United States District Court, D. Arizona
ORDER
HONORABLE ROSLYN O. SILVER, SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT
JUDGE
Plaintiff
Keith Turner worked as a truck driver for Defendant JCB
Corporation. Turner was either an employee, independent
contractor, or maybe both. During their relationship, Turner
and JCB entered into several contracts, including one
regarding Turner's compensation and another involving
Turner's lease of a truck from JCB. In May 2016, the
parties' relationship deteriorated. Eventually, Turner
filed the present suit, alleging claims for discrimination
based on race. JCB then filed counterclaims for breach of
contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair
dealing. Turner now seeks summary judgment on the
counterclaims while JCB seeks summary judgment on some of the
race discrimination claims.
BACKGROUND
Unless
otherwise noted, the following facts are undisputed. Turner
is an African-American truck driver who, as of March 2016,
was operating his own company named D&K Carriers, LLC. At
that time, JCB was a relatively small trucking company that
paid drivers to deliver freight. In March and April 2016,
Turner and JCB entered into four separate agreements. In
general, those agreements involved Turner performing services
for JCB and Turner leasing a vehicle from JCB.
Two of
the agreements were executed on March 11, 2016. The first was
an “Independent Contractor Agreement.” (Doc. 67-5
at 2). Under that agreement, Turner agreed to perform
“Trucking and Maintanance [sic]” services for
JCB. That meant Turner would perform “driver services
as needed by [JCB].” The agreement stated the parties
“understood” that Turner would not be considered
“an employee with respect to JCB Trucking, but [would
be] an independent contractor.” (Doc. 67-5 at 2). The
second agreement was an “Owner/Operator Truck Lease
Agreement.” (Doc. 60-4 at 6). Under that agreement,
Turner agreed to use his own truck to deliver freight for
JCB. The parties apparently understood that agreement's
compensation provision but it is not comprehensible to an
outsider. The provision merely stated JCB would pay Turner
“80% OF GROSS on all shipments transported by [Turner],
LESS ALL EXPENSES THAT are the responsibility of
[Turner].” (Doc. 60-4 at 7). The agreement does not
define “gross” or “expenses.”
A
little over a month after entering into the first two
agreements, Turner and JCB entered into two more. On April
20, 2016, JCB and Turner entered into an “Agreement for
Services.” (Doc. 60-4 at 10). Pursuant to that
agreement, Turner-through his company D&K Carriers-agreed
to recruit other truck drivers to deliver freight for JCB.
D&K Carriers would also “dispatch, route, manage
and handle all logistics” for the drivers its
recruited. (Doc. 60-4 at 10). D&K Carriers would receive
“30% of the gross profits JCB makes off of each
load” delivered by the drivers D&K Carriers
recruited. (Doc. 60-4 at 11). This agreement stated D&K
Carriers would be “an independent contractor” and
would “not be considered an employee or joint venture
with JCB for any purpose whatsoever.” (Doc. 60-4 at
10).
Finally,
on April 21, 2016, Turner and JCB entered into their fourth
and final agreement. That agreement was titled “Vehicle
Lease Agreement.” (Doc. 60-5). Pursuant to that
agreement, Turner agreed to lease a truck from JCB for 42
months at a rate of $640 every two weeks. At the end of the
42 months, the lease gave Turner the option to purchase the
truck for $5, 000. (Doc. 60-5 at 5). The lease required
Turner “maintain the vehicle in good condition, repair
maintenance and running order.” (Doc. 60-5 at 5). JCB
could terminate the lease if Turner failed to “pay any
amount due” or failed “to comply with any of the
covenants contained” in the lease. (Doc. 60-5 at 5).
The
parties have not provided a clear explanation of their
relationship from its beginning in March and the subsequent
months. It appears Turner performed under the agreements by
delivering freight and recruiting others to drive for JCB. It
is not clear, however, what Turner's day-to-day work was
like or the extent to which JCB exercised control over that
work. All that can be gleaned from the present record is that
the relationship was amicable for a very short time. Disputes
arose in May 2016 regarding the parties' obligations to
each other.
