Filed: Jun. 12, 2009
Latest Update: Mar. 28, 2017
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 08-1793 ANNA ANITA HUFF, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA – CONSTITUENT N.C. A&T STATE UNIVERSITY, Defendant - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Durham. William L. Osteen, Jr., District Judge. (1:07-cv-00895-WO-RAE) Submitted: April 30, 2009 Decided: June 12, 2009 Before NIEMEYER, DUNCAN, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 08-1793 ANNA ANITA HUFF, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA – CONSTITUENT N.C. A&T STATE UNIVERSITY, Defendant - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Durham. William L. Osteen, Jr., District Judge. (1:07-cv-00895-WO-RAE) Submitted: April 30, 2009 Decided: June 12, 2009 Before NIEMEYER, DUNCAN, and AGEE, Circuit Judges. ..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 08-1793
ANNA ANITA HUFF,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA –
CONSTITUENT N.C. A&T STATE UNIVERSITY,
Defendant - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Durham. William L. Osteen, Jr.,
District Judge. (1:07-cv-00895-WO-RAE)
Submitted: April 30, 2009 Decided: June 12, 2009
Before NIEMEYER, DUNCAN, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Romallus O. Murphy, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellant.
Roy Cooper, North Carolina Attorney General, John P. Scherer II,
Assistant Attorney General, Raleigh, North Carolina, for
Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Anna Anita Huff appeals from the district court’s
order granting the Employer’s motion to dismiss for failure to
file a timely EEOC charge of discrimination in Huff’s employment
discrimination action. Finding no error, we affirm.
We review de novo a district court’s decision granting
a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction
under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1).* See Etape v. Chertoff,
497
F.3d 379, 382 (4th Cir. 2007). A Title VII plaintiff must
comply with 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e-5(e)(1) (West 2006 & Supp. 2009)
in order to pursue her claim in federal court. The statute
requires a plaintiff to file her charge of discrimination with
the EEOC within the appropriate 180- or 300-day period after an
“alleged unlawful employment practice” occurred. In determining
whether the 180- or 300-day period applies, courts look to the
state where the claim arose. In this case the 180-day period
applied. Huff filed her EEOC charge of discrimination on
August 10, 2007, well past the 180-day filing period, which
expired on March 12, 2007.
*
Although the district court stated in its ruling from the
bench that the motion should be considered under Fed. R. Civ. P.
12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), the court ruled that there was a lack of
jurisdiction and not that Huff failed to state a claim.
2
Huff alleges that the Employer deliberately delayed
stating the reasons for the termination of her employment, so
that she was unable to “obtain vital information bearing on the
existence of her claim” and argues equitable tolling or
equitable estoppel should apply. Equitable tolling and
equitable estoppel are separate methods of modifying a
limitations period. Equitable tolling applies where the
defendant has wrongfully deceived or misled the plaintiff in
order to conceal the existence of a cause of action; equitable
estoppel applies where the defendant engages in intentional
misconduct to cause a plaintiff to miss a filing deadline.
English v. Pabst Brewing Co.,
828 F.2d 1047, 1049 (4th Cir.
1987); Morse v. Daily Press, Inc.,
826 F.2d 1351, 1352-53 (4th
Cir. 1987).
As noted by the district court, Huff has presented no
facts that would merit the application of equitable tolling or
estoppel, nor does the record disclose any. While Huff may not
have been told the reason for the termination because of the
ongoing investigation for improperly handling funds, there is no
evidence that the Employer did this in order to conceal a cause
of action or intentionally delay an EEOC charge. Nor did the
Employer take any actions that it should have unmistakably
understood would cause Huff to delay filing her charges. See
English, 828 F.2d at 1049.
3
Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order. 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
4