HECHT v. NATIONAL HERITAGE ACADEMIES, INC
Case Details
- Citation
- 499 Mich. 586
- Judge(s)
- Markman, Zahra, McCormack (as to Parts I, II, and III), Viviano, Bernstein (as to Parts I, II, and III), and LARSEN, JJ., concurred with YOUNG, C.J.
- Procedural Posture — the stage the case had reached
- appeal
- State
- Michigan
- Circuit
- 6th Circuit
Related Laws
No specific laws identified for this ruling.
Claim Types
Outcome
Plaintiff prevailed on his race discrimination claim under the Michigan Civil Rights Act, with a jury finding that race was a factor in his termination. However, the Supreme Court vacated the future damages award ($485,000) because the trial court improperly admitted evidence of mandatory statutory disclosures, which were immune from civil liability under MCL 380.1230b. The case was remanded for further proceedings to determine appropriate damages excluding the disclosure-related harm.
Excerpt
HECHT v NATIONAL HERITAGE ACADEMIES, INC Docket No. 150616. Argued March 10, 2016 (Calendar No. 3). Decided July 26, 2016. Craig Hecht brought an action in the Genesee Circuit Court alleging that his employment was terminated by National Heritage Academies, Inc., in violation of the Michigan Civil Rights Act (CRA), MCL 37.2101 et seq. Plaintiff had been employed as a teacher by defendant when he made racially charged comments. When later questioned about the comments by his supervisors, plaintiff provided inconsistent explanations. Plaintiff also allegedly attempted to interfere with his supervisors’ investigation of the incident by asking a witness to change his statement about what had happened. Plaintiff was subsequently terminated. Plaintiff asserted that his attempts to find new employment as a teacher were hampered by defendant’s mandatory statutory disclosures to other schools of his record of unprofessional conduct. Before trial, defendant moved to preclude plaintiff from presenting evidence of the disclosures because the disclosures were required by MCL 380.1230b and a school employer that discloses information in good faith under the statute is immune from civil liability for the disclosure. The court, Geoffrey L. Neithercut, J., ruled that the evidence was admissible. Defendant moved for a directed verdict at the close of plaintiffs case in chief, arguing that this was a disparate-treatment discrimination case and plaintiff had not shown that any of defendant’s other employees engaged in the same or similar conduct. The court denied the motion. The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff, finding that he had proved that race was a factor in his termination, that he had shown $50,120 in past economic loss, and that he had shown $485,000 in future economic loss. Defendant moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), a new trial, or remittitur. The court denied the motion. The Court of Appeals, Sekvitto, P. J., and Cavanagh, J. (Wilder, J., dissenting), affirmed in an unpublished opinion. The Supreme Court granted defendant’s application for leave to appeal. 498 Mich 877 (2015). In an opinion by Chief Justice Young, joined by Justices Markman, Zahra, McCormack (as to Parts I, II, and III), Viviano, Bernstein (as to Parts I, II, and III), and Larsen, the Supreme Court held,'. In light of the circumstantial evidence presented and all the inferences that could have been reasonably drawn from that evidence in favor of the jury’s liability verdict, a reasonable jury could have concluded that defendant violated the CRA. However, because MCL 380.1230b afforded defendant complete immunity from civil liability flowing from the mandatory disclosures compelled by that statute, the trial court erred by allowing the jury to consider the disclosure evidence. Accordingly, the award of future damages had to be vacated and the case remanded for further proceedings. 1. When reviewing a motion for JNOV, an appellate court must construe all the evidence and the inferences arising from the evidence in the nonmoving party’s favor. If reasonable jurors could have honestly reached different conclusions, the jury verdict must stand. Under MCL 37.2202(1) of the CRA, an employer may not discharge or otherwise discriminate against an individual with respect to employment because of race. A claim under the CRA requires proof of “but for” causation. There are multiple ways to prove that a plaintiff was the victim of unlawful discrimination, including direct evidence of discrimination, i.e., evidence that proves impermissible discriminatory bias without additional inference or presumption. In this case, however, contrary to the conclusion of the Court of Appeals majority, defendant failed to present direct evidence of discrimination. One way of proving unlawful discrimination without direct evidence is by showing that the plaintiff was treated unequally to a similarly situated employee who did not have the characteristic protected under the CRA. Thus, an employer’s differing treatment of employees who were similar to the plaintiff in all relevant respects, except for their race, can give rise to an inference of unlawful discrimination. In order for this type of evidence to give rise to such an inference, the similarly situated