According
to JCB, Turner failed to make the payments due on May 6,
2016, under the Owner/Operator Truck Lease Agreement. JCB
explains that while the Owner/Operator Truck Lease Agreement
provided Turner would be paid for providing services, it also
entitled JCB to deduct expenses from Turner's
compensation. According to JCB, this structure resulted in
the expenses being more than Turner was owed in compensation.
Thus, JCB claims some of Turner's “net settlements
were negative.” (Doc. 67 at 7). JCB claims Turner
stopped making payments on the Vehicle Lease Agreement around
the same time he began owing money under the “net
settlements.”
Turner
continued to work for JCB throughout May 2016, despite
allegedly not keeping up on his financial obligations.
According to Turner, on May 26, 2016, an employee of JCB,
Cody Eaton, called Turner. The parties disagree on whether
this call occurred, meaning the description of the call comes
entirely from Turner. According to Turner, Eaton called and
invited Turner to go to Eaton's house and do cocaine.
(Doc. 60-1 at 5). Turner declined. Eaton then allegedly
stated:
We should have kept our foot on your niggers' necks. . .
. We used to beat the S-H-I-T out of you guys, out of you
niggers, and we should have never let our -- we should have
never took our foot off you niggers' neck. . . . [Y]ou
know, we used to kick you niggers asses and I'm with the
KKK. You haven't seen me and [a JCB vice president] in
our mask[s]. . . . I'm in the KKK. You haven't seen
me -- You haven't seen me in my mask . . . You're a
good nigger. . . . I used to have niggers work for me before
. . . some niggers [did me] bad before. But, [Turner],
you're a good nigger.
(Doc. 60-1 at 6). The parties do not explain what happened
after this call. Turner claims he reported Eaton's
behavior to Mark Ganley, JCB's owner. (Doc. 60-1 at 7).
Ganley allegedly apologized for Eaton's behavior and said
it was “unacceptable.” The parties do not
identify any formal actions taken by Ganley. A few months
later, Eaton allegedly called Turner again. During that call,
Eaton allegedly said “[D]on't go get a lawyer . . .
you know that other day that we talked, disregard that.
Don't go get a lawyer.” (Doc. 60-1 at 8).
Turner
apparently continued to work for JCB until the end of July
2016. During that time, JCB believes the amount Turner owed
continued to grow. At the end of July, JCB repossessed the
truck Turner had been leasing. According to JCB, Turner had
not maintained the truck in good condition and JCB had to
incur substantial sums in repossessing and repairing the
truck. As of August 2016, Turner and JCB were no longer
working together.
In
February 2017, Turner filed the present suit. Turner alleged
claims for “hostile work environment” and
“retaliation” under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and
Title VII. (Doc. 3 at 1). JCB answered the complaint and
asserted counterclaims for breach of contract and breach of
the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The
counterclaims were based on Turner's alleged failure to
perform under the Owner/Operator Truck Lease Agreement and
the Vehicle Lease Agreement. (Doc. 8). The parties proceeded
with discovery.
In June
2018, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment.
Turner seeks summary judgment on all of the counterclaims
while JCB seeks summary judgment only on the Title VII
claims. The fact that JCB seeks summary judgment only on the
Title VII claims means the parties agree this case must, at
least, proceed to trial on Turner's claims under 42
U.S.C. § 1981. And given that claims brought under 42
U.S.C. § 1981 and Title VII are so similar, it is
unclear what purpose is served by JCB seeking dismissal of
the Title VII claims. See Nat'l Ass'n of African
Am.-Owned Media v. Charter Commc'ns, Inc., No.
17-55723, 2019 WL 419393, at *5 (9th Cir. Feb. 4, 2019)
(noting ...