“The district court conceded that Edgecomb had no legal duty to reduce its [reorganization/RIF] plan to writing, but nevertheless found the absence of writing indicative of pretext. We disagree. Edgecomb presented expert testimony which demonstrated that reduction in force plans are not generally reduced to writing in order to reduce the risk of premature release of such potentially controversial management decisions. In light of this evidence, the absence of writing is fully consistent with Edgecomb’s proffered business reason for plaintiff’s termination.”
How later courts described this case
- “The district court conceded that Edgecomb had no legal duty to reduce its [reorganization/RIF] plan to writing, but nevertheless found the absence of writing indicative of pretext. We disagree. Edgecomb presented expert testimony which demonstrated that reduction in force plans are not generally reduced to writing in order to reduce the risk of premature release of such potentially controversial management decisions. In light of this evidence, the absence of writing is fully consistent with Edgecomb’s proffered business reason for plaintiff’s termination.”
- “[I]t is now firmly established in this circuit that when a case has been tried on the merits, a reviewing court need not address the sufficiency of plaintiffs prima facie case, and may instead proceed directly to the ultimate question whether plaintiff has established discrimination”
- "If the district court's account of the evidence is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety, the court of appeals may not reverse it even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently."
- reversing trial court verdict for plaintiff in ADEA reduction-in-force case because positions were not established until following year
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
RALPH B. GUY, Jr., Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The majority states that the determinative issue in this appeal is “quintessentially a question of fact.” I agree. However, I do not believe that the record supports a conclusion that the district judge was clearly erroneous in his findings of fact. The majority decides this case in a plausible manner and reaches a result for which there is evidentiary support. In doing so, however, I believe they have substituted their judgment for that of the district court. I would affirm.
In the course of affirmance, I would look closely at the damages awarded. The plaintiff appears to have emerged from all of this better off financially than if he had been retained. Perhaps this is at least a partial, if unspoken, reason for the reversal.