Kevin Byers v. Augusta School Dist. , 33 F. App'x 238 ( 2002 )


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  •                    United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
    ___________
    No. 01-2795
    ___________
    Kevin Byers,                          *
    *
    Appellant,          *
    *
    v.                              * Appeal from the United States
    * District Court for the Eastern
    Augusta School District Board         * District of Arkansas.
    of Education, A Public Body           *
    Corporate; James Toy,                 *      [UNPUBLISHED]
    Superintendent of Schools of the      *
    Augusta School District,              *
    *
    Appellees.          *
    ___________
    Submitted: April 16, 2002
    Filed: April 23, 2002
    ___________
    Before HANSEN, Chief Judge, McMILLIAN, and FAGG, Circuit Judges.
    ___________
    PER CURIAM.
    Kevin Byers, an African-American man, appeals the damages awarded by the
    district court* after it held that the Augusta, Arkansas School District racially
    *
    The Honorable John Forster, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern
    District of Arkansas, sitting by consent of the parties.
    discriminated against Byers when it failed to hire him as Augusta High School
    principal in August 1997. The district court awarded Byers $10,000 in compensatory
    damages and ordered the school district to hire Byers as Augusta High School
    principal when the position became vacant. We consider each of Byers’s four claims
    in turn, reviewing the district court's remedial order for abuse of discretion. MacDissi
    v. Valmont Ind., Inc., 
    856 F.2d 1054
    , 1056 (8th Cir. 1988) (standard of review).
    First, Byers argues the district court abused its discretion when it did not award
    damages for the school district’s failure to hire Byers as Augusta High School
    principal before August 1997. As the district court noted, because Byers brought his
    claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, he must prove the alleged discrimination was
    intentional. Gen. Bldg. Contractors Ass’n, Inc. v. Penn., 
    458 U.S. 375
    , 387-91
    (1982). Byers, however, did not meet the school district's pre-August 1997
    qualifications for the principal position–he did not have principal’s certification–so
    the school district had a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for not hiring Byers.
    Byers still did not have his principal’s certification at the time of trial, but in August
    1997 the school district changed its policy and no longer required principal’s
    certification for its principals. Thus, the district court properly declined to award
    damages for the school district’s pre-August 1997 decisions to not hire Byers.
    Second, Byers contends the district court abused its discretion when it did not
    award him front pay for the retirement benefits he would be earning if currently
    employed as Augusta High School principal. Byers was a teacher in Camden,
    Arkansas when he applied for the Augusta principal position. Byers continued to
    teach in Camden through the 1997-1998 school year after he had been denied the
    Augusta principal position in August 1997. Although Byers could have continued
    teaching in Camden and accrued Arkansas teacher’s retirement benefits there, he
    resigned from the Camden district and eventually accepted a higher-paying, non-
    teaching job in Memphis, Tennessee. For these reasons and because Byers did not
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    present any evidence on this issue at trial, the district court properly denied Byers's
    request for front pay relief. See 
    MacDissi, 856 F.2d at 1060
    .
    Third, Byers claims the district court abused its discretion by refusing to award
    him commuting expenses incurred after Byers moved his family to Augusta in 1998
    and then commuted 250 miles round-trip to his new job in Memphis. Byers’s claim
    for commuting expenses fails because Byers voluntarily resigned from his Camden
    teaching position; he was not forced to seek employment as a result of the race
    discrimination which occurred in Augusta. See Jackson v. Wheatley Sch. Dist., 
    489 F.2d 608
    , 612-13 (8th Cir. 1973). Even if the August 1997 race discrimination had
    forced Byers into the job market, though, Byers would be expected to seek
    employment in Camden–the community where he lived when the discrimination
    occurred–not in Augusta. See 
    id. at 612.
    The district court properly denied Byers
    commuting expenses.
    Finally, Byers argues the district court abused its discretion by ordering the
    school district to hire Byers as the Augusta High School principal at the next
    opportunity, rather than requiring that Byers be hired for the next available principal
    or administrative position. As the district court properly noted, Byers did not raise
    this far-reaching claim for relief until his motion for reconsideration. Because Byers
    did not present evidence at trial to establish he was qualified for other positions in the
    Augusta school district, the district court properly limited the relief to the Augusta
    High School principal position. Heffernan v. Lockhart, 
    834 F.2d 1431
    , 1436 (8th Cir.
    1987).
    For the reasons stated above, we conclude the district court did not abuse its
    discretion in fashioning a remedy for the employment discrimination Byers suffered.
    Thus, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
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    A true copy.
    Attest:
    CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.
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