Gordon v. JKP Enterprises Inc

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedApril 10, 2002
Docket01-20420
StatusUnpublished

This text of Gordon v. JKP Enterprises Inc (Gordon v. JKP Enterprises Inc) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gordon v. JKP Enterprises Inc, (5th Cir. 2002).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 01-20420 Summary Calendar

SELENA GORDON, also known as Jazmine; STEPHANIE MCDANIEL, also known as Simone; CHRISTINA SEARD, Plaintiffs-Appellees,

versus

JKP ENTERPRISES INC, doing business as Caligula XXI; JERRY K. PAYNE, Individually and in his official capacity,

Defendants-Appellants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (No. H-99-CV-138)

April 9, 2002

Before DAVIS, BENAVIDES, and STEWART, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:*

Plaintiffs Selena Gordon (“Gordon”), Stephanie McDaniel (“McDaniel”), and Christina Seard

(“Seard”) filed suit against their former employer, Defendants J.K.P. Enterprises, Inc d/b/a Caligula

* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4. XXI (“Caligula XXI”) and Jerry S. Payne (“Payne”), alleging race discrimination under 42 U.S.C.

§ 1981 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. After a bench trial,

the district court entered judgment in favor of Gorden, McDaniel, and Seard and awarded

compensatory damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees. For the reasons assigned herein, we

affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with instructions.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1980, Caligula XXI opened as a topless club in Houston, Texas. In the latter half of the

1990s, Payne, the owner of Caligula XXI, implemented several club policies that applied to the

topless dancers. A policy was adopted which limited the number of African-American dancers that

could work on each shift. A music format policy was also implemented that prohibited dancers from

performing to “Rap,” “Hip-Hop,” and “R&B.” Payne testified that the purpose of the policies was

to maintain a racially balanced club and to keep the club profitable. The music policy was embodied

in a memo dated September 9, 1997 that repeatedly justified the policy on the basis that the club’s

goal was to have a racially mixed group of customers.

Gordon, McDaniel, and Seard, who are African-American, were employed as topless dancers

at Caligula XXI. Gordon and McDaniel were employed by Caligula XXI from March of 1997 until

December of 1997, when they were prevented from working on a particular day. Gordon and

McDaniel testified that they were told by Mike Tucker, a club manager, that they were fired because

there were too many African-American dancers who wanted to work at the club. They were rehired

in December of 1997, but were again terminated in January of 1998. This final termination followed

an incident where another manager approached Gordon and McDaniel, while they were sitting with

some customers, and asked t hem to leave the club. Gordon and McDaniel testified that when the

2 manager refused to give them a reason for his demand, McDaniel began to scream and curse at the

manager.

Seard was employed by Caligula XXI for three months in either 1994 or 1995, but she was

fired after being told that the club was eliminating African-American dancers. She was rehired in

1996, but was again terminated in December of 1998. Seard and Christina Shepard (“Shepard”), a

waitress at Caligula XXI from 1995 to October of 1999, testified that upon arriving at work on the

day before Seard was terminated, the doorman told Seard that she could not work because there were

too many African-American dancers. They also testified that Mitchell White (“White”), the manager

at that time, said that there were seven African-American dancers already working that night and he

was not accepting any more African-American dancers. Seard became very upset about being told

to go home. The next day Mitchell fired her. The district court heard testimony that Mitchell fired

Seard because she (1) was too “ethnic” or “pro black,” (2) was behind on her “tip-out,” (3) threw a

fit, (4) was too fat, and (5) was African-American.

Shepard testified about several club policies which applied to dancers. According to Shepard,

the policy limiting the number o f African-American dancers who could work on each shift was

consistently enforced. Shepard testified that, for example, if there were thirty dancers working, only

five could be African-American. The manager was required to enforce this policy and he did so by

refusing African-American dancers admittance to the club if the maximum number of African-

American dancers had been reached. There was no limit on the number of dancers who could dance

any particular shift; and no non-African-American dancer was ever turned away. On several

occasions, Shepard observed Payne tell the manager that there were too many African-American

dancers or too many African-American customers and to not admit any more African-American

3 dancers and/or customers to the club. Shepard heard Payne state on several occasions that the club

was looking “mighty dark,” “out of control,” and “too ethnic,” referring to the number of African-

American dancers working. Shepard and Mary Spiller (“Spiller”), another waitress at Caligula XXI,

observed African-American applicants submit job applications only to have management throw them

in the trash. Spiller heard Payne refer to a black waitress as a “nigger.”

Mark Chavarria (“Chavarria”), a manager at Caligula XXI between 1994 and 1996, worked

at the front door and enforced certain club policies. He testified that only five or six African-

American dancers could work any particular shift and that as the manager at the front door, it was

his job to strictly enforce this policy and not let additional African-American dancers into the club

once the limit had been reached. Chavarria testified that there was no restriction on the number of

non-African-American dancers. According to Chavarria, Payne told him that the number of African-

American dancers was limited because they brought in a “bad element,” that is, African-American

men. Chavarria testified that, in Payne’s opinion, African-American men did not spend any money

and were associated with drugs and fights. In furtherance of the club’s policy to limit the number of

African-American dancers, Chavarria had to terminate a number of African-American dancers

because there were too many.

Given this and other evidence, the district court concluded that Gordon, McDaniel, and Seard

were terminated because of their race. The district court found the reasons given by Caligula XXI

and Payne for their terminations to be pretexts for racial discrimination. Further, the court

determined that there could be no defense to the disparity of treatment between African-American

dancers and non-African-American dancers, which was blatantly racial. In her conclusions of law,

Magistrate Judge Nancy K. Johnson stated as follows: “It is certainly not a defense to discriminate

4 in such a way because the club historically had a racially balanced clientele which the owner wished

to preserve. No employer can lawfully maintain any particular racial makeup in its workplace by

discriminating.”

The district court found that Caligula XXI and Payne acted illegally as a matter of law and

entered a final judgment in favor of Gordon, McDaniel, and Seard on their claims of race

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