Johnson v. Brennan

Filing 148

MEMORANDUM Opinion and Order: Plaintiff's motion for judgment as a matter of law, or alternatively, for a new trial 130 are denied. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment in favor of Defendant and against Plaintiff. This ruling is final and appealable. See attached Memorandum Opinion and Order for further details. Signed by the Honorable Rebecca R. Pallmeyer on 9/27/2023. Mailed notice(cp, )

Case: 1:17-cv-08878 Document #: 148 Filed: 09/27/23 Page 1 of 13 PageID #:2149

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
SHARON JOHNSON,
Plaintiff,
v.
LOUIS DeJOY, Postmaster General,
United States Postal Service
Defendant.

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No. 17 C 8878
Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff Sharon Johnson alleged that she was subject to a hostile work environment during
her employment with Defendant, the United States Postal Service (“Postal Service”), in violation
of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq. A jury returned a verdict for the Postal
Service on that claim, and Johnson has moved for judgment as a matter of law (FED. R. CIV. P.
50) or alternatively for a new trial (FED. R. CIV. P. 59 and 51(d)(2)). Johnson claims that she is
entitled to such relief based on a jury instruction that, she claims, misstated the causation standard
for her claim. For reasons explained here, Johnson’s motion(s) for judgment as a matter of law
or for a new trial [130] are denied.
BACKGROUND
Johnson has worked for the Postal Service since 1994. Johnson contends in this lawsuit
that she was harassed by her supervisors because of her disability, an anxiety and depression
disorder, from February 2011 to September 2013. (Pl.’s Rule 50 Mot. for J.as a Matter of Law
and Rule 59 Mot. for New Trial (hereinafter, “Pl.’s Mot.”) [130] at 6; Trial Tr. vol. 1A at 49, 84, 105.)
A.

Trial Evidence

In her trial testimony, Johnson described harassment she claimed to have experienced at
the hands of supervisors Rondell Saddler and Deundra Campbell, and manager Janice Hall.
Difficulties with her supervisors continued for many years, continuing before and after she

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successfully bid to transfer from the Lincoln Park facility, where she had been stationed since
2006, to the Morgan Park facility in 2015. (Trial Tr. vol. 1A at 44, 108; Trial Tr. vol. 1B at 143–
44.)
Johnson asserted that this harassment created an increasingly hostile and abusive work
environment. She claims that at least nine former supervisors treated her unfairly (Trial Tr. vol.
1B at 139, 143), but Plaintiff focused on actions taken by Hall, Campbell, and Saddler. For
example, Plaintiff claimed that Saddler had directed Richard Shudder, a custodian, to follow her
to the bathroom, and he did so. (Trial Tr. vol. 1A at 98–99.) Plaintiff testified that when she
reported Shudder’s conduct to Saddler, he dismissed her complaints, and he and other
supervisors asked whether she was taking her medication. (Trial Tr. vol. 1A at 82, 98, 103.)
Without offering specifics about dates or times, Plaintiff testified generally that Saddler told all of
her coworkers not to talk to her because she was “crazy,” and that as a result, her coworker
Donald Pritchard began mocking and making fun of her by making remarks like “that’s why
[Saddler] follows you.” (Trial Tr. vol 1A at 85–86.)
In fact, according to Plaintiff, supervisors did follow her to her car, to the bathroom, and to
McDonald’s or 7-Eleven during work breaks. (Pl.’s Mot. at 6.) Supervisors confiscated her work
tools as well. Plaintiff testified that Supervisor Campbell referred to Plaintiff’s mental health
treatment as the “crazy ward.” The harassment culminated in an episode on September 9, 2013.
Saddler, Campbell, and Hall testified that on that date, Johnson made comments that they
interpreted as a threat to harm Saddler, used profanity, and was combative towards her coworkers. In response to this conduct, Plaintiff was escorted from the Postal Services premises
by Postal Service police, and she was placed on Emergency Placement in Off-Duty Status. 1 (Id.

