Marra v. Philadelphia Housing Authority

404 F.Supp.2d 839

Edward J. MARRA, Jr. & Albert Digravio Plaintiffs, v. PHILADELPHIA HOUSING AUTHORITY, Defendant.

No. CIV.A. 03-3832.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

December 9, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Nancy D. Wasser, Law Offices of Nancy Wasser, Philadelphia, PA, for Plaintiffs.

Melanie Mecka Kennedy, Jessamyne M. Simon, Klett, Rooney, Lieber & Schorling, Philadelphia, PA, for Defendant.

Howard Zavodnick, Philadelphia, PA, for Milton D. Soiferman.

MEMORANDUM

ROBRENO, District Judge.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs, Edward J. Marra, Jr. ("Mr.Marra"), and Albert DiGravio ("Mr.DiGravio") brought this action against the Philadelphia Housing Authority ("the PHA"). Plaintiffs are, respectively, a former and current employee of the PHA who allege violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,¹ 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA), 43 Pa. Cons.Stat. §§ 951-963. Plaintiffs contend that while they were employed by the PHA, the PHA unlawfully retaliated against them after they testified in a federal trial in which the PHA was a defendant ("the Paladino trial").

Mr. Marra alleges that his employment was terminated as a result of his testimony in the Paladino trial. The PHA contends that Mr. Marra was terminated because of a "reorganization." Mr. Marra responds that there was no "reorganization" as asserted by defendant.

Mr. DiGravio alleges that he was transferred from a supervisory position to a less desirable position as an inspector with Section 8 housing as a result of his testimony in the Paladino trial. The PHA contends that Mr. DiGravio volunteered to be transferred. Mr. DiGravio responds that he did not volunteer.

A jury trial began on February 17, 2005.² On February 24, 2005 the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiffs finding that the PHA retaliated against plaintiffs in violation of the PHRA and section 1983. The Court, however, directed a verdict in favor of the PHA on the section 1983 claim because the jury also found that Carl Greene ("Mr.Greene"), whom the Court determined to be the PHA's sole policymaker, did not personally order or acquiesce in any retaliation against plaintiffs.³ The verdict on the PHRA claim stood. The jury awarded Mr. Marra back pay in the amount of $208,676 and compensatory damages in the amount of $102,000. The jury awarded Mr. DiGravio compensatory damages in the amount of $70,000.

At the close of plaintiff's case, defendant moved for judgment as a matter of law under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a). The Court did not grant the motion. At the close of all evidence, defendant again moved for judgment as a matter of law. The Court did not grant the motion. Defendant timely renewed those requests in the motion for judgment as a matter of law, or in the alternative for a new trial, now before the Court. Defendant makes five arguments: (A) Mr. Marra did not meet his burden of showing a causal connection; (B) the jury's verdict that defendant retaliated against plaintiffs was against the weight of the evidence; (C) the jury's verdict is internally inconsistent; (D) the Court erred in denying defendant's motion in limine relating to the admission of a supervisor's threat made to Mr. DiGravio; and (E) plaintiff's counsel engaged in prejudicial misconduct during the trial. For the following reasons, defendant's motion is denied.

II. DISCUSSION

Defendant moves for a judgment as a matter of law under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50, on in the alternative, for a new trial under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59. Under Rule 50,

[i]f during a trial by jury a party has been fully heard on an issue and there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for that party on that issue, the court may determine the issue against that party and may grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law against that party with respect to a claim or defense that cannot under the controlling law be maintained or defeated without a favorable finding on that issue.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a)(1). "The question is not whether there is literally no evidence supporting the party against whom the motion is directed but whether there is evidence upon which the jury could properly find a verdict for that party." Foster v. Nat'l Fuel Gas Co., 316 F.3d 424, 428 (3d Cir.2003) (quoting Patzig v. O'Neil, 577 F.2d 841, 846 (3d Cir.1978)). Judgment should only be granted if "the record is critically deficient of [a] minimum quantity of evidence from which a jury might reasonably afford relief." Raiczyk v. Ocean County Veterinary Hosp., 377 F.3d 266, 269 (3d Cir.2004) (quoting Powell v. J.T. Posey Co., 766 F.2d 131, 133-34 (3d Cir. 1985)). In reviewing the evidence in the record,

the court must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, and it may not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence. Credibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions, not those of a judge. Thus, although the court should review the record as a whole, it must disregard all evidence favorable to the moving party that the jury is not required to believe. That is, the court should give credence to the evidence favoring the nonmovant as well as that evidence supporting the moving party that is uncontradicted and unimpeached, at least to the extent that that evidence comes from disinterested witnesses.

Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prod., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 150-51, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000).

In the alternative, defendant moves for a new trial under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59. Under Rule 59,

[a] new trial may be granted to all or any of the parties and on all or part of the issues ... in an action in which there has been a trial by jury, for any of the reasons for which new trials have heretofore been granted in action at law in the courts of the United States....

Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(a). A new trial may be granted where, as argued in this case by defendant, the verdict is against the weight of the evidence. See, e.g., Allstate Ins. Co. v. American Rehab & Physical Therapy, Inc., 330 F.Supp.2d 506 (E.D.Pa. 2004); Shesko v. City of Coatesville, 324 F.Supp.2d 643 (E.D.Pa.2004). However, "new trials because the verdict is against the weight of the evidence are proper only when the record shows that the jury's verdict resulted in a miscarriage of justice or where the verdict, on the record, cries out to be overturned or shocks [the] conscience." Klein v. Hollings, 992 F.2d 1285, 1290 (3d Cir.1993). "[T]he purpose of this rule is to ensure that the trial court does not supplant the jury verdict with its own interpretation of the facts." Olefins Trading, Inc. v. Han Yang Chem. Corp., 9 F.3d 282, 290 (3d Cir.1993).

A. The Causal Connection Between Mr. Marra's Federal Court Testimony and Subsequent Termination.

For a plaintiff to establish a prima facie case of illegal retaliation, a plaintiff must show that: (1) he engaged in a protected employee activity; (2) he suffered an adverse action by the employer either after or contemporaneous with the employee's protected activity; and (3) a causal connection exists between the employee's protected activity and the employer's adverse action. See Glanzman v. Metro. Mgmt. Corp., 391 F.3d 506, 508-09 (3d Cir.2004). Defendant contends that Mr. Marra did not establish the third element, the requisite causal connection.

To establish a causal connection, a plaintiff must prove either (1) an unusually suggestive temporal proximity between the protected employee activity and the adverse action, (2) a pattern of antagonism coupled with timing to establish a causal link, see Krouse v. American Sterilizer Co., 126 F.3d 494, 503-04 (3d Cir.1997), Woodson v. Scott Paper Co., 109 F.3d 913, 920-21 (3d Cir.1997), or (3) the "evidence gleaned from the record as a whole" infers causation, Farrell v. Planters Lifesavers Co., 206 F.3d 271, 281 (3d Cir.2000).

In the instant case, the Court agrees with the defendant that the gap of time between Mr. Marra's involvement in the trial and his eventual firing (approximately ten months) is not "unusually suggestive" of a retaliatory motive. However, viewing all facts in the light most favorable to Mr. Marra and granting him all reasonable inferences from those facts as the Court is required to do, the Court finds that it was reasonable for the jury to conclude that Mr. Marra demonstrated a "pattern of antagonism" against him by the PHA between his pretrial and trial testimony and his eventual termination. See, e.g., Abramson v. William Paterson Coll. of N.J., 260 F.3d 265, 288-89 (3d Cir.2001); Woodson, 109 F.3d at 921 (sufficient causal connection where pattern of retaliation included unsatisfactory job placement, failure to respond to plaintiff's complaint of racist graffiti, and eventual termination approximately two years after filing EEOC complaint); Robinson v. SEPTA, Red Arrow Div., 982 F.2d 892 (3d Cir.1993) (sufficient causal connection where supervisors disciplined plaintiff for minor matters, miscalculated points for absences from work, generally tried to provoke plaintiff to insubordination, and eventually terminated plaintiff approximately two years after filing union complaint).

In May of 2000, Mr. Marra was subpoenaed to testify at a pretrial deposition in the Paladino case. At the deposition, Mr. Marra gave testimony which was unfavorable to the PHA. Also, in May of 2001, Mr. Marra was subpoenaed by plaintiffs' counsel in the Paladino case to testify on their behalf at the discrimination trial in June of 2001.

Between Mr. Marra's testimony at the pretrial deposition and his trial testimony, and then after his trial testimony, Mr. Marra was subject to a pattern of antagonism which included:

1. In June 2000, soon after his pretrial deposition, Mr. Marra received written notice of an involuntary change in his employee status from...