CHAPMAN v. AI TRANSPORT

CARNES, Circuit Judge:

John Chapman filed a lawsuit in federal district court against AI Transport, AIG Aviation, American International Group Claims Services ("AIGCS"), and American International Group ("AIG") (collectively, "the defendants"). His complaint included claims of age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-34, and disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-17. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on Chapman's ADEA claims, but it denied summary judgment on the ADA claims. Chapman's ADA claims were tried before a jury, which returned a verdict in favor of the defendants.

A panel of this Court affirmed the judgment insofar as it embodied the jury's verdict on the ADA claims, but the panel reversed the grant of summary judgment on the ADEA claims and also vacated the district court's award of costs to the defendants. See Chapman v. AI Transport, 180 F.3d 1244 (11th Cir.1999). We granted rehearing en banc primarily to decide some important issues that arise regularly in job discrimination cases. Those issues have to do with an employer's ability to select its own criteria for making employment decisions and with the permissibility of using subjective criteria. We had also planned to address an issue about whether evidence impeaching the credibility of one corporate official could be used to undermine the credibility of a different decisionmaker. As we will explain in due course, however, it turns out that general corporate credibility issue is not presented by the record. While we have the case, we will also use it to decide whether a district court may consider a losing party's financial status in awarding costs to the prevailing party.

I. FACTS

A. Chapman's Pre-October 1988 Employment History

From May 1964 until September 1969, John Chapman worked as a claims representative for the Hartford Insurance Company. He voluntarily left Hartford Insurance in September 1969 and began working as a claims supervisor for Home Insurance Company in Atlanta, Georgia. He left Home Insurance in June 1985. In July 1985, Chapman began working for Claimsman, Inc., another insurance company, as a senior liability claims examiner. While at Claimsman, Chapman handled the J. Gordon Gaines ("Gaines") account.

In August 1986, Chapman voluntarily left the Claimsman company in order to accept an offer to become manager of the general liability unit of Gaines, which had decided to start its own claims department. In April 1988, Gaines was purchased by Liberty National Fire Insurance Company. Liberty National moved its claims division to Birmingham, Alabama, and offered Chapman, who was apparently living in Atlanta, the opportunity to continue working in the claims division. Chapman decided instead to move to Long Beach, California and work for B.R. Martin Company. At B.R. Martin, Chapman supervised the files of Liberty National Fire Insurance Company. In September 1988, after only a few months with B.R. Martin, Chapman left that company and moved back to Atlanta, Georgia.

B. Chapman's Tenure at AI Transport and His Application to AIGCS

In October 1988, Chapman began working for AI Transport in Atlanta as a senior claims representative. He interviewed with and was hired by Robert Spann, who was then the Manager of Claims at AI Transport. In 1989, Chapman was promoted to supervisor. His performance reviews usually ranged from the middle-of-the-scale "meets expectations" to the second-highest category, "above expectations."1

In late 1989, AI Transport became a division of AIG Aviation, which is itself a subsidiary of AIG. AIG owns in whole or in part approximately 120 companies worldwide, including AIGCS. AIG, AIG Aviation, AI Transport and AIGCS are all insurance-related companies.

In June 1992, AI Transport instituted a reduction-in-force. Three of Chapman's four subordinates were terminated. AI Transport removed Chapman's supervisory duties and assigned him to handle the claims representative duties formerly performed by his dismissed subordinates. Chapman was also transferred to the position of Self-Insured Retention ("SIR") Manager.

During September and October 1992, AIGCS restructured its organization and created new positions in the process.2 On September 17, 1992, Chapman wrote James Wogsland, a vice president at AIGCS, about open positions. Wogsland and Ward Turnquist, another AIGCS vice president, interviewed Chapman on October 13, 1992 for the position of Casualty Claims Manager. Turnquist testified in deposition that his assignment from Wogsland was "to screen these people for that position." Turnquist stated that he interviewed Chapman, was not impressed and thought AIGCS should look further, but recommended that Wogsland talk to Chapman himself. Chapman testified, however, that Wogsland interviewed him before Turnquist did. At the time of the interviews, Chapman was 61 years old.

Later that month, Chapman was informed that AIGCS would not be hiring him. Among the employees eventually hired by AIGCS for some position were four other AI Transport employees. Graham Wiggins was hired as the Casualty Claims Manager; Warren Jones was hired as the Complex Claims Director; Duane Sevillian was hired as the Fast Track Manager; and Ernest John Smith was hired as a Casualty Claims Representative. Two of the four were over forty years old, but all four were younger than Chapman.3

On December 18, 1992, Chapman was terminated by AI Transport because of his refusal to travel, which he claimed to be the result of a heart condition. The facts relating to that condition and Chapman's termination by AI Transport are accurately summarized in the panel opinion. See Chapman, 180 F.3d at 1247-48. We will not set out in this opinion all of those facts, because they are not relevant to the ADEA claims which arose from AIGCS's failure to hire Chapman while he was still working at AI Transport.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. Complaint

In June 1994, after having exhausted his EEOC administrative remedies, Chapman filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the defendants. His complaint included claims of age discrimination in violation of the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-34, and disability discrimination in violation of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-17.4 His complaint set out his allegations of age discrimination as follows:

B. Motions for Summary Judgment

On April 29, 1996, Chapman moved for partial summary judgment on his disability discrimination claims. Included in the Statement of Undisputed Material Facts submitted by Chapman with his motion for partial summary judgment were the following statements:

On April 30, 1996, AI Transport, AIG Aviation and AIG moved for summary judgment on all claims. AIGCS and AIG filed a separate motion for summary judgment on all claims. In the Statement of Material Facts attached to its summary judgment motion, AIGCS stated that Wogsland and Turnquist, the two AIGCS vice presidents who interviewed Chapman, chose Wiggins over Chapman because of Chapman's poor interview and their concern "about [his] stability in light of the number of jobs he had held in a short period of time."5

In depositions attached as exhibits to the summary judgment motion, Wogsland and Turnquist explained their reasoning. Turnquist stated that he "had some concerns about [Chapman's] career path" and that "there was (sic) quite a few jobs after the Home [Insurance Company] and before he came to [his current employer]." In his mind, Turnquist questioned "what necessitated making as many and as frequent a job change during what ... was a fairly short period of time...." Turnquist also described what he said to Wogsland after his interview with Chapman as follows:

Turnquist stated that he "thought that Graham Wiggins made a better presentation of himself and his skills. His knowledge skills and abilities and thought that he would have — he seemed to exhibit. I just had ... more confidence in Graham in the way he presented his work history."6

Wogsland shared Turnquist's concerns, testifying in deposition that he looked for "stability with a company and a progression within a particular company" and that "[w]e did not see that in those three positions between when [Chapman] left Home [Insurance Company] and AI Transport."

Wogsland further recounted that:

When asked for an example of a question to which he received an unsatisfactory answer, Wogsland explained that "[Chapman] wasn't very clear about why he had gone from Home [Insurance Company] to several other positions before he got to Transport...."

Chapman responded to the defendants' motions. Chapman disputed AIGCS's allegation that he was not hired because of his recent job instability by arguing that he "had established a record as evidenced by his performance appraisals which were a more immediate indication of his stability," and arguing that "he continued to work on files for J. Gordon Gaines while working for three different employers between the time he left Home Insurance (after 16 years) and joined AI Transport."7 Chapman man also compared his entire employment history to Wiggins' employment history and alleged that "it is undisputed that both Mr. Chapman and Wiggins worked for a total of six other employers ..." throughout their entire careers.8

Chapman responded to AIGCS's allegation that he was not hired based on a poor interview by contending that "this testimony [was] pretext for intentional discrimination."9 Chapman did not refute Wogsland and Turnquist's evaluation of his interview. He did not contend that he asked a lot of questions during the interview, gave concise answers, or otherwise interviewed well. Instead, Chapman argued that there was "limited probative value of [Wogsland and Turnquist's] opinions about Mr. Chapman's appearance and demeanor...." Neither Chapman's affidavit nor the excerpts from his deposition that were attached as exhibits to his summary judgment response set out a different version of the interview.10

C. Magistrate Judge's Report and District Court Order

In August 1996, the magistrate judge issued his report and recommendation. With respect to the age discrimination claims, the report recommended that AIGCS's motion for summary judgment be denied. The report stated that Chapman's evidence about his overall employment record and continuity of work on J. Gordon Gaines' files cast doubt on AIGCS's proffered nondiscriminatory reason of job instability. The report also stated that AIGCS's other proffered reason, Chapman's poor interview, was subjective and for that reason was an inappropriate basis upon which to award summary judgment.

On March 5, 1997, the district court issued an order granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants on Chapman's ADEA claims, but denying summary judgment on the ADA claims. With respect to the ADEA claims, the district court held that Chapman did not present sufficient evidence for a reasonable factfinder to conclude that the second proffered reason, his poor interview, was pretextual. Having so held, the district court found it unnecessary to address AIGCS's first reason, Chapman's recent job instability. With respect to the ADA claims, the court concluded that there were genuine issues of material fact including whether Chapman was disabled and whether travel was an essential function of his job. Accordingly, the court denied summary judgment on the ADA claims, leaving them to be decided at trial.

D. Post-Summary Judgment Events and Trial

Before trial of the ADA claims, the defendants moved in limine to exclude a position statement AIG prepared for submission to the EEOC as part of the conciliation process. That position statement described Chapman's transfer to the position of SIR Manager as a promotion. The defendants later admitted that the transfer was actually a lateral move. Esther Kornblau, AIG's Director of Employee Relations in New York City, wrote the position statement and Valerie Zaleski, the human resources manager for AI Transport, checked it in Atlanta. Bill O'Brien, the vice president in charge of claims operations at AI Transport, either read it or had it read to him and did not point out any mistakes. Spann, Chapman's immediate supervisor, also probably reviewed the statement, and he did not point out any mistakes either.

The district court granted the defendants' motion in limine. At trial, however, the court allowed Chapman to introduce most of the position statement into evidence as an exhibit but not the part of it which characterized Chapman's transfer as a promotion. The court required Chapman to redact that part of the position statement. Chapman's ADA claims were tried before a jury from June 17 to June 30, 1997. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants.

On July 2, 1997, Chapman filed a motion to reconsider and vacate summary judgment on his ADEA claims. He argued that evidence adduced immediately prior to and at the trial of his ADA claims established a genuine issue of material fact about whether AIGCS's proffered nondiscriminatory reasons regarding his ADEA claims were pretextual, thereby requiring a jury trial. Chapman also filed a timely motion for a new trial on the ADA claims. He argued, among other things, that the court had erred by redacting from the position statement the defendants' false characterization of his transfer. The district court denied both motions. Thereafter, the court awarded costs to the defendants. Chapman appealed the grant of summary judgment on the ADEA claims, the jury verdict on the ADA claims, the district court's denial of his post-trial motions, and the award of costs to the defendants.

E. Panel Opinion

A panel of this Court issued a decision affirming in part and reversing in part. See Chapman v. AI Transport, 180 F.3d 1244 (11th Cir.1999). Addressing the award of summary judgment on the ADEA claims, the panel concluded that the district court did not "properly evaluate Chapman's effort to demonstrate the pretextual nature of AIGCS's reason for its employment decision...." Id. at 1249. The panel decided that the fact that Chapman worked for six different companies over a thirty-five year period and the fact that he had done work primarily involving one client during the recent three-year period in which he worked for three employers raised a genuine issue of material fact as to whether AIGCS's objective reason, Chapman's recent job instability, was a pretext for age discrimination. See id. at 1250. The panel stated that those facts were also sufficient at the summary judgment stage to cast doubt on AIGCS's subjective reason, Chapman's poor interview, even though that evidence did not directly rebut AIGCS's assessment of his interview. See id. For those reasons, the panel reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment and remanded for further proceedings on that issue. See id. at 1250-51, 1254.

With respect to the ADA claims, the panel concluded that there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find in favor of the defendants and affirmed the jury's verdict. See id. at 1251. Although believing that the district court had abused its discretion by excluding from evidence the false description of Chapman's transfer as a promotion in the position statement the defendants filed with the EEOC, the panel concluded that the error was harmless. See id. at 1252. Finally, the panel vacated the district court's award of costs to the defendants, because the "district court incorrectly concluded that it lacked the authority to consider Chapman's financial status as a factor in calculating the total costs awarded to the defendants." Id. at 1253.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a district court's grant of summary judgment, applying the same legal standards as the district court. See Whatley v. CNA Ins. Cos., 189 F.3d 1310, 1313 (11th Cir.1999). Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c):

Haves v. City of Miami, 52 F.3d 918, 921 (11th Cir.1995) (internal marks and citations omitted). We review the district court's exclusion of evidence, award of costs and denial of a motion to reconsider summary judgment only for abuse of discretion. See Walker v. NationsBank of Florida, N.A., 53 F.3d 1548, 1554 (11th Cir.1995) (exclusion of evidence); Technical Resource Servs. v. Dornier Medical Sys., Inc., 134 F.3d 1458, 1468 (11th Cir. 1998) (costs); Cavaliere v. Allstate Ins. Co., 996 F.2d 1111, 1115 (11th Cir.1993) (Rule 60 motion to reconsider).

