Johnson v. Ford Motor Co.

13 F.4th 493

Deanna JOHNSON, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.FORD MOTOR COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 20-2032

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: June 10, 2021

Decided and Filed: September 2, 2021

ARGUED: Carol A. Laughbaum, STERLING ATTORNEYS AT LAW, P.C., Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, for Appellant. Stephanie A. Douglas, BUSH SEYFERTH PLLC, Troy, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Carol A. Laughbaum, STERLING ATTORNEYS AT LAW, P.C., Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, for Appellant. Stephanie A. Douglas, Grant A. Newman, BUSH SEYFERTH PLLC, Troy, Michigan, Elizabeth P. Hardy, Thomas J. Davis, KIENBAUM HARDY VIVIANO PELTON & FORREST, PLC, Birmingham, Michigan, for Appellee.

Before: MOORE, CLAY, and STRANCH, Circuit Judges.

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff DeAnna Johnson appeals the district court's order granting summary judgment to Defendant Ford Motor Company ("Ford") on her racial harassment and racially hostile work environment claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and striking portions of her declaration. Because the district court erred in granting summary judgment to Ford and abused its discretion in striking a portion of Johnson's declaration, we REVERSE the district court's judgment and REMAND to the district court for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

DeAnna Johnson is a 56-year-old African American woman who was hired by Ford Motor Company on June 25, 2018, as a "process coach"—also referred to as a production supervisor—at Ford's Dearborn Truck Plant. Process coaches are the immediate supervisors to hourly employees working on the assembly line. Johnson was assigned to the frame and engine line and trained for about a month with "Darnell," who was a more senior production supervisor. (R. 55-3, Johnson Dep. at PageID # 1203.) Johnson was also part of the A-crew who worked from 5:30 AM until whenever the line shut down for the day, Monday through Thursday. She reported to Senior Process Coach Richard Mahoney and Team Manager William Markavich, to whom Mahoney also reported.

In July 2018, Markavich assigned Johnson to shadow Nick Rowan in order to continue her training on how to run the frame and engine line, at which point Johnson moved to the B-crew, which worked the afternoon shift, Tuesday through Friday. "Shadowing" consisted of following around the assigned process coach, watching the boards that "tell them what jobs are going down," and "training for payroll" by learning how to input and adjust time entries. (R. 55-9, Rowan Dep. at PageID # 1460.) Rowan had been working at Ford since 2005 and as a production supervisor at the Dearborn Truck Plant since 2008, and he had previously been shadowed by new process coaches. While Johnson was shadowing him, Rowan was in a position to evaluate Johnson's performance as a process coach.

During his time at Ford, Rowan was known to have engaged in sexual relationships with some of the female hourly employees, but none of these women accused Rowan of harassment, instead indicating that the relationships were consensual. As a result of these rumors, Rowan was often relocated to different areas of the plant. Additionally, according to Johnson's deposition, Rowan would get angry and punch the inside of his cubicle and his filing cabinet.

In August 2018, Rowan started making unwanted and sexually inappropriate comments to Johnson as well as to the female hourly employees under his supervision. Rowan's comments towards Johnson escalated into demands for pictures of Johnson's breasts and vagina; sending her lewd messages and inappropriate photos beginning in late August or early September, including on one occasion a picture of his "erect penis" and on another occasion a picture of his crotch in "[a]nimal print underwear;" and showing her pornographic videos and images, often of female hourly employees that worked with him. (R. 55-3, Johnson Dep. at PageID # 1215, 1227, 1230–32, 1285–86; R. 55-4, Johnson Decl. at PageID # 1291–92; R. 55-10, Rowan Texts at PageID # 1501–19.) Rowan would ask for photos of her vagina "several times a week" and would show her pornographic images "every day." (R. 55-3, Johnson Dep. at PageID # 1242, 1287.) Rowan constantly made comments and sent text messages to Johnson that were both sexual and racial in nature: telling her that he wanted to see her "black mounds" and "black mountains;" referring to her as a "chocolate Jolly Rancher" and as "spicy, chocolate;" and indicating that he wanted to add a Black woman to his "collection of women." (Id. at PageID # 1226, 1230–31; R. 55-4, Johnson Decl. at PageID # 1293.)

Any time Johnson asked him for help on a work-related matter, Rowan would ask for a picture of her vagina or breasts or indicate that she owed him these pictures. And though she was "competent in performing the duties of [her] job," Johnson felt that there was about "60 percent of the job" for which she needed more training from Rowan that she did not receive, particularly as related to payroll. (R. 55-3, Johnson Dep. at PageID # 1280–81.)

