Ferguson v. Hiram Walker & Sons, Inc.

823 F. Supp. 649, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8095, 1993 WL 200149
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedMay 10, 1993
DocketNo. 92-2173
StatusPublished

This text of 823 F. Supp. 649 (Ferguson v. Hiram Walker & Sons, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ferguson v. Hiram Walker & Sons, Inc., 823 F. Supp. 649, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8095, 1993 WL 200149 (W.D. Ark. 1993).

Opinion

ORDER

HENDREN, District Judge.

NOW on this 6th day of May, 1993, comes on for consideration defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Strike (Pleading [650]*650# 10). A hearing was held on the motion on April 22,1993, with all counsel being present. At the hearing, the Court was advised of a recent Eighth Circuit case of Hughes v. Matthews, 986 F.2d 1168 (8th Cir.1992), which was stated to be relevant to the issues presented in the Motion to Dismiss. After hearing the arguments of counsel, the Court advised that it would review the Hughes case and issue a ruling soon thereafter. After reviewing Hughes as well as other relevant law, the Court hereby finds that the Motion to Dismiss is well taken and should therefore be, and hereby is granted.

In his discrimination complaint, plaintiff seeks to recover damages for alleged violations under “Title VII, the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; and ERISA.” Plaintiff alleges that he was discriminated against by defendant in the termination of his employment in March of 1991 because: “white male workers doing the same or similar acts were not terminated; (b) white female workers doing the same or similar acts were not terminated; (c) workers under forty years of age were not terminated for doing the same or similar acts.” He also alleges that defendant stood to enjoy considerable savings under its ERISA Plan if it could terminate plaintiff, and this motive played a contributing or controlling part in defendant’s decision. Plaintiff contends that the race, age, and gender of the plaintiff also played a contributing or controlling part in defendant’s decision to terminate plaintiff. Finally, plaintiff contends that he placed the issue of the pretex-tuality of defendant’s conduct before the Arkansas Appeals tribunal in his application for unemployment benefits and that the tribunal concluded that plaintiff was not discharged for misconduct on the job. Plaintiff contends that this finding is res judicata or should collaterally estop defendant from re-litigating pretextuality.

In the Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Strike, defendant moves to dismiss all of plaintiffs claims of discrimination made in plaintiffs complaint under 42 U.S.C. Section 1981; all of plaintiffs claims for double damages for alleged willful behavior that are premised on Title VII, the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and any extra contractual monetary damage claims, including compensatory or double damages that are premised on ERISA. Such motion also moves the Court to strike plaintiffs demand for jury trial premised upon his Title VII claims and ERISA claims. The Court will first address the Hughes holding, since the question of retroactivity of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 is crucial to the issues raised by the motion, and will then apply the holding in Hughes, as well as other relevant law, to the case at bar.

In Hughes v. Matthews, 986 F.2d 1168 (8th Cir.1992), the Eighth Circuit commented as follows concerning the previous rulings in Fray v. Omaha World Herald Co., 960 F.2d 1370 (8th Cir.1992) and Huey v. Sullivan, 971 F.2d 1362 (8th Cir.1992):

... In Fray, this court held that section 101 of the Act [Civil Rights Act of 1991], which legislatively overruled Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U.S. 164, 109 S.Ct. 2363, 105 L.Ed.2d 132 (1989), did not apply to conduct occurring before the Act’s effective date of November 21, 1991. 960 F.2d at 1378. This court recognized the conflict between Bradley v. Richmond School Bd., 416 U.S. 696, 94 S.Ct. 2006, 40 L.Ed.2d 476 (1974), and Bowen v. Georgetown Univ. Hosp., 488 U.S. 204, 109 S.Ct. 468, 102 L.Ed.2d 493 (1988). In Bradley, the Court held that a new statute should be applied retroactively “unless doing so would result in manifest injustice or there is a statutory direction or legislative history to the contrary.” 416 U.S. at 711 [94 S.Ct. at 2016], In Georgetown Hospital, the Court held that “congressional enactments ... will not be construed to have retroactive effect unless their language requires this result.” 488 U.S. at 208, 109 S.Ct. at 471. Although this court tended to believe that Georgetown Hospital enumerated the better rule, under either analysis this court could not find sufficient evidence in the language or legislative history of the Act to support retroactive application of section 101. 960 F.2d at 1378. In Huey, this court relied on Fray to hold that section 113, which allows a court to award expert witness fees as part of the attorney’s fee, and section 114, which provides for interest on back pay awards for [651]*651federal employees, were not to be applied retroactively. 971 F.2d at 1365-66 & n. 5. We believe these cases support the district court’s holding that section 102(c) does not apply retroactively.

Hughes, 986 F.2d at 1169-70 (footnotes omitted).

In Hicks v. Brown Group, Inc., 982 F.2d 295 (8th Cir.1992), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Mar. 23, 1993), the Eighth Circuit noted that the Fray analysis has been applied in holding that other provisions of the 1991 Act do not apply retroactively.

Like this case, Fray involved the question whether § 101(2)(b) of the 1991 Act is retroactive. We have applied the Fray analysis in holding that other provisions of the 1991 Act do not apply retroactively. See Hughes v. Matthews, 980 F.2d 734 (8th Cir.1992) (§ 102(c)); Davis v. Tri-State Mack Distribs., Inc., 981 F.2d 340 (8th Cir.1992) (§ 113); Parton v. GTE North, Inc., 971 F.2d 150, 155-56 (8th Cir.1992) (§ 102); Huey v. Sullivan, 971 F.2d 1362, 1365 (8th Cir.1992) (§ 114).

Hicks, 982 F.2d at 296, n. 1.

The Court in Hughes further recognized arguments often asserted in cases involving retroactivity that a critical factor is whether the new laws are substantive or procedural. The Court stated:

We note that the Fifth Circuit has recently held that sections 102(b) and (c) of the Act do not apply retroactively. As did the district court in this case, the court in Landgraf v. USI Film Prod., 968 F.2d 427, 433 (5th Cir.1992), petition for cert. filed [— U.S. —, 113 S.Ct. 1250, 122 L.Ed.2d 649], 61 U.S.L.W. 3371 (U.S. Oct. 28,1992) (No.

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