IV. DISCUSSION

A. Summary Judgment on Chapman's ADEA Claims

1. The Applicable Legal Framework

The ADEA makes it "unlawful for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's age." 29 U.S.C. § 623(a)(1). As the Supreme Court has stated:

Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., ___ U.S. ___, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 2105, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000) (internal marks and citations omitted).

This Court, as well as other federal courts of appeals, uses the framework established in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), and Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981), to evaluate ADEA claims that are based upon circumstantial evidence of discrimination. See Reeves, 120 S.Ct. at 2105 (noting widespread use of the McDonnell Douglas framework in ADEA cases and assuming its applicability); Combs v. Plantation Patterns, 106 F.3d 1519, 1527-28 (11th Cir.1997). Under that framework, the plaintiff must first establish a prima facie case of discrimination. See Combs, 106 F.3d at 1527-28 (citations omitted). One method a plaintiff can use to establish a prima facie case for an ADEA violation is by showing that he (1) was a member of the protected age group, (2) was subjected to adverse employment action, (3) was qualified to do the job, and (4) was replaced by or otherwise lost a position to a younger individual. See Benson v. Tocco, Inc., 113 F.3d 1203, 1207-08 (11th Cir. 1997).

Combs, 106 F.3d at 1528 (quoting Burdine, 450 U.S. at 254, 101 S.Ct. at 1094 (footnote omitted)).

If a plaintiff establishes a prima facie case of discrimination, the defendant employer must articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the challenged employment action. See id. However, the employer's burden is merely one of production; it "need not persuade the court that it was actually motivated by the proffered reasons. It is sufficient if the defendant's evidence raises a genuine issue of fact as to whether it discriminated against the plaintiff." Id. at 1528 (quoting Burdine, 450 U.S. at 254-55, 101 S.Ct. at 1094 (citation and footnote omitted)).

If the defendant articulates one or more such reasons, the presumption of discrimination is eliminated and "the plaintiff has the opportunity to come forward with evidence, including the previously produced evidence establishing the prima facie case, sufficient to permit a reasonable factfinder to conclude that the reasons given by the employer were not the real reasons for the adverse employment decision." Id. (citations omitted). If the plaintiff does not proffer sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether each of the defendant employer's articulated reasons is pretextual, the employer is entitled to summary judgment on the plaintiff's claim. See id. at 1529 (holding that there must be "sufficient evidence to demonstrate the existence of a genuine issue of fact as to the truth of each of the employer's proffered reasons for its challenged action").11

A final note is in order about the law applicable to summary judgment in job discrimination cases. Some of our opinions from past years purport to announce "[a]s a general rule [that] summary judgment is not a proper vehicle for resolving claims of employment discrimination which often turn on an employer's motivation and intent." E.g., Delgado v. Lockheed-Georgia Co., 815 F.2d 641, 644 (11th Cir.1987); accord Batey v. Stone, 24 F.3d 1330, 1336 (11th Cir.1994) ("summary judgment in employment discrimination cases ... is especially questionable" (internal quotation and citation omitted)). There is some question about whether that supposed rule was ever followed, see Earley v. Champion Int'l Corp., 907 F.2d 1077, 1081 (11th Cir. 1990) ("Summary judgments for defendants are not rare in employment discrimination cases.") (citing cases), but no question that it has not been followed in recent years. As the Seventh Circuit has observed, "Summary judgment is hardly unknown, or for that matter rare, in employment discrimination cases, more than 90 percent of which are resolved before trial, ... many of them on the basis of summary judgment for the defendant." Wallace v. SMC Pneumatics, Inc., 103 F.3d 1394, 1396 (7th Cir.1997) (citations omitted); see also Lewis Maltby, Employment Arbitration: Is it Really Second Class Justice?, Disp. Resol. Mag., Fall 1999, at 23-24 (footnote omitted) ("In fact, the majority of employment cases, some 60 percent, are resolved by summary judgment."); see generally Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Judicial Business of the United States Courts: 1999 Report of the Director, p. 160-62 (indicating, from figures in Table C-4, that 94.09% of employment civil rights cases are resolved before trial).

While acknowledging that questions of fact in job discrimination cases are "both sensitive and difficult" and "[t]here will seldom be `eyewitness' testimony as to the employer's mental processes," the Supreme Court has told us that "none of this means that trial courts or reviewing courts should treat discrimination differently from other ultimate questions of fact." St. Mary's Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 524, 113 S.Ct. 2742, 2756, 125 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993) (quoting Postal Service Bd. of Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 716, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 1482, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983)). And quite recently, the Court rejected a rule which would have made it easier for job discrimination plaintiffs to get their case to a jury, explaining that "[t]o hold otherwise would be effectively to insulate an entire category of employment discrimination cases from review under Rule 50, and we have reiterated that trial courts should not treat discrimination differently from other ultimate questions of fact." Reeves, 120 S.Ct. at 2109 (internal quotation and citation omitted). The long and short of it is that the summary judgment rule applies in job discrimination cases just as in other cases. No thumb is to be placed on either side of the scale.

2. The Evidence We Consider in Reviewing a Grant of Summary Judgment

On March 5, 1997, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on Chapman's ADEA claims but denied summary judgment on the ADA claims. On July 2, 1997, after the jury had returned its verdict against Chapman at the trial of the ADA claims, he filed a motion requesting the court to reconsider and vacate summary judgment on the ADEA claims. Chapman argued in his motion that evidence adduced immediately prior to and at the trial of his ADA claims created a genuine issue of material fact as to whether AIGCS's proffered nondiscriminatory reasons regarding his ADEA claims were pretextual. The district court denied Chapman's motion to reconsider and vacate, leaving intact the summary judgment previously entered on the ADEA claims. Chapman contends that the trial testimony demonstrates that the district court's grant of summary judgment on the ADEA claims was erroneous, and his en banc brief to this Court relies extensively upon trial testimony in arguing that we should reverse summary judgment. By our count, the brief's "Statement of the Facts" section contains sixty-seven citations to trial testimony and only one citation to the summary judgment record.

There are two closely related issues here. One is whether the district court abused its discretion in not re-opening summary judgment on the ADEA claims after the trial of the ADA claims based upon evidence that came out shortly before and during that trial. The other issue is whether we should consider that later evidence in reviewing the district court's decision to grant summary judgment on the ADEA claims. The two issues are inextricably intertwined and they require a consistent answer. If the district court did not abuse its discretion in failing to re-open summary judgment on the ADEA claims, then we cannot consider the evidence that would have been available if the court had re-opened summary judgment.

The rule is that "a federal appellate court may examine only the evidence which was before the district court when the latter decided the motion for summary judgment." Welch v. Celotex Corp., 951 F.2d 1235, 1237 n. 3 (11th Cir. 1992) (citations omitted) (emphasis added); see also 10A Charles Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure § 2716 (3rd ed. 1998) ("The appellate court is limited in its review.... [I]t can consider only those papers that were before the trial court. The parties cannot add exhibits, depositions, or affidavits to support their position."). The Tenth Circuit elaborated on the rule in United States v. Hardage, 982 F.2d 1436 (10th Cir.1992), stating that:

Id. at 1444 (internal quotations and citations omitted). This universally followed rule is indispensable to the orderly processing of cases in the district courts.

We have frequently railed about the evils of shotgun pleadings and urged district courts to take a firm hand and whittle cases down to the few triable claims, casting aside the many non-triable ones through dismissals where there is failure to state a claim and through summary judgment where there is no genuine issue of material fact. See, e.g., Morro v. City of Birmingham, 117 F.3d 508, 515 (11th Cir. 1997) (explaining that "[t]he use of shotgun pleadings in civil cases is a ubiquitous problem," and "[g]iven the seriousness of that problem, it is particularly important for the district courts to undertake the difficult, but essential, task of attempting to narrow and define the issues before trial." (internal quotation and citation omitted)). It would seriously impair the ability of district courts to pare down the issues in multi-claim civil cases if we required them to revisit and re-evaluate a summary judgment previously granted on one claim because of evidence that comes out later at the trial of other claims.

Moreover, the approach Chapman would have us follow would burden our already heavily burdened district courts with multiple trials in a single case where one should suffice. To vacate summary judgment on one claim after the trial of another claim would necessarily result in two trials instead of one. Indeed, that is precisely what Chapman's motion to reconsider and vacate requested. There is no good reason for inflicting that burden of multiple trials upon our system with its finite resources. Parties opposing summary judgment are appropriately charged with the responsibility of marshaling and presenting their evidence before summary judgment is granted, not afterwards.

The district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to re-open after the trial of the ADA claims the summary judgment it had previously granted in favor of the defendants on the ADEA claims. And because the district court did not have the testimony from the trial of the ADA claims before it when it granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the ADEA claims, any evidence offered at trial is not relevant to our review of the ADEA summary judgment and we will not consider it. See U.S. East Telecomm., Inc. v. U.S. West Communications Servs., Inc., 38 F.3d 1289, 1301 (2nd Cir.1994); Hardage, 982 F.2d at 1444-45; Nissho-Iwai American Corp. v. Kline, 845 F.2d 1300, 1307 (5th Cir.1988); Voutour v. Vitale, 761 F.2d 812, 817 (1st Cir.1985).12

3. AIGCS's Proffered Nondiscriminatory Reasons

It is undisputed that Chapman established his prima facie case. He was sixty-one years old at the time that he applied, but was not hired, for a job at AIGCS. He was qualified for at least one of the positions for which he applied, Casualty Claims Manager. Four individuals who accepted jobs for which Chapman had applied, including the position of Casualty Claims Manager, were younger than him. Applying the McDonnell Douglas framework, because Chapman met his burden of establishing a prima facie case, a presumption of discrimination arose and the burden shifted to AIGCS to proffer a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for not hiring Chapman.13 See Combs, 106 F.3d at 1527-28. To meet that burden, which is only a burden of production, AIGCS in its motion for summary judgment proffered two legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons, one of which was objective and the other subjective. The objective reason as stated by Turnquist and Wogsland, the decision makers for the positions for which Chapman applied, was Chapman's lack of "stability in light of the number of jobs he had held in a short period of time." The subjective reason, stated by those same decisionmakers, was Chapman's poor interview.14

AIGCS's proffer of those nondiscriminatory reasons eliminated the presumption of discrimination, thereby shifting the burden to Chapman to come forward with sufficient evidence to permit a reasonable factfinder to find that those reasons were pretextual. See Combs, 106 F.3d at 1528. We will discuss each of AIGCS's proffered reasons and Chapman's attempted showing of pretext as to that reason separately.

a. Chapman's Record of Recent Job Instability

AIGCS articulated its objective reason for not hiring Chapman as follows: "[Ward Turnquist and James Wogsland, the two vice-presidents who interviewed Chapman,] were concerned about [his] stability in light of the number of jobs he had held in a short period of time."15 Turnquist explained his position more thoroughly in his deposition, stating that he "had some concerns about [Chapman's] career path" and that "there [were] quite a few jobs after the Home [Insurance Company] and before he came to [his current employer]." That bothered Turnquist, who questioned "what necessitated making as many and as frequent a job change during what ... was a fairly short period of time...." Notes from Turnquist's interview with Chapman corroborate his concern. In those notes, Turnquist listed Chapman's employers and the dates Chapman left each employer.

Wogsland expressed similar sentiments in his deposition. He stated:

Wogsland asked Chapman during the interview about the various jobs Chapman had between Home Insurance Company and AI Transport, but Chapman "wasn't very clear about why he had gone from Home to several other positions before he got to Transport...."

In response to AIGCS's articulated reason, Chapman asserted that he "had established a record as evidenced by his performance appraisals which were a more immediate indication of his stability," and that "he continued to work on files for J. Gordon Gaines while working for [the] three different employers between the time he left Home Insurance (after 16 years) and joined AI Transport." Chapman also argued that Wiggins, who was selected instead of him as Casualty Claims Manager, had worked for a total of six other employers during his entire career (which spanned twenty-three years).

Chapman and Wiggins each went to work in 1988 for AI Transport, which was their employer when they applied for the Casualty Claims Manager position at AIGCS in 1992. Notably, Chapman did not dispute that he had worked for three different employers in the three years before he joined AI Transport in 1988. Nor did he dispute that Wiggins had worked for only one employer in the ten years before Wiggins joined AI Transport in that same year.

