Flores v. City of Westminster

The panel affirmed in part and vacated in part the district court’s judgment, after a jury trial, in favor of three police officers of Latino descent who alleged discrimination and retaliation in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.



The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of the defendant City of Westminster’s motions for a new trial and judgment as a matter of law on Officer Jose Flores’s claim of retaliation in violation of FEHA. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Officer Flores and drawing all reasonable inferences in his favor, the panel held that Officer Flores established that the City subjected him to one or more adverse employment actions, that his protected conduct was a substantial motivating factor behind the adverse employment actions, and that the City’s proffered reasons for its actions were pretextual. The panel also affirmed the jury’s award of damages to Officer Flores on the FEHA retaliation claim. The panel concluded that Officer Flores was not awarded a double recovery because the FEHA damages award did not necessarily overlap with the damages awarded against the defendant police chiefs for their individual retaliatory actions in violation of § 1981.



The panel held that the district court did not err in denying the officers’ discrimination and retaliation claims against the police chiefs under § 1981, which prohibits discrimination in the making and enforcement of contracts by reason of race. The panel held that California law providing that the employment relationship between the state and its civil service employees is governed by statute rather than contract should not be read to bar public employees from bringing claims under § 1981. The panel distinguished Judie v. Hamilton, 872 F.2d 919 (9th Cir. 1989), which predated the 1991 amendments to § 1981 expanding the reach of the statute’s “make and enforce contracts” term.



The panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in evidentiary rulings. The panel held that there was no prejudicial error in allowing a jury instruction on the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.



The panel held that the jury’s verdict against two police chiefs for race discrimination in violation of § 1981 was not fatally inconsistent. In addition, the verdict finding the chiefs individually liable, and awarding punitive damages, was not against the clear weight of the evidence. The panel declined to reduce the punitive damages awards as unconstitutionally excessive.



The panel vacated the judgment against Chief Mitchell Waller, who died before trial, and remanded for the district court to grant two officers leave to substitute Chief Waller’s estate pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(a)(1).

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