COLLEEN KOLLAR-KOTELLY, District Judge.
Plaintiff Christina Conyers Williams ("Plaintiff"), brings this action against the District of Columbia (the "District"), and her former supervisors Robert Johnson, in his capacity as the Senior Deputy Director of the Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration (the "APRA") of the District of Columbia Department of Health (the "DOH"), and David Anthony, in his capacity as Chief of Staff to the Senior Deputy Director (collectively, "Defendants"). Plaintiff contends that Defendants violated her rights under the District of Columbia Whistleblower Protection Act (the "DCWPA"), D.C.Code §§ 1-615.01 et seq., by retaliating against her for remarks she made during testimony before the District of Columbia Council (the "D.C. Council").
Plaintiff was employed as Chief of the Center of Research Evaluation and Grants
On February 14, 2006, Plaintiff and Johnson attended a routine oversight hearing before the D.C. Council Committee on Health, headed by Councilmember David Catania. Id. at 4. During the course of the hearing, Councilmember David Catania asked several questions regarding the ACIS software. Id. Johnson beckoned Plaintiff to approach the witness table and respond to the Councilmember's questions on the APRA's behalf. Id. at 4-5.
Plaintiff did so, providing approximately ten minutes of testimony. Id. at 5. Plaintiff testified that, at that time, the ACIS software was capable of collecting only "demographic data"—i.e., the gender and race of the APRA's clients and the type of drugs that the clients were using. Id. Plaintiff also expressed her opinion that the ACIS system would not be fully functional until November 2006. Id. According to Plaintiff, these statements revealed that the ACIS software was, despite significant monetary expenditures, a "major failure." Id. at 15.
By Plaintiff's account, Defendants' harassment began immediately following her testimony before the D.C. Council. Id. at 6. Among other things, Plaintiff alleges that Johnson held an unprecedented "debriefing" session the day after the hearing, during which he blamed Plaintiff for doing a "poor job of answering" Councilmember Catania's questions and for making the APRA look like "crooks," and threatened to hold Plaintiff liable for the failures of the ACIS system. Id. at 6-7. According to Plaintiff, from that point forward, her purportedly "good working relationship" with Johnson soured, and additional retaliatory and harassing conduct followed. Id.
Not long thereafter, Plaintiff's husband arranged for her to have a private meeting with Councilmember Catania, which took place on March 8, 2006. Id. at 7. Those in attendance discussed Defendants' alleged harassment of Plaintiff, as well as various problems regarding the ACIS software and the APRA's contractual relationship with its vendor, Softscape, Inc. ("Softscape"). Id.
Plaintiff alleges that Johnson, with assistance from Anthony, then attempted to terminate her for failure to comply with D.C. residency preference requirements— namely, a statutory requirement that she remain a resident of the District of Columbia for a certain length of time. Id. at 11. In May 2006, the DOH issued a Notice to Show Cause why Plaintiff's employment should not be forfeited. Id. Pre-hearing conferences were held that same month, and an evidentiary hearing was held in June. Id.
The charges were ultimately dismissed, on the basis that (1) the "evidence fail[ed] to establish that [Plaintiff] was granted a residency requirement," and therefore the DOH "ha[d] not met its burden of proof to show that [Plaintiff] was required to live in the District for five years from the date of appointment," and (2) "[e]ven assuming arguendo that [Plaintiff] received a residency preference ... [t]he failure of the [DOH]
Motions in limine are designed to narrow the evidentiary issues at trial. The Federal Rules of Evidence generally permit the admission of "relevant evidence"— i.e., evidence having "any tendency" to make the existence of any fact of consequence more probable or less probable— provided it is not otherwise excluded by the Rules, the Constitution, or an Act of Congress, and its probative value is not "substantially outweighed" by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or the needless presentation of cumulative evidence. Fed.R.Evid. 401-03. In deference to their familiarity with the details of the case and greater experience in evidentiary matters, district courts are afforded broad discretion in rendering evidentiary rulings, a discretion which extends to assessing the probative value of the proffered evidence and weighing any factors against admissibility. Sprint/United Mgmt. Co. v. Mendelsohn, 552 U.S. 379, 384, 128 S.Ct. 1140, 170 L.Ed.2d 1 (2008).
In light of their limited purpose, motions in limine "should not be used to resolve factual disputes," which remains the "function of a motion for summary judgment, with its accompanying and crucial procedural safeguards." C & E Servs., Inc. v. Ashland Inc., 539 F.Supp.2d 316, 323 (D.D.C.2008). Rather, parties should target their arguments to demonstrating why certain categories of evidence should (or should not) be introduced at trial, and direct the district court to specific evidence in the record that would favor or disfavor the introduction of those particular categories of evidence. U.S. ex rel. El-Amin v. George Washington Univ., 533 F.Supp.2d 12, 19 (D.D.C.2008). With these principles in mind, the Court turns to the various motions brought by the parties.
