Is the Standard for Summary Judgment Evolving in EDVA?

Is the standard for summary judgment evolving, and has the Eastern District kept up with the evolution? 

In a July 6, 2016 decision in Guessous v. Fairview Property Investments, LLC, (Dkt. No. 15-1055), the Fourth Circuit reversed Judge Lee on all six counts in a fairly standard discrimination case.  The Court found repeatedly that the record was sufficient to permit a reasonable jury to find for the plaintiff, yet the District Court had credited the Defendant’s summary judgment evidence and granted summary judgment.  Stated differently, the appellate court reminds us that a district court’s weighing the evidence at summary judgment is impermissible.

The adjustment to the summary judgment standard traces to a May 2014 Supreme Court decision in what was a fairly routine § 1983 case.  In Tolan v. Cotton, 572 U.S. __ , 134 S.Ct. 1861 (2014), a Texas district court had granted summary judgment to a police officer deciding that his conduct in a police shooting was “objectively reasonable.”  There was evidence on both sides of the summary judgment issues; the district court weighed the evidence and came down in favor of the police officer.

The Fifth Circuit affirmed, albeit on different grounds, but three judges on that court voted in favor an en banc hearing. The case could easily have been passed over at the certiorari stage (Justice Alito, joined by Justice Scalia, wrote a concurring opinion complaining that the case was so routine that the Court should not have granted certiorari), but it seemed that several of the Supreme Court justices were looking for the opportunity to remind lower courts that a judge’s function at summary judgment is not to weigh the evidence but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial.”  This is the time-honored directive from Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242 (1986), but the Court’s Tolan decision suggests that justices believed that the standard needed some reinforcing.

The Fourth Circuit followed Tolan a few weeks later in McAirlaids, Inc. v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 756 F.3d 307, 310 (4th Cir. 2014).  It then quoted from Tolan: “It is an ‘axiom that in ruling on a motion for summary judgment, [t]he evidence of the nonmovant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor.’”   Not long afterwards, in March 2015, the Fourth Circuit provided “further elaboration” of the summary judgment standard in Jacobs v. N.C. Admin. Office of the Courts, 780 F.3d 562, 568 (4th Cir. 2015).  In an ominous introduction that highlighted a “clear misapprehension of summary judgment standards”, the panel of Judges Floyd, Keenan, and Harris cited Tolan:

Ordinarily we would begin our discussion with a brief restatement of the standard of review for a motion for summary judgment. When “the opinion below reflects a clear misapprehension of summary judgment standards,” however, further elaboration is warranted. Tolan v. Cotton (citations omitted) (per curiam).

Given this harsh treatment of the district court, it was no surprise that the Fourth Circuit reversed in part and remanded for trial.  The Court observed that in the Tolan case the district court had “fail[ed] to credit evidence that contradicted some of its key factual conclusions” and “improperly ‘weighed the evidence’ and resolved disputed issues in favor of the moving party.”

The Tolan and Jacobs decisions arguably provide a course correction in the summary judgment standards in cases where there is conflicting record evidence. The frequent Tolan quote is this:

Where there is conflicting evidence, the court must credit the evidence of both sides and acknowledge that there is a genuine issue of material fact that cannot be resolved by summary judgment. See Tolan v. Cotton (stating that summary judgment is inappropriate where each side has put forward competent evidence that raises a dispute about a material fact).

Westlaw identifies more than 870 case citations to Tolan.  Granted, many of the citations are for the § 1983 issues, but the case still stands tall because of the adjustments to the summary judgment standard.  Since Tolan, the above quote appears in multiple summary judgment rulings by Judge Cacheris, and in several ruling by Judge O’Grady.  Magistrate Judge Buchanan has also cited Tolan.  The Westlaw search shows, however, no other reliance either way on Tolan in the Alexandria Division of the Eastern District.

Sometimes district courts cite only the controlling circuit court decision without mentioning the Supreme Court case. The leading Fourth Circuit authority is the Jacobs decision.  Westlaw confirms that Jacobs has been cited in 136 cases, with most of these from within the circuit; there are more than 70 citations from the Maryland District Court, but only four from the Eastern District of Virginia, and just one of those four is from the Alexandria Division.

The Fourth Circuit’s Guessous decision relies on both Tolan and JacobsThe Court writes:

The court must “view the evidence in the light most favorable to the [nonmoving] party.”  Tolan v. Cotton, 134 S. Ct. 1861, 1866 (2014) (internal quotation omitted).   “The court . . . cannot weigh the evidence or make credibility determinations.” Jacobs v. N.C. Admin. Office of the Courts, 780 F.3d 562, 568-69 (4th Cir. 2015).  In general, if “an issue as to a material fact cannot be resolved without observation of the demeanor of witnesses in order to evaluate their credibility, summary judgment is not appropriate.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 advisory committee’s note to 1963 amendment.

Guessous at 16-17.  It is after these pointed citations that the Court launches into its “reasonable jury” analysis.   “A reasonable jury could easily conclude, however . . .”       Id. at 22. “This alone would be enough to allow a reasonable jury to conclude. . .”   Id. at 23.  “[T]he record is sufficient to permit a reasonable jury to conclude . . .” Id. at 28.  “[A] reasonable jury would certainly be entitled to reach a different conclusion . . .”   Id. at 30.  The Court’s unanimous decision reversed and remanded on all six counts.

Because so much of the Eastern District’s civil docket encounters summary judgment, Tolan and Jacobs are important precedents.  Other districts within the circuit, mostly notably the District of Maryland, seem to have recognized the course adjustment.  The Guessous decision perhaps is a wake-up call to the rest of the circuit, including the Eastern District of Virginia, to recognize the appellate direction for a tighter summary judgment standard.