Wilde v. County of Kandiyohi, Civ. No. 4-92-693.

• Decision Date: 25 January 1993
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 4-92-693.
• Citation: 811 F. Supp. 446
• Parties: Caryn WILDE, Plaintiff, v. The COUNTY OF KANDIYOHI; Kandiyohi County Economic Development Partnership, Inc., a Minnesota corporation; Kandiyohi County Rural Development Finance Authority; and Wilton F. Croonquist, individually and in his capacity as Executive Director of Kandiyohi County Rural Development Finance Authority, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota

811 F. Supp. 446

Caryn WILDE, Plaintiff, v. The COUNTY OF KANDIYOHI; Kandiyohi County Economic Development Partnership, Inc., a Minnesota corporation; Kandiyohi County Rural Development Finance Authority; and Wilton F. Croonquist, individually and in his capacity as Executive Director of Kandiyohi County Rural Development Finance Authority, Defendants.

Civ. No. 4-92-693.

United States District Court, D. Minnesota.

January 25, 1993.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Robert James Zohlmann, Law Office, New London, MN, for plaintiff.

James Robert Andreen, Ratwik Roszak Bergstrom Maloney & Bartel, Minneapolis, MN, for defendant, County of Kandiyohi.

Ronald Carl Anderson, Hulstrand Anderson & Larson, Willmar, MN, for defendants, Kandiyohi County Economic Development, and Kandiyohi County Rural Development.

Donald Henry Walser, Kraft Walser Nelson & Hettig, Hutchison, MN, for defendant Wilton F. Croonquist.

ORDER

DOTY, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on the plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment and three motions brought by defendant Kandiyohi County: (1) motion for summary judgment; (2) motion to dismiss plaintiff's claim under section 1983 of Title 42 and, in the alternative, for summary judgment on that claim; and (3) motion to abstain. Based on a review of the file, record and proceedings herein, the court denies the plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment and the County's motion to abstain; the court grants the County's motion for summary judgment.

BACKGROUND

Caryn Wilde ("Wilde") owns or owned three businesses in Willmar, Minnesota: Executive Suites at Centre Pointe, Executive Suites on First and Crown Business Services. The Executive Suite businesses rent one person offices to tenants. Crown Business provides secretarial and support services to the tenants of Executive Suites. Basic services like a general receptionist, telephone answering and incoming mail handling are provided to all tenants. Tenants can purchase additional services, including typing, word processing, copying, scheduling, and outgoing mail, from Executive Suites or Crown Business. Tenants receive a monthly bill itemizing charges for rent and services; additional services are paid for by the job although secretarial time was billed at an hourly rate. Wilde and her staff perform the secretarial work.

The Kandiyohi County Economic Development Partnership, Inc. ("Partnership") was incorporated in January 1989. The Partnership promoted business and economic development in Kandiyohi County. The County of Kandiyohi ("County") created the Kandiyohi County Rural Development Finance Authority ("Authority") in 1990 pursuant to a statute enacted by the Minnesota Legislature. Ch. 1, Art. 17 § 21, Laws of Minn., 1989 Special Session. The Authority also promoted economic development in Kandiyohi County but had levying powers that the Partnership lacked. Wilton F. Croonquist ("Croonquist") was the Executive Director and sole employee of both the Partnership and the Authority.¹

In February 1989, the Partnership began leasing an office from Executive Suites at Centre Pointe. After the Authority was formed in 1990, it and the Partnership were located in the same office leased from Executive Suites. Wilde and her staff performed "normal" secretarial duties, including the services identified above, for the Partnership and Authority. Wilde supplied the equipment and, in addition to deciding who did the work, controlled how, when and where it got done. The Partnership and Authority paid either Executive Suites or Crown Business for the services on a monthly basis. Wilde was not provided vacation or holiday pay, sick leave, compensatory time, Social Security or Public Employees Retirement Association contributions, tax withholding, retirement or health insurance benefits or any other benefits.

