Filed: May 18, 2004
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MAY 18 2004 FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER Clerk BARBARA BURGETT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. No. 03-4155 (D.C. No. 2:01-CV-156-DAK) UTAH VALLEY VETERINARY (D. Utah) HOSPITAL; DR. CARL PEW; DR. KIM HAZEN; DR. JERALD BALL, Defendants-Appellees. ORDER AND JUDGMENT * Before EBEL , ANDERSON , and BRISCOE , Circuit Judge. After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that o
Summary: F I L E D United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MAY 18 2004 FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT PATRICK FISHER Clerk BARBARA BURGETT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. No. 03-4155 (D.C. No. 2:01-CV-156-DAK) UTAH VALLEY VETERINARY (D. Utah) HOSPITAL; DR. CARL PEW; DR. KIM HAZEN; DR. JERALD BALL, Defendants-Appellees. ORDER AND JUDGMENT * Before EBEL , ANDERSON , and BRISCOE , Circuit Judge. After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that or..
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F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
MAY 18 2004
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
BARBARA BURGETT,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v. No. 03-4155
(D.C. No. 2:01-CV-156-DAK)
UTAH VALLEY VETERINARY (D. Utah)
HOSPITAL; DR. CARL PEW;
DR. KIM HAZEN; DR. JERALD
BALL,
Defendants-Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before EBEL , ANDERSON , and BRISCOE , Circuit Judge.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of
this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
Plaintiff Barbara Burgett, proceeding pro se, appeals the district court’s
dismissal of her Title VII sexual-harassment action against Utah Valley
Veterinary Hospital (UVVH) and individual veterinarians. The district court
ruled that UVVH was not an employer covered by Title VII because it did not
have fifteen or more employees in each of twenty calendar weeks during the
relevant period, as required by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b). See Walters v. Metro. Educ.
Enters., Inc. ,
519 U.S. 202, 205 (1997) (discussing § 2000e(b)). After allowing
Ms. Burgett two opportunities to provide sufficient admissible evidence on this
issue, the court determined that, based on the record before it, UVVH’s employee
numbers fell short of the requisite total, whether or not unpaid student workers
were counted as employees. Therefore, the court dismissed Ms. Burgett’s Title
VII claims and declined to exercise jurisdiction over her state law claims.
On appeal, Ms. Burgett contends that: (1) the district court conducted an
erroneous analysis of the evidence she submitted and (2) the district court should
have ruled that, as a matter of law, the unpaid student workers were employees of
UVVH. Ms. Burgett’s issues concern “subject matter jurisdiction [that] is
dependent upon the same statute which provides the substantive claim,” thus the
jurisdictional claim and the merits of the case are “intertwined.” Trainor v.
Apollo Metal Specialities, Inc. ,
318 F.3d 976, 978 (10th Cir. 2002) (quotation
omitted) (concerning a claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act,
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42 U.S.C. §§ 12111-17). “When, as here, both parties submit evidence beyond
the pleadings, the motion is properly characterized as one for summary
judgment.”
Id. We review the district court’s order “ de novo , taking the facts
and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from them in the light most favorable
to the nonmoving party.”
Id. at 979.
Having reviewed the briefs, the record, and the applicable law, we
determine that Ms. Burgett has not provided evidence demonstrating that UVVH
had the minimum number of either paid or unpaid workers to qualify as a
Title VII employer. Like the district court, we conclude that this failure of proof
makes it unnecessary for us to determine the legal status of the unpaid workers
under Title VII. We therefore AFFIRM the district court’s dismissal for
substantially the same reasons stated by the district court in its orders of
January 27, 2003, and May 28, 2003.
Entered for the Court
David M. Ebel
Circuit Judge
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