Chapman's assertions about his good performance and continued work on the Gaines account may be true, but the reason AIGCS proffered for not hiring Chapman was the number of times he had changed employers in a specified short period of time (between leaving Home Insurance in 1985 and going to AI Transport in 1998), not his performance appraisals and not the number of clients he had been involved with as he switched from one employer to another.16 And while it may be true that both Chapman and Wiggins had worked for a total of six other employers during their entire careers, AIGCS's proffered nondiscriminatory reason was not the number of employers for which Chapman had ever worked. It was the number of times Chapman had changed employers in a specified period.17

A plaintiff is not allowed to recast an employer's proffered nondiscriminatory reasons or substitute his business judgment for that of the employer. Provided that the proffered reason is one that might motivate a reasonable employer, an employee must meet that reason head on and rebut it, and the employee cannot succeed by simply quarreling with the wisdom of that reason. See Alexander v. Fulton County, Ga., 207 F.3d 1303, 1341 (11th Cir.2000) (Title VII case) ("[I]t is not the court's role to second-guess the wisdom of an employer's decisions as long as the decisions are not racially motivated."); Combs, 106 F.3d at 1541-43.18 We have recognized previously and we reiterate today that:

Elrod v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 939 F.2d 1466, 1470 (11th Cir.1991) (quoting Mechnig v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 864 F.2d 1359, 1365 (7th Cir.1988) (citations omitted)); see also Nix v. WLCY Radio/Rahall Communications, 738 F.2d 1181, 1187 (11th Cir.1984) (An "employer may fire an employee for a good reason, a bad reason, a reason based on erroneous facts, or for no reason at all, as long as its action is not for a discriminatory reason."); Abel v. Dubberly, 210 F.3d 1334, 1339 n. 5 (11th Cir.2000). We "do not ... second-guess the business judgment of employers." Combs, 106 F.3d at 1543; accord Alexander, 207 F.3d at 1339, 1341; Damon v. Fleming Supermarkets of Florida, Inc., 196 F.3d 1354, 1361 (11th Cir.1999) ("We have repeatedly and emphatically held that a defendant may terminate an employee for a good or bad reason without violating federal law. We are not in the business of adjudging whether employment decisions are prudent or fair." (internal citation omitted)).19

Here, the proffered reason clearly meets the test of being one that might motivate a reasonable employer. Indeed, leaving several employers in a recent and short period of time, or job-skipping, is an imminently reasonable basis upon which to choose between job applicants. As the Seventh Circuit has observed: "High turnover of skilled workers can be very harmful to a company. The worker who leaves may take with him trade secrets valuable to a competitor or the benefits of specialized training that the employer had given him, at some expense, in the hope of recouping the expense in the worker's superior productivity now to be enjoyed by another employer." Thorn v. Sundstrand Aerospace Corp., 207 F.3d 383, 389 (7th Cir. 2000). Furthermore, it makes sense for an employer to be concerned about how often an applicant has changed employers in recent years, instead of his career total or average. An employer could reasonably conclude that a job applicant who has not stayed with any recent employer for very long is unlikely to stay with it for long, either, and that what the applicant will do in the near- and mid-range future is better predicted from recent behavior than from what happened ten or twenty years ago.20

Chapman's purported loyalty to one client of several of his employers does not do him any good in this analysis. An employer reasonably could be more concerned with an applicant's loyalty to employers than with his loyalty to clients. Indeed, we would be surprised if that were not the case. For that reason, it is altogether understandable why an employer might count the number of times a job applicant has changed employers instead of the number of different clients he has worked with at his various employers. In any event, even if we were to disagree with the wisdom of the hiring criterion used by AIGCS, it is not our role to decide how to run AIGCS's business or to dictate employment criteria to it.

AIGCS presented Chapman's job instability in light of the number of jobs he had held in a specified recent and short period of time as a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for not hiring him. The burden shifted to Chapman to produce sufficient evidence for a factfinder to conclude that this reason was a pretext for age discrimination. Chapman did not produce any such evidence. None of the evidence he offered rebutted AIGCS's articulated nondiscriminatory reason. Chapman's good performance appraisals indicate that he performed satisfactorily his job for his present employer. Chapman's continuous work on the Gaines account supposedly shows that he was loyal to that client and the client was pleased with his work. But those facts in no way undermine AIGCS's stated concern about Chapman's changing employers three times in a recent three-year period.21

Unable to knock down AIGCS's proffered reason of job instability by comparing himself to Wiggins, who was hired as the Casualty Claims Manager, Chapman has attempted on appeal to extend his comparison beyond Wiggins, contending that one of the other AI Transport employees — Earnest John Smith — who was hired by AIGCS in another position had an employment history similar to his own. However, this contention does not help Chapman. First, he did not make this argument in the district court; there, the only employee Chapman contended had an employment history similar to his own was Wiggins. See Redwing Carriers, Inc. v. Saraland Apartments, 94 F.3d 1489, 1511 n. 30 (11th Cir.1996) ("As a general rule, we will not address claims or arguments not fairly presented to the district court." (citation omitted)).

Second, even if we were to consider the job history of Smith, Chapman would still have failed to create a genuine issue of pretext. AIGCS's concern was the number of times Chapman had changed jobs in a recent, short period of time. Smith had not changed employers as many times as Chapman had in as recent and short a period of time. Unlike Chapman, who had worked for three different employers in the three years before he joined AI Transport in 1988, Smith had only worked for two employers during that time period (and the first of those he had been with for six years, unlike Chapman who had been with his first one during that period for only one year).22

Our dissenting colleagues point to Sevillian and Jones, two other employees who were hired in other positions at AIGCS, and contend that they, too, had job instability records as bad or worse than Chapman. This is an argument Chapman himself did not make in the district court or in his panel or en banc briefs to this Court. We share Chapman's apparent conclusion that this argument lacks merit. For one thing, Jones was hired by AIGCS after Chapman had been fired by AI Transport, and we do not think a reasonable jury could find discrimination in the failure of a company to hire an applicant recently fired by another company for insubordination, or one who had just left (yet again) one employer for another.23 In any event, Jones did not have a recent history of job instability like Chapman. To the contrary, he had been with one employer during the period Chapman had been with three, and in fact had been with that one company since 1983. As for Sevillian, he had also been with only one employer during the period Chapman had been with three, and he had been with that employer since 1981.24

Because Chapman did not produce sufficient evidence for a reasonable factfinder to conclude that AIGCS's proffered nondiscriminatory reason of recent job instability for declining to hire Chapman was a pretext for age discrimination, the defendants were entitled to summary judgment on the ADEA claims.

b. Chapman's Interview

AIGCS articulated another reason for not hiring Chapman, his poor interview. Chapman asserts that Wogsland and Turnquist's assessment of his interview is not a legally sufficient reason to grant summary judgment for the defendants because of its subjective nature.

We begin with an important threshold point: A subjective reason can constitute a legally sufficient, legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason under the McDonnell Douglas / Burdine analysis. Indeed, subjective evaluations of a job candidate are often critical to the decisionmaking process, and if anything, are becoming more so in our increasingly service-oriented economy. Take, for example, a job requiring continuing interaction with the public, such as a sales clerk or wait staff position. Attitude, articulateness, and enthusiasm, as well as appearance, can be vitally important in such a job, yet there are few if any ways to gauge such qualities objectively or from a written application. Interviews give prospective employers a chance to see if an applicant has the kind of personal qualities a service job requires and can be the best way an employer has to determine how a person interacts with others. Body language, tone of voice, eye contact, facial expressions and other non-verbal cues significantly affect the impression an applicant makes on the interviewer and will make on those whose business the company wants to attract or retain, but such things are hard to quantify and articulate with any precision and can only be evaluated subjectively.

Personal qualities also factor heavily into employment decisions concerning supervisory or professional positions. See Sengupta v. Morrison-Knudsen Co., 804 F.2d 1072, 1075 (9th Cir.1986) (racial discrimination alleged in layoff from position as engineer) ("Indeed, in many situations [subjective criteria] are indispensable to the process...."); Risher v. Aldridge, 889 F.2d 592, 597 (5th Cir.1989) (sex discrimination alleged in failure to promote) ("Subjective criteria necessarily and legitimately enter into personnel decisions involving supervisory positions." (citation omitted)). Traits such as "common sense, good judgment, originality, ambition, loyalty, and tact" often must be assessed primarily in a subjective fashion, Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust, 487 U.S. 977, 991, 108 S.Ct. 2777, 2787, 101 L.Ed.2d 827 (1988), yet they are essential to an individual's success in a supervisory or professional position. See id. at 999, 108 S.Ct. at 2791 ("It would be a most radical interpretation of Title VII for a court to enjoin use of an historically settled process and plainly relevant criteria largely because they lead to decisions which are difficult for a court to review.") (quoting Zahorik v. Cornell Univ., 729 F.2d 85, 96 (2nd Cir.1984)).

It is inconceivable that Congress intended anti-discrimination statutes to deprive an employer of the ability to rely on important criteria in its employment decisions merely because those criteria are only capable of subjective evaluation. See Watson v. Ft. Worth Bank & Trust, 487 U.S. at 999, 108 S.Ct. at 2791. To phrase it differently, subjective reasons are not the red-headed stepchildren of proffered nondiscriminatory explanations for employment decisions. Subjective reasons can be just as valid as objective reasons.

Nonetheless, we are mindful of the requirement articulated by the Supreme Court in Burdine that "the defendant's explanation of its legitimate reasons must be clear and reasonably specific" so that "the plaintiff be afforded a full and fair opportunity to demonstrate pretext." Burdine, 450 U.S. at 258, 101 S.Ct. at 1096 (quotation omitted). A subjective reason is a legally sufficient, legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason if the defendant articulates a clear and reasonably specific factual basis upon which it based its subjective opinion. Continuing our example of a sales clerk or wait staff position, it might not be sufficient for a defendant employer to say it did not hire the plaintiff applicant simply because "I did not like his appearance" with no further explanation. However, if the defendant employer said, "I did not like his appearance because his hair was uncombed and he had dandruff all over his shoulders," or "because he had his nose pierced," or "because his fingernails were dirty," or "because he came to the interview wearing short pants and a T-shirt," the defendant would have articulated a "clear and reasonably specific" basis for its subjective opinion — the applicant's bad (in the employer's view) appearance. That subjective reason would therefore be a legally sufficient, legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for not hiring the plaintiff applicant. The burden would then shift back to the plaintiff to offer sufficient evidence for a reasonable factfinder to find that the defendant's reason was pretext for discrimination.25

Although we, sitting as an en banc court, have the ability to overrule our prior circuit precedent, see Combs, 106 F.3d at 1534, we do not believe our holding today is inconsistent with our past decisions. See Allison v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 680 F.2d 1318, 1322 (11th Cir.1982) ("An employer's decision may properly be based on subjective factors." (citation omitted)); Fowler v. Blue Bell, Inc., 737 F.2d 1007, 1011-14 (11th Cir.1984); Conner v. Fort Gordon Bus Co., 761 F.2d 1495, 1500 (11th Cir.1985) (A subjective reason "is legally sufficient to satisfy the employer's burden of produc[ing] [a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason] so long as it is capable of objective evaluation."); Woody v. St. Clair County Comm'n, 885 F.2d 1557, 1562-63 (11th Cir.1989) (affirming district court's judgment that employer's subjective evaluation of how long employee would stay on the job was not pretextual because it was based on objective indicators); EEOC v. Joe's Stone Crab, Inc., 220 F.3d 1263, 1280 n. 17 (11th Cir.2000) ("[E]mployment decisions may legitimately be based on subjective criteria as long as the criteria are capable of objective evaluation and are stated with a sufficient degree of particularity."). But to the extent of any inconsistency between our past decisions and our decision today, of course, the rule we announce today controls.

We now apply this rule to the present case. Although the proffered reason, Chapman's poor interview, was subjective, AIGCS offered a clear and reasonably specific explanation of why Wogsland and Turnquist, the decisionmakers, arrived at that subjective conclusion. Wogsland stated:

Wogsland observed that Chapman's imprecise answers were not "the answers [he] would expect [Chapman] needed to [be able to] give to technicians under his control, within his unit." As an example of an unclear answer given by Chapman, Wogsland stated that Chapman "wasn't very clear about why he had gone from Home [Insurance Company] to several other positions before he got to Transport...."

Turnquist explained that he too was concerned about how Chapman presented his work history. In comparing Wiggins and Chapman's interviews, Turnquist stated:

Even though Wogsland and Turnquist subjectively evaluated Chapman's interview, they also explained the grounds for their evaluation with reasonable clarity and specificity given the passage of time.26 AIGCS thus met its burden of producing a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason.

