WILLIAM E. SMITH, Chief District Judge.
Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan filed a Report and Recommendation ("R&R") on June 16, 2016 (ECF No. 138), recommending that the Court GRANT Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 117) and DENY Defendant's Motion for Sanctions (ECF No. 119) as moot. After careful consideration of the R&R and the objection of Plaintiff, Rogerio Tavares (ECF No. 139), the Court hereby accepts, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1), the R&R for the reasons that follow. The relevant facts, procedural background, and analysis are fully set forth in the R&R. The Court limits its discussion and presents only those facts pertinent to Tavares's objection.
Magistrate Judge Sullivan read Tavares's
In accordance with Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the R&R viewed all facts and drew all reasonable inferences in Tavares's favor. The R&R found that Defendants successfully demonstrated that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that Tavares failed to submit competent evidence to support the key elements of his claims. This Court reviews the R&R de novo.
As a preliminary matter, Tavares organizes his objection according to the factual findings with which he takes issue and uses his objection to re-argue each of his claims.
Tavares's primary argument is that Magistrate Judge Sullivan did not view all facts and draw all reasonable inferences in his favor, as required by Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Tavares repeatedly avers that "Plaintiff's version of the facts must be accepted," and that "[t]he only matter that should have been considered was whether the sworn statements and other statements provided by Plaintiff if they are taken as true and all favorable inferences are drawn from those facts could a reasonable jury find for Plaintiff." (Tavares's Obj. to R&R 6, 7, ECF No. 139.) Tavares accuses Magistrate Judge Sullivan of ignoring this legal standard when she considered other record evidence contrary to Plaintiff's own testimony and version of events, arguing that she should have "simply accept[ed] Plaintiff's statements as true as required by law." (
The requirement that a judge must take all facts and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor dictates
Similarly, Tavares argues that Magistrate Judge Sullivan's failure to draw all inferences in his favor was "[c]ontrary to law." (Tavares's Obj. to the R&R 9, ECF No. 139.) However, the fact that there are conceivable inferences that could be drawn in Plaintiff's favor does not mean that those inferences are "reasonable" enough to justify sending the case to the jury. Here, the inferences Tavares urges the Court to draw in his favor are simply not reasonable inferences in light of all the evidence.
Tavares next argues that Magistrate Judge Sullivan made impermissible credibility determinations when she considered the statements of other employees and other evidence in the record, all of which contradicted Tavares's testimony. For example, Tavares states that "[t]here are many times that [Magistrate Judge Sullivan] describes the statements of other employees as though they are not disputed even though they disputed Plaintiff's testimony in whole or in part. Rather than simply accepting Plaintiff's statements as true as required by the law, [Magistrate Judge Sullivan] weighed the conflicting testimony of [Defendant's] witnesses in reaching [her] conclusion." (Tavares's Obj. to R&R 7, ECF No. 139.) However, Tavares has mischaracterized the nature of Magistrate Judge Sullivan's findings and the bases of her recommendation. Where Magistrate Judge Sullivan credited evidence that was contrary to Tavares's testimony, she explained that Tavares had offered no evidence to support his testimony and that the record evidence neither supported nor verified Tavares's version of events. (
At the summary judgment stage, the non-movant bears the burden of identifying some evidence in the record indicating that there are genuine issues of material fact in dispute.
Tavares argues that Magistrate Judge Sullivan "tries to use Plaintiff's mental health illness as a basis for ignoring the legal requirement [to view facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff] and making credibility determinations," and goes on to argue that her reliance on
It seems that Magistrate Judge Sullivan's purpose in citing
For the reasons discussed above, the Court hereby accepts the R&R pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). The R&R is ADOPTED; Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED; Defendant's Motion for Sanctions is DENIED; and FINAL JUDGMENT will enter in favor of Defendant.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
For example, whether there were five incidents of harassing behavior (Mem. in Supp. of Pl.'s Resp. in Opp. to Mot. Summ. J. ¶¶ 20-24, ECF No. 126-1) or just the three incidents the R&R discusses explicitly (R&R 26, ECF No. 138), does not change the outcome of this case because "these incidents [. . .] are insufficient as a matter of law to create the abusive work environment that is actionable under Title VII." (R&R 27, ECF No. 138.) Likewise, whether the supervisor, Whyte, knew of Tavares's disability for the first thirty days of his employment at Enterprise but nonetheless refused to provide him an accommodation until he provided a doctor's note (Tavares's Obj. to R&R 7, ECF No. 139) is not material to the disposition of the case because the ADA entitles an employer to request a doctor's note before providing that accommodation.