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Flint Construction Co. v. Hall12/30/2004
because of his poor attendance record, the decision-makers disavowed and thereby contradicted the reason Flint gave to the Georgia Department of Labor for Hall's dismissal--that Hall had been discharged because of a lack of work. Good testified that the form had probably been completed by a clerical employee who was unaware of the actual reason for Hall's discharge, and that although most of the employees Flint discharged were discharged because of a lack of work, that was not true in Hall's case.
It is axiomatic that it is the jury's province to resolve conflicts in testimony, Wright v. Mills, 590 So. 2d 177 (Ala. 1991), and to judge the credibility of witnesses, Floyd v. Broughton, 664 So. 2d 897 (Ala. 1995). On proper instruction, a jury concluding that any witness was willfully not truthful about one material aspect of his or her testimony is free to disregard all or any part of the testimony. See Franklin v. Cannon, 565 So. 2d 119, 121 (Ala. 1990). The trial court here charged the jury as follows:
"Now, you will be the sole and exclusive judges of the facts in this case. It will be your duty to attempt to reconcile the testimony of all the witnesses so as to make them all speak the truth, if this can be done reasonably. If you cannot reasonably reconcile all the testimony, it is then your duty to consider the testimony with the view of determining what the true facts are.
"Now, in determining what the true facts are from the evidence, you may take into consideration any natural interest or bias a witness may have as a result of any connection with the case. You may take into consideration the interest or bias a witness may have shown while testifying. You may take into consideration the demeanor of any witness, as to whether that witness has apparently testified frankly or evasively.
...
"Now, you will be the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses. You may accept or reject any part of the testimony of any witness and you should accept only the testimony you consider worthy of belief. Now, if you find that any witness has willfully sworn falsely as to any material fact in the case, you may disregard the testimony of that witness in its entirety."
(Emphasis added.) If the jury believed that the decision-makers knew about Hall's back injury , then the jury also could have concluded that Flint discharged Hall from his employment because of that injury and because he had filed a workers' compensation claim and thereafter gave varying reasons for Hall's discharge in an effort to establish that his back injury and the fact that he had filed a workers' compensation claim either were not the reasons or were not the only reasons he was discharged.
C. Pretext
We now turn to the question whether a conclusive determination can be made in this case as to sole causation. We have concluded that Hall made out a prima facie case, justifying the trial court's denial of Flint's motion for a JML at the conclusion of Hall's evidence. After a defendant in a retaliatory-discharge action has presented legitimate reasons for the plaintiff's discharge, "'" he plaintiff then has the burden of going forward with rebuttal evidence showing that the defendant's [stated] reasons"' for [discharging] the plaintiff are not true." Culbreth, supra, 599 So. 2d at 1122 (quoting Twilley v. Daubert Coated Prods., Inc., 536 So. 2d 1364, 1369 (Ala. 1988), quoting in turn Pushkin v. Regents of the Univ. of Colorado, 658 F.2d 1372, 1387 (10th Cir. 1981)). In answering that question, "we review the entire record, not merely the evidence as it stood at the time [the defendant] first moved for a JML." Aldridge, 854 So. 2d at 568.
Fl
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