Williams v. City & Cty. of San Francisco

483 F. Supp. 335, 22 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1241, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9541
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedSeptember 26, 1979
DocketC-77-1312 SW, C-78-0171 SW
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 483 F. Supp. 335 (Williams v. City & Cty. of San Francisco) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. City & Cty. of San Francisco, 483 F. Supp. 335, 22 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1241, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9541 (N.D. Cal. 1979).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION

SPENCER WILLIAMS, District Judge.

These cases are before the court on plaintiffs’ motions for preliminary and permanent injunctions and for summary judgment. After careful consideration of the briefs and arguments of counsel, the pleadings, affidavits and depositions on file, and the other evidence in the record, the court finds the plaintiffs are entitled to partial summary judgment.

I.

The procedural posture of these cases merits a brief review. Shortly after the complaint was filed in Williams I, (C-77-1312 SW), plaintiffs moved for the issuance of a preliminary injunction and for the entry of summary judgment in their favor. Evidentiary hearings were conducted on July 8, July 11, July 22, September 9 and September 12, 1977. At the outset of the hearing on July 8,1977 the court announced that all evidence received on the preliminary injunction would be a part of the record for the permanent injunction and would not be repeated. In response to the court’s query whether there would be any additional evidence for the court to consider at the preliminary injunction hearing defendants indicated they desired to call Dr. Sheldon Zedeck to testify regarding the validity of the test.

Coincident with the filing of plaintiffs’ motions, defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. By written memorandum filed November 15, 1977 the court granted defendants’ motion in part, ruling that it lacked jurisdiction over all the Title VII claims and the ADEA claims of all plaintiffs except Nelson Williams. Since Mr. Williams had properly invoked the jurisdiction of the court with a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, the court allowed him to supplement his complaint with his “subsequently ripened” ADEA claim. However, the court denied his motion for summary judgment on the § 1981 claim and ordered further briefing on what constituted a prima facie case under the ADEA. Summary judgment on Williams’ ADEA claim was denied on May 9, 1978.

After receiving their right to sue letters plaintiffs filed Williams II, (C-78-0171 SW), asserting the Title VII and ADEA claims that had been dismissed from Williams I. The court ordered the cases consolidated and ordered the record in Williams I to be made a part of the record in Williams II. Prior to the submission of the instant motions plaintiffs sought and were granted certification of the alleged class.

II.

Rule 56 provides for the granting of summary judgment where there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Plaintiffs maintain all the evidence is before the court and the matter is ripe for final decision. Defendants, on the other hand, claim summary judgment cannot be granted because the statistical experts who testified at the preliminary injunction hearing disagreed in their evaluation of the test results. What defendants fail to perceive is that there is no need for a trial, not because there is no conflict in the. evidence, but because the matter has already been tried. To the extent the statistical issue raises questions of fact, rather than questions of law, the court already has had the opportunity to judge the demeanor of the expert witnesses and weigh their credibility. Had plaintiffs never moved for summary judgment, the testimony would not have been repeated because Rule 65 explicitly provides that “any evidence received upon an application for a preliminary injunction which would be admissible upon the trial on the merits becomes part of the record on the trial and need not be repeated.”

Although courts customarily do not consider oral testimony on a summary judgment motion there is authority for includ *339 ing testimony taken at an earlier stage in the case as part of the evidence considered in a summary judgment. motion. 10 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2723 at 488; Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 43(e). In one such case the Ninth Circuit wrote:

It is clear that the court elected to regard the oral testimony and the various documents, introduced at the jury hearing on the statute of limitations, as supplementing the original affidavits filed in support of the motions for summary judgment, and ... as being in the same category and having the same force and reliance as the papers, depositions and admissions which may be employed under Rule 56, R.Civ.P. This posture of the case justified the court in so regarding this additional evidence, and the procedure it adopted appears to be both rational and in harmony with the spirit and the purpose of the Rules of Civil Procedure. See R.Civ.P. 43(e). . . .
The merits of appellant’s case were given so thorough an examination at the hearing on the special issue that the resultant judgment was not the product of mere trial by affidavits. Burnham Chemical Co. v. Borax Consolidated, 170 F.2d 569, 573, 575 (9th Cir. 1948).

On this authority the court is persuaded the circumstances of these cases permit a decision on the merits to be made at this time and that such a decision is not the product of a “mere trial by affidavits.”

III.

These motions provide the court with the first opportunity to view the evidence in the record from the perspective of Title VII. The test for determining whether Title VII has been violated is a familiar one.

The first question is whether plaintiffs have established a prima facie ease of employment discrimination. ... If a prima facie case has been shown, the burden then shifts to the employer to justify the employment practice in question. ... If the employer meets his burden of justification, plaintiffs may then show that alternative selection devices exist that would serve the employer’s legitimate interests without discriminatory effects. Blake v. City of Los Angeles, 595 F.2d 1367, 1372 (9th Cir. 1979).

When a Title VII plaintiff claims an employment test is discriminatory in effect he establishes a prima facie case by showing the test in question selects applicants for hire or promotion in a racial or sexual pattern significantly different from that of the pool of applicants. Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 425, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975). The employer may justify his use of the test only by showing it to be necessary to safe and efficient job performance. Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 332 n. 14, 97 S.Ct. 2720, 53 L.Ed.2d 786 (1977). This business necessity defense is very narrow and it is not easy for employers to demonstrate the job relatedness of selection devices shown to be prima facie violations of Title VII. Blake v. City of Los Angeles, 595 F.2d 1367, 1377 (9th Cir. 1979).

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Bluebook (online)
483 F. Supp. 335, 22 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1241, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9541, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-city-cty-of-san-francisco-cand-1979.