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Heiat v. Eastern Montana College3/4/1996
14. Summary judgment is an extreme remedy and should never be substituted for a trial if a material fact controversy exists. Howard v. Conlin Furniture No. 2, Inc. (1995), 272 Mont. 433, 436, 901 P.2d 116, 118-19 (citing Hagen v. Dow Chem. Co. (1993), 261 Mont. 487, 491, 863 P.2d 413, 416).
A party seeking summary judgment has the burden of establishing a complete absence of any genuine factual issues. Howard, 901 P.2d at 118. In light of the pleadings and the evidence before the district court, there must be no material issue of fact remaining which would entitle a non-moving party to recover. Howard, 901 P.2d at 118. Once the moving party has met its burden, the party opposing the summary judgment motion must present material and substantial evidence, rather than conclusory or speculative statements, to raise a genuine issue of material fact. Howard, 901 P.2d at 119. In addition, all reasonable inferences that might be drawn from the offered evidence should be drawn in favor of the party who opposed summary judgment. Howard, 901 P.2d at 119 (citing Cereck v. Albertson's, Inc. (1981), 195 Mont. 409, 411, 637 P.2d 509, 511).
EMC contends that it was willing to pay Abbas a higher salary than that contemplated in the collective bargaining agreement because EMC had a pressing need to have a faculty member with a Ph.D. in the information systems program. EMC asserts that " nce the discipline was `anchored' with a Ph.D. the need for a subsequent Ph.D. was lessened and, given the tight budget the College has labored with for several years, the College felt no need to pay a premium for a second Ph.D. in the same discipline."
Abbas and Nafisseh assert that the rationale of "anchoring" the department was not mentioned to either of them as a factor in setting salaries when they applied for and accepted positions on the faculty at EMC. Further, in an affidavit, Abbas stated that even after he was hired by EMC, he was not told that he occupied an "anchor position" nor was he assigned extra duties or responsibilities. Nafisseh stated that at the time she was hired she was told that she could not be paid a high salary because of the tight budget at EMC.
Dr. Ronald Sexton, vice-president for academic affairs at EMC, asserted that the term "anchor position" was essentially administrative jargon and, as a result, it is quite possible that neither Abbas nor Nafisseh had heard the term. Further, Sexton contended that because EMC already had Abbas as a Ph.D. on its information systems program faculty, EMC was not willing to pay a premium to hire another Ph.D. and that is the reason that Nafisseh was offered a lower starting salary.
According to the United States Supreme Court's burden shifting analysis employed in discrimination cases, once the plaintiff has, by a preponderance of the evidence, proved a prima facie case of discrimination, the burden shifts to the defendant "to articulate some legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the employee's rejection." Texas Dep't of Community Affairs v. Burdine (1981), 450 U.S. 248, 252-53, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 1093, 67 L.Ed.2d 207, 214-15 (citing McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green (1973), 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 1824, 36 L.Ed.2d 668). Should the defendant carry this burden, "the plaintiff must then have an opportunity to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the legitimate reasons offered by the defendant were not its true reasons, but were a pretext for discrimination." Burdine, 450 U.S. at 253, 101 S.Ct. at 1093. Recently, the Supreme Court refined this stage, stating that "a reason cannot be proved to be a `pretext for discrimination' unless it is shown both that the reason was false, and that discrimina
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