Bandera v. City Of Quincy

344 F.3d 47 (1st Cir. 2003)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P was hired by D as executive director of a newly established, or to be established, Community Policing Commission. She reported to the Mayor and the Police Chief. She was warned by both that she would encounter difficulties as a woman and as a civilian. P was excluded from meetings, ridiculed, and subjected by male officers to graphic details of their sexual exploits. The Mayor and Chief failed to take steps to halt this harassment although they were advised of at least some of P's concerns. P was terminated and sued D, the Mayor and Chief alleging gender discrimination of two kinds: sexual harassment and wrongful termination. At the ensuing trial, P represented herself. P intended to call a number of witnesses including Nancy Coletta, a female police officer in the D Police Department who had filed then-pending sexual harassment claims of her own against the police department. D moved in limine to exclude Coletta’s testimony on grounds that it was irrelevant or, if relevant, unduly prejudicial under Federal Rule of Evidence 403. The magistrate denied the motion. At trial, Coletta described the harassment to which she herself had been subject; these episodes included name-calling, exposure to offensive conversations about sexual matters and pornographic magazines, hostile treatment, and her reporting of these incidents to the Chief. She testified that she had suffered major depression as a result of this behavior. Coletta was allowed to testify over objections by D as to how Coletta felt about and assessed P's own allegations. P got the judgment and D appealed in part over Coletta’s testimony. P got the judgment and D appealed. D contends Coletta's testimony was of minimal relevance but highly prejudicial, in that that Coletta had no first-hand knowledge of what happened to P and her views constituted inappropriate opinion testimony by a lay witness, Fed. R. Evid. 701, and that the testimony as to what Coletta said to other officers or Bandera was inadmissible hearsay, Fed. R. Evid. 801.