Cheryl A. Davis v. City of Sioux City

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJune 18, 1997
Docket96-2194
StatusPublished

This text of Cheryl A. Davis v. City of Sioux City (Cheryl A. Davis v. City of Sioux City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cheryl A. Davis v. City of Sioux City, (8th Cir. 1997).

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 96-2194 ___________

Cheryl A. Davis, * * Appellee, * * Thomas R. Davis, * Appeal from the United States * District Court for the Northern Plaintiff, * District of Iowa. * v. * * City of Sioux City, * * Appellant. * ___________

Submitted: January 16, 1997

Filed: June 18, 1997 ___________

Before RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Chief Judge, ROSS, and BEAM, Circuit Judges. ___________

BEAM, Circuit Judge.

The City of Sioux City appeals from a jury verdict in favor of Cheryl Davis on her claims of retaliation and hostile environment sexual harassment. We affirm in part and reverse in part. I. BACKGROUND

Cheryl Davis began working for the City of Sioux City (City) in the City Clerk’s Office in 1977. In 1984, Davis became a Deputy Clerk. From 1982 to 1992, Bill Gross was the City Clerk and Davis’s supervisor. Gross, in turn, reported directly to the City Council, which had sole responsibility for hiring, firing and disciplining him.

During the first nine years that Davis worked under Gross, Davis claims Gross engaged in some inappropriate behavior toward her. However, Davis did not feel that this behavior was sufficiently egregious to report. In January 1991, however, Gross suffered a heart attack. Following his return from medical leave, and especially in late 1991 and early 1992, Gross’s inappropriate behavior toward Davis escalated. Such conduct included, but was not limited to: (1) spreading rumors that Davis was having extra-marital affairs; (2) following Davis to the restroom to make sure she was using the restroom and not talking to men instead; (3) calling the head of another department to see whether Davis was on the phone with men from that department; and (4) commenting that Davis’s work attire was inappropriate, e.g., that her skirts were too short. Although Davis discussed this behavior with Gross, the situation did not improve and the behavior did not cease. Pursuant to the City’s sexual harassment policy that had been in effect since 1988, Davis made a formal complaint about Gross’s behavior on February 12, 1992. In the course of an investigation by city personnel, Gross denied Davis’s allegations. Later, the investigators’ findings were submitted to the City Council. Davis was neither apprised of the investigation nor of the substance of the report. After discussing the report on March 16, 1992, the City Council voted to suspend Gross for one day and put a letter in his file. Davis was not informed of this action at the time. On the morning of March 25, 1992, Davis submitted a letter of resignation and left her office. That same day, a letter was prepared by the City Council notifying

-2- Davis about Gross’s one-day suspension. Later that afternoon, Davis met with an attorney for the City and informed him that she had obtained some of Gross’s personal notes which suggested Gross had lied to investigators. On March 30, 1992, these notes were presented to the City Council. On review of this evidence, the City Council negotiated and concluded a severance agreement with Gross, who left city employment on April 3, 1992.

Davis was then asked to withdraw her resignation. Due to reorganization of city offices, however, Davis’s prior Deputy Clerk position had been eliminated. Davis was offered a new job as a property officer in the Community Development Department. The beginning annual salary at this new position was slightly more than Davis’s previous salary. However, Davis testified that the opportunities for pay increases and job advancement were fewer than in her prior role and that the new position was not a supervisory one, in contrast to her Deputy Clerk responsibilities. Additionally, Davis claims the new position ended within two years unless she successfully completed a civil service exam. Davis accepted the appointment, however, and continues to work in that capacity.

In June 1994, Davis filed sexual harassment and retaliation claims against the City and several of its officers.1 Davis claimed that Gross’s behavior had created a hostile work environment and that her transfer to a new position was in retaliation for complaining about Gross’s behavior. The claims proceeded to trial by jury. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of Davis on both claims. It awarded damages for back pay,

1 The individual officers were later dismissed from suit. Additionally, several other claims originally filed by Davis and her husband were dismissed. Davis’s hostile environment sexual harassment and retaliation claims were the only claims that proceeded to trial and are the only claims at issue in this appeal.

-3- front pay, emotional distress and medical expenses.2 The district court then entered final judgment for Davis in the amount of $102,440.00, with interest and costs. The City appeals. II. DISCUSSION A. Hostile Environment Jury Instruction On appeal, the City argues that the district court erred in instructing the jury on the hostile environment sexual harassment claim because the instruction allowed the jury to find for Davis upon a mere finding of agency, without regard to whether Gross’s actions were properly imputed to the City.3 The City argues that the district court

2 On the sexual harassment claim, the jury awarded $4,100 for back pay, $4,090 for medical expenses and $20,000 for emotional distress damages. On the retaliation claim, the jury awarded $4,250 for back pay, $40,000 for front pay and $30,000 for emotional distress damages. 3 The jury was instructed that its verdict must be for the plaintiff if the following elements were met: (1) plaintiff was subjected to sexually offensive conduct; (2) such conduct was on account of plaintiff’s gender; (3) such conduct was sufficiently severe or pervasive so that a reasonable woman would find the work environment to be hostile; (4) plaintiff believed her work environment to be hostile; and (5) “The alleged harasser, Bill Gross, who was the supervisor of the plaintiff, was an agent of the City of Sioux City as described in the next instruction.” The following explanatory instruction was then provided:

With respect to the fifth element of Instruction 9, which is whether or not Bill Gross, who was a supervisor of the plaintiff, was an agent of the City of Sioux City, you should apply the following principles. Defendant City of Sioux City is a corporation. A corporation may act only through natural persons as its agents or employees and, in general, any agent or employee of a corporation may bind the corporation by his or her actions done and statements made while acting within the scope of his or her

-4- should have instructed the jury that liability was only imputed to the City if the City knew or should have known of Gross’s harassment and failed to take proper remedial action. In response, Davis argues that by virtue of Gross’s supervisory position, liability for the harassment should be imputed to the City, regardless of the City’s actual or constructive knowledge of the harassment.

We review the district court’s jury instructions for an abuse of discretion. Sherbert v. Alcan Aluminum Corp., 66 F.3d 965, 968 (8th Cir. 1995). Our review must consider whether, when taken as a whole, the instructions fairly and adequately submitted the issues to the jury. Id. In this case, we find they did not.4

authority as delegated to him or her by the corporation or within the scope of his or her duties as an employee of the corporation. An employee acting outside his or her delegated authority or outside the scope of his or her duties of employment may not bind the corporation.

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Cheryl A. Davis v. City of Sioux City, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cheryl-a-davis-v-city-of-sioux-city-ca8-1997.