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Shabazz v. Bob Evans Farms9/2/2005
Eyler, Deborah S., Adkins, Thieme, Raymond G., Jr. (Ret'd, Specially Assigned), JJ.
In the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Wendy Shabazz filed a two-count complaint against Bob Evans Farms, Inc. ("Bob Evans"), and Brian Martin, an employee of Bob Evans, for employment discrimination based on race and for retaliation for opposing an unlawful employment practice. After a hotly contested six-day trial, a jury found Bob Evans not liable on both counts and found Martin not liable for discrimination but liable for retaliation. It awarded "0" in compensatory damages and $85,000 in punitive damages.
A judgment was entered by the clerk in favor of Bob Evans and against Shabazz, for costs. A separate judgment was entered by the clerk in favor of Shabazz and against Martin for $85,000 and costs. Martin filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict ("JNOV"), on the ground that the punitive damages award against him was not supported by a compensatory damages award. The court granted that motion. The court denied a post trial motion by Shabazz for "backpay" and to submit additional evidence on that issue. Finally, the court denied Shabazz's petition for attorney's fees.
In this appeal, Shabazz presents four questions for review, which we have reworded and reordered:
I. Did the trial court err by denying her motion to revise the judgment against Martin to add Bob Evans, so they would be jointly and severally liable?
II. Did the trial court err by denying her motion for backpay and to submit additional evidence about backpay?
III. Did the trial court err by granting Martin's JNOV motion on the ground that punitive damages are not recoverable in Maryland unless actual damages have been awarded?
IV. Did the trial court err by denying her petition for attorney's fees and costs?
For the following reasons, we shall affirm the judgment of the circuit court.
FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
Bob Evans is an Ohio corporation that owns and operates family restaurants throughout the United States, including one on Crain Highway in Bowie.
On March 13, 2000, Shabazz was hired by Bob Evans to work as a server in the Bowie restaurant. Shabazz is a black person who is African-American. Soon after she started working at the Bowie restaurant, Martin was hired as its general manager. Martin is a black person who was born in Bermuda. Linda Hannah was the assistant manager of the Bowie restaurant at the relevant times. Hannah is white.
As a server, Shabazz was paid a modest hourly wage. She depended on tips to supplement her earnings. She worked primarily on the day shift. When Shabazz first was employed at the Bowie restaurant, the restaurant's policy was that each server was assigned to a particular station of tables for an entire shift. According to Shabazz, that policy enabled servers to develop regular customers, which in turn helped them increase their tips.
According to Shabazz, she and other African-American employees at the Bowie restaurant heard Martin make derogatory racial remarks about African-Americans, criticizing their speech and calling African-American males "thugs" and names that are racial epithets.
On March 3, 2001, the Bowie restaurant instituted a new station rotation policy, by which, during a given shift, servers were to move from station to station. A few weeks later, on March 16 or 17, 2001 (or perhaps on both -- the record is not clear), Shabazz complained to Hannah that the station rotation policy was being implemented unfairly because white servers were not consistently being made to rotate stations but black servers
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