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McCallum v. North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service of N.C.2/6/2001
e issues cannot be the same, and that therefore collateral estoppel cannot apply. We disagree. Although plaintiff's present state court claims are different from those brought in federal court, his state court claims may contain issues previously litigated and determined in the federal court. Thus, plaintiff may be collaterally estopped from re-litigating these issues. To hold otherwise, as plaintiff suggests we should, would mean that state courts are never barred from hearing state constitutional claims or issues pertinent to such claims, even when such issues have been previously litigated in the federal courts. Such a finding would directly violate the underlying principle of judicial economy that precipitated the creation of the collateral estoppel and res judicata doctrines as expressed in King and Bockweg. We reaffirm, therefore, that collateral estoppel may prevent the re-litigation of issues that are necessary to the decision of a North Carolina constitutional claim and that have been previously decided in federal court.
To determine whether collateral estoppel prevents the re-litigation of issues presented by plaintiff in the instant case, we must first ascertain whether issues raised by the present litigation and dispositive of plaintiff's claim are identical to issues decided by the federal court. Collateral estoppel applies when the following requirements are met:
(1) he issues to be concluded must be the same as those involved in the prior action; (2) in the prior action, the issues must have been raised and actually litigated; (3) the issues must have been material and relevant to the disposition of the prior action; and (4) the determination made of those issues in the prior action must have been necessary and essential to the resulting judgment. King, 284 N.C. at 358, 200 S.E.2d at 806.
Here, plaintiff asserts claims under the North Carolina Constitution against defendants for racial discrimination, equal protection violations and retaliatory discharge. We will consider the applicability of collateral estoppel for each claim in turn.
To prevail upon a claim for racial discrimination in either a federal or state court in North Carolina, a plaintiff must establish improper motivation on defendant's part by proffering evidence of discriminatory intent. Dept. of Correction v. Gibson, 308 N.C. 131, 138, 301 S.E.2d 78, 83 (1983) (adopting federal guidelines for discrimination cases in North Carolina and noting that the plaintiff carries the burden of showing intentional discrimination by defendant). In the instant case, the issue of whether defendants intentionally discriminated against plaintiff was fully litigated in the federal court. After reviewing all of the evidence, the federal court found that plaintiff failed to present "any 'direct evidence of a purpose [by defendants] to discriminate [against plaintiff] or circumstantial evidence of sufficiently probative force to raise a genuine issue of material fact.'" The federal court then granted defendants' motion for summary judgment on plaintiff's claim for racial discrimination. We hold that the issue of discriminatory intent by defendants was conclusively determined in the federal court, and thus plaintiff is collaterally estopped from re-litigating that issue in this action. Plaintiff's failure in federal court to establish discriminatory intent by defendants also bars litigation of his equal protection violation claim in state court. In order to prevail upon an equal protection violation claim under the North Carolina Constitution, "the burden is upon the complainant to show the intentional, purposeful discrimination upon which he relies." Kresge Co. v. Davis, 277 N.C. 654, 662, 178 S.E.2d 382, 386 (19
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