Burns v. Gadsden State Community College

766 F. Supp. 1049, 1991 WL 114131
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Alabama
DecidedApril 15, 1991
DocketCiv. A. Nos. 88-AR-0961-M, 88-AR-1502-M
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 766 F. Supp. 1049 (Burns v. Gadsden State Community College) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burns v. Gadsden State Community College, 766 F. Supp. 1049, 1991 WL 114131 (N.D. Ala. 1991).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ACKER, District Judge.

The procedural posture of these cases upon remand by the Eleventh Circuit, and [1050]*1050the issues presented for trial, are well laid out in the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion in Burns v. Gadsden State Community College, 908 F.2d 1512 (11th Cir.1990). In short, plaintiff, Gladys Burns, a female over 40 years of age, complained of sex discrimination and age discrimination by defendants, Gadsden State Community College and its president, Robert Howard, who turned down plaintiff’s application for the position of coordinator of economic development at the college and instead gave the position to a younger male. In her two cases, consolidated for trial, Burns invoked both Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 as statutory bases for her claim of sex discrimination, and invoked the Age Discrimination in Employment Act as the statutory basis for her claim of age discrimination. The only significant procedural fact not mentioned by the Eleventh Circuit is the fact that plaintiff originally demanded the trial by jury to which she was clearly entitled under ADEA, but to which arguably she was not entitled under Title VII and even under § 1983 as to her claim for lost wages and benefits. See Sullivan v. School Bd. of Pinellas County, 773 F.2d 1182, 1187-88 n. 4 (11th Cir.1985). Whether recoverable or not she claimed damages for mental anguish and punitive damages under § 1983. After remand and before trial, defendants’ motion to strike the jury demand was denied.

The Eleventh Circuit in its opinion at 908 F.2d 1512, which overruled this court’s earlier grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants, did not address the Eleventh Amendment defense affirmatively interposed by Alabama state entities, Gadsden State and Dr. Howard in his official capacity. Whether, contrary to the principles enunciated in Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 104 S.Ct. 900, 79 L.Ed.2d 67 (1984); Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974); Quern v. Jordan, 440 U.S. 332, 99 S.Ct. 1139, 59 L.Ed.2d 358 (1979); and Brandon v. Holt, 469 U.S. 464, 105 S.Ct. 873, 83 L.Ed.2d 878 (1985), the law-of-the-case impliedly established that this Eleventh Amendment defense was ineffectual, becomes an academic question in light of the way the jury decided the case.

After all evidence had been presented and the jury had been instructed by the court, special interrogatories were submitted to the jury. The jury answered the first two questions in a way which rendered moot all subsequent questions. The jury found that neither defendant had been motivated by plaintiff’s sex or by plaintiff’s age in the decision to select a younger man for the position for which plaintiff had applied. Inasmuch as it was plaintiff who demanded the jury trial, this court is not required, independently of the jury verdict, to make any findings of fact or to state any conclusions of law under the Title VII claim, even if the court otherwise would be required to do so. See Lincoln v. Board of Regents of the Univ. of Ga. Sys., 697 F.2d 928, 934 (11th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 826, 104 S.Ct. 97, 78 L.Ed.2d 102 (1983).

A separate judgment in accordance with the jury verdict will be entered.

ON MOTIONS FOR NEW TRIAL

The court has for consideration motions filed in the above two entitled causes for a new trial filed by plaintiff, Gladys King Burns, pursuant to Rule 59(a), F.R.Civ.P. Each motion contains the same four grounds which will be discussed seriatim.

First Ground

Plaintiff's first ground alleges that the jury verdict is contrary to the applicable law. While there were numerous principles of law involved in the case, a review of the file leads this court to find that this ground is lacking in merit.

Second Ground

Plaintiff’s second ground alleges that the jury verdict is contrary to the evidence and to the clear weight of the evidence. The court finds this ground clearly lacking in merit. There was ample evidence upon which the jury could, by making appropriate credibility determinations, find as it did in favor of defendants in both cases.

[1051]*1051 Third, Ground

Plaintiffs third ground alleges that the court erred in refusing plaintiff’s attempt to strike for cause two venirepersons who allegedly were currently attending defendant, Gadsden State Community College, as students.

The court reporter has transcribed the colloquies during the jury selection process as they bear on this issue. This transcription reflects that only one venireperson, namely Kelli Elaine Clemons, was actually attending Gadsden State Community College at the time this jury was selected and that her employer was paying her tuition. In response to direct inquiry, she denied that her attendance at Gadsden State would in any way influence her. Nevertheless, she was not selected as a juror, whether by the exercise of a peremptory challenge or because she was not reached. The only other two venirepersons who had any connection whatsoever with Gadsden State were Barbara McGlaughan, whose daughter attends Gadsden State, and Lonnie Vincent, whose brother attended Gadsden State five or six years ago. In alleging that two venirepersons attend Gadsden State, plaintiff perhaps mistakenly believed that Ms. McGlaughan herself attended Gadsden State because she said during her personal introduction that she in the past had attended Gadsden Business College, which is an entity entirely separate from Gadsden State. Both Ms. McGlaughan and Mr. Vincent were selected as jurors after acknowledging that their tenuous connections with Gadsden State would not affect their judgment in any way. The court found then, and finds now, that there was no basis for plaintiff to challenge “for cause” any of these three potential jurors. There was no persuasive reason given to believe that any one of them could not be impartial in this case.

Fourth Ground

Plaintiff’s fourth ground alleges that the court erred in reading excerpts from its decision in that aspect of Lee v. Macon, the seminal case of school desegregation in Alabama, in which this court ordered a merger of three state owned post-secondary two-year institutions located in Etowah County, Alabama, to form Gadsden State Community College. Plaintiff did not interpose an objection to the reading of these excerpts before they had been read. Plaintiff did not request that the entire earlier merger opinion and decree be read to the jury or introduced into evidence. Plaintiff did not move to exclude the evidence as contained in the excerpts from the earlier opinion and decree read to the jury.

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Bluebook (online)
766 F. Supp. 1049, 1991 WL 114131, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burns-v-gadsden-state-community-college-alnd-1991.