After AIGCS articulated this second reason, Chapman's poor interview, the burden shifted back to Chapman to present sufficient evidence that AIGCS's reason was pretextual. In response, Chapman said only that there was "limited probative value of [Wogsland and Turnquist's] opinions about Mr. Chapman's appearance and demeanor" and that "this testimony is pretext for intentional discrimination."27

Our dissenting colleagues focus on Wogsland's statement that one reason he was unimpressed with Chapman was that he was not aggressive in answering questions during the interview. Because there is a stereotype that older people are not as aggressive as younger people, they would have us treat use of aggressiveness as a hiring criteria as equivalent to age bias, or at the least as highly suspicious. We decline to do so. In the rough and tumble, highly competitive business world, aggressiveness can be a valuable and much sought after trait. Just because a sought after trait is linked by stereotype to an impermissible consideration does not mean an employer cannot search for and consider the trait itself independently from the stereotype. For example, according to stereotype women are not as physically strong as men. If an employer is hiring people for positions that require a great deal of physical strength, it would be permissible for the decisionmakers to hire a man instead of a woman if that particular man has more physical strength than that particular woman, even though the decision could not be based on the stereotype about the comparative physical strength of men and women in general. In this case, the decisionmakers considered Chapman's lack of aggressiveness because he was not aggressive in the interview, not because of his age. Along these lines, it is noteworthy that Turnquist also thought another interviewee, who was only 39 years old, also was not aggressive enough for the position of Casualty Claims Manager.28

Chapman had a fair chance to respond to the objective bases for the subjective reason proffered for not hiring him, but Chapman never refuted those objective bases. He never said he asked a single question during the interview, never said he explained clearly during the interview why he had so many employers between Home Insurance Company and AI Transport, and never said he had given concise answers to the questions he was asked. Moreover, Chapman's affidavit submitted in response to AIGCS's summary judgment motion does not even mention the interview. Because the poor interview subjective reason backed up by clear and reasonably specific bases is a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason, and Chapman failed to present sufficient evidence to show that the reason was pretextual, the defendants were entitled to summary judgment on the ADEA claims.29 See Combs, 106 F.3d at 1543.

4. Conclusion

In order to avoid summary judgment, a plaintiff must produce sufficient evidence for a reasonable factfinder to conclude that each of the employer's proffered nondiscriminatory reasons is pretextual. See id. (requiring a plaintiff to rebut "all of the defendant's proffered nondiscriminatory reasons for its actions" to avoid judgment as a matter of law).30 The defendants in this case proffered two nondiscriminatory reasons for failing to hire Chapman. He did not produce sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of pretext as to either. Therefore, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to the defendants on two independently adequate bases: Chapman's failure to create a genuine issue of pretext as to the objective reason, and also his failure to create a genuine issue of pretext as to the subjective reason.31

B. The Trial of Chapman's ADA Claims

1. Chapman's Motion for a New Trial

Part B of the panel opinion addresses Chapman's contentions that the jury verdict against him on his ADA claims should be overturned based upon the trial evidence. See Chapman v. AI Transport, 180 F.3d 1244, 1251 (11th Cir.1999). The panel concluded "that the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to grant Chapman's motion for a new trial on his ADA claims against all defendants." Id. Agreeing with that conclusion and the analysis supporting it, we reinstate Part B of the panel opinion.

2. The Redaction of Part of the Position Statement

The panel opinion also deals with Chapman's contention that the district court abused its discretion by excluding from evidence at trial part of the position statement the defendants had submitted to the EEOC in response to Chapman's charges. That statement was prepared by Esther Kornblau, an AIG employee, as part of the EEOC conciliation process. The part of the position statement that the district court refused to admit into evidence described Chapman's transfer by AI Transport to the position of SIR Manager as a promotion, when it was actually a lateral move. The panel concluded that part of the statement should have been admitted into evidence because it "would have been, from Chapman's perspective, evidence of the defendants' lack of credibility." Chapman, 180 F.3d at 1252. The panel posited that the "evidence might have been useful to impeach the defendants' general integrity." Id. at 1252 n. 2. However, the panel concluded that the district court's failure to admit that part of the position statement was harmless. See id. at 1252.

When we granted rehearing en banc we had intended to decide the issue of whether evidence of one corporate official's false statement concerning the plaintiff's employment is admissible to undermine the credibility of another corporate official, who was the actual decisionmaker, or to undermine the credibility of the corporation as a whole. Upon closer review of the record, however, we find that issue is not presented in this case. Although a corporate official who was uninvolved in Chapman's termination from AI Transport prepared the position statement, the AI Transport officials who were involved in his termination reviewed the statement and did not point out any mistakes. Thus, the false statement was directly relevant to those decision makers' credibility. We need not decide whether the district court abused its discretion in failing to admit the evidence, however, because we agree with the panel opinion that any error was harmless.

We leave vacated that part of the panel opinion indicating that a false or misleading statement by one corporate official may be used to undermine the credibility of another corporate official who was not involved in the making or submission of the statement. See id. at 1252. We also leave vacated any implication about general corporate credibility. See id. at 1252 n. 2. Those issues are not presented by this record, and we express no view on them.

3. The Award of Costs Pursuant to Rule 54(d)

The defendants, as the prevailing party, submitted a bill of costs pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d)(1), and the district court initially awarded costs to the defendants in the full amount requested, which was $34,504.90. However, after Chapman filed objections, the defendants submitted an amended bill of costs for $28,943.95. After deducting $7,088.70 from the amount requested in the amended bill of costs in order to remove items it found were not necessary to the litigation of the case, the district court awarded costs in the amount of $21,855.25. Chapman contends that in calculating the amount of costs he was required to pay, the district court erred by failing to take his financial status into account, as he requested in his opposition to the amended bill of costs.

We asked the parties to brief the issue of whether the district court has the authority to consider the non-prevailing party's financial resources, or the lack thereof, as a factor in calculating the amount of costs to be awarded. Rule 54(d)(1) provides that "costs other than attorney's fees shall be allowed as of course to the prevailing party unless the court otherwise directs." That provision establishes a presumption that costs are to be awarded to a prevailing party, but vests the district court with discretion to decide otherwise. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d)(1); Delta Air Lines, Inc. v. August, 450 U.S. 346, 351, 101 S.Ct. 1146, 1149, 67 L.Ed.2d 287 (1981).

However, the district court's discretion not to award the full amount of costs incurred by the prevailing party is not unfettered, see Head v. Medford, 62 F.3d 351, 354-55 (11th Cir.1995), "since denial of costs is in the nature of a penalty for some defection on [the prevailing party's] part in the course of the litigation." Walters v. Roadway Express, Inc., 557 F.2d 521, 526 (5th Cir.1977) (internal marks and citation omitted). To defeat the presumption and deny full costs, a district court must have and state a sound basis for doing so. See Medford, 62 F.3d at 354 (citing Gilchrist v. Bolger, 733 F.2d 1551, 1557 (11th Cir.1984)); Cherry v. Champion Int'l Corp., 186 F.3d 442, 446 (4th Cir.1999). We review a district court's decision about costs only for abuse of discretion. See Technical Resource Servs., 134 F.3d at 1468.

We hold that a non-prevailing party's financial status is a factor that a district court may, but need not, consider in its award of costs pursuant to Rule 54(d). See Smith v. Southeastern Penn. Transp. Auth., 47 F.3d 97, 100 (3rd Cir. 1995); McGill v. Faulkner, 18 F.3d 456, 459 (7th Cir.1994). If a district court in determining the amount of costs to award chooses to consider the non-prevailing party's financial status, it should require substantial documentation of a true inability to pay. See McGill, 18 F.3d at 459 (non-prevailing party offered no documentary support, relying instead on "unsupported, self-serving statements"); Cherry, 186 F.3d at 447 (no reduction in cost award despite proof that plaintiff had "no independent income and owned no property in her own name" because she had "sufficient access to marital property" and a 401(k) plan).

Moreover, when awarding costs a district court should not consider the relative wealth of the parties. Comparing the financial resources of the parties would unduly prejudice parties with assets and undermine "the presumption that Rule 54(d)(1) creates in prevailing parties' favor, and... the foundation of the legal system that justice is administered to all equally, regardless of wealth or status." Cherry, 186 F.3d at 448; see also Smith, 47 F.3d at 100. Even in those rare circumstances where the non-prevailing party's financial circumstances are considered in determining the amount of costs to be awarded, a court may not decline to award any costs at all. Cf. Durrett v. Jenkins Brickyard, Inc., 678 F.2d 911, 917 (11th Cir.1982) ("we hold that in no case may the district court refuse altogether to award attorney's fees to a prevailing Title VII defendant because of the plaintiff's financial condition," because "[a] fee must be assessed which will serve the deterrent purpose of the statute, and no fee will provide no deterrence."). Subject to that restriction and to the requirement that there be clear proof of the non-prevailing party's dire financial circumstances before that factor can be considered, we leave it to the district court's discretion whether to do so in a particular case.

Chapman did submit financial disclosures to the district court, although the defendants contend those disclosures are not detailed enough and fail to establish that full costs should not be awarded. The district court noted that "the Eleventh Circuit has not yet directly addressed ability to pay as a factor in assessing costs." It then awarded the full amount of costs it found to have been necessary to the litigation.

We cannot tell from the district court order whether the court recognized that it had limited discretion to consider a non-prevailing party's financial condition in calculating the amount of costs to award, or thought it had no discretion regardless of the financial showing made.32 Accordingly, we will vacate the order awarding costs and remand this case to the district court for the limited purpose of allowing the court to reconsider its decision in light of the rules we set out in this opinion. We do not mean to imply that the district court must consider Chapman's financial situation in calculating the amount of costs to be awarded, even if he proves his financial situation is extreme, but only that the court must realize that it has the discretion to do so.33 Now that we have stated the law of the circuit on this matter, we will assume in cases arising hereafter that district courts are aware of their discretion and its parameters, unless there is some affirmative indication to the contrary.

V. CONCLUSION

We AFFIRM the district court's grant of summary judgment to the defendants on the ADEA claims, and AFFIRM the judgment entered on the jury verdict in favor of the defendants on the ADA claims. We VACATE the order awarding costs to the defendants and REMAND the case to the district court for the limited purpose of allowing it to reconsider that order in light of our discussion about the matter in this opinion.

BIRCH, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which BARKETT and WILSON, Circuit Judges, join:

While important to the parties involved and deserving of careful treatment by the court, this case does not appear to be unusual at first blush. An older employee with excellent performance evaluations applies to receive one of several higher-paying positions — but the positions all go to younger workers. The older employee sues his employer for age discrimination. This seemingly modest case, however, has become a vehicle for considering plaintiffs' right to a jury trial and the distinction between questions of fact for the jury and questions of law for the judge. Most specifically, this case focuses upon the dispositive weight to be accorded an employer's purely subjective rationale for a putative non-discriminatory adverse employment action. Because summary judgment is inappropriate in light of Defendants' purely subjective decisionmaking and in the face of significant gaps and inconsistencies in the record, I dissent.1

I. Background

A. Procedural Posture

While the Americans with Disabilities Act portion of this case did proceed to trial, the district court granted summary judgment to Defendants as to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA") claim. In granting Defendants summary judgment on the ADEA claims, the district court rejected the magistrate judge's recommendation that summary judgment be denied as to AIGCS on the ADEA claim.

B. The Applicants & Application Process

The ADEA portion of this case arose from the interviewing and hiring process applied to certain applicants for positions with AIGCS.2 The applicants included:

Plaintiff John Chapman: Chapman graduated with a bachelor's degree from Emory University in 1955 and with a J.D. from Stetson College of Law (an accredited law school) in 1961.3 His post-college experience included: State Farm (1957 to May 1964); Hartford Insurance (May 1964 to September 1969); Home Insurance (September 1969 to June 1985); the Claimsman (July 1985 to August 1986); J. Gordon Gaines/Liberty National Fire Insurance ("Gaines") (August 1986 to April 1988); B.R. Martin (April 1988 to September 1988); and AIGCS/AI Transport4 (October 1988 to December 1992).5 Thus, Chapman had a bachelor's degree, a J.D. from an accredited law school, and six employers in the 31 years between finishing college and starting to work for AIGCS. Chapman worked on Gaines files at all of the employers for which he worked between leaving Home Insurance and starting to work for AIGCS.6

Warren Jones: Jones graduated with a bachelor's degree from Jonathan C. Smith University in 1977. He attended insurance training classes but had no graduate or law school training.7 His post-college experience included: Prudential (1977-79); Crawford & Company (from mid-1980 to mid 1982); Progressive (from mid-1982 to late 1982 or early 1983); USF & G (from late 1982/early 1983 to 1987 or 1988); AIGCS/AI Transport (1987 or 1988 to present).8 Thus, Jones had a bachelor's degree, no graduate or law school training, and four employers in the 11 years between college and starting to work for the AIGCS.

Duane Sevillian: Sevillian graduated with a bachelor's degree from Johnson C. Smith College, and he received a J.D. from Atlanta Law School (an unaccredited law school) in 1980. After graduating from law school, Sevillian worked for: New York Life (from 1980 to 1981); Safeco (from 1981 to 1988); and AIGCS/AI Transport (from January 1989 to present).9 Thus, Jones had a bachelor's degree, a J.D. from an unaccredited law school, and two employers in the eight years between law school and starting to work for AIGCS.

