United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

767 F.
2d 771
39 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1656,

38 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 35,526
Andrew L. HILL, Roosevelt Coleman, Jr., Joe L. Lock, Walter
J. Jones and Freddie Lee,
Plaintiffs-Appellants-Cross-Appellees,
v.
SEABOARD COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY,
Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant.
No. 84-3401.
United States Court of Appeals,

Eleventh Circuit.
Aug. 2, 1985.
Mark F. Kelly, Tampa, Fla., for plaintiffs-appellants-cross-appellees.

John M. Breckenridge, Jr., Tampa, Fla., for defendant-appellee-crossappellant.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Middle District of
Florida.
Before TJOFLAT and HENDERSON, Circuit Judges, and NICHOLS * ,
Senior Circuit Judge.
NICHOLS, Senior Circuit Judge:
Appellants Hill, Coleman, Lock, Jones, and Lee (appellants or employees)

brought this suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Sec.
2000e, et seq., alleging that Seaboard Coastline Railroad Company (Seaboard)
discriminated against appellants, black employees of Seaboard, by refusing to
promote them to supervisory positions because of their race. The employees
based their claims on both disparate impact and disparate treatment theories.
The district court, 573 F.Supp. 1079, dismissed appellants' disparate impact
claim following the close of their case, but ultimately held that intentional
discrimination under the disparate treatment theory had been proven. The court
apparently supposed that only one of appellants would have been promoted
absent discrimination, but it could not tell which one, so it made a very limited
award of money and divided it five ways. The employees appeal claiming the
court erred by dismissing the disparate impact claim, and abused its discretion
by providing only limited remedial relief and less than the requested attorney's
fees. Seaboard primarily cross-appeals from the court's judgment of liability
based on disparate treatment.
2
This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291. We reverse and
remand the dismissal of the disparate impact claim. Because we find that the
court's finding regarding the employees' qualifications are conflicting, illogical,
and thus ambiguous, we remand the judgment on disparate treatment for further
consideration. Consequently, we also remand for further consideration of the
court's calculation of attorney's fees.
* The facts critical to this court's resolution of the issues on appeal are few.
Appellants are journeymen railroad carmen in the Car Department of
Seaboard's Tampa, Florida, Division. The 304 journeymen in the department
are supervised by carmen/foremen; these foremen are selected by the master
mechanic. The selection process is an informal one as employees are never
given notice that vacancies exist and the subjective promotion criteria are
known, if at all, only to the white master mechanic and the all-white
supervisory cadre which assists the master mechanic in the promotion decision.
According to the master mechanic, the informal procedures were as follows:
when a vacancy occurred in a foreman position, the master mechanic chose for
consideration six to eight journeymen from the seniority list. The master
mechanic based his choice of candidates on the unwritten recommendation of
the departmental supervisors and on personal observations. The personnel files
of the "final" candidates were then examined and the "best qualified" person
was chosen.
Between January and July 1980, five foreman positions became available; all
were filled by white journeymen. After the promotions were effected,
appellants were either demoted or furloughed for economic reasons; in contrast,
the promoted whites suffered no financial detriment.
II
5
The district court in this case considered the employees' claims under the
disparate treatment theory of discrimination, and the case was fully tried with
judgments on liability and relief entered. In an instance such as this, where the
disparate treatment claim was fully tried, the appellate court reviewing the
district court's judgment should proceed directly to the ultimate question;
whether defendant intentionally discriminated against plaintiff. United States
Postal Service Board of Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 714, 103 S.Ct.
1478, 1481, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983); Carmichael v. Birmingham Saw Works,
738 F.2d 1126 (11th Cir.1984). This court will reverse the district court's
finding on intentional discrimination only if that finding is clearly erroneous, or
is based on clearly erroneous subsidiary findings of fact, or a mistaken view of
the law. Pullman-Standard v. Swint, 456 U.S. 273, 102 S.Ct. 1781, 72 L.Ed.2d
66 (1982).
6
While this court reviews the district court's finding of intentional

