Allstate Sweeping, LLC v. Calvin Black , 706 F.3d 1261 ( 2013 )

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
February 7, 2013
PUBLISH Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
TENTH CIRCUIT
ALLSTATE SWEEPING, LLC, a
Colorado limited liability company,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v. No. 12-1027
CALVIN BLACK,
Defendant - Appellant,
and
CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, a
municipal corporation; APRIL
HENDERSON; STEVE DRAPER;
RUTH RODRIGUEZ, individually,
Defendants.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
(D.C. NO. 1:10-CV-00290-RBJ-MJW)
Cathy Havener Greer (William T. O’Connell, III and L. Michael Brooks, Jr., with
her on the briefs), Wells, Anderson & Race, LLC, Denver, Colorado, for
Defendant - Appellant.
Anne T. Sulton, Sulton Law Offices, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for Plaintiff -
Appellee.
Before HARTZ, BALDOCK, and GORSUCH, Circuit Judges.
HARTZ, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff Allstate Sweeping, LLC (Allstate) is owned and operated by two
white women: Martha Krueger and Barbara Hollis. In January 2006 it began
performing pressure-washing services at Denver International Airport (DIA)
under a contract with the City and County of Denver (Denver). Although the
contract term was through July 2008, it was terminated by Denver on July 1,
2007. Defendant Calvin Black, a contract-compliance technician at DIA, was
assigned to monitor Allstate’s contract. Black is an African-American male.
Allstate claims that it was subjected to gender- and race-based
discrimination and to retaliation for its complaints of discrimination. It filed suit
under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in the United States District Court for the District of
Colorado against Denver and four DIA employees, including Black, claiming
violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d (Title VI) (alleged against
Denver only), and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The district court granted summary judgment to all defendants except Black. It
held that there were genuine issues of fact regarding whether Black was motivated
by racial and gender bias and whether Black “created a hostile work environment
vis-à-vis the plaintiff by acting in such a way as to make plaintiff’s contract
unprofitable and its owners miserable.” Aplt. App., Vol. V at 1333. It did not
address Allstate’s retaliation claim. Black appeals the denial of his motion for
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summary judgment, contending that he is entitled to qualified immunity and that
we have jurisdiction to review the denial under the collateral-order doctrine.
We hold that we lack jurisdiction to review the district court’s
determinations that there was sufficient evidence that Black was motivated by
racial and gender bias and that his actions made Allstate’s contract unprofitable,
because such sufficiency determinations are not reviewable under the collateral-
order doctrine. We do, however, have jurisdiction to review the legal sufficiency
of the claim that Black made Allstate’s “owners miserable” and to review the
sufficiency of the evidence of the retaliation claim (which the district court did
not consider), and we reverse the denial of summary judgment on those claims.
I. BACKGROUND
In support of its claims that Black made it lose money under its contract,
Allstate produced evidence that Black had directed Allstate to undertake tasks not
included in its contract and forced Allstate employees to sit idle for hours,
waiting to work in a particular area even though they could have performed tasks
elsewhere. To support its hostile-work-environment claim, Allstate offered
evidence that Black was unpleasant to work for; was “rude all the time,” id.,
Vol. I at 92, “pushy,” and “bossy” to Allstate employees, id., Vol. V at 1210;
“babys[at]” them “24/7,” id. at 1232; and “nitpick[ed]” whatever tasks they were
doing, id., Vol. I at 106. According to Allstate witnesses, on several occasions
Black screamed at Allstate employees and called them “stupid,” id. at 91; he told
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some Allstate employees, who were white women, that because they were “a little
overweight” they probably “couldn’t move as fast as a man could,” id. at 93; and
he spoke to Allstate’s owners in a “demeaning” way, as if they were “child[ren]”
rather than “equal adults,” id. at 104, even acting at meetings as if Krueger and
Hollis were not in the room. Because of Black’s behavior, Allstate employees
were returning from work crying; some quit.
To show that Black’s conduct was motivated by discriminatory bias,
Allstate pointed to evidence of race- and gender-based comments by Black:
Black told Krueger that Allstate “probably didn’t know what [it] was doing”
because it was owned by women. Id., Vol. I at 93. After Allstate’s contract with
DIA was terminated, Black told an employee of another contractor several times
that one of Allstate’s owners was a “[c]razy bitch.” Id., Vol. V at 1209. And
although there is no evidence that Black made racially disparaging remarks in
front of Allstate’s owners, an Allstate employee testified that when he asked
Black why he would award a contract to an African-American-owned company
“that didn’t bid it to the specs,” Black responded that he was “just trying to help
[his] bros.” Id. at 1208.
