ROBERT E. PAYNE, Senior District Judge.
This matter is before the Court on DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS (Docket No. 11) filed by the defendants, Virginia Department of Corrections, Harold Clarke, N.H. Cookie Scott, Paul Broughton, Rufus Fleming, Gary Bass, Wendy S. Hobbs, Henry Diggs, Jr., Marie Vargo, William Breed, Mack A. Bailey and Letha Hite (hereinafter "DOC" and "DOC Defendants").
Defendant Claudia Farr also filed a MOTION TO DISMISS (Docket No. 13) wherein she joined the DOC Defendants' motion and adopted the arguments therein "by reference as if set forth in their entirety." For the reasons set forth herein, DOC DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS (Docket No. 11) and Farr's MOTION TO DISMISS (Docket No. 13) will be granted.
Roger Lee Morse has filed a 140-page Complaint (with 189 pages of exhibits) that the DOC Defendants have accurately characterized as a "shotgun pleading." On the first page of the Complaint, Morse has included a laundry list of eighteen federal laws that he seems to believe were violated by the DOC Defendants. Compl. at 1-2. These alleged violations and the facts included in the Complaint span nearly all of Morse's time as an employee of the DOC, and the Complaint names as defendants nearly every supervisor with whom Morse worked. There are a total of twenty-two (22) named defendants, some of whom no longer work for the DOC However, at the heart of the Complaint is Morse's contention that he suffered employment discrimination at the hands of the DOC and certain of its employees. Morse also presents several non-employment discrimination violations that are addressed at theend of this Memorandum Opinion.
Taken in the light most favorable to Morse, the facts are set forth below. Morse began working for the DOC on June 26, 1986. In April 1995, Morse lost his son to a homicide. Because of the trauma and emotional stress of this loss, Morse claims that he was "forced to resign" on August 3, 1995 because he and his employer could not agree to an appropriate extension of leave time. According to Morse, the "forced resignation" was evidence of discriminatory treatment. Morse claims that other employees who requested additional leave were allowed more time off than he was offered and were not forced to resign.
In December of 1997, Morse returned to work for the DOC At some point beginning in late December 1997 and continuing through January 1998, Morse was involved in a disagreement with his employer and was fired following an incident in which Morse's supervisor accused him of calling another supervisor a "bitch." That incident occurred in the probationary period during which the DOC could terminate Morse for failure to maintain satisfactory job performance. Morse's employment was terminated because of that incident.
On April 28, 2000, Morse filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") alleging that the DOC s decision to terminate him in 1998 was a violation of the law. On February 26, 2001, the EEOC issued Morse a "right to sue" letter. PL's Ex. 1, ECF No. 3-1. On May 23, 2001 (approximately three and one half years after being fired in January 1998, and 86 days after receiving his EEOC letter), Morse filed an action in this Court.
On the day set for trial, Morse moved for a voluntary dismissal of the remaining claims.
On March 3, 2003, Morse was rehired by the DOC According to Morse, he was supposed to have been reinstated instead of being hired as a new employee. As a result of his classification as a new hire, he was assigned to a lower rate of pay. Morse noticed the alleged discrepancy in his pay as a new hire in April 2003. In August 2003, Morse's military unit was mobilized and he was sent to Iraq, where he served from August 2003 until September 2010 when he returned to work at DOC full time.
Next, in September 2011, Morse alleges that he was discriminated against when he was not selected to interview for a job promotion for which he applied.
Following that alleged discrimination in September of 2011, Morse filed a new EEOC charge. That charge was resolved on October 25, 2011, and a notice of a right to sue was mailed to Morse on that day. The Court presumes that Morse received that letter on October 28, 2011.
Morse filed this action on July 16, 2013. Presuming that Morse received his right to sue letter on October 28, 2011, the date of filing is 627 days after the receipt of the right to sue letter, and approximately 684 days after the alleged discrimination (counting from September 1, 2011). The Complaint posits no reason for the delay in filing.