discrimination, consideration of the subsidiary facts in light of the evidentiary
framework presented in McDonnell Douglas v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 804, 93
S.Ct. 1817, 1825, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973) is useful. A plaintiff may establish a
prima facie case of employment discrimination by proving that he is a member
of a protected minority, was qualified and applied for the promotion, was
rejected, and other employees who were not members of the protected class
were promoted. See, e.g., Crawford v. Western Electric Co., 614 F.2d 1300,
1315 (5th Cir.1980). Defendant, who never has the burden of persuasion, then
must articulate a nondiscriminatory reason for denying plaintiff the promotion.
While the burden of production is not high, as defendant's admissible evidence
need only be sufficient to raise a genuine issue of fact as to whether it
discriminated against plaintiff, in articulating the nondiscriminatory reason, the
explanation must be stated with sufficient clarity so that plaintiff will have a
full and fair opportunity to demonstrate pretext. Texas Department of
Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207
(1981). Of course, failure to promote a plaintiff because the person actually
promoted was more qualified is a nondiscriminatory reason, but the articulation
of that reason must include the fact that the decision-maker knew that the
promoted individual's qualifications were superior at the time the decision was
made. See Eastland v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 704 F.2d 613 (11th
Cir.1983). If a nondiscriminatory reason is articulated through admissible
evidence, plaintiff must prove that the reason given was merely pretextual. The
plaintiff always bears the burden of persuasion.
We consider the court's opinion finding on discrimination in light of the abovementioned law. The district court, in its order of November 11, 1983,
specifically found that plaintiffs had established a prima facie case under
McDonnell Douglas. Particularly the court held that "since all
journeymen/carmen were considered for the foreman jobs, the plaintiffs can be
said to have been qualified * * *." Although there is evidence in the record that
the employees considered themselves qualified, it appears the court relied only
on the fact that any carman with four years experience might be considered for
promotion. Apparently and understandably the court was uncomfortable with
this method of proving qualifications. The court, which cited the correct legal
standard as enunciated in Burdine, continued that Seaboard did present a clear
reason for failing to promote plaintiffs, but that it did not articulate that reason
through sufficient evidence. Thus, it appears that the court held that defendant
failed to meet its burden of production, and the court entered a finding of
intentional discrimination. Reviewing these findings of the district court in its
order, it appears that the court, in considering the establishment of the prima
facie case and defendant's burden of production, found that the employees were
qualified, and that defendant did not articulate that those promoted instead were
promoted because they were more qualified or that specific subjective
qualifications were in existence which plaintiffs did not possess. But it appears
the district court ultimately presumed rather than really found that the
employees were qualified.
8
The district court on March 22, 1984, entered a second order on the relief to be
granted. In that order, the court found that "[d]efendant correctly points out that
the Court never explicitly made a finding that plaintiffs were qualified to
accede to the position of carman/foreman." The court continued that after
intentional discrimination is established, defendant has the burden of producing
clear and convincing evidence that plaintiffs would not have been promoted
even had the selection process not been discriminatory. Finding that defendant
had not met its burden, the court awarded backpay. In considering the amount
of backpay, the court also stated that "[w]hile the defendant has not shown by
clear and convincing evidence that the plaintiffs would not have been
promoted, neither have plaintiffs proved they were qualified."
The findings on qualifications presented in the March 1984 order appear to be

in conflict with the court's order of November 1983, which stated that plaintiffs
had proved the prima facie case. Because these findings are in conflict, and
because of the uncertain foundation of the earlier finding, we remand the
judgment on disparate treatment to the district court. The court is requested to
make specific findings of fact, in accordance with Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a), on
appellants' establishment of intentional discrimination and on the subsidiary
facts relied upon.
10
This case certainly presents great difficulty for all those concerned because of
the subjective nature of the promotion considerations. It is difficult to imagine
how a large corporation with a numerous work force can expect to satisfy its
legal duties towards minorities when its selections for promotion are made in
such an unstructured and unguided manner. Of course, subjective criteria are

not discriminatory per se, but a corporation which uses subjective criteria
cannot hide behind those criteria to protect itself from a finding of
discrimination. It is particularly difficult to prove that an employee is qualified
for promotion where no specific criteria are available with which the employee
can compare himself. Still the plaintiffs do bear the burden of proving
intentional discrimination.
11
On remand, the district court is requested to reconsider its findings regarding