Emergency Placement in Off-Duty Status refers to the immediate placement of an
employee in a non-duty, non-pay status pending further investigation of the threat or assault
committed by the employee. (Def. Ex. 2 at 12). Normally, a determination of an appropriate
action would be made within 72 hours of an incident involving a threat or assault. (Id.) The
purpose for such a placement is to separate employees from the workplace until they can be
1

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at 7; Trial Tr. vol 1A at 76, 90–91.) Plaintiff contends that her mental condition was the but-for
cause for her harassment because it was not until after her mental health condition was disclosed
to her supervisors during a conversation on September 9, 2013 that she was stripped of her tools
and escorted from the premises. (Id. 8–9; Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 389.)
The Postal Service’s witnesses included Hall, Campbell, Saddler, and Kenneth Brown,
one of Johnson’s previous supervisors against whom she had issued a previous threat, during an
altercation on January 9, 2013. (Joint Ex. 1 [125-1] at 18–19.) At trial, Campbell, Brown, and
Saddler denied following Plaintiff, but they admitted that they went looking for her on occasions
when she unexpectedly left her work assignment or took extended breaks. (Trial Tr. vol. 2, at
368, 406–07, 450–51; Trial Tr. vol. 3A at 524.) Campbell and Saddler denied that they directed
Shudder, or anyone else, to follow Johnson. (Trial Tr. vol. 2, at 410, 423; Trial Tr. vol. 3A at 515;
Joint Ex. 1 at 20–21.) They recalled the bathroom incident that occurred on September 5, 2013
between Johnson and Shudder, but their account is different from Plaintiff’s.

According to

Campbell, Shudder, a custodian, had reportedly knocked on the bathroom door twice and, after
getting no response, entered to do his work. Johnson was inside and became angry and
suspicious of his conduct. Johnson became angry, shouted expletives, followed Shudder, made
lewd comments, and verbally harassed him about “trying . . . to smell her private parts.” (Trial Tr.
vol. 1B at 238, 240; Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 353, 370, 396, 410; Trial Tr. vol. 3A at 517–18, 592–93; Joint
Ex. 1 at 3, 20–21.)
With respect to Johnson’s complaints of harassment, Defendant’s witnesses testified that
what Johnson characterized as harassment was nothing more than reasonable work instructions.
(Trial Tr. vol. 1B at 245, 247; Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 293, 358–59, 402, 412, 447, 448; Trial Tr. vol. 3A
at 522; Joint Ex. 1 at 2–3.) They acknowledged removing tools from her but explained that the
materials in question were prohibited on the floor, as clerks are not permitted to carry mace or
interviewed, or the removal of the employee from the facility if there is likelihood of physical
violence. (Id.)
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tools, such as box cutters or knives, to open boxes and packages; Plaintiff’s job duties did not
require the use of such equipment. (Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 343–44, 346–47, 351–52, 355, 391, 429–
430; Trial Tr. vol. 3A at 552.)
Johnson’s supervisors testified that Campbell called police on September 9, 2013
because she threatened Saddler, and that her previous conduct led them to believe the threat
was credible. (Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 368, 387, 389, 400.) Supervisor Campbell and Postal Police
Inspector Mike O’Connor testified that when she threatened Saddler, it was Johnson, not Saddler,
who referred to time she had spent “in the crazy people ward” as a way of substantiating her own
threat. (Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 430–31(testimony that Johnson warned Campbell, “I carry Mace and a
knife, and it would be a fatality” and pointed out that she had been “in a crazy people ward”); Trial
Tr. vol. 3A at 584–85; Defense Ex 1 at 1, 2; Joint Ex. 1 at 9,10, 12.) Thus, according to Defendant,
the Postal Service had a basis for disciplining Johnson that was unrelated to her mental health
condition: She had previously been placed on “Emergency Placement in Off-Duty Status” after
an incident on January 9, 2013 when she threatened bodily harm to Brown, months before the
September 9 incident. (Joint Ex. 1 at 18–19.) During that earlier altercation, Johnson threatened
to shoot Brown after he approached her car when she was allegedly on her break. (Id.)
Johnson’s supervisors denied ever having discriminated against Johnson or called her
names. (Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 410.) Saddler denied knowing about Johnson’s need for medication
or speaking with her about it other than on one instance (Saddler did not recall the date) when
Johnson asked to be left alone because she had not taken her medication. (Trial Tr. vol. 3A at
519–21.) Hall, Johnson’s manager, asked Johnson about her medication only after becoming
aware of her mental condition and when she came to Hall to report feelings of anxiety around
May or June 2013. (Trial Tr. vol. 3B at 635, 637.) Besides Hall, none of Johnson’s supervisors
were aware of any disability before September 2013. (Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 401, 442–43; Trial Tr. vol.
3A at 524.)

