Johnson v. Sw. Research Inst.
Johnson v. Sw. Research Inst.
Opinion of the Court
Royce C. Lamberth, United States District Judge *726Following a week-long trial, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of plaintiff Mary Ellen Johnson against defendant Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). The jury found SwRI terminated Johnson because of her reports of sex discrimination, which is activity protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and discriminated against Johnson based on her sex by providing Johnson with unequal tuition reimbursement. The jury awarded Johnson $ 260,000 in compensatory damages. The jury also determined Johnson was owed $ 335,624 in back pay, but this amount was reduced by $ 185,624 because of Johnson's failure to mitigate her damages, resulting in an award of $ 150,000 in back pay. In addition to these awards, Johnson seeks prejudgment interest, post-judgment interest, two years of front pay in lieu of reinstatement, and to have the Court order SwRI to send a letter to the Defense Security Service Personnel Security Management Office for Industry (DSS PSMO-I) to inform DSS PSMO-I of the jury's verdict and request the incident report regarding Johnson be rescinded. SwRI disputes that Johnson should be awarded front pay and contends it would be improper for the Court to order SwRI to send a letter requesting DSS PSMO-I rescind the incident report regarding Johnson.
I. Compensatory Damages
The jury awarded Johnson $ 200,000 for "[p]ast pain and suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life" and $ 60,000 for "[f]uture pain and suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life." Verdict Form, ECF No. 142. This amounts to a $ 260,000 compensatory damage award.
Johnson will also be awarded prejudgment interest on the past compensatory damages. The Fifth Circuit has declared "[p]rejudgment interest should apply to all past injuries, including past emotional injuries ... Refusing to award prejudgment interest ignores the time value of money and fails to make the plaintiff whole." Thomas v. Texas Dep't of Criminal Justice ,
Here, the jury awarded Johnson $ 200,000 in past compensatory damages for emotional injuries. Under Thomas , the Court will award prejudgment interest on the past compensatory damage award. Because there is no federal law setting the prejudgment interest rate here, the Court looks to state law for guidance on the applicable rate. See Perez v. Bruister ,
*727Here, Johnson is entitled to recover on her Title VII claims. Thus, any award of prejudgment interest is governed by the common law, rather than by statute. Kenneco ,
The Court looks to Texas state law on post-judgment interest rate as guidance for prejudgment interest rate. Under the Texas Finance Code, the post-judgment interest rate is "the prime rate as published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve on the date of computation," unless that rate is less than five percent or greater than fifteen percent.
Accordingly, Johnson's award is $ 260,000 in compensatory damages and $ 74,438.36 in prejudgment interest on her past compensatory damage award. This totals $ 334,438.36 in compensatory damages. However, compensatory and punitive damages are capped at $ 300,000 for unlawful intentional discrimination under Title VII when the respondent has more than 500 employees, which is the case for SwRI. 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(b)(3). The Court must take into account the prejudgment interest award when determining whether Johnson's award exceeds the statutory cap because prejudgment interest is a calculation intended to account for the loss of the value of money based on the passage of time. Prejudgment interest is not a separate damage award. Because the jury's compensatory damage award plus prejudgment interest on the past compensatory damages exceeds $ 300,000, this statutory cap limits the compensatory damage award Johnson may receive. See Hudson v. Chertoff ,
Also, Johnson will be awarded post-judgment interest on this award. Post-judgment interest is "calculated from the date of the entry of judgment, at a rate equal to the weekly average 1-year constant maturity Treasury yield, as published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for the calendar week preceding the date of judgment."
*728Thus, Johnson will be awarded post-judgment interest on the compensatory damage award at a rate of 2.324% per annum from the date of this judgment, compounded annually, until paid.
The jury awarded Johnson $ 150,000 in back pay. Back pay and interest on back pay are not considered compensatory damages under Title VII. See
Johnson will also be awarded prejudgment interest on this back pay award. Although the decision to award prejudgment interest on back pay is discretionary, Gloria v. Valley Grain Products, Inc. ,
Reinstatement or front pay is ordinarily appropriate when requested. Bogan v. MTD Consumer Group, Inc. ,
The Fifth Circuit has recognized that "if reinstatement is not feasible, front pay is the appropriate award." Weaver v. Amoco Production Co. ,
The Court accepts the jury's determination as the factfinder that Johnson was discriminated against and deserves to be awarded damages to make her whole. Johnson has had difficulty obtaining substantially equivalent employment since SwRI terminated her. This is likely not only due to her failure to exercise reasonable diligence in seeking, obtaining, and maintaining substantially equivalent employment after the date of her termination but also because prospective employers learned she was fired. And as her length of unemployment grew over time, prospective employers likely became wearier about hiring her. Johnson's lack of reasonable diligence only accounts for some of her present failure to obtain substantially equivalent employment. SwRI's wrongful termination of Johnson has also contributed to this failure. Therefore, the Court finds it is appropriate to award Johnson front pay. However, the Court also accepts the jury found Johnson failed to mitigate her damages and reduced her back pay award accordingly. It is most appropriate to reduce Johnson's front pay award by the same percentage as the jury reduced her back pay.
Johnson seeks two years of front pay, which would amount to $ 100,880. The jury awarded Johnson 44.69287% of her back pay. Based on this, Johnson's front pay award will be 44.69287% of $ 100,880, which amounts to $ 45,086.17. She will be awarded post-judgment interest on this award at a rate of 2.324% per annum from the date of this judgment, compounded annually, until paid.