Allstate also alleges retaliation for its complaints of bias. It complained in
several ways. Krueger contacted the mayor’s office, DIA employees, and the
Denver Civil Rights Division, and also complained to Black directly. At a
meeting on May 16, 2007, Krueger informed April Henderson, a contract-
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compliance supervisor at DIA, that Allstate had “to be treated better” or she
would “ask to be taken out of the contract.” Id., Vol. IV at 983. On May 23
Black and another DIA employee conducted a surprise inspection of Allstate’s
equipment and told Allstate to fix and replace some of it. In a letter sent to
Henderson the following day, Hollis and Krueger again accused DIA employees
of discriminating against their company. They said that if they were forced to
purchase more equipment, Allstate would have to re-bid the contract. A week
later, Denver informed Allstate that it was terminating Allstate’s contract “for
[the] convenience of the city.” Id. at 853 (capitalization omitted). The contract
was officially terminated on July 1. After the termination DIA officials stated in
internal documents and in at least one email to the City Council that Allstate had
defaulted on its contract for lack of proper equipment and performance. And
Allstate allegedly was not paid $4,000 for work it had performed.
Allstate filed this lawsuit against Denver and four DIA employees,
including Black. Against Black, Allstate alleged discrimination (based on race)
and retaliation in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and discrimination (based on race
and sex) and retaliation in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The district
court granted the motions for summary judgment by all defendants except Black.
Explaining its denial of Black’s motion, the court wrote:
The Court finds that plaintiffs have come forward with evidence
sufficient to establish the existence of a genuine dispute of material
fact concerning whether (1) whether [sic] Mr. Black created a hostile
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work environment vis-à-vis the plaintiff by acting in such a way as to
make plaintiff’s contract unprofitable and its owners miserable, and
(2) whether [sic] he was motivated by bias in favor of African-
Americans and African-American owned businesses and/or prejudice
against white females and a white female owned business. . . .
With respect to the second prong of the qualified immunity
test, the Court finds that it is clear to any reasonable person that
discrimination by a City employee against a company working under
a contract with the City on the basis of race or gender is unlawful.
Id., Vol. V at 1333–34.
Black appeals, arguing: (1) there was no evidence that he was motivated
by racial or gender animus; (2) he had no authority to take the alleged
discriminatory actions; (3) the law was not clearly established that Allstate could
bring a discrimination claim based on the hostile work environment suffered by
its owners and employees; and (4) he had no authority to take the alleged
retaliatory actions. 1
II. DISCUSSION
A. 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and the Equal Protection Clause
Allstate’s discrimination claims under § 1981 and the Equal Protection
Clause have similar elements. “Section 1981 forbids all intentional racial
discrimination in the making and enforcement of private or public contracts.”
Exum v. U.S. Olympic Comm., 389 F.3d 1130, 1134 (10th Cir. 2004). See
42 U.S.C. § 1981(a). It provides:
1
This appeal concerns only claims against Black in his individual capacity.
Official-capacity claims are really claims against Denver, see Graves v. Thomas,
450 F.3d 1215, 1218 (10th Cir. 2006), and the district court dismissed those.
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(a) Statement of equal rights
All persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the
same right in every State and Territory to make and enforce
contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal
benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and
property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like
punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every
kind, and to no other.
(b) “Make and enforce contracts” defined
For the purposes of this section, the term “make and enforce
contracts” includes the making, performance, modification, and
termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits,
privileges, terms, and conditions of the contractual relationship.
(c) Protection against impairment
The rights protected by this section are protected against impairment
by nongovernmental discrimination and impairment under color of
State law.
Id. § 1981(a)–(c). Independent contractors can state a discrimination claim under
§ 1981. See Bolden v. City of Topeka, 441 F.3d 1129, 1134–37 (10th Cir. 2006)
(ruling, however, that claim against municipality for violation of § 1981 must be
brought under § 1983); Brown v. J. Kaz, Inc., 581 F.3d 175, 181 (3d Cir. 2009)
(“We . . . agree with the decisions that hold that an independent contractor may
bring a cause of action under section 1981 for discrimination occurring within the
scope of the independent contractor relationship.”); Wortham v. Am. Family Ins.