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According to her supervisors, Johnson had a history of altercations with supervisors,
coworkers, and a customer involving profanity and threats. (Trial Tr. vol. 1B at 139, 143–44, 234–
35, 249; Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 319, 386; Trial Tr. vol. 3A at 556, 590.) Michael O’Connor, a postal
investigator involved with the Postal Service’s investigation of Johnson, testified about three
incidents in 2013, prior to September 9, in which Johnson reportedly made threats. (Trial Tr. vol.
3A at 590.)

Other evidence supported Defendant’s contention that Johnson had been

confrontational and vulgar in an altercation with her co-worker, Pritchard, on September 7, 2013
because she was upset about being disciplined for taking extended breaks and believed that
Pritchard had reported these breaks to supervisors. (Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 397, 399; Trial Tr. vol. 3A
at 527–28, 595–97; Joint Ex. 1 at 3, 16, 17.)
B.

Procedural History

The court denied summary judgment, see Johnson v. Brennan, No. 17 C 8878, 2020 WL
1139253 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 9, 2020), and the case proceeded to a three-day jury trial, from January
23 through January 25, 2023 on Plaintiff’s claim that she was subjected to harassment and a
hostile work environment on the basis of her anxiety disorder. The proposed verdict form asked
the jury whether Plaintiff “has proven by a preponderance of the evidence her claim that she was
subject to a hostile work environment on the basis of a disability.” (Pl.’s Mot. at 3.) That language
generated a question from the jury: During deliberations on January 27, 2023, the jurors sent a
note asking the court whether, for Plaintiff to prevail, she need to prove that the hostile work
environment was “a result of the disability only?”
In the ensuing discussion with the court, Johnson’s attorney cited to Hall v. City of Chicago,
713 F.3d 325, 335 (7th Cir. 2013), and proposed that Johnson “need only establish that disability
played a part in the supervisor’s actions.” (Id.) Judge Shah, who was supervising the jury’s
deliberations, reviewed Hall, but concluded it did not support Johnson’s proposed answer. (Def.’s
Resp. at 1.) Judge Shah observed, “Their question is slightly different, and it might be pointing
to the ambiguity in the verdict form, which uses the language ‘on the basis of’ instead of ‘because
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of’.” (Pl.’s Mot. at 4.) After further conference, the parties agreed to the instruction Judge Shah
ultimately gave: he directed the jury to re-read a portion of the jury instructions, which explained
that to find in Plaintiff’s favor, they were required to find that the “conduct occurred because
Johnson was disabled and the verbal harassment exacerbated her condition, and Johnson
requested to be transferred.” (Jury Instructions [127] at 20.) The jury returned a verdict four hours
later in favor of the Postal Service. (Pl. Mot. at 4.)
Johnson moves for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial. In
her February 24, 2023 motion, she argues that the jury would have found in her favor on the claim
of hostile work environment, had the court answered “no” to the jury’s question. (Id. at 5.)
Alternatively, Johnson argues that a new trial is warranted because the jury instructions
erroneously directed the jurors that they needed to find that Johnson was harassed “because”
she was disabled. (Id.) She also reserved her rights to raise other arguments. 2 (Pl.’s Mot. at 9.)
At a hearing on this motion, the court requested briefing limited to the question whether the court’s
answer to the jury was an accurate statement of the law. As explained below, this court concludes
it may not have been, but because, if anything, the error favored Plaintiff, it was not prejudicial.
As a result, the court will enter judgment on the verdict in favor of the Postal Service.
DISCUSSION
I.

Legal Standard
Rule 50 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states that a court may override a jury’s

verdict if the court finds that “a reasonable jury would not have a legally sufficient evidentiary basis
to find for the party on that issue.” FED. R. CIV. P. 50(a). A court “must draw all reasonable
inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, and it may not make credibility determinations or weigh
the evidence.” Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 150, 120 S. Ct.
2097, 2110 (2000). In ruling on such a motion, the court examines the entire record to determine
These clams involve failure to accommodate, and jury instruction error for using
terminology “and” instead of “and/or”, and “because of.”
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whether the evidence submitted, and all reasonable inferences, were sufficient to support the
jury’s verdict. United States v. Funds in the Amount of One Hundred Thousand & One Hundred
Twenty Dollars ($100,120.00), 901 F.3d 758, 770 (7th Cir. 2018) (internal citations omitted). Only
if no rational jury could have found for the nonmovant may a court overturn the jury’s verdict.
Ruiz-Cortez v. City of Chicago, 931 F.3d 592, 601 (7th Cir. 2019).
Under Rule 59, the court may grant a new trial for any reason recognized by federal law.
FED. R. CIV. P. 59(a)(1)(a); Ruiz-Cortez, 931 F.3d at 602. “A new trial is appropriate if the jury’s
verdict is against the manifest weight of the evidence or if the trial was in some way unfair to the
moving party.” Venson v. Altamirano, 749 F.3d 641, 656 (7th Cir. 2014). Johnson asks the court
to overturn the jury verdict in favor of the Postal Service, contending that when the jury asked,
“does the hostile work environment need to be a result of the disability only?”, the court should
have answered “no.” Had the court done so, Johnson believes that the jury would have returned
a verdict in her favor. (Pl.’s Mot. at 5.) Alternatively, Johnson argues that a new trial is warranted
because of the improper jury instructions. (Id.)
II.

