Sumler v. Boeing Company

F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
July 28, 2005
TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
TONY SUMLER,
Plaintiff-Appellant, No. 04-3309
v. (D.C. No. 02-1383-MLB)
THE BOEING COMPANY, (D. Kansas)
Defendant-Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before EBEL, TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judges, and BROWNING, District
Judge. **
Plaintiff-Appellant Tony Sumler appeals from the district court’s grant of
summary judgment in favor of Defendant-Appellee The Boeing Company
(“Boeing”). Sumler raises two issues on appeal: (i) whether the district court
erred when it concluded that Sumler had not created a genuine issue of material
fact that Boeing discriminated against him on the basis of his race during a
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
**
The Honorable James O. Browning, District Judge, United States District
Court for the District of New Mexico, sitting by designation.
reduction in force (“RIF”); and (ii) whether the district court erroneously
determined that Boeing was entitled to summary judgment on Sumler’s retaliation
claim. This Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
This Court reviews summary judgment de novo, “using the same standards
applied by the district court.” Stover v. Martinez, 382 F.3d 1064, 1070 (10th Cir.
2004). Thus, this Court assumes the evidence of the non-moving party to be true,
construes all evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and
draws all reasonable inferences in the non-moving party’s favor. See Anderson v.
Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255 (1986); Byers v. City of Albuquerque,
150 F.3d 1271, 1274 (10th Cir. 1998). Summary judgment is appropriate only
when “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 judgment as a matter of
law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). Essentially, the inquiry is “whether the evidence
presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is
so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Anderson v. Liberty
Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. at 251-52.
-2-
RULES REGARDING THE RECORD ON APPEAL
Rule 10 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure provides that the
“Record on Appeal” includes “the original papers and exhibits filed in the district
court .” Fed. R. App. P. 10(a)(1). Under rule 10.3 of the Tenth Circuit Rules,
“[c]ounsel must designate a record on appeal that is sufficient for considering and
deciding the appellate issues. Only essential parts of the district court record
should be designated for the record on appeal. ” 10th Cir. R. 10.3(A). The Tenth
Circuit Rules also provide: “The court need not remedy any failure by counsel to
designate an adequate record. When the party asserting an issue fails to provide a
record sufficient for considering that issue, the court may decline to consider it. ”
Id. at 10.3(B). Moreover, the Tenth Circuit Rules require:
When the appeal is from an order disposing of a motion or other
pleading, the motion, relevant portions of affidavits, depositions and
other supporting documents (including any supporting briefs,
memoranda, and points of authority), filed in connection with that
motion or pleading, and any responses and replies filed in connection
with that motion or pleading must be included in the record.
Id. at 10.3(D)(2).
“‘[I]t is counsel’s responsibility to see that the record excerpts are
sufficient for consideration and determination of the issues on appeal and the
court is under no obligation to remedy any failure of counsel to fulfill that
responsibility.’” Yarrington v. Davies, 992 F.2d 1077, 1080-81 (10th Cir.
1993)(quoting Deines v. Vermeer Mfg. Co., 969 F.2d 977, 979 (10th Cir.
-3-
1992))(quotation omitted). “It is not this court’s burden to hunt down the
pertinent materials. Rather, it is Plaintiff’s responsibility as the appellant to
provide us with a proper record on appeal.” Rios v. Bigler, 67 F.3d 1543, 1553
(10th Cir. 1995)(citing Fed. R. App. P. 10(b)(2); King v. Unocal Corp., 58 F.3d
586, 587 (10th Cir. 1995)). As this Court has explained, “we are reluctant to
overturn a district court’s ruling without being able to examine the evidence or
arguments it heard in making its ruling.” Questar Pipeline Co. v. Grynberg, 201
F.3d 1277, 1292 (10th Cir. 2000).
“An appellant who provides an inadequate record does so at his peril.”
Dikeman v. Nat’l Educators, Inc., 81 F.3d 949, 955 (10th Cir. 1996). If “the
appellant’s appendix is insufficient to permit assessment of this claim of error, we
must affirm.” Tilton v. Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., 115 F.3d 1471, 1474 (10th Cir.
1997). See Travelers Indem. Co. v. Accurate Autobody, Inc., 340 F.3d 1118,
1121 (10th Cir. 2003)(“The failure of . . . appellant . . . to include in the appendix
the document that controls the resolution of the issues on appeal . . . deprives [the
appellant] of the right to challenge the judgment of the district court.”); Chasteen
v. Unisia Jecs Corp., 216 F.3d 1212, 1221-22 (10th Cir. 2000)(concluding that
“[b]ecause [the appellant] has failed to provide this court with a sufficient record
to determine the appropriateness of summary judgment on the issue [on appeal] . .
