Zatarain v. WDSU-Television, Inc.

673 So. 2d 1181, 1996 WL 203172
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 24, 1996
Docket95-CA-2600
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 673 So. 2d 1181 (Zatarain v. WDSU-Television, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zatarain v. WDSU-Television, Inc., 673 So. 2d 1181, 1996 WL 203172 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

673 So.2d 1181 (1996)

Lynn Gansar ZATARAIN
v.
WDSU-TELEVISION, INC. and John F. Carpenter.

No. 95-CA-2600.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

April 24, 1996.

*1182 Richard A. Goins, Janis Van Meerveld, Michael M. Duran, Adams and Reese, New Orleans, for Plaintiff/Appellant.

Harry Rosenberg, M. Nan Alessandra, Thomas H. Kiggans, David M. Korn, Phelps Dunbar, L.L.P., New Orleans, for Defendants/Appellees.

Before LOBRANO and PLOTKIN and MURRAY, JJ.

PLOTKIN, Judge.

Plaintiff Lynn Gansar Zatarain appeals a trial court judgment denying a motion for new trial following a jury verdict dismissing her suit against defendant WDSU Television, Inc. Ms. Gansar claims that her motion for new trial should be granted both under the peremptory grounds established by La. *1183 C.C.P. art. 1972(1) because the verdict is "clearly contrary to the law and the evidence," and under the discretionary grounds of La.C.C.P. art. 1973 because of alleged attorney misconduct and improper exclusion of evidence.

Facts

Ms. Gansar was employed by defendant WDSU as a reporter and news anchor for almost ten years, until negotiations to renew her contract were terminated in November of 1992. Ms. Gansar claims that at the time the negotiations terminated, she had accepted a contract offer, which was later withdrawn on the basis of illegal discrimination. WDSU claims, on the other hand, that Ms. Gansar had presented the company with an unreasonable "counteroffer," requesting that her contract be modified to allow her to work fewer hours for more money, and that the contract negotiations were terminated because company officials perceived that Ms. Gansar was not negotiating in good faith.

Although the record reflects that the parties vehemently disagree on many of the particulars concerning the series of events leading up to the termination of the contract negotiations, they agree on the following facts. In the Spring of 1992, Ms. Gansar had for approximately two years, over some level of protest, been anchoring all three major newscasts for WDSU—at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 10 p.m. Typically, Ms. Gansar's work day started at 3 p.m. and concluded around 11 p.m., some eight hours later. Ms. Gansar considered this situation both unfair and stressful because none of the other anchors worked three shows; she felt that she should be required to anchor only two newscasts a night, which would free her to do more live reporting.

Sometime in the Spring of 1992, while Ms. Gansar was anchoring these three newscasts, she decided that she wanted to have a baby. When she did not become pregnant within a few months, she sought fertility treatments. In order to facilitate those treatments, Ms. Gansar requested certain concessions from her employer, including reduced hours and permission to come to work later than was normally required in order to receive specifically-timed fertility injections. All of Ms. Gansar's requests for "accommodations" had been granted by WDSU; Ms. Gansar continued to anchor all three newscasts.

During this same time period, Ms. Gansar entered into negotiations with WDSU to renew her personal services contract, which would expire on November 30, 1992. WDSU made two different offers to Ms. Gansar to renew that contract. The first offer was rejected by Ms. Gansar, through her agent, Eddie Sapir, because the salary was too low and because the two-year contract contained a clause allowing WDSU to terminate the contract after the first year. Thereafter, WDSU made a second offer, meeting Ms. Gansar's salary demands and omitting the termination clause. Nevertheless, the parties were unable to reach an agreement, and Ms. Gansar was informed of her termination on November 11, 1992.

Peremptory grounds

La.C.C.P. art. 1972 requires a trial court to grant a motion for new trial if it finds that the jury verdict is contrary to the law and evidence. Although the granting of a new trial is mandatory under those circumstances, the jurisprudence interpreting the provision recognizes the trial judge's discretion in determining whether the evidence is contrary to the law and evidence. Generally, a trial judge should grant a motion for new trial because a jury verdict is contrary to the law and evidence when the judge's examination of the record, while exercising his discretion, convinces him that the judgment would result in a miscarriage of justice. Perkins v. K-Mart Corp., 94-2065 (La.App. 1st Cir. 6/23/95), 657 So.2d 725, 731, writ denied, 95-2058 (La. 11/13/95), 662 So.2d 477. Further, a motion for new trial based on a contention that the verdict is contrary to the law and evidence should be denied if the verdict is supportable by any fair interpretation of evidence. Gibson v. Bossier City General Hospital, 594 So.2d 1332, 1336 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1991). A trial court judgment denying a motion for new trial should not be reversed unless the appellate court finds that the trial court abused its discretion. Perkins, 657 So.2d at 731.

*1184 Ms. Gansar's argument in her brief to this court that the jury verdict in this case is clearly contrary to the law and evidence is based primarily on Mr. Sapir's trial testimony to the effect that John Carpenter, WDSU's station manager, indicated to him that the parent company did not want a news anchor who might have a "problem" pregnancy. Ms. Gansar claims that Mr. Sapir's testimony is uncontroverted and thus is entitled to a presumption of truth. WDSU attacks the primary premise underlying Ms. Gansar's argument on this issue by stating that Mr. Sapir's testimony was controverted both by Mr. Carpenter's testimony and by documentary evidence presented in the form of a letter memorializing the final step of the contract negotiations.

Mr. Sapir's testimony that Mr. Carpenter told him that WDSU's decision to terminate the contract negotiations with Ms. Gansar was based on the fact that WDSU did not want an anchor with a potentially problem pregnancy is sufficient, Ms. Gansar claims, to prove that WDSU and its parent company, Pulitzer Broadcasting Co., violated Louisiana law prohibiting employment discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. LSA-R.S. 23:1008.

We have closely reviewed the record to determine whether the jury's verdict was contrary to the law and evidence, as Ms. Gansar claims. For the reasons stated below, we find that the jury verdict was based on a pure credibility call between two groups of witnesses testifying to two different versions of the series of events, in terms of meetings and telephone calls, leading up to the withdrawal of the contract offer. Because the jury verdict in this case is supportable by a fair interpretation of the evidence, we find that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in denying the motion for new trial on the basis of Ms. Gansar's claim that the jury verdict is contrary to the law and evidence.

The record reflects that on either November 3, 1992 or November 10, 1992, a final face-to-face meeting between the parties occurred in Mr. Sapir's office; that pivotal meeting was attended by Ms. Gansar, Mr. Sapir, Ms. Gansar's husband, and Mr. Carpenter, who was handling the direct negotiations on behalf of WDSU and Pulitzer.

The parties differ greatly concerning the nature of the information relayed by Ms. Gansar to Mr. Carpenter during the course of that meeting. Ms. Gansar, who claims the meeting occurred on November 3, 1992, testified that she and her husband attended the meeting, expecting to sign the second contract offered by WDSU, which she had previously accepted through Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
673 So. 2d 1181, 1996 WL 203172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zatarain-v-wdsu-television-inc-lactapp-1996.