Standard of Causation
As Johnson sees things, she was entitled to prevail so long as she showed that “the

disability played a part in the supervisor’s actions.” (Pl.’s Mot. at 3.) At trial, Johnson cited to Hall
v. City of Chicago, 713 F.3d 325, 335 (7th Cir. 2013) in support of this argument. In Hall, the
plaintiff sued the City of Chicago for sex discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, asserting that her supervisor assigned “menial work,” prohibited her coworkers
from speaking with her, and made aggressive comments about women in her presence. Id. at
328–29. Because the Seventh Circuit concluded there was evidence from which a jury could find
that gender “played a part” in the supervisor’s conduct towards plaintiff, the court reversed
summary judgment and remanded the case for trial. Id. at 334. Johnson argued that a similar
instruction should be used here, but Judge Shah read the Hall standard as one requiring “but-for”
causation; rather than answering the jurors’ question with “yes” or “no,” Judge Shah instead
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referred the jury to language on page 20 of the instructions, to which counsel had previously
agreed. 3 (Trial Tr. Vol. 4 at 732–733.)
Hall, a sex discrimination case, was governed by the standards of Title VII. Johnson
argues that the same standards apply here, and that both the Rehabilitation Act and American
with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) prohibit discrimination against individuals “by reason of” or “on the
basis of” their disability. The proof standard under ADA appears to be similar to that under Title
VII, and prohibits discharging an employee “on the basis of” disability. Brumfield v. City of
Chicago, 735 F.3d 619, 630 (7th Cir. 2013). The case Plaintiff cites, however, Wisconsin Cmty.
Servs., Inc. v. City of Milwaukee, 465 F.3d 737, 752 (7th Cir. 2006), arises in a different context:
in that case the operator of a mental health clinic challenged a city zoning appeals board’s denial
of the plaintiff’s request to move the clinic to a new location. On appeal from a ruling in favor of
the plaintiff, the Court of Appeals remanded for a determination of whether the plaintiff would have
been permitted to relocate “but for” the fact that its clients are disabled. The statutory provisions
at issue there—section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the ADA—prohibits exclusion
of disabled persons from publicly-funded programs.

As the Seventh Circuit recognized, § 504

prohibits excluding of any such person “solely by reason of her or his disability.” 465 F.3d at 746.
Both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act also prohibit
discrimination in employment, but the case law is clear that the causation standard in the
Rehabilitation Act, which governs this case against the Postal Service, is stricter than the one
imposed by the ADA. Swain v. Wormuth, 41 F.4th 892, 899 (7th Cir. 2022); Conners v. Wilkie,
984 F.3d 1255, 1260 (7th Cir. 2021) (“The Rehabilitation Act has a stricter causation requirement:
the plaintiff’s disability must be the sole reason for the alleged discriminatory action; this contrasts
with the ADA, which requires only that the plaintiff’s disability be a reason for the challenged
Element 4 of page 20 of the jury instructions directs the jury that Plaintiff must
prove that “The [offending] conduct occurred because Plaintiff was disabled and the verbal
harassment exacerbated her condition, and Plaintiff requested to be transferred.” (Jury
Instructions [123] at 20 ¶ 4.)
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action.” (emphasis in original)). This court itself noted that distinction in its summary judgment
ruling. Johnson, 2020 WL 1139253 at *6.
Johnson nevertheless insists that a “but for” standard applies in this case, one she deems
more relaxed than the “sole cause” test. In her view, when the jury asked whether the hostile
work environment need to be a result of the disability only, the court should have responded “no,”
rather than directing the jury to review the instructions. But as noted, the cases she relied on,
Wisconsin Cmty Servs., Inc., and A.H. ex. rel. Holzmueller v. Ill. High Sch. Ass’n, 881 F.3d 587,
598 (7th Cir. 2018) quoted the “solely by reason of” language in assessing whether persons are
excluded from government programs by reason of disability. The other cases she cites do arise
in the employment setting, but all involve other anti-discrimination statutes: McDonald v. City of
Wichita, Kan., 735 F. App’x 529, 531 (10th Cir. 2018) (Title VII); Jones v. Okla City Pub. Schs.,
617 F.3d 1273, 1278 (10th Cir. 2010) (Age Discrimination in Employment Act); Leal v. McHugh,
731 F.3d 405, 415 (5th Cir. 2013)(Age Discrimination in Employment Act); United States ex. rel.
Barrick v. Parker Migliorini Int’l, LLC, No. 2:12-cv-00381-JNP-CMR , 2021 WL 2717952 (D. Utah
June 30, 2021) (retaliation prohibition in False Claims Act). 4
In this case, governed by the Rehabilitation Act, when the jury asked, “does the hostile
work environment need to be a result of the disability only?” the answer to the jury’s question
should have been “yes”. But that is not the answer they got: although the court did not say “no,”
the court did instruct, in effect, that the jury apply an arguably less stringent standard to the facts
presented to them (that they find that “the conduct occurred because Plaintiff was disabled . . .

