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Susan Rae BAKER, Appellant, v. STUART BROADCASTING COMPANY, a corporation, et al., Appellees

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit1974-11-13No. No. 74-1307
505 F.2d 181

Summary

Holding. The court affirmed the dismissal of Baker's complaint because her allegations described a single discriminatory decision by one business entity rather than an actionable conspiracy between two or more persons as required by 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3).

Susan Baker sued Stuart Broadcasting Company and its owners and president under federal civil rights law, claiming they conspired to refuse her employment at a radio station because of her sex. The defendants moved to dismiss, and the district court granted the motion, finding that the statute did not apply to sex-based discrimination. On appeal, the court affirmed the dismissal but on narrower grounds: the complaint failed to allege an actual conspiracy as required by the statute. The court found that Baker's allegations described only a single discriminatory business decision made by agents of one company, which does not constitute the kind of conspiracy the statute contemplates. The court noted that Baker could pursue her employment discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act instead.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether employment discrimination claims can be brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3)
  • Whether a discriminatory business decision by multiple agents or owners of the same company constitutes a conspiracy under the statute
  • The definition of conspiracy required under § 1985(3)

Procedural posture

The district court dismissed Baker's complaint for failure to state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), and she appealed.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge.

Susan Rae Baker initiated this action against appellees, Stuart Broadcasting Company, the Grand Island Broadcasting Company (an affiliate or subsidiary of Stuart Broadcasting Company), James Stuart and Helen Stuart as 100 percent owners of the stock of the two corporations, and Richard Chap-in, president of Stuart Broadcasting Company, alleging that these defendants unlawfully conspired to deprive her of her right to equal protection and due process of law under the Constitution by refusing to employ her at a Grand Island, Nebraska, radio station because of her sex. The action, brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3) , was dismissed by the district court for failure to state a claim under this section. The court ruled that § 1985(3) did not extend be yond racially-motivated conspiracies. We need not pass on the substantive issue of whether § 1985(3) will afford judicial relief for nonracially-motivated conspiracies because the petitioner’s amended complaint does not allege an actionable conspiracy cognizable under this statute.

In her complaint, Ms. Baker alleged that on or about April 1, 1973, she applied for an advertising and sales position with radio station KRGI in Grand Island, Nebraska. She further claims that she was tentatively hired for this position but was subsequently advised by defendant-Richard Chapin, president of defendant-Stuart Broadcasting Company, that she would not be hired because she was a female. Ms. Baker’s original complaint named Stuart Broadcasting Company as the sole defendant. She subsequently filed an amended complaint adding the additional parties listed above as defendants. Ms. Baker’s sole allegation of conspiracy relates “that the corporate and individual defendants herein named conspired to and did deprive plaintiff of her rights *- * She seeks to extend the purview of § 1985(3) to discriminatory business decisions participated in by members of one business entity.

In dealing with this precise issue of an alleged conspiracy in a business situation, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Dombrowski v. Dowling, 459 F.2d 190, 196 (7th Cir. 1972), observed:

We * * * believe that the statutory requirement that “two or more persons * * * conspire or go in disguise on the highway,” is not satisfied by proof that a discriminatory business decision reflects the collective judgment of two or more executives of the same firm. * * *

[I]f the challenged conduct is essentially a single act of discrimination by a single business entity, the fact that two or more agents participated in the decision or in the act itself will normally not constitute the conspiracy contemplated by this statute.

The record shows that Ms. Baker’s complaint is directed at a radio broadcasting company which, through its personnel or owners, declined to employ her. The petitioner does not allege the necessary elements of conspiracy required to maintain a cause of action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). Dombrowski v. Dowling, supra, 459 F.2d at 196; see Robinson v. McCorkle, 462 F.2d 111, 113 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1042, 93 S.Ct. 529, 34 L.Ed.2d 492 (1972); Blackburn v. Fisk University, 443 F.2d 121, 124 (6th Cir. 1971); cf. Hill v. McClellan, 490 F.2d 859 (5th Cir. 1974). The district court properly dismissed the action without prejudice to Ms. Baker asserting her claims of employment discrimination in an action pending in district court brought pursuant to 42 U.S. C. § 2000e-5, see n. 2, supra.

Affirmed.

. Section 1985 (3) states in relevant part:

(3) If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire or go in disguise on t.e highway or on the premises of another,. for the purpose of depriving, either directly or indirectly, any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of equal privileges and immunities under the laws; * * * in any case of conspiracy set fortli in this section, if one or more persons engaged therein do, or cause to be done, any act in furtherance of the object of such conspiracy, whereby another is injured in his person or property, or deprived of having and exercising any right or privilege of a citizen of the United States, the party so injured or deprived may have an action for the recovery of damages, occasioned by such injury or deprivation, against any one or more of the conspiratox-s.

. In its dismissal, lxowever, the district court specifically noted that 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 affords Ms. Baker an opportunity for redress for denial of employment based on sex discrinxixxation.

At oral argument, the parties advised the court that Ms. Baker has now commenced an actioxx for employment discrinxixxation under Title VII. Apparexxtly Ms. Baker sought relief under § 1985(3) in an attempt to circumvent the delays incident to presenting a claim before the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and, thereafter, before the Nebraska Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

. The Supreme Court, in Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, 102 n. 9, 91 S.Ct. 1790, 29 L.Ed.2d 338 (1971), specifically reserved the question of whether a nonracially-moti-vated conspiracy would be actionable under § 1985(3).