Ronald L. Obrey, Jr. v. Hansford T. Johnson, in His Capacity as the Acting Secretary of the Navy

This appeal requires us to clarify and apply the harmless error test applicable to civil trials in our circuit.

I.

Appellant, Ronald L. Obrey, Jr., originally filed suit for declaratory and in-junctive relief, alleging that he was twice denied a promotion to the position of Production Resource Manager at the Pearl Harbor- Naval Shipyard (hereinafter, the “Shipyard”) on the basis of his race in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (2000). Obrey alleged that the defendant, the Secretary' of the Navy,' had engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminating against qualified candidates of Asian-Pacific ancestry in favor of Caucasian applicants for senior management positions at the Shipyard. In a pre-trial hearing, the district court issued several evidentiary rulings excluding the principal evidence supporting Obrey’s pattern or practice claim. After a jury trial, judgment was entered against Obrey. The district court’s evi-dentiary rulings form the basis for this appeal.

The Pearl Harbor Shipyard is one of four Navy shipyards operated by the Navy organizational unit, the Naval Sea Systems Command. Obrey, an Asian-Pacific…