Group, 385 F.3d 1139, 1141 (8th Cir. 2004) (“[The plaintiff’s] status as an
independent contractor . . . does not preclude her from pursuing a claim under
section 1981.”); Danco, Inc. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 178 F.3d 8, 14 (1st Cir.
1999) (independent contractors may sue under § 1981 on a hostile-work-
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environment theory because the statute “does not limit itself, or even refer, to
employment contracts but embraces all contracts”). To prove a claim under
§ 1981, an independent contractor must prove that because of racial animus it was
denied “benefits, privileges, terms, [or] conditions of the contractual
relationship.” 42 U.S.C. § 1981(b); see Wortham, 385 F.3d at 1141; Brown, 581
F.3d at 181–82 (elements of § 1981 claim “are generally identical” to those for a
Title VII claim). Also, we can assume, without deciding, that an independent
contractor can state a claim under § 1981 for retaliation against it for protesting a
violation of that statute. See Webster v. Fulton County, 283 F.3d 1254, 1257
(11th Cir. 2002) (independent contractor can state a claim for violation of § 1981
when it is not awarded a contract in retaliation for filing a § 1981 discrimination
lawsuit); see also Twigg v. Hawker Beechcraft Corp., 659 F.3d 987, 997–98 (10th
Cir. 2011) (employee can bring § 1981 retaliation claim).
As for the Equal Protection Clause, it “commands that no State shall ‘deny
to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,’ which is
essentially a direction that all persons similarly situated should be treated alike.”
City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, 473 U.S. 432, 439 (1985) (quoting
the Clause). The Clause’s protections extend to disparate treatment based on race
and gender. See id. at 440–41. Black does not dispute that an independent
contractor can assert a claim for such discrimination against a municipal
employee. See Radentz v. Marion County, 640 F.3d 754 (7th Cir. 2011). Allstate
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also brought a retaliation claim under § 1983 asserting a denial of equal
protection, but this court does not recognize such a claim. See Maldonado v. City
of Altus, 433 F.3d 1294, 1308 (10th Cir. 2006), overruled on other grounds,
Burlington N. & Santa Fe Ry. Co. v. White, 548 U.S. 53 (2006).
One special type of discrimination claim is a claim that the defendant
created a hostile work environment. We will assume, without deciding, that such
a claim can be brought as a § 1983 claim based on both § 1981 and the Equal
Protection Clause. The district court said that there was “a genuine dispute of
material fact concerning whether . . . Black created a hostile work environment
vis-à-vis the plaintiff by acting in such a way as to make plaintiff’s contract
unprofitable and its owners miserable.” Aplt. App., Vol. V at 1333. We are
puzzled, however, by the characterization as a hostile-work-environment claim of
the claim that Black took actions to make Allstate’s contract unprofitable. That
appears to us to be a plain vanilla discrimination claim. We therefore will
recharacterize that claim as a simple discrimination claim and characterize only
the making-the-owners-miserable claim as a hostile-work-environment claim.
B. Qualified Immunity and Appellate Jurisdiction
Black contends that the district court should have granted him summary
judgment on Allstate’s claims of discrimination and retaliation because he was
entitled to qualified immunity. Under the qualified-immunity doctrine a public
officer or employee is subject to liability only for violating a federal
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constitutional or statutory right that was clearly established at the time of the
violation. A right is clearly established if “the contours of [the] right [were]
sufficiently clear that every reasonable official would have understood that what
he [was] doing violate[d] that right.” Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 131 S. Ct. 2074, 2083
(2011) (brackets and internal quotation marks omitted). “[E]xisting precedent
must have placed the statutory or constitutional question beyond debate.” Id.Qualified immunity not only protects public employees from liability, it
also protects them from the burdens of litigation. See Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472
U.S. 511, 526 (1985). To effectuate this protection, the ordinary requirements for
appellate jurisdiction are relaxed in the qualified-immunity context. “Under
28 U.S.C. § 1291 an appellate court can review only a final decision, generally
one which ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do
but execute the judgment.” Rieck v. Jensen, 651 F.3d 1188, 1190 (10th Cir. 2011)
(ellipsis and internal quotation marks omitted). In most circumstances the denial
of summary judgment is not appealable as a final decision, because it “leaves
much (often everything) to be decided.” Id. But the denial of a motion for
summary judgment based on a claim of qualified immunity may be a final
decision under the collateral-order doctrine. According to that doctrine an order
entered before final judgment is a final decision if it (1) “[is] effectively
unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment,” (2) “conclusively determine[s]
the disputed question,” and (3) “resolve[s] an important issue completely separate
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from the merits of the action.” Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 310 (1995)
(internal quotation marks omitted). The denial of a defendant’s motion for
summary judgment on qualified-immunity grounds will often satisfy those
requirements because (1) review after final judgment “would come too late to
vindicate one important purpose of qualified immunity—namely, protecting
public officials . . . from standing trial,” (2) the question of immunity from suit is
conclusively settled by allowing the case to proceed, and (3) the issue is likely to
be “completely separate from the merits of the action.” Id. at 312 (internal
quotation marks omitted). See Rieck, 651 F.3d at 1190–91. To be “completely
separate” from the merits, however, the qualified-immunity issue raised on appeal
must be an “abstract legal question[],” such as (1) whether the facts that the
district court ruled a reasonable jury could find would suffice to show a legal
violation, or (2) “whether that law was clearly established at the time of the
alleged violation.” Lewis v. Tripp, 604 F.3d 1221, 1225 (10th Cir. 2010) (internal
quotation marks omitted). In contrast, “whether or not the pretrial record sets
forth a ‘genuine’ issue of fact for trial” is not an abstract legal question, and a
court of appeals lacks jurisdiction to review a district court’s ruling on such a
matter. Johnson, 515 U.S. at 320.