employee must be nearly identical to the plaintiff in all relevant respects. In this case, plaintiff presented a different kind of circumstantial evidence: circumstantial evidence that his employer considered his race in its decision to discharge him. Plaintiff argued that the black employees routinely engaged in racial banter, but were not disciplined. There were distinctions between the comments made by plaintiff and those made by defendant’s black employees that, if credited by the jury, might have allowed the jury to find for defendant. However, plaintiff presented additional evidence that defendant considered plaintiffs race in terminating him. Specifically, plaintiff also presented evidence that defendant’s management employees were aware of and tolerated the unequal enforcement of defendant’s stated zero-tolerance policy. The evidence, if believed, suggested that defendant’s management employees prohibited negative stereotyping in the workplace except when negative stereotyping comments were made by defendant’s black employees. The jury was thus shown the difference between defendant’s policy in theory and its racially biased application. This was potent circumstantial evidence of defendant’s allegedly racially biased decision-making. This evidence could have allowed a reasonable jury to conclude that defendant applied a different standard to plaintiffs conduct based on his race. Accordingly, the jury could reasonably have found that race was a ‘Tut for” cause in defendant’s decision to investigate plaintiff and escalate punishment for his racial comments. Similarly, while defendant presented nondiscriminatory reasons for its decision to terminate plaintiff, plaintiff presented sufficient evidence for a reasonable juror to reject those race-neutral reasons as unbelievable. The jury’s verdict, finding a violation of the CRA, was supported by the totality of the evidence presented and the reasonable inferences in plaintiffs favor that could be drawn from that evidence. 2. Generally, all relevant evidence is admissible, except as otherwise provided by the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the state of Michigan, the rules of evidence, or other rules adopted by the Supreme Court. Evidence may also be prohibited by statute. MCL 380.1230b provides that before hiring an applicant for employment, school employers must request that the applicant sign a statement (1) authorizing the applicant’s current or former employer or employers to disclose to the school employer any unprofessional conduct by the applicant, and (2) releasing the current or former employer from any liability for providing that information. Before hiring an applicant for employment, a school employer must request that the applicant’s current or prior employer provide information concerning the applicant’s unprofessional conduct, if any. After receiving such a request, a school employer must provide the information requested and make available to the requesting school employer copies of all documents in the employee’s personnel record relating to the unprofessional conduct. A school employer that discloses information in good faith under the statute is immune from civil liability for the disclosure. In this case, plaintiff argued that he was not precluded from presenting evidence of the mandatory disclosure because he did not sue for the disclosure itself—he sued for a violation of the CRA and presented evidence of the adverse impact of the disclosure to establish future damages. Plaintiffs belief was that only a direct action for the disclosure, e.g., a defamation claim, was precluded by MCL 380.1230b(3), but the admission of evidence of the disclosures in a case such as this was permissible. The term “civil liability’ is defined as being legally obligated for civil damages. The trial court’s decision to admit evidence and argument regarding the mandatory disclosures for the purpose of assessing damages allowed the jury to impose against defendant legal obligations arising from the disclosure. This violated the plain language of the statute. There can be no damages without liability. A legislative decision to preclude liability necessarily precludes damages on the same basis. There is no textual support for the view that immunity under the statute depends on the nature of the claim underlying the civil liability. The improper admission of the disclosure evidence tainted the jury’s future damages award, which had to be vacated. Court of Appeals judgment is affirmed to the extent it held that plaintiff presented sufficient circumstantial evidence to sustain the jury’s verdict finding that defendant violated the CRA; Court of Appeals judgment is reversed to the extent it held that the trial court properly admitted evidence of defendant’s mandatory disclosures of plaintiffs unprofessional conduct; jury award of future damages is vacated; case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. Justice McCormack, joined by Justice BERNSTEIN, concurring in part and dissenting in part, agreed with the majority that plaintiff presented sufficient evidence of discrimination such that the trial court did not err by denying defendant’s motion for JNOV, but disagreed with