Hernandez

MEMORANDUM *

Patricio Hernandez sued the City of Los Angeles under Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 for failing to promote him to Captain of the LAPD. He alleges that the City discriminated against him on the basis of his national origin and in retaliation for his criticisms related to equal employment opportunity matters. He timely appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment and judgment on the pleadings in favor of the City.

The district court did not err in granting summary judgment. Although Hernandez may have presented a prima facie case of discrimination, the City responded with a legitimate, nondiseriminatory reason for its employment decision, shifting the burden to Hernandez to demonstrate that the proffered reason was pretextual. Godwin v. Hunt Wesson, Inc., 150 F.3d 1217, 1220 (9th Cir.1998). Hernandez failed to do so because his evidence on both claims consisted of criticisms of the process by which the LAPD selected its captains and his conclusion that he was better qualified in some areas than the officers promoted to captain. The circumstantial evidence proffered by Hernandez is not sufficient to survive summary judgment because it is not specific and…