John Smith: Smith received an associate's degree from Middle Georgia College in 1962, a bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia in 1965, and a Masters in Science & Administration from Georgia College in 1976.10 Smith's employment history included: Southeastern Underwriters (from June 1965 to February 1966) (as an inspection engineer); the United States Army (from February 1966 to February 1968); Crawford & Company (from March 1968 to March 1971); Georgia Farm Bureau Insurance Company (from March 1971 to March 1976); Prudential Insurance Company (from March 1976 to March 1977); Government Employees Insurance Company (from June 1977 to June 1979); Dairyland or Sentry Insurance Company (from June 1979 to June 1980); the Moore Group (from June 1980 to January 1986); Gulf Insurance Co. (from January 1986 to December 27, 1988); and AI Transport (December 27, 1988 to present).11 Thus, Smith had associate's, bachelor's, and graduate degrees, no law school training, and seven employers in the twenty years between his discharge from the army and beginning to work for AIGCS.

Graham Wiggins: Wiggins graduated from Tuskegee Institute with a bachelor's degree and attended Emory Law School for one year before leaving without graduating.12 After leaving law school, Wiggins worked at Delta Airlines as a fueling agent, starting in Fall 1969, for 6 months. His insurance career included working at Allstate Insurance Co. (from February 1970 to 1974), Maryland Casualty Co. (from 1974 to 1978), and Gulf Insurance Co. (from 1978 to 1988), before beginning to work at AI Transport in 1988.13 Thus, Wiggins had a bachelor's degree, one year of law school, and three employers in the 18 years of his insurance career before beginning to work for AIGCS.

In 1992, the applicants applied to transfer from AI Transport to sister company AIGCS. After applying, the applicants were each interviewed by both Jim Wogsland and Ward Turnquist for the position of casualty claims manager. After the interviews, Chapman was informed that he had not been hired for the casualty claims manager position, while the other four men were hired for a variety of positions: Jones for a complex director position (in March 1993); Sevillian for a fast track manager position (in October 1992); Smith for a casualty claims specialist position (in October 1992); and Wiggins for the casualty claims manager position (in October 1992).14

II. Analysis

A. Summary Judgment Standard of Review

Reviewing the briefs in this case and listening to the oral arguments, I was struck by the sense that defense counsel appeared to be arguing from a different procedural posture than the one actually at issue in this case. With a large number of material issues of fact, defense counsel often hypothesized — making assumptions or raising inferences from the evidence to fill gaps in the record.15 Counsel's hypothesizing may have been appropriate and even persuasive in a case where he was arguing against summary judgment granted in Chapman's favor or was seeking to preserve a trial verdict in Defendants' favor, because the standard of review in those situations would require us to make all reasonable inferences in favor of Defendants.16 However, because this case involves a grant of summary judgment awarded to Defendants, we are obliged to draw all reasonable inferences in favor of Chapman. See, e.g., Taylor v. Runyon, 175 F.3d 861, 866 (11th Cir.1999).17

B. Standards for Assessing a Summary Judgment Motion in Employment Discrimination Case

Like the majority, I assume that the burden-shifting test first announced in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), applies to discrimination cases filed under the ADEA. See Damon v. Fleming Supermarkets of Fla., Inc., 196 F.3d 1354, 1358 (11th Cir.1999); see also Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., ___ U.S. ___, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 2105, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000). Applying that familiar test to this case, Chapman is required to establish as his prima facie case that he was a member of the class protected by the ADEA (i.e., was at least 40 years old at the time that he was denied promotion, see 29 U.S.C. § 631(a)), that he applied for one or more positions for which he was qualified, that he did not receive any of the positions for which he applied, and that substantially younger employees who were equally or less qualified than Chapman received the positions.18 "Establishment of the prima facie case in effect creates a presumption that the employer unlawfully discriminated against the employee." Texas Dept. of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 254, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 1094, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). Once Chapman establishes his prima facie case, the burden then shifts to Defendants to produce at least one "legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason" for not selecting Chapman for each of the positions for which he applied. McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 802, 93 S.Ct. at 1824. If Defendants fail to produce a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for failing to hire Chapman, then "the court must enter judgment for the plaintiff because no issue of fact remains in the case." Burdine, 450 U.S. at 254, 101 S.Ct. at 1094. If Defendants produce admissible evidence setting forth at least one legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for their rejection of Chapman, the burden shifts back to Chapman to proffer evidence tending to show that the reasons offered by Defendants were pretextual, i.e., "not the true reason[s] for the employment decision." Id. at 255-56, 101 S.Ct. at 1094-95. To this point, the majority and I agree on the substance of the law. However, I must clarify several issues.

1. The Prima Facie Case and the Four Younger Applicants

At no time at summary judgment or on appeal have Defendants challenged Chapman's prima facie case as to any of the four positions given to Jones, Sevillian, Smith, and Wiggins. Indeed, at summary judgment, no section of either Defendants' statements of undisputed material facts or their memoranda in support of summary judgment even addressed Chapman's prima facie case as to the applications for employment with AIGCS.19 Instead, Defendants addressed only the second of the three McDonnell Douglas steps, i.e., by offering justifications for hiring Wiggins instead of Chapman.20 However, as to Jones, Sevillian, and Smith, Defendants only stated that Chapman "was not considered for the positions filled by Sevillian, Jones, and Smith" — but offered no justification for their decision not to consider him for those positions.21 It is axiomatic that an argument not raised before the trial court or on appeal has been waived. See Campaign for a Prosperous Georgia v. SEC, 149 F.3d 1282, 1287 (11th Cir.1998) (holding that issue not raised on appeal is abandoned); Depree v. Thomas, 946 F.2d 784, 793 (11th Cir.1991) (holding that issue not raised before district court is waived). Accordingly, like the majority, I will consider the prima facie case as to each of the four employees to be undisputed and will analyze the justifications and pretext showings as to each of the four employees.

2. Subjectivity and the Legitimacy of Nondiscriminatory Reasons

At the outset, I must emphasize what my argument does and does not embrace. By suggesting the position that subjective reasons are per se illegitimate and then countering it, the majority erects a straw man and then topples it. That position, however, is neither one which I advocate nor one which I need to advocate in order to justify the conclusion that summary judgment was improvidently granted in this case. Admittedly, it would be difficult to justify a claim that subjective reasons are always inappropriate; my true position, instead, rests upon two venerable principles adopted in case after case by this circuit, as well as by many others.

First, courts have examined and should continue to examine subjective reasons with higher scrutiny than objective reasons. See Carter v. Three Springs Residential Treatment, 132 F.3d 635, 644 (11th Cir.1998) (rejecting subjective criteria that "are too subjective to allow for any meaningful comparison between" applicants and observing that such subjective criteria "cannot be relied upon by an employer seeking to defeat the plaintiff's prima facie case by showing that the plaintiff is less qualified than the applicant chosen for the promotion").22 Notwithstanding the majority's disagreement with this principle, its wide acceptance rests upon sound logic. Subjective reasons, by their very nature, often serve to mask discrimination.23 See Roberts v. Gadsden Mem'l Hosp., 835 F.2d 793, 798 (11th Cir.1988) ("[I]nformal, secretive and subjective hiring or promotion decision processes tend to facilitate the consideration of impermissible criteria."); Miles v. M.N.C. Corp., 750 F.2d 867, 871 (11th Cir.1985) ("This circuit has frequently noted ... that subjective evaluations involving white supervisors provide a ready mechanism for racial discrimination. This is because the supervisor is left free to indulge a preference, if he has one, for one race of workers over another.").24 Thus, "[w]hile there is nothing inherently wrong with allowing decision makers to base decisions on subjective criteria," it is reasonable to scrutinize strictly decisions based on such subjective criteria, which "`provide a ready mechanism'" for discrimination. Carter, 132 F.3d at 644 (quoting Miles, 750 F.2d at 871).

The second principle is that subjective reasons, like any other reason offered pursuant to the McDonnell Douglas test, must be legitimate, as well as nondiscriminatory. In this context, "legitimate" does not refer to the moral value of the nondiscriminatory reason, for "a defendant may... [refuse to promote] an employee for a good or bad reason without violating federal law." Damon, 196 F.3d at 1361. Rather, "legitimate" refers to the requirements in Burdine that "[t]he explanation provided must be legally sufficient to justify a judgment for the defendant" and that the defendant must "frame the factual issue with sufficient clarity so that the plaintiff will have a full and fair opportunity to demonstrate pretext." 450 U.S. at 255-56, 101 S.Ct. at 1094-95.25 In judging whether a subjective reason is legitimate, we have required that it be "capable of objective evaluation." Conner v. Fort Gordon Bus Co., 761 F.2d 1495, 1500 (11th Cir. 1985). See also Miles, 750 F.2d at 871 ("[S]ubjective and vague criteria may be insufficient reasons given by an employer for its failure to [ ]hire because such criteria do not allow a reasonable opportunity for rebuttal.").26 Thus, "the mere statethat the [employer] selected the `best qualified' would be insufficient to satisfy the Burdine requirements" because such a statement "leaves no opportunity for the employee to rebut the given reason as a pretext," while a claim that the person selected was better qualified by virtue of his or her "seniority, length of service in the same position, personal characteristics, general education, technical training, experience in comparable work or any combination of them" may be sufficient to satisfy the Burdine requirements. Increase Minority Participation by Affirmative Change Today of Northwest Fla., Inc. v. Firestone, 893 F.2d 1189, 1194 (11th Cir.1990).27

In this case, my general concerns with subjective reasons are exacerbated by the fact that Defendants' proffered reasons correspond strongly with the very stereotypes that the ADEA was designed to combat. A stereotype of older persons is that they are not "aggressive," such that employers frequently identify younger workers as "aggressive" and, thus, more desirable than older workers. See, e.g., Damon, 196 F.3d at 1362 ("Soto's remark to Kanafani's younger successor, D'Angelo, right after Kanafani was terminated, that Soto wanted `aggressive, young men' like himself to be promoted is highly suggestive circumstantial evidence from which a jury could infer discriminatory animus.... The comment also arguably suggests that Soto had an ageist preference for young managers."; reversing grant of summary judgment in favor of employer).28 It is interesting how often in the case law the words "young" and "aggressive" are linked together by defendant employers. The very frequency of this conjunction supports the conclusion that "aggressive" is a sign of "age bias, i.e., ... the assumption that older employees lack the aggressive and competitive disposition likely to be possessed by younger employees...." Woroski v. Nashua Corp., 31 F.3d 105, 109 n. 2 (2d Cir.1994). Where courts have found that summary judgment for the employer is appropriate in the face of such comments, their conclusion was more likely to be in spite of the comments, rather than because of the comments. See, e.g., id. (noting that some of the other cited comments demonstrated neutral concerns). This is because of the purposes behind the ADEA:

Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins, 507 U.S. 604, 610, 113 S.Ct. 1701, 1706, 123 L.Ed.2d 338 (1993) (citation omitted). Accordingly, rather than accepting wholesale the claim that Chapman did not appear "aggressive" as an adequate justification for rejecting his application for employment, we should, as with gender discrimination, be suspicious of employer's evaluations of a given employee's level of aggressiveness.29 This is no less true in the area of age discrimination. Cf. Aka, 156 F.3d at 1298 ("[W]e cannot altogether ignore the fact that outward manifestations of `enthusiasm' are just the kind of traits that advancing age and heart-related disability may tend to diminish.").

Applying these principles, I come, not to the conclusion that subjective reasons are per se illegitimate, but to the conclusion that subjective reasons, like other reasons offered pursuant to Burdine, must be given weight according to their legal sufficiency. Some subjective reasons, those which cannot be objectively evaluated and/or are vague, should be accorded no weight. Other subjective reasons, such as those that are premised on stereotypes, should be scrutinized strictly.30 Subjective reasons, like objective reasons, should be evaluated based on the evidence offered in their support and the context in which those reasons arose. For example, courts have been more willing to accept subjective reasons where specific criteria existed prior to the adverse employment action. See, e.g., Carter, 132 F.3d at 643 (reversing summary judgment in part because of poorly drafted criteria); Miles, 750 F.2d at 871-72 (noting that lack of preexisting criteria tends to weaken the value of a subjective evaluation). Similarly, courts have been more willing to accept subjective reasons where evidence preexisting the litigation supports those reasons. See, e.g., Aka, 156 F.3d at 1298 (noting that lack of note on interview summary regarding plaintiff's alleged lack of enthusiasm weakened subjective evaluation). Thus, a subjective reason that is clear and specific, is capable of objective evaluation, is not premised on a stereotype, is consistent with clear criteria that preexisted the adverse employment action, and was documented at the time of the adverse employment action and before litigation is initiated should be accorded more weight than a subjective reason that does not meet all of those factors.

