Filed: Mar. 31, 2005
Latest Update: Feb. 12, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 04-2545 CHARLES OWUSU KWARTENG, Plaintiff - Appellant, versus MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY; CECIL W. PAYTON, in his personal as well as official capacity as Executive Assistant to the President; CLARA ADAMS, in her personal as well as her official capacity as Vice President for Academic Affairs; BURNEY J. HOLLIS, in his personal as well as official capacity as Dean of College of Liberal Arts; META K. TOWNSEND, in her personal as we
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 04-2545 CHARLES OWUSU KWARTENG, Plaintiff - Appellant, versus MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY; CECIL W. PAYTON, in his personal as well as official capacity as Executive Assistant to the President; CLARA ADAMS, in her personal as well as her official capacity as Vice President for Academic Affairs; BURNEY J. HOLLIS, in his personal as well as official capacity as Dean of College of Liberal Arts; META K. TOWNSEND, in her personal as wel..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 04-2545
CHARLES OWUSU KWARTENG,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
versus
MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY; CECIL W. PAYTON, in
his personal as well as official capacity as
Executive Assistant to the President; CLARA
ADAMS, in her personal as well as her official
capacity as Vice President for Academic
Affairs; BURNEY J. HOLLIS, in his personal as
well as official capacity as Dean of College
of Liberal Arts; META K. TOWNSEND, in her
personal as well as official capacity as
Chairperson,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Baltimore. William M. Nickerson, Senior District
Judge. (CA-03-515-1-WMN)
Submitted: March 9, 2005 Decided: March 31, 2005
Before WILKINSON, WILLIAMS, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Charles Owusu Kwarteng, Appellant Pro Se. Sally Lotz Swann,
Assistant General Counsel, Baltimore, Maryland, Mark Jason Davis,
Assistant Attorney General, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellees.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
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PER CURIAM:
Charles Owusu Kwarteng (“Kwarteng”) appeals the district
court’s order summarily dismissing his claims for: (1) violations
of Maryland’s national origin, gender and wage discrimination laws;
(2) violations of the federal Equal Pay Act; (3) hostile workplace
under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), 42
U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17 (2000);1 (4) due process violations;
(5) equal protection violations; (6) First Amendment violations;
and, (7) invasion of privacy, in addition to the district court’s
dismissal of certain motions. We have reviewed the record and find
no reversible error. Accordingly, we affirm.
To establish a claim of a hostile work environment,
Kwarteng must show: (1) the harassment was unwelcome; (2) he was
harassed because of a protected reason (here, national origin); (3)
the harassment was sufficiently pervasive to alter his terms and
conditions of employment and created an abusive working
environment; and (4) some basis exists for imposing liability on
the employer. Causey v. Balog,
162 F.3d 795, 801 (4th Cir. 1998)
(regarding racial harassment); Hartsell v. Duplex Prods., Inc.,
123
F.3d 766, 772 (4th Cir. 1997) (regarding sexual harassment). In
order to find the third element, the court must consider the
1
In his informal brief, Kwarteng asserts that the district
court failed to discuss his Title VII claims based on national
origin and retaliation. In its November 16, 2003 memorandum, the
district court rejected these claims as time-barred pursuant to 42
U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e) (2000).
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“frequency of the discriminatory conduct; its severity; whether it
is physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive
utterance; and whether it unreasonably interferes with an
employee’s work performance.” Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc.,
510
U.S. 17, 23 (1993). We find that Kwarteng fails to provide factual
evidence in support of this claim. We likewise conclude that
Kwarteng failed to adequately support his allegations of
constitutional deprivations, or his claims based on state law.2
Kwarteng also challenges the district court’s grant of
qualified immunity to the individual Defendants. Under the
doctrine of qualified immunity, “government officials performing
discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for
civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly
established statutory or constitutional rights of which a
reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v. Fitzgerald,
457
U.S. 800, 818 (1982) (citations omitted). Although Kwarteng
asserts that the district court erred when it “assumed” that
Defendants’ disciplinary activities were discretionary functions,
we do not agree that the district court misapplied the qualified
immunity doctrine.
2
The district court also properly determined that Kwarteng’s
state and federal claims of unequal pay were time-barred. See Md.
Ann. Code art. 49B, § 9A(a) (1957) (stating that “[a] complaint
must be filed within six months from the date of occurrence alleged
to be a violation of this article”); 29 U.S.C. § 255(a) (2000)
(stating that an action must be brought within two years of the
alleged violation).
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Finally, Kwarteng challenges the district court’s
dismissal of his motion for sanctions against the Defendants. Rule
11(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure expressly states that
sanctions do not apply “to disclosures and discovery requests,
responses, objections, and motions that are subject to the
provisions of Rules 26 through 37.” Moreover, Kwarteng has made no
showing that Defendants’ affidavits contain statements, claims, or
defenses that are frivolous or were presented for any improper
purpose. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b)(1)&(2). Thus, we find that the
district court properly dismissed Kwarteng’s motion.3
Accordingly, we affirm. We dispense with oral argument
because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in
the materials before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED
3
Kwarteng also challenges the district court’s denial of his
sur-reply. Such allegation is unclear, as the district court
granted Kwarteng’s motion to file a sur-reply on June 22, 2004, and
denied Defendants’ motion to strike Kwarteng’s sur-reply in its
November 16, 2004 memorandum. Moreover, Kwarteng has failed to
provide any factual support for his allegations that the district
court failed to consider all of the evidence.
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