Johnson also cites to Bostock v. Clayton County, 140 S. Ct. 1731, 1739 (2020),
but that case does not support her position here. In Bostock, the Court held that the employer
violated Title VII by firing individuals merely for being gay or transgender, and that Title VII’s
“adoption of the traditional but-for causation standard means a defendant cannot avoid liability
just by citing some other factor that contributed to its challenged employment decision.”
Significantly, however, the Court explicitly distinguished that Title VII standard from the one in
other statutes that use the word “’solely’ to indicate that actions taken ‘because of’ the confluence
of multiple factors do not violate the law.” The Rehabilitation Act is one of those other
statutes. Under the Rehabilitation Act, the more stringent “solely by reason of” standard applies.
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.”). The jurors nevertheless returned a verdict favorable to the Postal Service. Judge Shah
directed the jurors to review an instruction that the parties had agreed to prior to trial. That
language did not include the stringent “solely by reason of” proof standard imposed by the
Rehabilitation Act, but perhaps should have. The court concludes that any error in Judge Shah’s
communications with the jurors was not prejudicial to Johnson.
III.

Jury Confusion
Johnson next argues that the jury note demonstrates the jurors were confused about the

instructions they were given. That confusion, she contends, requires the court to enter judgment
as a matter of law or alternatively order a new trial. United States v. Sims, 329 F.3d 937, 943 (7th
Cir. 2003) (“[T]he court has an obligation to dispel any confusion quickly and with concrete
accuracy.”); Balthazar v. City of Chicago, 735 F.3d 634, 638 (7th Cir. 2013). This argument fails
for the same reason already discussed: to the extent the jury was confused at all, the instructions
given by the judge in response to their question were favorable to Plaintiff. Johnson is correct
that the Seventh Circuit has emphasized the importance of providing clear jury instructions to the
jury, but she has not identified a material error in the methodology of resolving the jury’s question.
Notably, when the court proposed an answer to the jury’s question, Johnson’s counsel deliberated
and ultimately declined to object to the proposed response. (Trial Tr. vol. 4 at 734–35.)
In Balthazar, in contrast, the jury asked a question related to the definition of a search,
and the judge simply told them that the law they were asked to apply was contained in the jury
instructions without any specificity. Balthazar, 735 F.3d at 638. That is not what happened here,
where after conferring with both parties, the court directed the jury specifically to element 4 of
page 20 of the jury instructions. After the court answered their question, they did not ask any
other questions and returned a verdict later that afternoon. Johnson has not demonstrated that
any remaining confusion existed at all, or, if it did, that she was prejudiced by the instruction given.
Though Johnson did not object at the instruction conference to the language she now
challenges, she urges that the instruction was plain error and violates Federal Rule of Civil
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Procedure 51(d)(2). “A court may consider plain error in the instructions that has not been
preserved as required by Rule 51(d)(1) if the error affects substantial rights.” Johnson has
provided nothing to the court to demonstrate that her substantial rights had been affected by the
instruction. To the contrary, the jury found in favor of the Postal Service using an an arguably
more lenient causation instruction than the one that governs Rehabilitation Act claims. Johnson’s
motions for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50 and motion for a new trial under Rule 59
are denied.
IV.