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C. Issues Over Which We Lack Jurisdiction
1. Insufficient Evidence of Racial or Gender Animus
Black argues that he was entitled to summary judgment on the
discrimination claims against him because there was insufficient evidence that he
harbored an animus against Allstate based on the race or gender of its owners.
We acknowledge that the evidence is thin; but we lack jurisdiction to afford him
relief.
Black’s argument presents no abstract issue of law. Rather, he asks this
court to determine “a question of evidence sufficiency, i.e., which facts [Allstate]
may, or may not, be able to prove at trial.” Rieck, 651 F.3d at 1191 (internal
quotation marks omitted). Whether the district court correctly determined that
there is sufficient evidence of animus to create a genuine issue of fact is not one
of the “abstract legal questions” we may normally decide on appeal from a
district court’s denial of a qualified-immunity motion for summary judgment.
Lewis, 604 F.3d at 1225 (internal quotation marks omitted).
2. Insufficient Evidence of Actions Making the Contract
Unprofitable
Black also argues that he was entitled to summary judgment on Allstate’s
discrimination claim because he did not have the authority to take the alleged
discriminatory actions against Allstate. The district court, however, ruled that
there was “a genuine dispute of material fact concerning whether . . . Mr. Black
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created a hostile work environment vis-à-vis the plaintiff by acting in such a way
as to make plaintiff’s contract unprofitable . . . .” Aplt. App., Vol. V at 1333. In
other words, the district court found that there was sufficient evidence for a jury
to find that Black took discriminatory actions against Allstate. Again, we cannot
review the district court’s ruling on whether there was a genuine issue of fact.
Black is not raising an abstract issue of law, such as whether government
contractors have a clearly established right, under § 1981 and the Equal
Protection Clause, not to lose money under their contracts because of
discrimination based on the race or gender of their owners. As with Black’s first
issue, we lack jurisdiction to consider this argument.
D. Hostile Work Environment
We do, however, have jurisdiction to review Black’s challenge to Allstate’s
discrimination claim based on a typical allegation of a hostile work
environment—Black’s allegedly making Allstate’s owners miserable. As to that
claim, Black raises an abstract legal question: whether the law was clearly
established that § 1981 or the Equal Protection Clause bars discrimination against
a contractor by making its owners miserable. We agree with Black that the
validity of such a discrimination claim was not clearly established at the time of
Black’s actions.
As stated previously, we will assume, without deciding, that hostile-work-
environment claims are proper under both § 1981 and the Equal Protection
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Clause. But Allstate cites to no cases, nor can we find any, holding that the
harassment endured by the principals of an artificial entity can give rise to a
racial- or gender-discrimination claim on behalf of the entity itself, absent
independent injury to the entity. Indeed, it is not clear to us that an artificial
entity could ever prevail on a hostile-work-environment claim. Such a claim has
a subjective, as well as an objective, component; there must be proof that “the
plaintiff was offended by the work environment.” Hernandez v. Valley View
Hosp. Ass’n, 684 F.3d 950, 957 (10th Cir. 2012) (internal quotation marks
omitted). Being offended presupposes feelings or thoughts that an artificial entity
(as opposed to its employees or owners) cannot experience.