Although the Court takes this opportunity to resolve the parties' outstanding pretrial motions, and certainly does not foresee a need to revisit the issues addressed herein, the Court nonetheless recognizes that it cannot predict with absolute certainty how events will unfold at trial. Accordingly, this Memorandum Opinion sets forth the Court's analysis based upon the record as it now stands and the arguments articulated by the parties in their respective motions. As evidence is presented at trial, however, the parties may find it desirable to re-raise discrete evidentiary issues addressed here. To be clear, they are not absolutely foreclosed from doing so. Where appropriate, a party wanting to revisit an evidentiary ruling should, conspicuously, bring the matter to the Court's attention and be prepared to summarize the Court's original ruling and explain why that ruling should be modified in light of new evidence or a change in circumstances. However, the parties are cautioned that this is not an invitation to recycle old arguments. With these caveats, the Court proceeds to the merits of the parties' respective motions.
Plaintiff has moved in limine to, in her words, "bar[] the district from litigating its claimed defense under § 12-309 of the
In support of her motion in limine, Plaintiff relies upon certain amendments to the DCWPA, which were signed by D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty in January 2010 and entered into effect in March 2010—in both instances, several months after dispositive motions in this action were due. Among other things, those amendments repeal the requirement that individuals asserting claims pursuant to the DCWPA notify the District of their claims under § 12-309. Compare D.C.Code § 1-615.54(a) (2009) ("A civil action brought pursuant to this section shall comply with the notice requirements of § 12-309"), with D.C.Code § 1-615.54(a)(3) (2010) ("Section 12-309 shall not apply to any civil action brought under this section."). The parties principally dispute whether the amendments should apply retroactively. However, Plaintiff's moving papers go much farther, addressing in depth why the notice she provided to the District is, irrespective of the retroactive application of the amendments, compliant with the strictures of § 12-309. See Pl.'s Reply Mem. in Supp. of Pl.'s Motion in Limine to Bar the District from Litigating its 12-309 Defense in View of the Passage of the 2009 Amendment to the Whistleblower Protection Act, Docket No. [98], at 4-9.
The Court agrees that resolution of whether Plaintiff was required to provide notice under § 12-309 and, if so, whether the notice she provided was sufficient, could substantially narrow the issues that need to be addressed at trial, but disagrees that a motion in limine is the proper vehicle to do so. Such issues are more appropriately addressed in the context of a motion for summary judgment, with its accompanying and crucial procedural safeguards. See C & E Servs., 539 F.Supp.2d at 323. Accordingly, the Court shall deny Plaintiff's [90] Motion in Limine. Nevertheless, Plaintiff raises relatively straightforward legal questions that may be resolved by the Court. As such, to the extent they intend to assert a § 12-309 defense in this action, Defendants shall promptly file a supplemental motion for summary judgment addressing these discrete issues.
Plaintiff next asks this Court—again, in her words—to rule that the District "is bound by the decision of its own Office of Personnel that found that [she] did not violate the District of Columbia Residency Preference Act." Pl.'s Mot. in Limine and Mem. of P. & A. in Supp. Thereof to Bar the District from Rearguing the Merits of the Attempt to Wrongfully Terminate Pl.'s Employment with the District of Columbia, Docket No. [91], at 1 (emphasis omitted). As described above, in May 2006, the DOH commenced proceedings to determine whether Plaintiff's employment with the APRA should be forfeited due to non-compliance with D.C. residency preference requirements. After an evidentiary hearing was held, the proceedings were ultimately dismissed by the D.C. Office of Personnel. Plaintiff now contends, citing the doctrine of collateral estoppel, that the final decision of the D.C. Office of Personnel should have preclusive effect and prevent the District from relitigating at trial the question of whether she violated D.C. residency preference requirements.
Plaintiff's argument is not without some irony. This is not the first time the Court has heard this argument; Plaintiff raised, and the Court rejected, the identical argument in the context of Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. See Williams v. Johnson, 701 F.Supp.2d 1, 19-20 (D.D.C.2010). As set forth in this Court's prior Memorandum Opinion, Plaintiff's entire collateral estoppel argument is "premised on a mischaracterization of the D.C. Office of Personnel's final decision," which dismissed the charges against Plaintiff on the basis that the District "failed to meet its burden of proof or follow its own procedures." Id. This Court stated, in no uncertain terms, that the D.C. Office of Personnel's decision was "not substantively equivalent to an affirmative finding that Plaintiff was never subject to any residency requirement, such that the District's claims were `without merit.'" Id. at 20. The nature of the D.C. Office of Personnel's final decision has not changed in the months intervening since Plaintiff first raised this argument. This is the law of the case, and Plaintiff's argument fails for the very same reasons it did over seven months ago.
