a-0181-13t3 walter townley vs. jefferson township board of

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-0181-13T3
WALTER TOWNLEY,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP BOARD
OF EDUCATION,
Defendant-Appellant.
__________________________
Argued December 9, 2014 - Decided February 2, 2015
Before Judges Reisner and Haas.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New
Jersey, Law Division, Morris County, Docket
No. L-1606-11.
David H.
appellant.
Kaplan
argued
the
cause
for
Eric L. Harrison argued the cause for
respondent (Methfessel & Werbel, attorneys;
Mr. Harrison, of counsel and on the brief;
Raina Marie Pitts, on the brief).
PER CURIAM
Plaintiff Walter Townley appeals from a trial court order
dated August 6, 2013, granting summary judgment in favor of
defendant Jefferson Township Board of Education, and dismissing
plaintiff's age discrimination complaint with prejudice.
After
reviewing the record in light of the applicable legal standards,
we affirm substantially for the reasons stated in the trial
court's written statement of reasons issued with the order.
We
add the following brief comments.
Our review of a trial court's summary judgment is de novo,
employing
the
Brill
standard
judgment was warranted.
to
determine
whether
summary
Nicholas v. Mynster, 213 N.J. 463, 477-
78 (2013); Brill v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 142 N.J. 520,
540 (1995).
Thus, in reviewing the evidence ourselves, we have
considered whether, even viewing the evidence in the light most
favorable to plaintiff, defendant was nonetheless entitled to
judgment as a matter of law.
Servs.,
204
N.J.
320,
330
See Henry v. N.J. Dep't of Human
(2010);
Agurto
v.
under
the
Guhr,
381
N.J.
Super. 519, 525 (App. Div. 2005).1
Because
this
case
arises
Law
Against
Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -42, we consider the
evidence
in
the
context
applicable to LAD cases.
of
the
three-part
proof
paradigm
To summarize, in an age discrimination
1
It is generally easier for us to review a summary judgment
record when appellant's appendix presents the motion documents
in the order they were presented to the trial court, that is,
first the moving party's papers, followed by the opposition
papers, followed by the moving party's reply papers.
In this
case plaintiff's appendix was not organized in that fashion.
Nonetheless, we have carefully reviewed the entire record.
2
A-0181-13T3
case, the plaintiff must present a prima facie case by producing
at least minimal evidence from which an inference may be drawn
that the employer's decision was motivated by age bias.
prima facie burden is relatively slight.
The
See Bergen Commercial
Bank v. Sisler, 157 N.J. 188, 210 (1999).
The defendant must
then rebut the prima facie case by coming forward with evidence
that the challenged decision was made for a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason.
Ibid.
In the third and final stage of
the case, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant's
asserted
legitimate
discrimination.
reason
is
actually
a
pretext
for
Id. at 211; see also Zive v. Stanely Roberts,
Inc., 182 N.J. 436, 458 (2005).
Throughout the case, the burden
of proving discrimination remains with the plaintiff.
Bergen
Commercial Bank, supra, 157 N.J. at 211.
In this case, there is no dispute that plaintiff presented
a prima facie case and the employer presented evidence of a
legitimate
contract.
which
a
non-discriminatory
reason
for
not
renewing
his
The issue is whether plaintiff produced evidence from
rational
factfinder
could
conclude
that
defendant's
explanation was a pretext for age discrimination.
The motion evidence is described at length in the trial
court's written opinion and need not be repeated here in the
same level of detail.
In 1999, plaintiff, then age fifty-one,
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A-0181-13T3
was hired as a substitute school custodian.
He was given a
full-time contract position as a custodian in 2002, when he was
fifty-four.
In June 2009, when plaintiff was sixty-one, his
contract was not renewed and his employment with the school
district ended.
defendant
In support of its summary judgment
produced
photographs
numerous
documenting
performance
plaintiff's
motion,
evaluations
unsatisfactory
and
work
performance, which was the stated reason for the decision not to
renew his contract.
The trial judge concluded that plaintiff
did not produce evidence that the asserted reason was a pretext
for age discrimination.
Having reviewed the record, we agree
with that conclusion.
Affirmed.
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