Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals has reversed the jury verdict and judgment of a Miami-Dade Circuit Court in favor of the plaintiff for nearly $2.6 million.  Ruling that the plaintiff failed to meet the legal requirements for establishing racial discrimination or retaliation under the Florida Civil Rights Act, the appellate court ruled that the trial judge should have directed a verdict in favor of the employer. The case is Sean St. Louis v. Florida International University, Case No. 3D08-2316 (Fla. 3d DCA, March 30, 2011).

The court’s opinion is straightforward and sensible.  The plaintiff could not establish his discrimination claim, the court ruled, because he could not show that similarly situated employees outside his protected class were treated more favorably.  As for the plaintiff’s retaliation claim, the plaintiff produced no evidence that the decision makers knew of his allegations of discrimination, so they could not have retaliated against him.

The Third DCA’s opinion reads like a federal district court’s order granting summary judgment to the employer.  The difference, of course, is that this case went to trial at great expense to the employer.  That’s not surprising, because state court trial judges, unlike their federal counterparts, are generally reluctant to grant motions for summary judgment before trial, or motions for directed verdict at trial.  That’s why defense counsel remove employment cases to federal court, if possible. Here, that wasn’t possible because there were no federal claims, and there was no diversity of citizenship between the parties.  The saving grace for the employer was that cases under the Florida Civil Rights Act are supposed to be analyzed under the same rigorous standards as federal Title VII claims.  And under those standards, the Third DCA ruled that the employer was entitled to a defense verdict, the jury’s feelings to the contrary notwithstanding.