Wilde performed some services for the Partnership and Authority which her businesses did not provide for other tenants and customers. Those services included discussing economic development issues with Croonquist, drafting press releases, preparing grant and award applications, creating and editing activity report forms and speeches, transcribing notes for reports to the County, and arranging meetings and conferences. In April 1991, Wilde spent 40 hours working for the Partnership and Authority while Croonquist was absent from the office for several weeks. Because these services were not provided to all Executive Suites tenants, Wilde refers to them as "other than normal" services. At Croonquist's direction and by necessity, Wilde, and not her staff, performed the "other" services. Wilde charged an hourly rate for these services and included them as secretarial charges on the monthly rent and services bill. The Partnership and Authority paid for the services in its monthly check to Executive Suites or Crown Business.

In November 1990, Croonquist, several other area leaders and Wilde took a 10 day fact finding trip to the Soviet Union to explore possible avenues of trade between Minsk and Southwestern Minnesota. Wilde prepared the grant application for the expedition for the Authority and she participated in the trip, however she did so as an area business owner.² The first incident of alleged sexual harassment occurred just before the trip when Croonquist asked Wilde to come to his office and tried to grab and hug her. Wilde refused Croonquist's advances and told him they were unwelcome. During the trip, Croonquist allegedly tried to get Wilde to "lay and cuddle with him" and tried to kiss and fondle her. Croonquist allegedly continued to harass Wilde after they returned to Willmar, he repeatedly asked Wilde to come to his office to receive or perform work and then tried to grab, hug, kiss, fondle and stroke her. Wilde rebuked all of his harassing conduct.

Wilde obtained a restraining order against Croonquist in state court on February 11, 1992. Croonquist violated the order and was arrested. After his arrest, the alleged harassment finally ended. The Partnership and Authority terminated its oral lease with Executive Suites on April 30, 1992. Wilde sued Croonquist, the County and the Partnership and Authority for sexual harassment and discrimination in federal court on July 20, 1992. Wilde's federal law claims alleged that the defendants violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title 42 of United States Code section 1983. Wilde also asserted various state law claims.

Wilde moved for partial summary judgment seeking an order that: (1) Wilde was an "employee" within the meaning of Title VII, (2) the Authority is a department or agency of the County, (3) all the defendants are "employers" within the meaning of Title VII, (4) the Partnership was an agency of the County or, in the alternative, the Partnership, Authority and County constitute a single employer under Title VII. The County filed a cross-motion for summary judgment arguing that because Wilde was an independent contractor of the Partnership and Authority, and not an employee, she cannot invoke the protection of Title VII.³ In the alternative, the County claims Wilde was not an employee of the County because the Partnership and Authority are separate entities from the County. The County sought judgment on the Section 1983 claim arguing that Wilde failed to show the County deprived her of a right secured by the Constitution or federal law. The County also moved the court to abstain from exercising its jurisdiction and defer to a declaratory judgment action filed by Croonquist in state court in October 1992.⁴

DISCUSSION

The court should grant summary judgment "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). This standard mirrors the standard for a directed verdict under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a), which requires the trial court to direct a verdict if there can be but one reasonable conclusion as to the verdict. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The sufficiency of the evidence to create an issue of fact for the jury is solely a question of law. Id. at 249, 106 S.Ct. at 2510. There is no issue for trial unless there is sufficient evidence favoring the nonmoving party for a jury to return a verdict for that party. Id.

On a motion for summary judgment, the court views the evidence in favor of the nonmoving party and gives that party the benefit of all reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the facts. Id. at 250, 106 S.Ct. at 2511. The nonmoving party, however, cannot rest upon mere denials or allegations in the pleadings. Rather the nonmoving party must set forth specific facts, by affidavit or otherwise, sufficient to raise a genuine issue of fact for trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In addition, if a plaintiff fails to support an essential element of a claim, summary judgment must issue because a complete failure of proof regarding an essential element renders all other facts immaterial. Id. at 322-23, 106 S.Ct. at 2552-53.

A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim tests the sufficiency of the complaint. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). When analyzing a motion to dismiss, the court looks to the complaint as pled. The complaint must be liberally construed and viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. The court will dismiss a complaint only when it appears the plaintiff cannot prove any set of facts that supports the claim. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957).

1. Motion to Abstain

The County moved the court to abstain from exercising its federal jurisdiction pending resolution of a state...