. , we cannot . . . disturb the district court’s judgment”); Scott v. Hern, 216 F.3d
-4-
897, 912 (10th Cir. 2000)(“Where the record is insufficient to permit review we
must affirm.”); Deines v. Vermeer Mfg. Co., 969 F.2d at 980 (“Given the state of
the record on appeal as above summarized, it is obvious that we cannot review
[the plaintiff’s] appellate contentions . . . .”).
ANALYSIS
After receiving an extension of time, Sumler filed his Appellant brief and
appendix. The appendix contains, among other things, Boeing’s motion for
summary judgment, and the response and reply thereto. Sumler did not, however,
include any of the exhibits or other documents that the parties attached to these
motions before the district court. Boeing did not provide a supplemental
appendix when it filed its Appellee response. See 10th Cir. R. 30.2(A)(1) (“An
appellee who believes that the appellant’s appendix omits items that should be
included may file a supplemental appendix with the answer brief.”).
At oral argument, this Court questioned the decision to not include any
evidence -- such as the depositions and affidavits upon which the district court
relied --in the record on appeal. Following oral argument, the Court granted
Sumler’s opposed motion seeking leave from the Court to file a supplemental
appendix under rule 30.2(B) of the Tenth Circuit Rules. See 10th Cir. R.
30.2(B)(“No other appendix may be filed except by order of the court.”). Thus,
the supplemental appendix is now part of the record on appeal.
-5-
Upon review of the record, the Court discovered that Sumler’s
supplemental appendix contains evidence supporting only his contentions and
does not include many of the exhibits -- such as affidavits, declarations and
depositions -- submitted to the district court with Boeing’s motion for summary
judgment. Boeing’s motion for summary judgment’s “Statement of
Uncontroverted Facts” contains 182 paragraphs, approximately 109 of which rely
solely on evidence that Sumler did not place in the record before this Court. In
his response to Boeing’s motion, Sumler disputed 31 of those 109 paragraphs.
Thus, the record on appeal does not contain any of Boeing’s evidence offered in
support of the 31 paragraphs that Sumler disputed at the district court. Despite
the Court’s grant of leave to file a supplemental appendix, which, under rule 10.3
it was under no obligation to do, Sumler still has not provided the material
necessary for this Court to conduct its de novo review.
Sumler raises two appellate issues: (i) whether the district court erred in
finding that no genuine issue of material fact existed on Sumler’s discrimination
claim; and (ii) whether Sumler created a genuine issue of material fact that
Boeing unlawfully retaliated against him. On the discrimination claim, Sumler
alleges that Boeing’s proferred legitimate non-discriminatory reason that it placed
trainer-facilitators based on interview performances, as opposed to experience or
education, is pretext for discrimination. The record on appeal, even after the
-6-
Court gave Sumler the opportunity to supplement it, however, does not contain
sufficient evidence from which this Court can review this issue. Likewise, the
record is inadequate for this Court to review whether Boeing unlawfully retaliated
against Sumler because the record contains no evidentiary support for Boeing’s
contentions. “Because [the appellant] claims that the district court’s finding that
there was no genuine issue of material fact was contrary to the evidence, it must
‘include in the record . . . all evidence relevant to that finding or conclusion.’”
Questar Pipeline Co. v. Grynberg, 201 F.3d at 1292 (quoting Fed. R. App. P.
10(b)(2)). Because Sumler has not provided the Court with all of the evidence in
dispute, the record on appeal is inadequate to determine whether the district court
erred in holding that no genuine issue of material fact existed on either the
discrimination or the retaliation claim. “[T]o conduct our de novo review, we
must necessarily review the materials before the district court.” Sanpete Water
Conservancy Dist. v. Carbon Water Conservancy Dist., 226 F.3d 1170, 1175 (10th
Cir. 2000)(emphasis added). Because of the record’s inadequacies and
deficiencies, this Court affirms the district court’s grant of summary judgment in
favor of Boeing.
The district court’s decision is therefore AFFIRMED. The Clerk of the
Court provisionally granted on November 15, 2004, appellant’s request to seal the
-7-
appendix. That request is hereby granted.
Entered for the Court
James O. Browning
District Judge
-8-