The prohibition against discrimination based on sex was added to Title VII at the last minute on the floor of the House of Representatives. Mrs. Dade signed the card without reading it and without any sort of explanation from Taylor. The overwhelming evidence at trial indicated that Mrs. Dade did not intend to give Taylor any beneficial interest in the funds: she did not read the card, was not told of its contents, never intended to establish a joint tenancy account, and allowed Taylor's name to be placed on the passbook only so that he could function as her "administrator.". Over the next four years, Vinson was promoted to teller, head teller, and then assistant branch manager. 1950)).2 The presumption is merely a judicial inference as to probable intent, and can be rebutted by extrinsic evidence that the depositor intended to make a gift of a present beneficial interest. 2577-2584 (1964). 1 He is appealing his convictions on the ground that the prosecution failed to prove the necessary elements of embezzlement. Unless otherwise stated hereon, the ownership of said account is pro-rata. Trial Transcript, January 13, 1988, Testimony of Emma Dade, at 80. See, e.g., Webb v. United States, 369 F.2d 530, 535 (5th Cir. Circuit opinions. No special words are required to create an express trust--the settlor need only manifest an "intention to impose upon [herself] or upon a transferee of the property equitable duties to deal with the property for the benefit of another person." § 657 (1982).1 He is appealing his convictions on the ground that the prosecution failed to prove the necessary elements of embezzlement. Vinson sought injunctive relief along with compensatory and punitive damages against Taylor and the bank. Vinson had been fired from her job at Capital City Federal Savings Bank in Northeast Washington when she filed her lawsuit in 1978. She argued such harassment created a '"hostile working environment'" and a form of unlawful discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If instead Mrs. Dade created a joint tenancy, we believe that Taylor's interest as joint tenant would be only the bare legal interest of a trustee, either by express or constructive trust. . To relieve her anxiety, Taylor removed his name from the cover of her passbook with liquid paper. At oral argument, Taylor's counsel offered an alternative attack on the convictions, namely, that any funds embezzled did not belong to the bank. at 1211. U.S. 419. § 657 (1982). A review revealed that the determination of what constitutes "severe or pervasive conduct" is invariably based on an examination of the totality of circumstances. 657 (1982). Atty., and Michael W. Farrell, Asst. It was undisputed that her promotions were based on merit alone. Because others hold the beneficial interest, a trustee can be guilty of embezzlement if he misappropriates trust funds to which he holds legal title. A jury found Sidney L. Taylor, formerly a branch manager of Meritor Savings Bank, guilty of embezzling, abstracting or purloining $22,400 from a customer's account, in violation of 18 U.S.C. The Court held that Title VII was "not limited to 'economic' or 'tangible' discrimination" and found that the intention of Congress was "'to strike at the entire spectrum of disparate treatment of men and women' in employment....". Under any of these analyses, Taylor's defense that he could not embezzle from himself fails. Sec. Thus there are several routes by which a jury could have rationally concluded that Taylor acquired no beneficial interest in the account. Patrick M. Donahue, appointed by the Court, Annapolis, Md., for appellant. At oral argument, his counsel appeared to advance a slightly different argument, suggesting that any embezzlement was of Mrs. Dade's property, not the bank's; thus, he could not have violated 18 U.S.C. Id. Rehnquist, joined by Burger, White, Powell, Stevens, O'Connor, Marshall, joined by Brennan, Blackmun, Stevens, the level of offensiveness of the unwelcome acts or words, the frequency or pervasiveness of the offensive encounters, the total length of time over which the encounters occurred, the context in which the harassing conduct occurred. at 1209, 1211. At that point, Mrs. Dade returned to the bank because "something told me to go back to the bank and to have [Taylor's name] taken off my [pass]books." The nominal joint tenancy might be viewed simply as an attempted testamentary disposition. Her supervisor was a man named Sidney Taylor. In it, she claimed that during the four years she worked at the bank, the branch manager, Sidney L. Taylor, repeatedly sexually assaulted her - once forcing her to the floor in the bank vault. The trial court found that the mother intended that all of her nine children should have equal access to the home. 87-00435-01). The court rejected the claim, as the manager's opportunity to convert the funds arose from his position in the association. He had received checks, payable to the association, on the strength of his promises that he could make special arrangements by which the depositor would receive a higher than usual rate of return. In such instances the funds are delivered up to the agent solely for the purpose of performing a function within the apparent scope of his authority which would inure to the benefit of the drawer of the funds, if deposited in the Association as contemplated by fact and law. The first initiation of … A correctly charged jury--and neither at trial nor here has Taylor challenged the instructions--could readily find that Mrs. Dade created an express trust for the benefit of her church. Vinson had been fired from her job at Capital City Federal Savings Bank in Northeast Washington when she filed her lawsuit in 1978. 