F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
JUL 24 2001
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
BEVERLY MITCHELL,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v. No. 00-8028
(D.C. No. 98-CV-315)
HAWPE CONSTRUCTION, INC., (D. Wyo.)
Defendant-Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before HENRY , ANDERSON , and MURPHY , Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously to grant the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral
argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore
ordered submitted without oral argument.
Plaintiff Beverly Mitchell appeals the district court’s judgment in favor of
her former employer, defendant Hawpe Construction, Inc., in this age
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the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.
discrimination proceeding. Because the evidence at trial was sufficient to support
the district court’s factual finding, we affirm.
Plaintiff was employed by defendant as a painter’s helper between
August of 1994 and October of 1997, at which time she was laid off. Plaintiff
was sixty-two years old when her employment terminated. Because plaintiff
believed that she was laid off based on her age, she brought this action against
defendant pursuant to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C.
§§ 621-34. After a bench trial, the district court found the following facts.
Before working for defendant, plaintiff worked for Crimson Enterprises,
assisting master painter Joe Diaz. Jack Freeman, defendant’s Vice President of
Operations, hired both Diaz and plaintiff to perform work at Warren Air Force
Base. In the summer of 1997, Diaz suffered a work-related injury and was unable
to continue working. Defendant hired a new master painter, Scott Finnell, and
retained plaintiff to work as his assistant. Defendant also hired another painter’s
helper, Ed Mazur, who was approximately thirty years younger than plaintiff.
In September of 1997, defendant was in danger of losing its contract at
Warren Air Force Base due to complaints about its performance. Defendant’s
owner, Marilyn Hawpe, ordered Jack Freeman to take necessary steps to retain
the contract. In October 1997, Jack Freeman fired the current project manager
and replaced him with Loren Finney, who had worked for defendant since 1989.
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Freeman and Finney evaluated the crews, including the paint crew, and decided to
reduce the paint crew as the work began to slow in October. They delegated the
decision of which assistant would be laid off to Scott Finnell, subject to their
approval. Finnell chose to lay off plaintiff and retain Ed Mazur because he could
be trained as a spray painter. At that time, plaintiff was informed that she was
being laid off due to a lack of work.
Two weeks later, Scott Finnell was terminated and replaced by a master
painter who had worked many years for defendant on other projects. Several
other employees were terminated at the same time. After taking these actions,
defendant’s productivity and profitability increased dramatically.
The district court concluded that plaintiff was terminated as part of
defendant’s legitimate business decision to restructure its operations, and that she
did not show that her termination was motivated by age discrimination. Plaintiff
appeals this decision, arguing that it is contrary to the evidence. Specifically,
plaintiff argues that the district court’s finding that Scott Finnell made the
decision regarding which painter’s helper should be laid off cannot stand in light
of Finnell’s testimony that he was informed when hired that part of his job would
be to terminate the “old” paint crew; that Jack Freeman instructed him to
terminate plaintiff and retain Ed Mazur; and that Freeman didn’t want to do it
himself because he was afraid of discrimination. She also points to affidavits
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submitted by Jack Freeman and Loren Finney which she claims conflict with their
later trial testimony that they delegated the decision of which assistant to
terminate to Scott Finnell.
“In an appeal from a bench trial, we review the district court’s factual
findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo.” Keys Youth Servs.,
Inc. v. City of Olathe , 248 F.3d 1267, 1274 (10th Cir. 2001). A finding of fact is
“clearly erroneous” when “although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing
court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that
a mistake has been committed.” Anderson v. City of Bessemer City , 470 U.S. 564,
573 (1985) (quotations omitted). “Where there are two permissible views of the
evidence, the factfinder’s choice between them cannot be clearly erroneous.”
Id. at 574. This deference is even greater when the factual finding rests on
a determination regarding the credibility of a witness. That is, “when a trial
judge’s finding is based on his decision to credit the testimony of one of two or
more witnesses, each of whom has told a coherent and facially plausible story
that is not contradicted by extrinsic evidence, that finding, if not internally
inconsistent, can virtually never be clear error.” Id. at 575.
Here, there was significant evidence that although Jack Freeman and Loren
Finney made the decision that one of the assistant painters should be terminated,
they gave Scott Finnell the choice regarding which assistant to retain, subject to
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their approval. See R. Vol. I at 208-10 (plaintiff’s testimony regarding letter she
wrote two weeks after termination in which she reported Scott Finnell told her he
had discretion as to which assistant would be laid off); Vol. II at 281, 283-84,
302, 319-24 (Jack Freeman’s testimony that he and Loren Finney decided for
economic reasons that a painter’s helper should be laid off; that the decision
which helper would be laid off was given to Scott Finnell because he, as the
master painter, was ultimately responsible for getting the work accomplished; that
Finnell chose to lay off plaintiff because the other helper was more flexible and
Finnell wanted to train him to be a spray painter; and that Freeman approved the
decision); Vol. II at 350-54, 371 (Loren Finney’s testimony that he determined
there was not enough work to justify a master painter and two helpers and that the
painting crew had to be reduced; that Scott Finnell chose to lay off plaintiff and
retain Ed Mazur because he was more trainable, and that Finney approved the
decision to terminate plaintiff). There was also evidence that Scott Finnell had
a motivation to lie because he was very angry when his employment was
terminated in November 1997. Id. at 300.
The statements made by Jack Freeman and Loren Finney in their affidavits
do not necessarily contradict this testimony. Jack Freeman’s affidavit states that,
as defendant’s representative, he made the determination to lay off plaintiff
because of a decline in the work requirements and for no other reason. Id. at 381.
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This is not inconsistent with his trial testimony that he decided a painter’s helper
must be laid off for economic reasons, and that he approved Finnell’s choice to
terminate plaintiff. The same is true of Loren Finney’s affidavit, which states
that he personally took action to release the Warren Air Force Base painting
crew because of the slowdown in seasonal work and the need to keep defendant’s
long-term painting crew (who replaced plaintiff and Finnell) employed. See id.
at 384. Although plaintiff disagrees with the district court’s decision to accept
the testimony of Freeman and Finney, this credibility determination finds support
in the record and will not be disturbed. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(a).
The judgment of the United States District Court for the District of
Wyoming is AFFIRMED.
Entered for the Court
Robert H. Henry
Circuit Judge
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