Claude RODRIGUEZ, Jr., Plaintiff, and Leroy Gibbs, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, Et Al., Defendant-Appellee

Opinion by Judge TANG.

I.

Leroy Gibbs, an African-American, was hired by the General Motors (“GM”) Van Nuys plant in 1957. In 1977, he attained the position of “General Supervisor, Maintenance,” at Salary Level 7. In 1980, Gibbs’ department was reorganized; Gibbs was given responsibility over housekeeping, rather than other types of maintenance, though he retained the same job classification and compensation. Gibbs believed this constituted a demotion, and applied for a different Level 7 position with more responsibility within the Maintenance Department. GM instead promoted a Caucasian employee, Bob Potter. Gibbs filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 .

The district court granted summary judgment for GM. We reversed and remanded to the district court after concluding that Gibbs had put forward enough evidence that material issues of fact remained in dispute. Rodriguez v. General Motors Corp., 904 F.2d 531, 532 (9th Cir.1990).

However, pending appeal, the Supreme Court had decided Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, which held that the denial of a promotion is not actionable under § 1981 unless the promotion was “an opportunity for a new and distinct relation between the…