3. Distinguishing Between the Business Judgment Rule and Challenges to the Credibility of Proffered Nondiscriminatory Reasons

The majority, like Defendants, contends that a number of the arguments raised by Chapman, e.g., regarding the job instability of other candidates over their entire careers, contravene a long line of cases that protect an employer's business judgment from being second-guessed by judges or by juries.31 This argument miscomprehends Chapman's claims, as well as the points made in this dissent. While the business judgment rule protects the sincere employer against second-guessing of the reasonableness of its judgments, it does not protect the employer against attacks on its credibility. See Elrod v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 939 F.2d 1466, 1470 (11th Cir.1991) ("The inquiry of the ADEA is limited to whether [the defendant's decision makers] believed that Elrod was guilty of harassment, and if so, whether this belief was the reason behind Elrod's discharge...."). A showing that Wogsland and Turnquist acted inconsistently would tend to establish that they lack credibility. Cf. Williams v. City of Valdosta, 689 F.2d 964, 975 (11th Cir.1982) (rersing grant of new trial to employer in First Amendment demotion case despite employer's legitimate justification that employee had not passed a promotional exam where the employer's "adherence to its formal promotional policy was inconsistent and arbitrary at best" because "[t]his inconsistency supports the conclusion that resort to the examination requirement was a pretext for singling out [the plaintiff] for unfavorable treatment."). Accordingly, while the business judgment rule protects Defendants against claims that their reasons are imprudent, it must not be used to shield Defendants against colorable claims that their reasons are non-credible.

4. Pretext Where the Defendant Offers Multiple Reasons for its Actions

We noted in Combs that "[p]rovided that the record evidence would permit a reasonable factfinder to reject each of [the employer's] proffered explanations for its decision, the case properly was submitted to the jury for a decision on the ultimate question of intentional discrimination." 106 F.3d at 1539 (emphasis added). As a general rule, I agree with the concept that, where an employer offers multiple legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for its challenged action, the employee must proffer evidence that shows pretext as to each of the proffered reasons. However, I also agree with other circuits that there are limits to this general rule. The Third Circuit, addressing this question, stated:

Fuentes v. Perskie, 32 F.3d 759, 764-65 n. 7 (3d Cir.1994); see also Narin v. Lower Merion Sch. Dist., 206 F.3d 323, 332-34 (3d Cir.2000) (discussing Fuentes). Similarly, the Seventh Circuit has observed that

Adreani v. First Colonial Bankshares Corp., 154 F.3d 389, 399 (7th Cir.1998) (citing Wolf v. Buss (America) Inc., 77 F.3d 914, 920 (7th Cir.1996) and Russell v. Acme-Evans Co., 51 F.3d 64, 69-70 (7th Cir.1995)). The Sixth Circuit, citing the Seventh Circuit's Russell decision, has observed "that an employer's strategy of simply tossing out a number of reasons to support its employment action in the hope that one of them will `stick' could easily backfire" such that "a multitude of suspicious explanations may itself suggest that the employer's investigatory process was so questionable that any application of the `honest belief' rule is inappropriate." Smith v. Chrysler Corp., 155 F.3d 799, 809 (6th Cir.1998).

I find persuasive these cases and the reasoning applied in them. While the general rule requiring an employment discrimination plaintiff to demonstrate pretext as to each and every legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason offered by the employer is reasonable in the majority of cases, that general rule fails when applied to a small percentage of cases.32 Demonstrating pretext by "[c]asting doubt on an employer's asserted reasons for an adverse employment action" is an indirect means of demonstrating "that the employer acted with the forbidden animus." Taylor, 175 F.3d at 867; see also Wolf, 77 F.3d at 919 ("Pretext means more than a mistake on the part of the employer; pretext `means a lie, specifically a phony reason for some action'") (quoting Russell, 51 F.3d at 68); Black's Law Dictionary 1206 (7th ed.1999) (defining "pretext" as "[a] false or weak reason or motive advanced to hide the actual or strong reason or motive"). The reason why we have the general rule requiring an employment discrimination plaintiff to dispute each proffered reason is that, where at least one independent justification for the challenged employment action remains unscathed after the plaintiff attempts to establish pretext, a jury could not presume by the failure of another independent justification that the real motivation was discriminatory animus. See Russell, 51 F.3d at 69. This accords well with common sense, for, if the inference of discriminatory animus arises from the failure of all legitimate reasons offered by the defendant, then the inference is inappropriate where one or more legitimate reasons remain unrebutted. However, common sense also counsels that there are some situations where the failure of one proffered reason may affect the reliability of other proffered reasons. Like the Seventh Circuit, I believe that logic tells us that, where two legitimate reasons proffered by an employer are intertwined, the employee's showing of pretext as to one of those reasons may (but not always will)33 sufficiently weaken the other reason so as to preclude a grant of summary judgment to the employer. See Russell, 51 F.3d at 70. Similarly, it is reasonable, where the showing of pretext as to one reason is sufficiently strong as to permit a jury to find that the employer (or its decisionmaker) lacks all credibility, to conclude that summary judgment is inappropriate — even without a specific showing of pretext as to another reason. See id. I likewise find persuasive the reasoning of the Third and Sixth Circuits where they find that the proffering of a large number of arguably pretextual reasons may cast sufficient doubt on the remainder of the proffered reasons, such that summary judgment should be denied. See Smith, 155 F.3d at 809; Fuentes, 32 F.3d at 764 n. 7. This is but common sense: if a person is shown to be a liar in an outrageous manner or is shown to have lied about a number of issues, the inference that the person is non-credible, and should not be believed as to other issues, is a reasonable one.

The D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc, has suggested a fourth exception to the general rule: where an employer offers an objective reason for its employment action (e.g., that the plaintiff was less qualified than the person hired instead of the plaintiff) and a subjective reason (e.g., that the plaintiff failed to show "enthusiasm" or "interest"), the fact that the plaintiff has offered evidence establishing pretext as to the objective reason creates a question for the jury as to the disputed34 subjective assessments. See Aka, 156 F.3d at 1298-99. This, like the other exceptions suggested by the Third, Sixth, and Seventh Circuits, accords well with common sense. When a reason is subjective, its validity depends entirely on the credibility of the witness offering the reason. Where that credibility has been compromised, a jury could reasonably conclude that the subjective reason offered by the witness is not credible or, in other words, that the subjective reason "was untrue — indeed, a lie." Id.

Additionally, I am concerned that if we follow the suggestion of Defendants and refuse to adopt these reasonable exceptions, we will have created a blueprint for evasion. This hoary term is perhaps overused, but it is in this case an appropriate one. If a defendant can offer with impunity a slew of nondiscriminatory reasons in a summary judgment motion, with the knowledge that a strong showing of pretextuality as to 99% of them would be irrelevant as long as but one survives unscathed, then employment discrimination cases will be, for all practical purposes, precluded. This problem is exacerbated where the one reason that survives the onslaught is a purely subjective one. If we do not apply the reasonable exceptions adopted by the other circuits, employers will be encouraged to throw their reasons like mud at a wall — with the certainty that one of those reasons will stick because of the unlikelihood of the plaintiff being able to prove that the purely subjective perception of the decisionmaker was dishonest without referring to the proof that other reasons offered were pretextual.

For all of the above reasons, I would adopt the Third, Sixth, Seventh, and D.C. Circuits' exceptions to the general rule of requiring a plaintiff to rebut each proffered reason. In addition to their internal logic, these exceptions are consistent with the Supreme Court's admonition that the McDonnell Douglas test "was `never intended to be rigid, mechanized, or ritualistic. Rather, it is merely a sensible, orderly way to evaluate the evidence in light of common experience as it bears on the critical question of discrimination.'" United States Postal Serv. Bd. of Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 715, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 1482, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983) (quoting Furnco Constr. Corp. v. Waters, 438 U.S. 567, 577, 98 S.Ct. 2943, 2949, 57 L.Ed.2d 957 (1978)).

5. Multiple Ways of Disputing Non-discriminatory Reasons

Just as "there is more than one way to skin a cat," there is also more than one way for a plaintiff to challenge a defendant's proffered nondiscriminatory reasons. See Reeves, 120 S.Ct. at 2108 ("Proof that the defendant's explanation is unworthy of credence is simply one form of circumstantial evidence that is probative of intentional discrimination, and it may be quite persuasive."). As the Supreme Court stated in Burdine, once a defendant proffers legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons, a plaintiff may dispute those reasons by showing "that she has been the victim of intentional discrimination ... either directly by persuading the court that a discriminatory reason more likely motivated the employer or indirectly by showing that the employer's proffered explanation is unworthy of credence." 450 U.S. at 256, 101 S.Ct. at 1095. I mention this principle not because I believe that the majority disputes it, but because Chapman's attack on Defendants' proffered reasons involves not only challenges to the credibility of the reasons offered, but also a showing of disparate treatment that is relevant to the ultimate question of whether a discriminatory reason more likely motivated Defendants in their decision not to hire Chapman than did the proffered reasons.

6. Conclusion

In conclusion, the majority and I approach this case from a similar, yet not identical, perspective. Applying these principles to the summary judgment record, I find a large number of disputed facts and factual claims not supported by the record. Accordingly, I turn to a close review of the summary judgment record.

C. Gaps and Inconsistencies in the Record

1. "Recent"

Turning first to the claim that Chapman was rejected because of his "recent"35 history of job skipping, I note that "recent" is not a clear term with a definite timeframe attached. In arguing that we should defer to the definition used by Wogsland in evaluating Chapman, Defendants allude to a 10-year timeframe before the 1992 interviews — but, of necessity, their allusions are without record citations because record citations to a definition do not exist.36 An exhaustive search of the record shows that neither Wogsland nor Turnquist ever defined "recent." Thus, when asked at oral argument if the record included a definition of "recent," defense counsel could only argue that "recent" implicitly was "the period when plaintiff switched jobs." Not only is this definition without record citation and hypothetical,37 but the fact remains that defense counsel has now offered two different definitions of "recent": ten38 years before the 1992 interviews and a fuzzy period including the time between Chapman's employment with Home and his employment by AIGCS. There is no reason that we should privilege these periods of time over another reasonable definition of "recent" — for they are not definitions provided by the record.

Even worse than the fact that defense counsel has offered us two different, unsupported definitions of "recent" is the fact that Wogsland himself used two different definitions of "recent" in evaluating Chapman. Wogsland stated that he was concerned about "the lack of recent stability in job positions prior to joining AI Transport."39 This "recent" time period apparently includes Chapman's employment with Gaines and the Claimsman on Gaines work. Wogsland also stated that he was "not happy with" the fact that Chapman "had not had any recent general liability experience."40 It is undisputed that Chapman gained general liability experience while working with Gaines and The Claimsman on Gaines work.41 Accordingly, "recent" in the context of general liability experience did not include Chapman's employment with Gaines and The Claimsman. This is troubling, not only in light of the lack of a definition of "recent" in the record, but also because the differing timeframes were selectively applied so as to maximize the harm to Chapman's job application. Indeed, this selective application appears on its face to be "transparently pretextual, and ... to have been tailored to the needs of the occasion." Farber v. Massillon Bd. of Educ., 917 F.2d 1391, 1398 (6th Cir.1990).

It may be that defense counsel could persuade a reasonable jury that there is a very good reason for the differing timeframes, or that Wogsland could testify at trial as to a reasonable definition of "recent" that would account for his varying treatment of different aspects of Chapman's job history. But even if we cannot discount those possibilities or may find persuasive the hypothetical definitions offered by defense counsel,42 the procedural posture compels us to conclude that summary judgment was improvidently granted.

2. "Job-skipping"

It is undisputed that the other applicants each had less experience than did Chapman. It is also undisputed that the other applicants each had experienced a number of job changes in their comparatively shorter careers, with Jones having four employers in the eleven years between ending school and starting with AI Transport, Sevillian having two employers in the eight-plus years between ending school and starting with AI Transport, Smith having seven employers in the twenty years between leaving the Army and starting with AI Transport, and Wiggins having three employers in the eighteen years between beginning his career in insurance and starting with AI Transport.43,44 Thus, while Chapman had six employers over a thirty-one year career prior to starting to work for AI Transport,45 his average of 5.16 years per employer compares favorably with each of the other four men: Jones (average of 2.75 years per employer), Sevillian (average of 4+ years per employer), Smith (average of 2.86 years per employer), and Wiggins (average of 6 years per employer) — with only Wiggins having a better average of years per employer. And yet, Chapman was the only one noted as having job stability problems — and the only one not hired by AIGCS.

The majority (agreeing with the Defendants) argues that relying on these averages usurps the Defendants' business judgment in contravention of a long line of cases. See, e.g., Damon, 196 F.3d at 1361; Alphin, 940 F.2d at 1501. As I previously discussed, this argument misapplies the business judgment rule by protecting Defendants against attacks on their credibility. See Elrod, 939 F.2d at 1470. Where an employer asserts that it was concerned about the job stability of an applicant, the fact that other applicants have a history of job instability but were not penalized for that history tends to demonstrate a lack of credibility. Cf. Alphin, 940 F.2d at 1501-02 (discussing business judgment rule and reversing grant of summary judgment to employer where employee proffered evidence tending to show that he was competent in his work and that similarly situated employees had received more favorable treatment). Thus, while merely showing that the employer was mistaken is not sufficient to show pretext, "both the Supreme Court and this court have observed that evidence showing an employer hired a less qualified applicant over the plaintiff may be probative of whether the employer's proffered reason for not promoting [the] plaintiff was pretextual." Alexander v. Fulton County, Ga., 207 F.3d 1303, 1340 (11th Cir.2000). I do not dispute that, if a jury finds that Wogsland was sincere in his belief that Chapman's "recent" job history was unstable, then the business judgment rule protects him from the jury second-guessing his asserted conclusion that that job instability merited not hiring Chapman. I merely conclude that, because a reasonable jury could find that Wogsland's treatment of the various applicants' job histories was inconsistent and, therefore, that Defendants' job history justification was pretextual, it is inappropriate for us to take this case out of the hands of the jury. Cf. Williams, 689 F.2d at 975 (reversing grant of new trial to employer where the employer's "adherence to its formal promotional policy was inconsistent and arbitrary at best" because "[t]his inconsistency supports the conclusion that resort to the examination requirement was a pretext for singling out [the plaintiff] for unfavorable treatment.").