The DOC has moved to dismiss the case on the following grounds: (1) the Court's lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12 (b) (1); (2) Morse's failure to set forth a clear and succinct pleading per Fed. R. Civ. P. 8 (a) and 10 (b); (3) Morse's failure to meet the pleading requirements laid out in
A recent decision from Judge Spencer nicely lays out the legal standards for deciding a motion to dismiss in an employment discrimination case. "Rule 12 allows a defendant to raise a number of defenses to a claim for relief at the pleading stage. Among these are the defenses that a court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over the case ... and that the pleadings fail to state a claim upon which the court can grant relief."
"When a party sets forth a Rule 12 (b) (1) defense in addition to other Rule 12 defenses, the court should resolve the 12 (b) (1) motion first, because if the court lacks jurisdiction, the remaining motions are moot."
Before filing an employment discrimination claim in federal court, a plaintiff alleging discrimination under Title VII must complete certain "jurisdictional prerequisites."
Here, Morse completed jurisdictional prerequisites (1) and (2), but failed to timely file an action in court within 90 days of receiving his right to sue letter from the EEOC. Instead, Morse waited 627 days from the date of receipt of his right to sue letter and he has offered no explanation for his delay.
To the extent that any of Morse's employment discrimination claims were not raised in his EEOC charge, but were raised first in this action, they must be dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, which, of course, deprives the Court of jurisdiction to hear the case. "Failure to exhaust administrative remedies precludes a federal court from exercising subject matter jurisdiction in the context of Title VII."
Both failure to exhaust administrative remedies and failure to timely file suit following receipt of a right to sue letter deprive this Court of jurisdiction to hear Morse's Title VII claims.
In an action against a state employer, federal courts lack jurisdiction to hear a plaintiff's USERRA claims.
The WPA protects
The SCRA "provides [to members of the armed services] a variety of protections against such diverse ills as cancellation of life insurance contracts ... and taxation in multiple jurisdictions."
The FMLA has a two-year statute of limitations. 29 U.S.C. § 2617 (c) (1). A three-year statute of limitations applies if the employer's conduct was willful. 29 U.S.C. § 2617 (c) (2). Here, Morse presumably intends to allege a violation of the FMLA arising out of his employer's denial of additional leave time during the trial of Morse's son's killer. Morse has not plainly stated this claim, but has again simply listed a violation of the FMLA on the header of his Complaint and left the Court to determine how a violation of that statute might fit within the facts he has alleged. In this case, the only facts that could possibly give rise to a FMLA violation would be the dispute about leave following the killing of Morse's son's. That event, however, occurred in 1995 and is well-beyond even the three-year statute of limitations set by the statute. Morse's FMLA claims (to the extent he has made them) are time barred and will be dismissed.
The VWRA is a Virginia statute setting the standards for handling the needs and rights of crime victims following the initiation of judicial action against the accused perpetrator. This statue is inapplicable to Morse for two reasons: (1) The VWRA does not create a private right of action for a violation of the statute, and (2) even if the statute did create a cause of action, without a federal claim to provide the Court with supplemental jurisdiction, it is unlikely the Court would have jurisdiction to hear a single claim for a violation of state law. The VWRA simply spells out procedures for law enforcement and prosecutors for alerting victims to plea agreements, prison releases, outcome of cases, support services for crime victims, etcetera. It does not grant Morse any substantive rights for which he is claiming a denial. Even if it did, the only facts to even possibly support such a claim occurred in 1995 and would be barred by the statute of limitations.
The same problems with a lack of supplemental jurisdiction would apply to Morse's other listed state law violations. Morse has included "actual fraud" and defamation of character in the statutes he claims were violated. Without some sort of federal question to keep the case in federal court, the Court has no jurisdiction to also hear these claims.
Before filing suit for discrimination under the ADA, a plaintiff must exhaust his administrative remedies by filing a charge with the EEOC.
For the above reasons, DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS (Docket No. 11) and Farr's MOTION TO DISMISS (Docket No. 13) will be granted.
Because the Court is dismissing Morse's action, PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR RESTRAINING ORDER, PRELIMINARY INJUNCITON OF RELIEF, WITH MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT (Docket No. 17) need not be addressed.
The Clerk is directed to send a copy of the Memorandum Opinion to the plaintiff and to counsel for the defendants.
It is so ORDERED.