Johnson testified at her deposition that she first reported Rowan's inappropriate and sexual comments and conduct to Mahoney in August and thereafter spoke to him every day regarding Rowan's conduct.¹ Johnson also testified that she showed Mahoney the pictures that Rowan had sent her contemporaneously with when she received them.² On the day she showed Mahoney the picture of Rowan's "erect penis,"³ Johnson told Mahoney, "I can't do it over here anymore. You guys got to move me," after which Mahoney walked over to Markovich to inform him about her complaints regarding Rowan. (Id. at PageID # 1215.) Markavich then approached Johnson and said, " ‘Okay. I need to know this. On a scale from 1 to 10, how bad is it between you and Nick Rowan?’ [Johnson's] reply was ‘100.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, God, I don't want to hear anything.’ " (Id. at PageID # 1216.) Markavich later texted Johnson for her to "write down everything [Rowan] did and we'll handle it tomorrow." (Id. ) On or around when she showed the picture to Mahoney, and subsequently spoke to Markavich, Johnson passed out due to stress while at work and was taken to Beaumont Hospital. Following this, Rowan texted Johnson, "I knew I shouldn't have shown you that picture." (Id. at PageID # 1267; R. 55-10, Rowan Texts at PageID # 1517.)

In early November, Johnson moved to the C-crew and to the chassis line for a few weeks, where she did not have to work with Rowan, but then had to switch back to the frame and engine line for a few days to cover for an employee on that line who was absent. On November 16, 2018, while Johnson was getting up from her cubicle and walking over to the copy machine, Rowan came over to her and sexually assaulted her by "put[ting] his hand down [her] blouse and grab[bing] [her] breast." (R. 55-3, Johnson Dep. at PageID # 1233.)

Following the assault, on November 25, 2018, Johnson met with Crew Operations Manager LaDawn Clemons to discuss Rowan's conduct. Clemons testified at deposition that at first Johnson spoke about the situation as a hypothetical. Once she realized that Johnson was speaking about herself, Clemons said, "DeAnna, if it's you, I need to know, and I need true details if you really do want it to stop;" and Clemons "made [Johnson] aware that [she] would have to report it" because of Ford's zero tolerance policy regarding sexual harassment. (R. 55-5, Clemons Dep. at PageID # 1309.) Johnson told Clemons about how Rowan touched her breast and asked her for naked pictures of herself, and, after Johnson told this to Clemons, Clemons indicated "that was enough for [her]," and she "didn't need to see any pictures." (Id. ) Johnson testified that she told Clemons that she was coming to her because Mahoney and Markavich, who already knew about Rowan's conduct and comments towards her, "just made a mockery out of [the situation]," "scared [her] to death," and "put [her] in a horrible position with threats." (R. 55-3, Johnson Dep. at PageID # 1209.)

After meeting with Johnson, on November 26, 2018, Clemons reported Johnson's claims regarding Rowan to her boss, Corey Williams, and to Les Harris, who worked in Human Resources as a Salaried Personnel Supervisor, via email. After Clemons’ report, Harris took statements from Clemons, Johnson, Markavich, Mahoney, and Rowan. Harris interviewed Johnson for about 15–20 minutes, and Harris typed up what she said "word-for-word via computer, captured it in a Word file, reviewed it with her," and "[s]he signed off on" the statement. (R. 55-6, Harris Dep. at PageID # 1338.) Johnson provided Harris with some of the pictures that Rowan had sent her and told Harris that Rowan had been asking her to send him nude photos of herself. The next day, Johnson sent an email to provide Harris with more information that she did not disclose during the interview, including that she had reported her concerns to Mahoney—who she was certain had told Maravich about what was happening—and that Rowan had grabbed her breast and later texted her to apologize for his "hand slippage." (R. 51-2, Email to Harris at PageID # 775.)

After Rowan's interview with Harris, in which Rowan denied most of the allegations against him, Harris suspended Rowan pending the outcome of the investigation. Harris asked if he could go through Rowan's phone in connection with the investigation, but Rowan denied him consent to do so. Harris also sought consent to search Johnson's phone, which she initially granted, but, after Harris accidentally sent Johnson a form requiring consent to search her home, Johnson did not hand over her phone. Johnson proceeded to take unpaid medical leave and never returned to Ford. Rowan was ultimately terminated for violating Ford policy on December 21, 2018.

Johnson filed her complaint against Ford on January 17, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan seeking damages and injunctive relief. In her amended complaint, she asserted the following claims: (1) sexual harassment/quid pro quo and...