Nixon v. Autauga County Board of Education

273 F. Supp. 2d 1292, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15140
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Alabama
DecidedJuly 29, 2003
DocketCivil Action No. 02-F-415-N
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 273 F. Supp. 2d 1292 (Nixon v. Autauga County Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nixon v. Autauga County Board of Education, 273 F. Supp. 2d 1292, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15140 (M.D. Ala. 2003).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

FULLER, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

In March of 2002, Larry Nixon (hereinafter “Nixon”) filed this suit in the Circuit Court of Autauga County, Alabama1 against the Autauga County Board of Education and numerous individual defendants. The sole claim set forth in Nixon’s Complaint arises under the Equal Pay Act (hereinafter “EPA”). Specifically, Nixon contends that he was paid less than a female co-worker. This cause presently before the Court on the Motion for Summary Judgment on Behalf of Defendants Autauga County Board of Education, Larry Butler, Dot Waller, Jerry De Bin, Le-dronia Goodwin, Ken Hollon, Joe Turner, Paul Young, and Purvis Johnson (Doc. # 13) filed on April 24, 2003.

II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

The Court exercises subject matter jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question) and 28 U.S.C. § 1343 (civil rights). The parties do not contest personal jurisdiction or ven[1294]*1294ue, and the Court finds adequate allegations supporting both.

III. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Under Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,-summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The party asking for summary judgment “always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of ‘the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,’ which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Id. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The movant can meet this burden by presenting evidence showing there is no dispute of material fact, or by showing the non-moving party has failed to present evidence in support of some element of its case on which it bears the ultimate burden of proof. Id. at 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

Once the moving party has met its burden, Rule 56(e) “requires the nonmoving party to go beyond the pleadings and by [his] own affidavits, or by the ‘depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,’ designate ‘specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.’ ” Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. To avoid summary judgment, the nonmoving party “must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). On the other hand, a court ruling on a motion for summary judgment must believe the evidence of the non-movant and must draw all justifiable inferences from the evidence in the non-moving party’s favor. See, e.g., Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); McCormick v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 333 F.3d 1234, 1243 (11th Cir.2003) (the evidence and all reasonable inferences from the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmovant). After the nonmoving party has responded to the motion for summary judgment, the court must grant summary judgment if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

The mere existence of some factual dispute will not defeat summary judgment unless that factual dispute is material to an issue affecting the outcome of the case. The relevant rules of substantive law dictate the materiality of a disputed fact. A genuine issue of material fact does not exist unless there is sufficient evidence favoring the nonmoving party for a reasonable jury to return a verdict in its favor. Chapman v. AI Transp., 229 F.3d 1012, 1023 (11th Cir.2000) (en banc) (quoting Haves v. City of Miami, 52 F.3d 918, 921 (11th Cir.1995) (internal marks and citations omitted)).

IV. FACTS

The Court has carefully considered all deposition excerpts and documents submitted in support of and in opposition to the motion. The submissions of the parties, viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, establish the following facts:

The Autauga County Board of Education (hereinafter “the Board”) employs Nixon as a bus driver. Nixon began working for the Board in 1995 on a part time basis, and in April of 1996, he became a [1295]*1295full time bus driver. Nixon drives a school bus in the morning and the afternoon during the school year and transports children in grades seven through twelve.

The Board pays all regular bus drivers in its employ according to the same salary schedule. Nixon does not dispute the fact that all regular bus drivers are paid according to this scale. According to this schedule, regular bus drivers with more than one year of experience, like Nixon, all receive the same annual salary regardless of whether they are male or female. The Board has paid Nixon according to the salary schedule applicable for the school year for each year in which he has been employed as a regular bus driver.

Nixon’s contention of inequality of pay arises from the fact that for a period of time the Board paid a female bus driver named Marilyn Smith (hereinafter “Smith”) fifteen dollars a day in addition to the pay she received under the regular salary scale. Nixon admits that the Board justifies this disparity by pointing out that in addition to driving her regular route, Smith drove a second route by which she transported a child, who did not live in the area of her regular route from that child’s home to the Autauga County Alternative School (hereinafter “the Alternative School”). Nixon also transported students to the Alternative School. The Board did not give him additional compensation for transporting these students. All but one of the students resided along the route which constituted Nixon’s regular route. The one student who did not live on Nixon’s route was only transported from the Prattville Junior High School (hereinafter “the Junior High School”) to the Alternative School in the morning and from the Alternative School to the Junior High School in the afternoon.

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Bluebook (online)
273 F. Supp. 2d 1292, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15140, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nixon-v-autauga-county-board-of-education-almd-2003.