Additionally, there is no evidence, any-where, to indicate that Wogsland or Turnquist judged Chapman's job instability to be worse than either Jones's or Smith's. Indeed, the only evidence of any comparison made between any of the candidates was Turnquist's statement that he "felt [he] had more confidence in Graham [Wiggins] in the way he presented his work history."46 Thus, Defendants' attempt to protect the "business judgment" of Wogsland and of Turnquist assumes that a business judgment has been made, i.e., that Wogsland and Turnquist actually viewed Chapman's job history to be worse than his fellow applicants. It also assumes that Wogsland and Turnquist believed that overall career history was irrelevant or, at least, less important than recent job history. Yet there is no evidence to indicate that they agree with that position or applied it in evaluating the applicants. To the contrary, Turnquist testified that he looked to the "entire work history" of a candidate47 and that his concerns were "not necessarily" focused on the timeframe between Chapman's employment by Home Insurance and his employment by AI Transport but, instead, that he looked at Chapman's entire career.48 Those statements notwithstanding, Turnquist could not recall having any concerns about the stability of Smith's prior employment history, despite the fact that he had worked for more employers than Chapman over a shorter career than Chapman. As for Wogsland, there is no evidence in the summary judgment record about his beliefs regarding stability of an applicant's entire career.49 With no evidence in the summary judgment record explaining why Wogsland and Turnquist apparently ignored the weaknesses in Smith's and Jones's employment histories — or even stating that they had considered their employment histories50 — there has been no "business judgment" demonstrated and, thus, the business judgment rule should not be used to justify a grant of summary judgment.

Even if we credit the reasoning of the Defendants and use a period of thirteen years prior to being hired by AI Transport,51 we find the following: four employers for Chapman for an average of 3.25 years per employer; four employers (over eleven years) for Jones for an average of 2.75 years per employer; two employers (over eight plus years) for Sevillian for an average of 4+ years per employer; six employers for Smith for an average of 2.17 years per employer; and two employers for Wiggins for an average of 6.5 years per employer. Thus, of the five applicants, Chapman had the third best average of years per employer over the thirteen years prior to being hired by AIG. Indeed, his average of 3.25 over those thirteen years was superior to Smith and Jones's averages for either their total career or the thirteen year sample period. Yet he was still rejected by Defendants as having worse "recent" job stability. Thus, even applying Defendants' theory, and applying the time period arbitrarily suggested by them and the starting point apparently used by Wogsland, I still find disparate treatment and inconsistencies.

3. Decisionmaker: Wogsland or Turnquist

It is not clear what role Turnquist played in the decision not to hire Chapman for any of the available positions at AIGCS. Defendants argue that Turnquist merely conducted a screening interview and, thus, that he was not a decisionmaker for the purpose of hiring Wiggins for the position of casualty claims manager. The record, as it existed at the time that summary judgment was granted, includes several pieces of evidence that tend to dispute Defendants' characterization of Turnquist. At summary judgment, Defendants identified both Wogsland and Turnquist as the persons "who were responsible for filling the position" eventually given to Wiggins.52 Wogsland himself identified Turnquist as one of the persons that he relied on in deciding not to hire Chapman to be a casualty claims manager and also stated that he relied on Turnquist's interview with Chapman.53 In fact, I also note that, in stating that "Plaintiff forgets that Wogsland was the decision-maker; Turnquist merely provided a second opinion to Wogsland," Defendants cite only to Turnquist's trial testimony.54 As Defendants themselves repeatedly point out, such trial testimony cannot be considered in our review of the district court's grant of summary judgment because that trial testimony was, of necessity, not in the record that the district court reviewed when considering the summary judgment motions.55 Similarly, while defense counsel repeatedly referred at oral argument to Turnquist's statement that his interview was merely a "screening interview," Turnquist first used that term in his trial testimony,56 which cannot be considered in this appeal.

Additionally, Chapman testified that he was interviewed first by Wogsland and then by Turnquist.57 While defense counsel asserted at oral argument, without support, that Chapman must have been "mistaken" in this testimony because Turnquist was merely a "screening interview" and, therefore, must have interviewed Chapman first, this assertion assumes that we accept Turnquist's testimony and reject contradictory evidence. This conclusion inherently requires a weighing of the evidence: something not permitted at summary judgment. See Howard, 32 F.3d at 524. In addition to Chapman's testimony in his deposition that he was interviewed by Wogsland prior to being interviewed by Turnquist, other evidence tends to support the claim that Turnquist was not a mere screening interview. The date on both Wogsland and Turnquist's notes from their interviews with Chapman are "10/13/92."58 Thus, it appears that Wogsland and Turnquist both interviewed Chapman on October 13, 1992; a fact that is inconsistent with Defendants' characterization of Turnquist as a screening interview. Likewise, at their depositions, Jones59 and Wiggins60 both testified that they interviewed with Wogsland before interviewing with Turnquist. Thus, there is evidence tending to show that Wogsland interviewed at least three of the five applicants before Turnquist did, which, as defense counsel implicitly recognized at oral argument, is inconsistent with the claim that Turnquist was a mere screening interview.

In their position statement to the EEOC,61 the Defendants stated: "There were three positions to be filled in the Atlanta AIAC office. Thirty to forty people were interviewed for the positions by Ward Turnquist (age 51, White), Vice President. Three employees were hired from AI Transport based upon the quality of their responses to Mr. Turnquist's questions."62 In addition to not mentioning the alleged "job skipping" concerns, the position statement also puts the decision squarely on Turnquist — not Wogsland.

The discrepancies in the characterizations of Turnquist are significant not only because of the light they tend to cast on the credibility of both Wogsland and Turnquist. See Howard, 32 F.3d at 526 ("[T]he identification of inconsistencies in the defendant's testimony is evidence of pretext."); see also Damon, 196 F.3d at 1365 n. 6 (noting that "a jury could infer that the `inconsistencies' between [the employer's] deposition and affidavit may be evidence of pretext"). By supporting the claim that Turnquist was a decisionmaker (or even the primary decisionmaker), this evidence also renders more important a series of his statements, all of which are in the summary judgment record and are helpful to Chapman. These statements include: (1) that Turnquist had a negative impression of Sevillian during his interview and that he told Wogsland that he "questioned whether or not Duane Sevillian would have been aggressive enough" to be the casualty claims manager;63 (2) that Turnquist looked to the "entire history" of a candidate;64 (3) that Turnquist's concerns were "not necessarily" focused on the timeframe between Chapman's employment by Home Insurance and his employment by AI Transport but, instead, that he was also focusing on the number of jobs that Chapman had held over his entire career;65 and (4) that Turnquist could not recall having any concerns about Smith's job history despite the fact that he had had more employers than Chapman during a shorter career.66 These statements are useful to Chapman in defending against summary judgment because they tend to show disparate treatment in the assessment of different candidates.

I also note that, while those statements are more significant if Turnquist was the final decisionmaker or one of the co-decisionmakers, they are still relevant even if he was merely a source of information for Wogsland. While Defendants cite to a line of cases holding that, where two managers disagree in their assessment of an employee or applicant, courts should look to the assessment of the final decisionmaker, those cases are inapposite in this situation where there is no evidence that Wogsland and Turnquist disagreed about the substance of these statements. Indeed, at no time did Wogsland and Turnquist indicate that they disagreed about anything; instead, Wogsland indicated that he relied on Turnquist.67 To conclude that Wogsland disagreed with Turnquist about the caliber of Sevillian's interview or that the relevance of the number of jobs held over an entire career would require us to make impermissible assumptions and to read the inferences in favor of the summary judgment movant — contrary to the standards applied at summary judgment. See Taylor, 175 F.3d at 866.

4. "Poor" interview

The only aspect of Chapman's interview that Wogsland raised in his deposition was that Chapman "did not give us [Wogsland and Turnquist] as concise, direct answers to questions as we would like to see" and that Chapman was not "aggressive."68 While Defendants argue that Chapman's interview was unusually short and that he failed to ask pertinent questions, Defendants cite to Wogsland's trial testimony for these points.69 Because trial testimony is not relevant to the question of whether summary judgment was appropriately granted before the trial testimony ever even came into existence, see Welch, 951 F.2d at 1237 n. 3; U.S. East Telecomms., 38 F.3d at 1301, we are, therefore, limited to the allegations that Chapman's answers were not sharp70 and that he was not "aggressive."

Wogsland noted only two specific answers with which he was "not happy": that Chapman had no "recent general liability experience" and that Chapman "wasn't very clear about why he had gone from Home to several other positions before he got to Transport."71 Chapman has sufficiently demonstrated pretext as to both of these points.

Accordingly, because Chapman has offered testimony tending to show that he did, in fact, give Wogsland and Turnquist specific answers to their questions, he has successfully disputed the substance of Wogsland and Turnquist's complaints — namely, that he did not provide specific answers to his questions.76 Thus, the only remaining contention is that his answers were, as a matter of form, somehow lacking in sharpness, conciseness, or aggressiveness.

For three reasons, I conclude that the contention that his answers were lacking as a matter of form remains in dispute and, thus, that Chapman has established pretext as to this justification. The first two reasons flow from the simple proposition that the best evidence of the form of the answers given at an interview are the answers themselves. Given the evidence that Chapman did, in fact, give specific answers to the questions asked of him, i.e., the evidence that he answered with completeness and specificity the questions about his general liability experience and his recent job history, I would conclude that Chapman has sufficiently disputed the contention that his answers lacked sharpness, conciseness, or aggressiveness.77 This conclusion is supported by my second reason: that Wogsland and Turnquist's recollections of the interviews were so lacking in detail78 as to be purely subjective — with no objective elements that could reasonably be disputed (other than the disputed allegations about Chapman's answers to questions about his general liability experience and job history). My third reason relates to the fact that there is no contemporaneous evidence supporting Wogsland and Turnquist's claims that they found Chapman to lack aggressiveness or to have otherwise had a poor interview. It is undisputed that neither Wogsland nor Turnquist wrote any remarks on their notes from the interviews with Chapman that indicated that Chapman's interview lacked aggressiveness79 or was otherwise poor in quality — indeed, they made no notes regarding their perspective on Chapman's personality, performance as an interviewee, or character. Thus, there is no evidence supporting Wogsland and Turnquist's post hoc rationalizations that they found Chapman's interview to be in any way lacking. In light of the fact that both Wogsland and Turnquist assert now (years later) that they rejected Chapman on the basis of his interviews, this "lacking" is suspicious. Their present claim that they made no such notes because they were merely summarizing the interviews should be assessed by the jury.