1966) (permitting defendant to offer evidence of joint ownership under state law against charge of interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicle). Richardson v. District of Columbia, 522 A.2d 1295, 1298 (D.C.1987) (quoting Harrington v. Emmerman, 186 F.2d 757, 761 (D.C. Cir. In Groves v. United States, 343 F.2d 850 (8th Cir. 422 (1895) (defining the offense, in accordance with English common law, as "the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom such property has been entrusted, or into whose hands it has lawfully come"). Link to 1986 Washington Post Article on the Trial: This page was last edited on 14 December 2020, at 13:26. In it, she claimed … . The first initiation of Vinson's civil lawsuit against Sidney L. Taylor and Capital City Federal Savings and Loan Association, which would soon change its name to Meritor Savings Bank, came in September of 1978. In 1974, respondent Mechelle Vinson met Sidney Taylor, a vice president of what is now petitioner Meritor Savings Bank (bank) and manager of one of its branch offices. Id. That year, she sued Taylor and the bank, which was later acquired by Meritor Savings. Id. Alternatively, either by way of express or constructive trust, one might view Mrs. Dade and Taylor as holding the legal title as trustees in joint tenancy, with an equitable life estate in Mrs. Dade and an equitable remainder in her church. Moreover, and we think it critical here, Taylor's ability to make the withdrawals arose entirely from his position with the bank; it was that position that enabled him to prevail on Mrs. Dade to name him as joint holder of the account. at 23-24. Of course the actual cash that he removed belonged to the bank (offset by a debt to Mrs. Dade) until the moment of his wrongful withdrawals. He continued to do so, to cover overdrafts in his own checking account, until Meritor Savings officials discovered and stopped him. She argued such harassment created a \"hostile working environment\" and was covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Id. In 1974, at the age of 19, Mechelle Vinson, a black woman, was hired as a teller-trainee at the northeast branch of Capitol City Federal Savings and Loan Association in Washington D.C. Vinson reported that by May of 1975 her supervisor, Sidney L. Taylor, began what would be 3 years of recurring sexual harassment while in the workplace. Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Defendant's Motion for Judgment of Acquittal, Attachment 1. The Court pointed out that guidelines issued by the EEOC specified that sexual harassment leading to noneconomic injury was a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In November 1978 Vinson was fired from her job at a Meritor Savings Bankwhich Taylor explained as being due to Vinson's inordinate use of sick leave. In 1974, Meritor Savings Bank hired Vinson as a teller. Catharine A. MacKinnon, author of Towards a Feminist Theory of the State, was co-counsel for the respondent and wrote the respondent's brief. [4] Vinson charged that Taylor had coerced her to have sexual relations with him and made demands for sexual favors at work. The Court recognized that the plaintiff, Mechelle Vinson, could establish violations of the Act "by proving that discrimination based on sex has created a hostile or abusive work environment. The District applies a presumption that "when a depositor creates a joint account for [herself] and another, without consideration, it is presumed to have been done for the convenience of the depositor." When the mother died, the daughter claimed to be the sole owner of the house by operation of the right of survivorship. Even if Mrs. Dade's words and actions were not sufficient to create an express trust, a court could protect her interests (both in the property during her lifetime and in its disposition thereafter) by treating Taylor as a constructive trustee. She approached Taylor, the branch manager, whom she knew only through her visits to the bank, and told him that she wanted to remove her brother's name from the account because he had recently entered a nursing home. 42 U.S. C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). Vinson sought injunctive relief along with compensatory and punitive damages against Taylor and the bank. of Justice, with whom Jay B. Stephens, U.S. [1][2], It established the standards for analyzing whether conduct was unlawful and when an employer would be liable. 84-1979, Ms. Vinson said that she had initially refused sexual advances by Sidney L. Taylor, the … See 3 Wharton's Criminal Law, at Sec. Taylor is correct in his general proposition that, because the property converted by an embezzler must belong to another, a defendant cannot embezzle property he owns jointly. Rec. Mrs. Dade decided to accept his offer because "he looked like an honest man working in the bank." Sidney Taylor, who is still working at the same bank at the same job, has steadfastly denied every allegation, almost every word of Vinson's testimony. It was undisputed that her promotions were based on merit alone. 1965), the branch manager of a federal savings and loan association made a claim similar to Taylor's. Clearly Taylor was not less guilty of embezzlement from the bank than Groves merely because he actually created an account bearing Mrs. Dade's name (as well as his own). In the case, the branch manager of Meritor Savings Bank, Sidney L. Taylor, was accused by Michelle Vinson began working for Meritor Savings Bank in 1974 as atelier-trainee. The manager argued that he had breached only his duty to the depositor. On July 29, 1986 Emma Dade, an 83-year-old widow, visited Meritor Savings, a federally insured savings bank, to discuss changes she wished to make in an account she held jointly with her brother. Taylor then prepared a joint account form with right of survivorship bearing his and Mrs. Dade's names and transferred $29,805.07 from her old account into the new one. at 856. The first initiation of Vinson's civil lawsuit against Sidney L. Taylor and Capital City Federal Savings and Loan Association, which would soon change its name to Meritor Savings Bank, came in September of 1978. 24 (3d ed.1967). Atty., Washington, D.C., were on the brief, for appellee. Testimony of Emma Dade, at 24. In his brief to this court, Taylor attacks his convictions on the ground that as a joint tenant, he had an ownership right in the money he appropriated; thus, the property taken was not the "property of another." Vinson charged that she had constantly been subjected to sexual … The principal argument in … Id. [7] Additionally, this case ruled that the sexual conduct between Taylor and Vinson could not be deemed voluntary due to the hierarchical relationship between supervisor and subordinates in the workplace. Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57 (1986), is a US labor law case, where the United States Supreme Court, in a 9-0 decision, recognized sexual harassment as a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 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