the majority’s decision to vacate the jury award for future damages. MCL 380.1230b(3) confers immunity from liability, i.e., the state of being legally obligated for damages, “for the disclosure,” not from paying money as compensation for a state of legal responsibility unrelated to the disclosure. Because the statutory immunity is tied to the liability and not the remedy, MCL 380.1230b(3) only precludes imposing liability (and damages flowing therefrom) on a defendant when the liability arises from an injury caused by the disclosure itself. Disclosing plaintiffs unprofessional conduct did not create additional legal responsibility for which defendant was on the hook; rather, it was the alleged illegal act of discharging plaintiff based on his race that gave rise to defendant’s liability. The injury from which the liability arose was the discriminatory discharge, not the disclosures. Introducing evidence of defendant’s disclosures of plaintiffs conduct merely assisted the jury in determining the appropriate remedy for the discriminatory discharge. Because plaintiffs injury was the discriminatory discharge rather than defendant’s disclosures, and because it was the discriminatory discharge for which defendant was held liable, the future damages award did not constitute civil liability for the disclosure, and the award of future damages should have been affirmed. 1. Actions — Violations of the Civil Rights Act — Sufficiency of the Evidence — Causation. Under MCL 37.2202(1) of the Civil Rights Act, an employer may not discharge or otherwise discriminate against an individual with respect to employment because of race; a claim under the act requires proof of “but for” causation; there are multiple ways to prove that a plaintiff was the victim of unlawful discrimination, including through proofs of either direct or circumstantial evidence of discrimination. 2. Schools — Disclosures of Unprofessional Conduct — Immunity from Civil Liability for Disclosures — Inadmissibility of Evidence of Disclosures to Assess Damages in a Discrimination Case. Under MCL 380.1230b, before hiring an applicant for employment a school employer must request that the applicant’s current or prior employer provide information concerning the applicant’s unprofessional conduct, if any; after receiving such a request, a school employer must provide the information requested and make available to the requesting school employer copies of all documents in the employee’s personnel record relating to the unprofessional conduct; a school employer that discloses information in good faith under the statute is immune from civil liability for the disclosure; evidence of such a disclosure is not admissible for the purpose of assessing the plaintiffs damages arising out of the disclosure in a case brought by a plaintiff alleging that he or she was fired in violation of the Michigan Civil Rights Act, MCL 37.2101 et seq. Law Office of Glen N. Lenhoff (by Glen N. Lenhoff and Robert D. Kent-Bryant) and Rizik & Rizik, PC (by Michael B. Rizik, Jr.), for plaintiff. Warner Norcross & Judd LLP (by John J. Bursch, Dean F. Pacific, and Matthew T. Nelson) for defendant. Amici Curiae: Bill Schuette, Attorney General, Aaron D. Lind-strom, Solicitor General, Matthew Schneider, Chief Legal Counsel, Kathryn M. Dalzell, Assistant Solicitor General, and Mark G. Sands, Assistant Attorney General, for the Attorney General. Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, PLC (by Clifford W. Taylor, Paul D. Hudson, and Brian M. Schwartz), for the Michigan Manufacturers Association. YOUNG, C.J. In this race discrimination case, we must decide whether the trial court erred by denying defendant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) and determine the propriety of the admission of evidence of defendant’s mandatory reporting under MCL 380.1230b. We hold that the Court of Appeals did not err by affirming the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion for JNOV on plaintiffs claim of discrimination under the Civil Rights Act (CRA), MCL 37.2101 et seq. Contrary to the Court of Appeals, we conclude that there was no direct evidence of discriminatory animus concerning the firing of plaintiff. This case turned on circumstantial evidence—on the credibility of plaintiffs proofs that suggested there were racial reasons for his treatment and on the credibility of defendant’s nonracial justifications for firing him. We conclude, based on the evidence presented and all the inferences that could be reasonably drawn from that evidence in favor of the jury’s liability verdict, that a reasonable jury could have concluded that defendant violated the CRA. Finally, because MCL 380.1230b afforded defendant complete immunity from civil liability flowing from the mandatory disclosures compelled by this statute, we hold that the trial court erred by allowing the jury to consider evidence of defendant’s statutorily mandated disclosures of plaintiffs wrongdoing to other schools, and the Court of Appeals erred by affirming the trial court’s decision in that regard. For these reasons, we reverse in part and affirm in part the judgment of the Court of Appeals, vacate the jury award for future damages, and remand