5. Other Disparate Treatment

At summary judgment, Chapman offered evidence tending to show disparate treatment as compared to the other applicants. In light of the undisputed fact that Chapman's education and performance evaluations were equal to or superior to that of the other applicants, this evidence of disparate treatment gains heightened significance. Having already addressed the disparate treatment of Chapman as to his job history and as to his "poor" interview, I will focus two other types of disparate treatment to which Chapman was subjected: that he, alone of all of the applicants, was not considered for multiple positions and that he, unlike Wiggins, was singled out for lacking "recent" general liability experience.

a. Consideration for multiple positions

Unlike each of the other applicants, Chapman was considered for only one position: the casualty claims manager position. Once rejected for that position, he was not considered for any other position. As a primary point, I note that it is undisputed that Chapman never limited his interest to the casualty claims manager position.80 At his deposition, Wogsland admitted that neither the written message from Chapman applying for any open position with AIGCS nor Chapman's oral statements at his interview indicated that his interest was limited to the casualty claims manager position.81 Despite Chapman's apparent interest in any open positions, Wogsland not only did not consider Chapman for positions other than the casualty claims manager position, but he did not even bother to consider whether he was qualified for the other open positions.82 I also note that there is no evidence disputing Chapman's claims that he was qualified for the other open positions.83

Wogsland and Turnquist's treatment of Chapman contrasts strongly with each of the other candidates. Jones was hired from AI Transport by AIGCS for a Complex Director position in March 1993. He initially interviewed with Turnquist in October 1992 for approximately 45 minutes and with Wogsland for the casualty claims manager position even though he only wanted the Complex Director position. After a new Complex Director position was created, Turnquist hired Jones. Thus, Jones was considered for two positions, including one for which he was explicitly not interested.84 Sevillian was hired from AI Transport by AIGCS in October 1992 as a fast track manager.85 He stated that he limited his application to the claims manager position, which he stated was the same as the fast track manager position.86 However, when he interviewed with Turnquist, he was not interviewing specifically for the fast track manager position.87 Turnquist testified that he considered Sevillian for the casualty claims manager position.88 Accordingly, Sevillian was considered for two different positions, including one for which he did not apply. Smith: In applying to AIGCS for transfer from AI Transport, Smith indicated that he was not interested in either the fast track manager or claim representative positions.89 When Wogsland interviewed Smith, he indicated that he was considering him for either the senior claims representative position or the senior casualty specialist.90 Smith also interviewed with Turnquist,91 who indicated in his deposition that he was interviewing Smith for the casualty manager position.92 Thus, Smith was considered for three positions, including one position in which he was specifically not interested. Wiggins: Wiggins was hired for the casualty claims manager position despite telling both Wogsland and Turnquist that he was interested in the claims director position and that he was specifically not interested in the casualty claims manager position. Wiggins was told that he could be considered for other claims director positions that became available at a later time. Thus, Wiggins was considered and hired for a position for which he had stated he had no interest and also received assurances that he would be considered later for a different position.93

b. Lack of "recent" general liability experience

Wogsland testified in his deposition that he was not happy with Chapman's statement that he had "not had any recent general liability experience."94 When asked if the other applicants had stated that they had "recent" general liability experience, Wogsland testified that "[a]ll except for Mr. Wiggins" did.95 Yet it was Wiggins who was given the casualty claims manager position over Chapman.96 Wogsland justified Wiggins' lack of "recent" general liability experience on the ground that Wiggins "had been working for the same AI Transport that Mr. Chapman had."97 Wogsland never explained, however, why he considered Chapman's lack of "recent" general liability experience to be a negative, unlike with Wiggins, who equally lacked "recent" general liability experience for the precise same reason as Chapman.

D. Analysis

As I have discussed at length, the summary judgment record is plagued by a large number of gaps and inconsistencies. As a result, a number of material disputed facts exist that weaken Defendants' proffered nondiscriminatory reasons to such an extent that summary judgment is inappropriate.

1. Arguments Applicable to All Four Applicants

a. "Recent" history of job skipping

In considering the job history justification, I find a number of material gaps and inconsistencies in the record, as well as evidence of disparate treatment. First, Defendants have never defined the term "recent," which renders vague and uncertain Wogsland and Turnquist's claims that they rejected Chapman for his "recent" job instability. Second, the record indicates that Wogsland selectively applied two different definitions of "recent" in evaluating Chapman's job application — one which included his time working for The Claimsman, Gaines, and B.R. Martin and one which did not include that timeframe. Particularly disturbing is the fact that those different definitions were selectively applied in order to effect the maximum damage to Chapman's application. Third, Chapman gave explanations regarding each of his job changes, but neither Wogsland nor Turnquist could explain what reasons (if any) they used to justify ignoring those explanations. Indeed, neither Wogsland nor Turnquist could recall what answers Chapman gave regarding his job changes. Fourth, in evaluating the job histories of the various candidates over a time frame starting with the date on which Chapman was hired by AIGCS in 1988, his average years with each employer compares favorably with all of the other candidates and is superior to two of the candidates (Jones and Smith). Fifth, Turnquist admitted that he considered the entire job history of applicants to be relevant in assessing job stability. This not only tends to negate the claims of "recent" job instability, but also makes more relevant the fact that Chapman's average years with each employer over his entire history compares favorably with all of the other candidates and is, again, superior to two of the candidates (Jones and Smith). Sixth, Turnquist's admission that he did not recall having any concerns about Smith's prior employment history is evidence of disparate treatment of Chapman as compared to Smith (who had averaged fewer years per employer than Chapman regardless of whether one considers their entire job histories or the timeframe prior to Chapman's hiring in 1988). Seventh, when Defendants had the opportunity to state in their EEOC Position Statement that the "recent" history of job instability was a reason for their decision not to hire Chapman, they rested solely the applicants' interviews with Turnquist as their reason for refusing to hire him for the casualty claims manager position.98 Eighth, notwithstanding defense counsel's arguments to the contrary, there is no evidence in the summary judgment record indicating that Wogsland had any beliefs about the relevance of an applicant's entire job history when assessing that applicant's job stability.

b. "Poor" Interview

Gaps and inconsistencies in the record and evidence of disparate treatment likewise undermine the "poor" interview reason proffered by Defendants. First, the evidence indicates that Chapman gave Wogsland a complete answer to both of the questions specified by Wogsland in his deposition. As to the "recent" general liability experience, the evidence indicates that Chapman told Wogsland that his position at AI Transport did not involve general liability work but that his work with on Gaines files during the time period immediately preceding his hiring by AIGCS in 1988 did involve general liability work. Regardless of whether Wogsland did not like the substance of this response (a claim significantly weakened by the fact that Wiggins likewise lacked such "recent" general liability experience), the response was still complete. As to Chapman's job history, the evidence indicates that he had reasons for each of the moves that occurred in the 1980's. Again, regardless of whether Wogsland and Turnquist did not like the substance of this response (a claim without support in the record, as neither Wogsland nor Turnquist could remember what response they were given),99 the evidence indicates that he did provide complete responses to the questions about his job history.

Additionally, Wogsland and Turnquist's claims that Chapman's interview was insufficient as a matter of form are likewise in dispute. First, there is no definition of "aggressive" in the record. This renders their claim vague and irrebuttable, in contravention of Burdine. Second, the evidence that Chapman did, in fact, answer completely the two questions specified by Wogsland tends to dispute the claims as to form. Third, Wogsland and Turnquist's recall of the interview was so lacking in detail and so conclusory in description as to be purely subjective and, thus, to lack value under Burdine. Fourth, Wogsland and Turnquist's notes from Chapman's interviews include no notations regarding their perspective on his personality, character, or performance as an interviewee. Fifth, there is evidence of disparate treatment, with Sevillian being hired despite Turnquist's perception of Sevillian as not sufficiently aggressive.

c. Other Disparate Treatment and Inconsistencies

In addition to the disparate treatment discussed above regarding Defendants' two proffered reasons, the record reflects two other instances of disparate treatment. First, Wogsland treated Chapman's lack of "recent" general liability experience as a negative — yet hired Wiggins, who lacked "recent" general liability experience for the exact same reason as did Chapman. Indeed, Wogsland did not state that he even considered that lack to be a negative in evaluating Wiggins' application. Second, unlike the other applicants, Chapman was considered for only one position, despite his unlimited request to be considered for any of the open positions. No reason was given at summary judgment for Defendants' failure to consider Chapman for the other open positions.

Finally, the role that Turnquist played in the decision not to hire Chapman in the fall of 1992 is disputed. There is evidence in the summary judgment record supporting the claim that he was the sole decisionmaker, that he was a co-decisionmaker with Wogsland, that he was an important source of information on which Wogsland relied, and that he was a screening interview. This dispute is important both because of significant admissions made by Turnquist and because of the light that this inconsistency sheds on Wogsland and Turnquist's credibility.

d. Cross-applying Pretext

This is one of the rare cases in which it is appropriate to permit a showing of pretext as to one proffered reason to be considered in evaluating another proffered reason. First, the evidence indicates that the two reasons, "recent" history of job stability and "poor interview," are intertwined. The summary judgment record indicates that Wogsland and Turnquist did not conclude that Chapman was per se precluded from the casualty claims manager position by virtue of his job history. Rather, the testimony indicates that they decided to ask Chapman about his recent job history and that they were not pleased with his answers, even though they could not recall what his answers were.100 In short, the evidence indicates that the perceptions as to the "poor interview" and the perceptions as to "recent" job instability are interrelated. The showing of pretext as to both of the reasons is likewise partly related. In particular, there has been a showing of disparate treatment as to Smith with both the "recent" job instability reason and the "poor interview" reason, as well as with the separate claim that all of the applicants (including Smith) other than Chapman were considered for multiple positions. Second, this is a case in which numerous challenges have been made as to the credibility of the decisionmakers — as to both of the proffered reasons.

Additionally, I conclude that the vague and subjective elements of these proffered reasons justifies evaluating each of the reasons in light of the evidence of pretext offered as to the other reasons. Both proffered reasons include at least one element that is vague. In the case of "recent" job instability, the term "recent," which was never defined in the record, is sufficiently unclear that we have had six different meanings of it suggested in the record, by defense counsel, and by the majority: (1) some vague period beginning at the time of the 1992 interviews and extending back at least to the time that Chapman left Home Insurance (defense counsel at oral argument); (2) some vague period beginning at the time of the 1988 interviews and extending back at least to the time that Chapman left Home Insurance (Wogsland in assessing Chapman's job history); (3) seven years before the 1992 interviews (Defendants' en banc brief); (4) ten years before the 1992 interviews (Defendants' en banc brief); (5) twelve to thirteen years before the 1992 interviews (Defendants' en banc brief and defense counsel at oral argument); and (6) the time period during which Chapman was at AIGCS/AI Transport (Wogsland in assessing Chapman's "recent" general liability experience). The vagueness of the term is exacerbated by the fact that the only thing that is clear in the record is that Wogsland selectively applied two different definitions of it to Chapman. In the case of the "poor interview" justification, the key term used by both Wogsland and Turnquist is that Chapman was not "aggressive." With no definition in the record, this characterization was even more susceptible to refutation than such a subjective characterization would usually be. Additionally, the "poor interview" reason was rendered purely subjective by the faulty memories of Wogsland and Turnquist, who could recall only their perceptions of Chapman's responses — and not the responses themselves. Thus, while they used words like "sharp," "concise," and "aggressive," their inability to recall either the substance or the form of Chapman's responses and other statements from the interviews had no objective content.

e. Conclusion

Accordingly, I would conclude that summary judgment was inappropriate as to each of the four other positions because Chapman has demonstrated pretext as to each of the proffered reasons both independently and as considered together. Additionally, I would conclude that the purely subjective aspects of the "poor interview" justification are not legitimate under Burdine because they cannot be objectively evaluated. I would also conclude that the large amount of evidence undermining Wogsland and Turnquist's credibility creates a jury question as to the verity of their proffered reasons, which are both at least partly subjective and, therefore, reliant on credibility for their validity. Finally, in light of the disparate treatment of Chapman as to the evaluation of his job history and of his interview, the treatment of his lack of "recent" general liability experience as compared to Wiggins, and the unexplained failure to consider him for multiple positions, I would conclude that Chapman has produced sufficient evidence to create a jury question as to whether it is more likely that Chapman's rejection was caused by discriminatory animus than by the proffered reasons.

2. Application to Jones, Sevillian, and Smith

In addition to the above points, which are relevant to all four positions, I conclude that summary judgment was inappropriate because of the failure of Defendants to offer any legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons at summary judgment for their failure to consider Chapman for any positions other than the casualty claims manager position. Defendants have proceeded under the useful fiction that the nondiscriminatory reasons offered to justify their refusal to hire Chapman for the casualty claims manager position likewise apply to their decision not to hire Chapman for the positions given to Jones,101 Sevillian, and Smith — but that claim is, indeed, a fiction. No reason was given at summary judgment for the failure to consider Chapman for the other positions given to AI Transport applicants.102 Thus, even if I agreed with the majority in its analysis of the pretext issue as it applies to Wiggins and the casualty claims manager position, I would still conclude that summary judgment was inappropriate in light of the fact that no nondiscriminatory reason was ever proffered for selecting Jones, Sevillian, and Smith without even considering Chapman for their positions. See Alexander, 207 F.3d at 1342 (holding that where employer "failed to offer any legitimate non-discriminatory reason to explain why [one applicant] was promoted over [the plaintiff], a reasonable jury could attribute the [employer's] failure to promote [the plaintiff] to race").103

III. Conclusion

As the record makes clear, summary judgment was improvidently granted. While I do not disagree with the majority that a reasonable jury, faced with the evidence in this case, could conclude that the asserted nondiscriminatory reasons were sincere and, therefore, not pretextual, it is manifest that a reasonable jury could instead conclude that the reasons were not sincere — that they were, in fact, a mask for age discrimination. In reaching this conclusion, I do not challenge the employer's business judgment — but I do require that the employer make a business judgment. I do not deny the possibility that a jury trial could end in a verdict for the defendants — but I do conclude that a jury trial is required. As we have previously admonished, "[s]ummary judgment is such a lethal weapon, depriving a litigant of a trial on the issue, caution must be used to ensure only those cases devoid of any need for factual determinations are disposed of by summary judgment." Tippens v. Celotex Corp., 805 F.2d 949, 952-53 (11th Cir.1986). Put differently, "the judge's function is not himself to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In this case, we should reverse the grant of summary judgment and remand for a jury trial so that the jury may serve its unique factfinding function — particularly where, as here, the credibility of interested parties is at the heart of the case. Accordingly, I must respectfully dissent.