Weight of Evidence
Finally, Johnson suggests that the jury verdict was against the weight of the evidence.

The argument is not a strong one, and the court did not request briefing on it for that reason. On
either a Rule 50 or a Rule 59 motion, the court construes the evidence in the light most favorable
to the jury’s determination and will not reweigh that evidence.
Plaintiff claims she was harassed by supervisors, but the jury was entitled to credit the
explanation offered by Mr. Saddler and other witnesses: they were not following her as a form of
harassment, but instead trying to track her down when she was unexpectedly missing from work.
She alleged that Mr. Shudder, the custodian, followed her on a daily basis, but the only trial
evidence related to a single incident in which Plaintiff claimed that he had tried “to smell her private
parts.” The jurors were entitled to discount that testimony in favor of evidence that Shudder had
entered in the bathroom in an effort to do his job. Plaintiff believes her tools were taken from her
because of her disability, but supervisors explained that postal workers had no on-the-job need
for a pocket knife, letter opener, box cutter or mace, and that they would generally remove these
items from employees.
Plaintiff asserted that her supervisors referred to her as being in the “crazy house,” but the
evidence did not support that claim either. Plaintiff’s own witness, Ms. Hines, testified that she
had never heard Mr. Saddler call Plaintiff “crazy.” (Trial Tr. vol. 1B at 225.) In an incident report,
Ms. Campbell recounted that it was Plaintiff who referred to having been “in the crazy people
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ward” when she uttered what supervisors deemed a threat against Mr. Saddler. Some of Plaintiff’s
co-workers may well have referred to her disparagingly, but the evidence did not support that her
supervisors called her “crazy” or referred to her treatment as the “crazy house” or “crazy ward.”
A reasonable jury could perhaps have found that Plaintiff’s anxiety disorder was the
reason that supervisors called police on September 9, but a reasonable jury could also have found
that they were in fact motivated by threats she uttered. As noted, she had been placed on
“Emergency Placement in Off-Duty Status” months earlier, in January 13, undermining the
inference that it was awareness of her disability that led to Defendant’s actions on September 9.
(Joint Ex. 1 at 18-19.) Plaintiff had a history of altercations with her supervisors; she claimed that
at least nine former supervisors were abusive at more than one Postal Service facility. Inspector
O’Connor reported that she had made threats on three prior occasions in 2013. Supervisors
testified, and the jurors were entitled to believe, that the “harassment” Plaintiff claimed she
suffered amounted to nothing more than reasonable work instructions, and that Plaintiff herself
was often combative and abusive of coworkers and at least one customer. Plaintiff alleged that
her co-worker, Donald Pritchard, had mocked her, but the jury was entitled to believe Defendant’s
evidence that it was Plaintiff who harassed Mr. Pritchard by screaming, cursing at him, and
following him around with a clinched fist because she believed he “snitched” on her for taking
extended breaks. Plaintiff asserted that her supervisors would harass her on a “daily basis” by
asking if she took her medication. But the jury was entitled to believe Mr. Saddler’s testimony
that he the only occasion on which he ever spoke to Plaintiff about taking medication was the time
she asked to be left alone because she had not done so, and Ms. Hall’s testimony that she asked
Plaintiff about her medication only after Plaintiff commented that she felt anxious.
“A new trial is appropriate where the verdict is against the clear weight of the evidence or
the trial was not fair to the moving party.” Morris v. BNSF Ry. Co., 969 F.3d 753, 764 (7th Cir.
2020) (citing Johnson v. Gen. Bd. of Pension & Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church,
733 F.3d 722, 730 (7th Cir. 2013)). “[A] new trial should be granted ‘only when the record shows
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that the jury's verdict resulted in a miscarriage of justice or where the verdict, on the record, cries
out to be overturned or shocks our conscience’.” Clarett v. Roberts, 657 F.3d 664, 674 (7th Cir.
2011) (quoting Williamson v. Consol. Rail Corp., 926 F.2d 1344, 1353 (3d Cir.1991)). Put simply,
Plaintiff has not met this test.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, Plaintiff’s motion for judgment as a matter of law, or
alternatively, for a new trial [130] are denied. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment in favor of
Defendant and against Plaintiff. This ruling is final and appealable.
ENTER:

Dated: September 27, 2023

______________________________________
REBECCA R. PALLMEYER
United States District Judge

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