cir.2002) (citation omitted). Summary judgment is appropriate “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(a). We view all of the evidence and draw all inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, “and all reasonable doubts about the facts should be resolved in favor of the nonmov-ing party.” Terrebonne,

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493 F. App'x 597, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arthur-hypolite-v-city-of-houston-texas-ca5-2012.