IV. Other Injunctive or Equitable Relief
Finally, Johnson asks the Court to order SwRI to send a letter to DSS PSMO-I informing DSS PSMO-I of the jury's finding that Johnson would not have been terminated but for her complaints of sex discrimination and requesting DSS PSMO-I rescind the incident report. On the day Johnson was terminated, SwRI provided information that resulted in an incident report stating:
Ms. Johnson's employment was terminated for cause on 8/15/12, due to her falsifying timesheet records and excessive tardiness. Her actions constitute fraud and unreliable behavior and are evidence of the misuse of employer's time and/or resources which call into question her honesty, integrity and trustworthiness. Ms. Johnson has had access to very sensitive classified information. The concern is that as a result of her termination, Ms. Johnson may *730pose a security risk by becoming an "insider threat".
Johnson argues it is within the Court's broad equitable powers to make the victims of discrimination whole under Title VII to order SwRI to send the requested letter. The Fifth Circuit has held "[t]he aim of Title VII relief, whether back-pay, retroactive seniority, or other injunctive relief, is thus to make whole the victims of discrimination according to what would have been their experience in a non-discriminatory work setting. Claiborne v. Illinois Cent. R.R. ,
Although Johnson did not present evidence regarding the process for amending or rescinding an incident report during trial, Johnson's original complaint states "Plaintiff seeks ... retraction of any false incident reports Defendant generated against her." Coml., ECF No. 1. Therefore, Johnson has not waived her right to seek this relief.
Johnson first asked this Court to "order Southwest Research to submit a letter or other communication to JPAS [the Joint Personnel Adjudication System] rescinding its adverse information report, stating that it no longer considers Johnson an insider threat, and notifying JPAS of the jury verdict finding that Johnson would not have been terminated but for her reports of sex discrimination." Pl.'s Mot. J. on the Verdict, ECF No. 143. However, SwRI responded it could no longer access Johnson's JPAS profile to attempt to submit any additional information regarding Johnson because it was her former employer. Def.'s Resp., ECF No. 144. Johnson's reply then altered her request, and asked the Court to order SwRI to send a letter to DSS PSMO-I providing information on the jury's verdict and requesting DSS PSMO-I rescind the incident report. Pl.'s Reply, ECF No. 145. Because Johnson modified her requested relief in her reply and presented new evidence in support of her request, the Court will grant SwRI's motion to file a sur-reply and consider SwRI's response to Johnson's new argument and evidence. See Vais Arms, Inc. v. Vais ,
The Court finds it is appropriate to require SwRI to send a letter to DSS PSMO-I informing DSS PSMO-I the jury determined Johnson would not have been terminated but for her complaints of sex discrimination and requesting DSS PSMO-I withdraw the incident report about Johnson. The jury spoke very clearly with its verdict that SwRI's conduct was wrongful. The Court must fashion the most complete relief possible to make Johnson whole. This includes granting the desired additional relief. This relief is necessary because the incident report likely severely diminishes Johnson's ability to obtain substantially equivalent employment. Purely monetary damages are not sufficient to compensate Johnson for her injury. Unless *731SwRI is required to submit a letter acknowledging the jury found it terminated Johnson in retaliation for her reports of sex discrimination, Johnson will likely continue to suffer the effects of SwRI's retaliatory actions. Such a letter may better inform an organization about the unlawful circumstances of Johnson's termination, thereby reducing the negative effects of the incident report on JPAS and making it more likely the organization will not be dissuaded by the report from potentially offering Johnson employment. Thus, this additional relief is warranted.
This relief is not prohibited by the Egan doctrine as SwRI contends. The Egan doctrine precludes judicial scrutiny of "sensitive and inherently discretionary judgment call[s]" made by the Executive Branch. See Department of Navy v. Egan ,
Further, SwRI's argument this case bears similarities to cases in which courts have extended the Egan doctrine to private employers and situations where a security clearance was not at issue is unpersuasive. In Beattie v. Boeing Co. ,
The Court will grant Johnson's request to order SwRI to send a letter informing DSS PSMO-I the jury found Johnson was terminated in retaliation for her complaints of sex discrimination, rather than for the reasons stated in the incident report submitted August 15, 2012. The Court will also order SwRI to request that DSS PSMO-I withdraw the incident report based on the jury's verdict.
Accordingly, Johnson will be awarded $ 300,000 in compensatory damages, $ 150,000 in back pay and $ 55,828.77 in prejudgment interest on the back pay award, and $ 45,086.17 in front pay. Johnson will be awarded post-judgment interest on these awards at a rate of 2.324% per annum from the date of this judgment, compounded annually, until paid. Further, the Court will grant Johnson's request to order SwRI to send a letter to DSS PSMO-I informing DSS PSMO-I the jury found Johnson was terminated in retaliation for her complaints of sex discrimination, rather than for the reasons stated in the incident report submitted August 15, 2012, and requesting DSS PSMO-I withdraw the incident report. Finally, Johnson is entitled to attorney's fees and costs, which will be determined upon motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54. A separate order shall issue.
SwRI does not oppose calculating prejudgment interest dating back to August 16, 2012. See Def.'s Resp., ECF No. 144.
SwRI does not oppose calculating prejudgment interest dating back to August 16, 2012. See Def.'s Resp., ECF No. 144.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Mary Ellen JOHNSON v. SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published