True, in denying Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, the Court did observe that Plaintiff's requests concerning the presentation of evidence at trial were "more appropriately dealt with through a motion in limine," id., but that was not an invitation to recycle the very same argument. To the extent Plaintiff's motion may be construed as suggesting that evidence concerning the propriety of the District's investigation is of such little probative value that it is substantially outweighed by considerations of undue delay or waste of time (a dubious reading indeed), it would still be meritless. One of Plaintiff's principal contentions in this action is that the District impermissibly retaliated against her by investigating (and subsequently bringing charges against her) concerning her compliance with D.C.
Plaintiff also moves "for an order barring the District from claiming that a legitimate, bona fide contract with Softscape... existed in February 2005." See Pl.'s Mot. in Limine and Mem. of P. & A. in Supp. Thereof to Bar the District from Claiming that a Legitimate, Bona Fide Contract with Softscape Existed in February, 2005 ("Pl.'s Softscape Mem."), Docket No. [93], at 1. Once again, Plaintiff misconstrues the purpose of a motion in limine. Here, Plaintiff does not argue that the contractual relationship between the APRA and its vendor, Softscape, has no bearing on the issues to be presented at trial. Quite the contrary, Plaintiff contends that the alleged absence of a bona fide contract between the APRA and Softscape "supplies a motive" for the District's efforts to have Plaintiff terminated.
The curious positioning of the parties reveals the true nature of Plaintiff's motion, which is not directed towards demonstrating
The District, for its part, seeks to preclude Plaintiff from introducing evidence or argument at trial concerning her entitlement to damages for back pay or front pay, on the basis that Plaintiff allegedly "voluntarily resigned" from her position with the APRA. See Mem. of P. & A. in Supp. of the District of Columbia's Mots. in Limine ("Def.'s Mem."), Docket No. [92].
Under District of Columbia law, a constructive discharge occurs when an employer deliberately makes working conditions "intolerable," and drives the employee to involuntarily quit. Arthur Young & Co. v. Sutherland, 631 A.2d 354, 362 (D.C.1993). Generally speaking, working conditions "rise to the requisite level of intolerableness if they `would lead a reasonable person to resign.'" Id. (quoting Atl. Richfield Co. v. District of Columbia Comm'n on Human Rights, 515 A.2d 1095, 1101 (D.C.1986)).
Although the District broadly claims that none of Plaintiff's allegations rise to the requisite level of "intolerableness," its perfunctory moving papers point to but one specific fact—namely, that Plaintiff waited to resign until June 2007, several months after her "primary tormentor" left the APRA. See Def.'s Mem. at 4. Plaintiff counters that she commenced her search for alternative employment long before her actual resignation, as early as October 2006. See Williams Decl. (Aug. 5, 2010), Docket No. [94-3], ¶ 1. In addition, Plaintiff points to excerpts from her deposition testimony, which she contends outline the circumstances that compelled her to resign from the APRA. See Williams Dep. (Dec. 22, 2008), Docket No. [94-2], at 130:3-137:20.
The Court need not—indeed, should not—resolve these competing claims here. The District's entire motion in limine hinges on the contention that Plaintiff cannot establish that she was constructively discharged, but whether a plaintiff has met his or her burden in this regard is generally
Simply put, the District has cloaked a motion for summary judgment in the form of a motion in limine, but the deadline to file dispositive motions has long since passed. See Order (Feb. 14, 2009), Docket No. [65]; Am. Min. Order (July 21, 2009).
Lastly, Plaintiff seeks an order "clarify[ing] her prayer for relief to allow her full relief available under the District of Columbia Whistleblower Act." Pl.'s Mot. to Clarify her Prayer for Relief to Request Full Relief Available Under the District of Columbia Whistleblower Act and Mem. of P. & A. in Supp. Thereof ("Pl.'s Mot. to Clarify"), Docket No. [99], at 1. Although hardly the model of artful drafting, Plaintiff's motion appears to be directed towards remedying the omission of an express demand for back pay or front pay in the ad damnum clause in the Amended Complaint.
The Court has considered the remaining arguments tendered by the parties, and has concluded that they are without merit. Therefore, and for the reasons stated above, the Court shall:
An appropriate Order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.