to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Defendant, National Heritage Academies, Inc., is a company that owns and operates a number of public, independently operated schools, including Linden Charter Academy (LCA) located in Flint, Michigan. The student body at LCA is predominantly black. Plaintiff, Craig Hecht, is a white teacher who had been employed by defendant at LCA for approximately eight years, most recently serving as a third-grade teacher. We draw from the evidence adduced at trial the following narrative concerning the events that led to plaintiffs termination. On November 3, 2009, Lisa Code, a white library aide at LCA, entered plaintiffs classroom during class time to return a computer table she had borrowed. Upon her arrival, however, Code realized that she had brought back the wrong table— the one she borrowed was white, whereas the one she returned was brown. Noting her error, Code asked plaintiff if he would prefer to have a white table, like the one she borrowed, or the brown one she had returned. Plaintiff responded, “[Y]ou know I want a white table, white tables are better.” He continued, “[W]e can take all these brown tables and we can burn the brown tables.” Also present for this exchange was Floyd Bell, a black paraprofessional assigned to plaintiffs classroom. After hearing plaintiffs comments, Bell and Code both “called a foul” on plaintiff, in accordance with the school’s informal procedures for addressing inappropriate personal conduct. Plaintiff denied hearing either Bell or Code call a foul on him, but later acknowledged that his comments were meant to imply that “white” people are better than “brown” people. Later that same day, Code reported the incident to Corrine Weaver, the dean of LCA. Weaver, in turn, reported the incident to her supervisor, Linda Caine-Smith, the principal of LCA, who initiated an investigation. Caine-Smith and Weaver each separately interviewed plaintiff, Bell, and Code and took written statements from all three. Although Code’s testimony at trial emphasized that plaintiff made the statements in front of a child, plaintiffs counsel also elicited testimony from Code that her November 4th written statement did not include that allegation. When questioned, plaintiff provided varying explanations regarding what had happened. At first, plaintiff confirmed to Weaver the general discussion about white and brown tables, but he denied that he meant anything racial by his statements. The following day, plaintiff told Caine-Smith that he never said “brown should burn.” However, later that day, plaintiff sent Caine-Smith a written statement in which he admitted to saying, “white tables are better than brown tables” and “all brown tables should burn.” He also admitted that he involved a third-grade student in the “jok[e]” after he made the comments. Plaintiff subsequently met with Bell, apologized to him, and shook his hand. At this point in the investigation, Caine-Smith contacted Courtney Unwin, defendant’s employee relations manager, to discuss plaintiffs conduct and Caine-Smith’s belief that plaintiff had lied during their initial conversation regarding the incident. Unwin then spoke directly to plaintiff, who, despite the admissions made in his earlier written statement, told her that his remark was simply a “tasteless joke,” denied involving a student in the joke, and claimed that none of his students heard the exchange. Unwin also claimed that plaintiff called her later that day, stated that he could not even remember saying anything about brown tables burning, and then justified his conduct by reference to racial banter he suggested was regularly engaged in by black teachers at LCA. Plaintiff claimed that he told Unwin he was just kidding around, that similar joking happened all the time at the school, and that he would do anything to make it better. Caine-Smith and Unwin met to discuss plaintiffs comments in the classroom and his versions of the incident. They discussed several disciplinary options, including a final written warning and termination. After that meeting, Caine-Smith called plaintiff to her office and told him he was being placed on immediate leave pending further investigation. Instead of leaving the building, plaintiff went into a room in which Bell was tutoring students. Plaintiff asked the students to leave the room so that he and Bell could speak privately. He then asked Bell to change the statement he gave defendant. Bell declined the request and explained that he would not lie for plaintiff. Plaintiff also tried to contact Code by calling both her home and cellular phones. Code did not answer either call, but plaintiff left a voicemail stating that he was “desperate” to speak to her. Code testified that plaintiff had never before tried to contact her. Code further testified that plaintiff never asked her to change her statement. The following day, Bell told Caine-Smith that plaintiff had asked him to lie. After receiving this information, Caine-Smith worried that plaintiff had similarly contacted Code. When asked, Code told Caine-Smith about the voicemail, causing Caine-Smith to consult with Unwin again.
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