Perhaps Allstate had a right not to be injured because of hostility directed
at its owners or employees—for example, by losing money because its employees
had lower morale or quit. See PowerComm, LLC v. Holyoke Gas & Elec. Dept.,
657 F.3d 31, 37 (1st Cir. 2011). But Allstate has made no such claim. Black was
therefore entitled to summary judgment on Allstate’s hostile-work-environment
claim.
E. Retaliation
Finally, Black argues that he was entitled to summary judgment on
Allstate’s retaliation claim against him. His argument is simply that he did not
have authority to take the retaliatory actions alleged in Allstate’s complaint.
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The posture of this argument is different from that of the issues over which
we lack jurisdiction—discriminatory animus and authority to take discriminatory
actions. On this issue we have no ruling by the district court that the evidence
was sufficient to create a genuine issue of fact. Indeed, the district-court opinion
does not address the retaliation claim.
In this circumstance it is left to us to determine whether there is sufficient
evidence in this record to create genuine issues of fact upon which a retaliation
claim can be founded. As we said recently, when the district court “fails to
identify the particular charged conduct that it deemed adequately supported by the
record, we may look behind the order denying summary judgment and review the
entire record de novo to determine for ourselves as a matter of law which factual
inferences a reasonable jury could and could not make.” Lewis, 604 F.3d at 1225.
Our discussion can be brief. On appeal Allstate argues that Black retaliated
against it both during the contract and after it was terminated by manipulating
Allstate’s work schedule, creating a hostile work environment, and spreading
false reports that Allstate had defaulted on its contract and gone out of business.
We have reviewed the portions of the record cited by Allstate and fail to find any
evidence of retaliation. There is no evidence that any action by Black was in
response to a complaint by Allstate of racial or gender discrimination (or, in most
cases, was even after such a complaint); and some of the alleged retaliatory
actions would not support a retaliation claim because they were not severe enough
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to deter a reasonable person from claiming discrimination. See Burlington N. &
Santa Fe Ry. Co., 548 U.S. at 68 (alleged retaliatory actions must be sufficiently
adverse that they may well “have ‘dissuaded a reasonable worker from making or
supporting a charge of discrimination’” (internal quotation marks omitted)).
Moreover, Allstate did not preserve in district court the arguments raised in
its appellate brief. The § 1981 retaliation claim in the Amended Complaint states
only:
The individual Defendants, acting under the color of law,
personally and individually participated in intentionally
discriminating against Allstate on the basis of the race of Allstate’s
owners/operators, and/or in retaliation for Allstate complaining about
racial discrimination, when they took materially adverse actions
against Allstate, including but not limited to the following actions:
a) falsely reporting, in and after May 2008, that Allstate
defaulted on its contract; and
b) denying, in 2008 and 2009, Allstate’s repeated requests for
payment of approximately $4,000 due it for services rendered.
Aplt. App., Vol. I at 41 (§ 1981 retaliation claim). Black’s motion for summary
judgment points to evidence that he did not report that Allstate defaulted on the
contract, did not deny the requests for $4,000, and did not have authority to order
Allstate to purchase new equipment or terminate its contract. Yet Allstate’s
response to the summary-judgment motion does not attempt to dispute that
evidence, or even refer to it. The response (which addresses the summary-
judgment motions of all the defendants) mentions the retaliation claims
collectively; but even its “Statement of Additional Disputed Facts,” id., Vol. IV at
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796 (capitalization omitted), does not allege any retaliatory action by Black.
Because the assertions of retaliatory action by Black that are made in Allstate’s
appellate briefs were not made below, it cannot rely on them in this court. See
Turner v. Pub. Serv. Co. of Colo., 563 F.3d 1136, 1143 (10th Cir. 2009) (“Absent
extraordinary circumstances, we will not consider arguments raised for the first
time on appeal.”). We conclude that Black is entitled to qualified immunity on
the retaliation claim.
III. CONCLUSION
We REVERSE and REMAND for entry of summary judgment in favor of
Black on two of Allstate’s claims: (1) that Black created a hostile work
environment for Allstate, and (2) that Black retaliated against Allstate. We lack
jurisdiction to consider Black’s other arguments, and so DISMISS the remainder
of the appeal. We REMAND to the district court for further proceedings on
Allstate’s claim that Black discriminated against it by taking actions (motivated
by racial and gender animus) that caused it to lose money under the contract.
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