Barbara Johnson v. City of Mobile Alabama

321 F. App'x 826
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 20, 2009
Docket08-14854
StatusUnpublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 321 F. App'x 826 (Barbara Johnson v. City of Mobile Alabama) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barbara Johnson v. City of Mobile Alabama, 321 F. App'x 826 (11th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Barbara Johnson, an African American woman, appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the City of Mobile, Alabama, in Johnson’s employment discrimination action, brought pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I.

Johnson filed a complaint in federal court against the City of Mobile, Alabama, 1 pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and Alabama state law. Johnson alleged that she was an African American female who had been employed with the City of Mobile since 1996 as a municipal enforcement officer in the Urban Development Department. For all times relevant to this appeal, Laura Clarke was the director of the Urban Development Department, and Ron Jackson, a white male, was Johnson’s supervisor.

Johnson alleged that her duties, which included, inter alia, nuisance abatement, were similar to the duties performed by a “Building Inspector II.” As a result, she requested Jackson to “upgrade her status to that of a ‘Building Inspector II’ but her requests were denied.” She had also applied for the positions of “Building Director I”, zoning inspector, and chief property Maintenance Inspector officer, but she did not receive any of these positions. Johnson also applied for two supervisor positions in January 2007, but “two black males under the age of forty (40) with less experience than Johnson were given the positions.... ” Incorporating the above allegations, Johnson brought three generalized causes of action: 1) a discrimination and retaliation claim under Title VII and § 1981; 2) a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress; and 3) a claim for negligent hiring, training, supervision, and retention.

Following discovery, the City of Mobile moved for summary judgment. In its memorandum of law, the City of Mobile argued that its failure to upgrade Johnson to the position of Building Inspector II was not discriminatory. With respect to the two supervisor positions, the City of Mobile argued that it did not exercise any gender bias in declining to promote Johnson to these positions, as the reason why she was not hired was due to her poor interview and the “superior qualifications of the other candidates when compared to the Plaintiff.”

The City of Mobile attached documentary evidence in support of its motion, the following of which is relevant to this appeal. In an affidavit prepared by Jackson, he stated, inter alia, that:

The decision to reassign the nuisance abatement duties to Cindy Aspinwall was based solely on the Plaintiffs performance. I had requested specific information from Ms. Johnson i[n] a specific format, and she could not provide it. I did not reassign the Plaintiffs nuisance abatement duties to Ms. Aspinwall *828 in retaliation for the Plaintiffs request for a promotion or raise. The decision to reassign the nuisance abatement duties was further not based on the Plaintiffs race, age, or sex.

The only additional evidence submitted with regard to the reassignment of Johnson’s nuisance abatement duties was contained in Aspinwall’s deposition, where she testified that in January or February of 2006, Jackson had reassigned Johnson’s nuisance abatement duties to Aspinwall. She explained that the reason why Jackson reassigned these duties was because Johnson was “not doing a spreadsheet. He had asked for a spreadsheet over and over and over again and she never produced a spreadsheet.” When asked what kind of spreadsheet, Aspinwall explained that Jackson wanted a spreadsheet “[o]f all the nuisance abatements or unsafe building — a list of all the properties that was in this procedure, and she never produced that.”

In Johnson’s deposition, she testified that she applied for a supervisor position in the Urban Development Department. She testified that she was qualified for the position and that Jackson and David Dau-ghenbaugh interviewed her. Jackson had previously told Johnson to apply for the position and, at the interview, Jackson told her that she was a good worker and should qualify for the job. When asked if she remembered anything else about the interview, Johnson testified: “Just laughing and smiling and told me good luck on the — him and David both told me good luck on the application.” A man named Gerard McCants ultimately received the position. Johnson believed that McCants, like her, had worked as municipal enforcement officer for the City of Mobile for the previous 10 or 11 months but, before that, had worked at a “cleaners.” She believed that gender was a factor in the decision to hire McCants because, although Clarke, the head of the entire department, was a female, there were no female supervisors.

In Jackson’s affidavit, he stated that he interviewed four candidates for the supervisor position in the Urban Development Department. He asked the four candidates the same questions during the interview, and he ultimately recommended McCants for the position. Jackson selected McCants for the job

due to his overwhelming qualifications. Mr. McCants held a degree from the University of Alabama in advertising and marketing. He had over fifteen (15) years of management experience in the private sector and had worked as a Municipal Enforcement Officer for over a year. During his employment with the City, Mr. McCants exhibited his ability to be an outstanding employee. He was extremely efficient in managing his workload. He also exhibited a positive attitude and tremendous initiative. He was willing to take on added responsibility and work with others. On numerous occasions, he volunteered to assist other inspectors or assume additional duties.

Jackson stated that gender was not a factor in his hiring decision, and he was not aware of Daughenbaugh relying on gender in making his decision. Daughenbaugh submitted a virtually identical affidavit with respect to his decision to recommend McCants for the position.

Ray Richardson, Environmental Manager of the Environmental Services Department, also submitted an affidavit. He stated that he interviewed several candidates for the supervisor position in the Environmental Services Department and ultimately selected Terrell Washington for the position. He explained:

One of the reasons I did not select Ms. Johnson is because she was tentative in her responses and lacked self-confidence during the interview. I had also person *829 ally observed Ms. Johnson’s performance as a Code Enforcement Officer under my direction. She had been given the opportunity to take the leadership role in the newly formed Environmental Services Department, but had not done so. I selected Terrell Washington because the person selected for the position needed to possess attributes of leadership, self-direction, knowledge of job specific material and guidelines, as well as a willingness to step outside of the box. The Plaintiff did not have these qualities.

Richardson stated that gender was not a factor in his decision.

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Bluebook (online)
321 F. App'x 826, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barbara-johnson-v-city-of-mobile-alabama-ca11-2009.