appellants' qualifications and its finding on intentional discrimination based on
all the evidence. If the court finds that the appellants were not qualified, then
the court must find that there was no intentional discrimination.
12
Of course, the court may find that plaintiffs were qualified for promotion; such
a finding must be supported by more than the inference that plaintiffs must be
qualified since all carmen having served for four years were considered to be in
the pool of applicants for promotion. There was direct evidence that some
carmen with the necessary four years were not qualified to supervise the work
of others. The court is to consider the depositions of the employees and the
testimony of Mr. Brigman, as well as all other evidence available, and make its
finding based on a foundation of evidence including the court's credibility
determinations.
13
If, on remand, the court adheres to the finding that intentional discrimination
existed, a presumption is created that the unfavorable employment action was
the product of the discriminatory intent; this presumption may only be rebutted
by a showing by the employer by a preponderance that the action would have
been taken in the absence of the discriminatory intent. Perryman v. Johnson
Products Co., 698 F.2d 1138 (11th Cir.1983) citing Mt. Healthy City School
District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 287, 97 S.Ct. 568, 576, 50
L.Ed.2d 471 (1977). See also Easley v. Anheuser-Busch, 758 F.2d 251 (8th
Cir.1985). If the court finds that Seaboard proved that those promoted were
more qualified, then there exists no economic injury from which appellants
may recover financially. As the district court properly noted, once
discrimination and injury have been proven, a presumption of entitlement to
appropriate remedies arises. Lewis v. Smith, 731 F.2d 1535 (11th Cir.1984).
On remand, the district court shall also reconsider its fashioning of remedies so
that the relief is in harmony with the new findings of fact. It is not required to
award money damages if some form of prospective relief would serve the ends
of justice better.
14
We also remand the court's award of attorney's fees. An award of attorney's fees
is clearly within the sound discretion of the trial court, and this court reviews
only whether such an award was an abuse of discretion. In its award of
attorney's fees, the district court disallowed some hours, as it may rightly do.
When the court finds the number of hours excessive, however, it should explain
which hours are disallowed and why an award of fees for these hours would be
improper. See Carmichael v. Birmingham Saw Works, 738 F.2d at 1137;
Fitzpatrick v. International Revenue Service, 665 F.2d 327, 332 (11th
Cir.1982). On remand, the court shall specifically explain which hours were
disallowed and why an award for such hours would be improper. The court
may also reconsider its analysis determining the proper award in light of the
remand on the disparate treatment claim.
III
15
We reverse the district court's dismissal of the disparate impact claim, which
was based on its conclusion that subjective criteria "cannot be accepted as an
adequate predicate for an adverse impact claim." Since the decision below, this
circuit has held that the disparate impact theory may be used to challenge
subjective elements of selection processes--Griffin v. Carlin, 755 F.2d 1516,
1523 (11th Cir.1985). Accordingly, the trial court's dismissal must be
reconsidered. The disparate impact claim judgment is reversed and remanded to
the district court for further consideration in light of Griffin.
16
We also hold that the district judge did not abuse his discretion by refusing to
admit into evidence the testimony of Seaboard's expert witness. Expert opinion
testimony is admissible if it will assist the trier of fact to understand the
evidence or to determine a fact in issue. Fed.R.Evid. 702. The court's decision
that it would not assist the court to consider the expert's testimony, that those
promoted were more qualified than appellants based on an assessment method
not used by the promotion decision-maker, was not an abuse of discretion.
IV
17
The judgment dismissing the disparate impact claim is reversed and remanded.
The judgment of liability and relief, including the award of attorney's fees,
pertaining to the disparate treatment claim is vacated and the cause is remanded
to the district court for additional findings of fact and conclusion of law
consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED and REMANDED
Honorable Philip Nichols, Jr., U.S. Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit, sitting
by designation

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767 F.

39 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1656,

United States Court of Appeals,

Mark F. Kelly, Tampa, Fla., for plaintiffs-appellants-cross-appellees.

Appellants Hill, Coleman, Lock, Jones, and Lee (appellants or employees)

While this court reviews the district court's finding of intentional

The findings on qualifications presented in the March 1984 order appear to be

such an unstructured and unguided manner. Of course, subjective criteria are

On remand, the district court is requested to reconsider its findings regarding

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