Judges: Per Curiam
Filed: Feb. 12, 2019
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604 Submitted February 11, 2019* Decided February 12, 2019 Before WILLIAM J. BAUER, Circuit Judge AMY C. BARRETT, Circuit Judge MICHAEL Y. SCUDDER, Circuit Judge No. 18-1849 MIRANDA D. CHAUDHRY, Appeal from the United States District Plaintiff-Appellant, Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. v. No. 1:17-cv-04882 A
Summary: NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604 Submitted February 11, 2019* Decided February 12, 2019 Before WILLIAM J. BAUER, Circuit Judge AMY C. BARRETT, Circuit Judge MICHAEL Y. SCUDDER, Circuit Judge No. 18-1849 MIRANDA D. CHAUDHRY, Appeal from the United States District Plaintiff-Appellant, Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. v. No. 1:17-cv-04882 AM..
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NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION
To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Submitted February 11, 2019*
Decided February 12, 2019
Before
WILLIAM J. BAUER, Circuit Judge
AMY C. BARRETT, Circuit Judge
MICHAEL Y. SCUDDER, Circuit Judge
No. 18‐1849
MIRANDA D. CHAUDHRY, Appeal from the United States District
Plaintiff‐Appellant, Court for the Northern District
of Illinois, Eastern Division.
v. No. 1:17‐cv‐04882
AMAZON.COM.DEDC, LLC, Ronald A. Guzmán,
Defendant‐Appellee. Judge.
O R D E R
Miranda Chaudhry, who previously worked at an Amazon Fulfillment Center,
sued her former employer for discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment
under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U. S. C. § 12101 et seq. She asserted that
after she returned from medical leave, Amazon prevented her from clocking in
normally, denied her workers’ compensation, hacked her email accounts, and told
* We have agreed to decide the case without oral argument because the briefs and
record adequately present the facts and legal arguments, and oral argument would not
significantly aid the court. FED. R. APP. P. 34(a)(2)(C).
No. 18‐1849 Page 2
employees about her disability, enabling them to mock her for it. The district court
granted Amazon’s motion to dismiss, concluding that Chaudhry had not plausibly
alleged that she is disabled or that she had suffered an adverse employment action;
further, she described no specific instances of conduct that might constitute
discrimination, retaliation, or hostile work environment. We affirm the judgment.
According to her original complaint and two supplemental filings, Chaudhry
encountered an unidentified white powder from a package with a biohazard label while
working at the Amazon warehouse. The powder irritated her skin, and she reported to
the on‐site medical center, where she received cortisone ointment. A month later she
visited Kenya, became “seriously ill” while there, returned to the U.S. for treatment, and
went on medical leave. She maintained that her earlier exposure to the white powder
caused her illness. Chaudhry soon returned to work but quit 20 days later, allegedly
because of a hostile work environment and her belief that Amazon played a role in
robbing her home, improperly surveilling her, stealing her identity, and making
fraudulent purchases with her credit cards. She filed an EEOC charge, then sued
Amazon under the ADA; before any response, she amended her complaint as a matter
of right. See FED. R. CIV. P. 15(a).
The district court granted Amazon’s timely motion for extension of time to
respond to Chaudhry’s first amended complaint, and later granted Amazon’s motion to
dismiss it for failure to state a claim. The court gave Chaudhry another opportunity to
re‐plead. In her second amended complaint Chaudhry alleged that after she returned to
work, Amazon employees knew about her medical condition—she asserted she was
diagnosed with “expressive aphasia”—and mocked her for it; she had to sign in to work
on a notepad for over a week because her ID badge had not been reactivated; and
Amazon failed to pay her “worker’s compensation.” Chaudhry further alleged that her
personal email accounts were hacked and that, after she resigned, her house was twice
burgled; she believed Amazon was to blame.
On Amazon’s motion, the district court dismissed Chaudhry’s second amended
complaint with prejudice, again concluding that the complaint did not contain plausible
allegations that Amazon engaged in disability discrimination. The district court also
dismissed the workers’ compensation claim, determining that it could not be brought in
federal court. Chaudhry appeals.
In assessing Chaudry’s arguments, we have read her brief liberally, but we will
address only the arguments that can be fairly discerned. Anderson v. Hardman, 241 F.3d
No. 18‐1849 Page 3
544, 545 (7th Cir. 2001); see Fed R. App. P. 28(a). Under this standard, Amazon is correct
that Chaudhry fails to present or support, and therefore has waived, any argument that
her second amended complaint stated a claim. See Silk v. Bd. of Trustees, Moraine Valley
Cmty. Coll., Dist. No. 524, 795 F.3d 698, 709 (7th Cir. 2015). In Chaudhry’s “Statement of
the Case” and “Statement of the Facts” sections, she vaguely describes some
proceedings related to the second motion to dismiss, and in the “Argument” section,
she cuts and pastes (without attribution) three large sections from two Wikipedia
articles: one describing diversity jurisdiction, one discussing motions to dismiss and
their history, and another describing summary judgment. But she never attempts to
explain why the district court was wrong to conclude that her complaint did not state a
valid claim, nor does she make any argument for why we should conclude otherwise.
This is a fatal flaw: ʺwe are not in the business of formulating arguments for the
parties.ʺ Hall v. Flannery, 840 F.3d 922, 927 (7th Cir. 2016).
Chaudhry does raise one argument we can understand: she asserts that the
district court improperly granted Amazon’s request for an extension of time to respond
to her first amended complaint. She contends that the court was wrong to grant the
extension because Amazon waited too long to ask for it and because the court did not
hold a hearing on the request before granting it.
Chaudhry’s argument is frivolous. Amazon made a routine request for an
extension of time to file a responsive pleading and did so a week before the filing
deadline. Amazon explained that its recently retained counsel needed time to research
the issues before responding. The decision to grant the motion was well within the
district court’s “considerable” and “broad” discretion to manage its docket how it sees
fit. See Keeton v. Morningstar, Inc., 667 F.3d 877, 884 (7th Cir. 2012); A. Bauer Mech., Inc.
v. Joint Arbitration Bd. of Plumbing Contractorsʹ Assʹn & Chicago Journeymen Plumbersʹ
Local Union 130, U.A., 562 F.3d 784, 790 (7th Cir. 2009).
AFFIRMED