George Dagnesses v. Target Media Partners

711 F. App'x 927
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedSeptember 29, 2017
Docket16-17802 Non-Argument Calendar
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 711 F. App'x 927 (George Dagnesses v. Target Media Partners) 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
George Dagnesses v. Target Media Partners, 711 F. App'x 927 (11th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

George Dagnesses believed his boss had it out for him. She belittled and accosted him, he felt, and regularly made negative remarks about men. When his boss eventually fired him, Dagnesses sued his former employer, Target Media Partners and Target Media Partners Operating Company (collectively, “TMP”), for sex discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., bringing various state law claims as well. The district court granted TMP summary judgment on all counts. Upon review, we reverse as to Dagnesses’ Florida law contract claim, and otherwise affirm.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Dagnesses asserts that while working as a manager at TMP, he was subject to discriminatory treatment by his supervisor, Linda Coffman, including discharge without a warning or opportunity to correct his allegedly unsatisfactory behavior and performance. He also asserts that TMP retaliated against him for speaking out against his allegedly discriminatory treatment and against certain practices regarding the classification and work assignments of independent contractors, and that it failed to pay him commissions and bonuses to which he was contractually entitled. TMP asserts that it discharged Dag-nesses due to his behavioral and work performance problems and denies that it retaliated against him or agreed to pay him commissions and bonuses.

Sabina Padva, a TMP general manager, hired Dagnesses in 2008 as a Dade County sales manager for one of TMP’s publications, Car and Truck Buyers Guide. Dag-nesses’ offer of employment letter from TMP read, in part: “[Y]our employment with Target Media Partners is at-will and neither this letter nor any other oral or written representations may be considered a contract for any specific period of time.” Doc. 126-2 at 10. 1 The offer letter also provided that Dagnesses would receive a 10% commission based on his weekly personal sales, as well as a bonus for increasing TMP’s monthly sales in Dade County. Padva was Dagnesses’ direct supervisor until 2013, when Coffman, TMP’s regional Vice President of Operations, promoted Dagnesses to a general manager position for another TMP publication, Auto Guide. In this position, Dagnesses reported directly to Coffman.

Dagnesses testified that during his time working at the Auto Guide, Coffman regularly treated him poorly due to her dislike of men. According to Dagnesses, Coffman repeatedly belittled and second-guessed him, and on one occasion she poked him in the chest. Dagnesses testified that Padva had told him Coffman did not like men, and that Coffman disliked Dagnesses in particular. He also testified that Coffman indicated to him that she wanted him to hire women.

Padva testified that Coffman’s treatment of Dagnesses had made her uncomfortable, but she did not believe Coffman disliked Dagnesses because he was a man. Ligia Obeso, Dagnesses’ co-worker at Auto Guide, testified that Coffman behaved unpleasantly toward Dagnesses, that Padva had said Coffman hated men, and that Coffman once said TMP should hire more female sales representatives because women are better workers than men. Another co-worker, Rafael Lugo, testified that Coffman behaved differently around Dag-nesses than around female co-workers and seemed uncomfortable in Dagnesses’ presence. Rosangel Duarte, a physician who treated Dagnesses for cancer, testified that Coffman once called his office to confirm that Dagnesses was not lying about his medical condition. Dagnesses claimed that Coffman required him to use sick time rather than vacation time to undergo surgery — something no other employee had to do — and never called a doctor to verify another employee’s medical condition.

Coffman testified that Auto Guide lost money under Dagnesses’ management and that she repeatedly told Dagnesses that his job performance was unsatisfactory. Coffman warned Dagnesses that he had failed to meet TMP’s sales goals and asked him to identify specific actions he could undertake to increase sales. She also reprimanded him for unilaterally and without prior authorization terminating one employee and asking another employee to resign, offered him advice on improving sales and directed him to ask Padva for help, and warned him that he needed to communicate better. Coffman testified that TMP did not provide improvement plans to general managers with performance problems, but brought unsatisfactory behavior to their attention so that they would correct it. Dagnesses acknowledged that Coffman was unhappy with his job performance and that he had declined Coff-man’s offer of advice and direction. He also acknowledged sending Coffman a frustrated email in response to her criticism, and that the email’s tone was inappropriate.

Dagnesses testified that he had met the sales benchmarks set out in the offer letter during his first two and a half years at TMP, but did not receive the commissions and bonuses the letter had promised him. Although TMP paid him $12,000 in commissions, Dagnesses said, it later told him that it had overpaid him by $8,000 and demanded that money back. Dagnesses asserted that he paid the money back under protest and that TMP still owes him $16,500. Eventually, TMP formally altered Dagnesses’ compensation plan so that he would no longer receive commissions based on personal sales, although he remained eligible for bonuses based on regional sales.

Dagnesses also testified that while employed with TMP, he told Coffman that he believed the company had improperly classified as independent contractors persons who should have been classified as employees and was assigning them work that independent contractors legally could not perform. He conceded, however, that he never informed Coffman that he believed TMP was engaged in illegal activity.

TMP fired Dagnesses in 2014. Coffman told him that TMP was moving in a direction for which he would not be a good fit. Coffman testified that Dagnesses’ job performance and communication problems factored into her decision to terminate him. Dagnesses testified that he believed Coffman fired him because he was a man, asserting that his performance did not warrant termination.

Dagnesses sued TMP in the district court. His second amended complaint raised claims of sex discrimination and retaliation under Title VII, as well as claims under the Florida Whistleblower Act (“FWA”), Fla. Stat. § 448.102, and for breach of contract. 2 The district court granted TMP summary judgment as to each claim. Dagnesses timely appealed.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

“The court shall grant summary judgment 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 review the district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, drawing all inferences in [the non-movant’s] favor.” Robinson v.

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Bluebook (online)
711 F. App'x 927, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/george-dagnesses-v-target-media-partners-ca11-2017.