Employer's Legitimate, Non-Discriminatory Reason for Termination of Employee Defeats Title VII Discrimination Claim

Maahnchooch Ghogomu v. Delta Airlines Global Services LLC - Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals

Facts:  Maahnchooch Ghogomu ("Ghogomu") worked for Delta Airlines ("Delta") at the Tulsa International Airport.  Before every Delta flight is pushed back from the gate, a "final walk around" of the plane is to occur by a Delta employee.  Certain things are to be checked, such as making sure the fuel-panel door is secure.  When a flight left Tulsa for Detroit, no final walk around was apparently conducted.  As a result, a fuel-panel door was left open which resulted in damage to the airplane.  Delta subsequently investigated and found that Ghogomu was the employee who was supposed to have conducted the final walk around.  Having already been warned that another infraction could result in his termination, Delta fired Ghogomu for failing to conduct the required final walk around.

Ghogomu brought suit against Delta on the grounds that he had been discriminated against because of his race and ethnicity, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Delta and denied Ghogomu's own summary judgment motion.  Ghogomu appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Holding:  The Tenth Circuit began its analysis with a close examination of the facts which led the district court to grant summary judgment in favor of Delta.  In this case, the facts demonstrated that Ghogomu was the employee who was in charge of doing the final walk around of the flight before it left Tulsa.  Although a video had shown that Ghogomu was the responsible employee, the fact that the video no longer existed was not detrimental to Delta's motion.  

Although Ghogomu alleged there was a cover up by Delta (as Ghogomu claimed the video was fabricated and other Delta employees lied about having seen the video), that did not control the dispute.  As the Court of Appeals pointed out, Ghogomu did not deny that he was responsible for the final walk around.  The fact that Ghogomu was responsible for the final walk around and had been on notice that further infractions could result in his termination was what this case ultimately turned on.  Given those reasons for his termination, the Court held that summary judgment had properly been granted in Delta's favor.

Judgment:  The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's ruling and held that Delta had a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for terminating Ghogomu and subsequently Delta had not violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it chose to terminate Ghogomu.

The Takeaway:  This is a case where the facts are very, very important.  Notice the Court pinpointed certain undisputed facts upon which to base its conclusion that the granting of summary judgment in Delta's favor was proper.  It goes without saying that had Delta still had a copy of the video, that would have taken away one of Ghogomu's big arguments.  However, the fact that Ghogomu acknowledged he was responsible for the final walk around (and damage to the plane resulted from his failure to complete the walk around) is what ultimately doomed his case.  This is a ruling that the Court got right.

Majority Opinion Judge:  Judge Bacharach

Date:  June 16, 2016

Opinion:  https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjQluTH2ZnOAhXD7yYKHa0-BQIQFggfMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ca10.uscourts.gov%2Fopinions%2F15%2F15-5112.pdf&usg=AFQjCNERgIQlTD4iCamyek0_zNCw4juSjQ&sig2=DWhaPHftKFuMHRODtlio_A&bvm=bv.128617741,d.eWE