Lahens v. AT&T Mobility P.R., Inc.
| Decision Date | 08 September 2020 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL NO.: 18-1776 (MEL) |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico |
| Parties | FÉLIX LAHENS, Plaintiff, v. AT&T MOBILITY PUERTO RICO, INC., et al. Defendant. |
Mr. Félix Lahens ("Plaintiff") filed a complaint against AT&T Mobility Puerto Rico, Inc. ("Defendant or AT&T Mobility") and AT&T, Inc. on October 16, 2018.1 ECF No. 1. In his complaint, Plaintiff alleges that he was discriminated against because of his age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 et. seq., and Title 29, Annotated Laws of Puerto Rico, Section 146 ("Law 100"). It is also alleged by Plaintiff that he was discriminated against because of his disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et. seq., and Title 1, Annotated Laws of Puerto Rico, Section 501 ("Law 44"). Additionally, Plaintiff claims that he suffered damages due to retaliatory conduct and seeks relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. 2000e et. seq., and Title 29, Annotated Laws of Puerto Rico, Section 194 ("Law 115"). Plaintiff further claims that he was terminated from employment without "just cause" in violation of Title 29, Annotated Laws of Puerto Rico, Section 185a ("Law 80"). Lastly, it is contended by Plaintiff that he suffered damages as the result of illegal discrimination andretaliation and seeks relief under Title 31, Annotated Laws of Puerto Rico, Section 5141 ("Article 1802").
Pending before the court is Defendant's motion for summary judgment. ECF No. 46. Defendant argues, inter alia, in its motion for summary judgment that Plaintiff "suffered no actionable age or disability discrimination or retaliation." Id. at 36. Plaintiff responded in opposition on March 4, 2020. ECF Nos. 60, 61. Defendant subsequently filed a reply on April 9, 2020. ECF Nos. 67, 68. On April 22, 2020, a surreply was filed by Plaintiff. ECF No. 76.
The purpose of summary judgment "is to pierce the boilerplate of the pleadings and assay the parties' proof in order to determine whether trial is actually required." Wynne v. Tufts Univ. Sch. of Med., 976 F.2d 791, 794 (1st Cir. 1992) (citations omitted). Summary judgment is granted when the record shows that "there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Farmers Ins. Exch. v. RNK, Inc., 632 F.3d 777, 782 (1st Cir. 2011) (quoting Rodríguez-Rivera v. Federico Trilla Reg'l Hosp., 532 F.3d 28, 30 (1st Cir. 2008)).
The party moving for summary judgment bears the burden of showing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986). Once the movant presents a properly focused motion "averring 'an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case[,]' [t]he burden then shifts to the nonmovant to establish the existence of at least one fact issue which is both 'genuine' and 'material.'" Griggs-Ryan v. Smith, 904 F.2d 112, 115 (1st Cir. 1990) (quoting Garside v. Osco Drug, Inc., 895 F.2d 46, 48 (1st Cir. 1990)).For issues where the nonmoving party bears the ultimate burden of proof, the party cannot merely "rely on an absence of competent evidence, but must affirmatively point to specific facts [in the record] that demonstrate the existence of an authentic dispute." McCarthy v. Nw. Airlines, Inc., 56 F.3d 313, 315 (1st Cir. 1995) (citation omitted). The party need not, however, Calero-Cerezo v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 355 F.3d 6, 19 (1st Cir. 2004) (emphasis in original) (citation omitted).
In assessing a motion for summary judgment, the court "must view the entire record in the light most hospitable to the party opposing summary judgment, indulging all reasonable inferences in that party's favor." Griggs-Ryan, 904 F.2d at 115. There is "no room for credibility determinations, no room for the measured weighing of conflicting evidence such as the trial process entails, [and] no room for the judge to superimpose his own ideas of probability and likelihood." Greenburg v. P. R. Mar. Shipping Auth., 835 F.2d 932, 936 (1st Cir. 1987). The court may, however, safely ignore "conclusory allegations, improbable inferences, and unsupported speculation." Medina-Muñoz v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 896 F.2d 5, 8 (1st Cir. 1990) (citations omitted).
In support of his motion in opposition to Defendant's motion for summary judgment, Plaintiff submitted an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury. See ECF No. 61-1. Defendant argues that Plaintiff's unsworn declaration is a "sham affidavit" because it includes "previously undisclosed allegations" and some of his declaration statements are inconsistent with his deposition testimony. ECF No. 67, at 4-6. Thus, Defendant asks that the court strikePlaintiff's unsworn declaration from the record and not consider it in evaluating the motion for summary judgment. Id.
A party is permitted to submit an affidavit in opposition to a motion for summary judgment so long as it is "made on personal knowledge, set[s] out facts that would be admissible in evidence, and show[s] that the affiant or declarant is competent to testify on the matters stated." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(4). However, "where a party has given 'clear answers to unambiguous questions' in discovery, that party cannot 'create a conflict and resist summary judgment with an affidavit that is clearly contradictory,' unless there is a 'satisfactory explanation of why the testimony has changed.'" Escribano-Reyes v. Prof'l Hepa Certificate Corp., 817 F.3d 380, 386 (1st Cir. 2016) (quoting Hernández-Loring v. Universidad Metropolitana, 233 F.3d 49, 54 (1st Cir. 2000)).
Here, Defendant identifies six specific statements in Plaintiff's unsworn declaration that it claims are new and being alleged for the first time. ECF No. 67, at 4-5. Defendant does not explain how these "new" statements contradict Plaintiff's deposition testimony or record evidence. It is also claimed by Defendant that some of Plaintiff's declaration statements are inconsistent with his deposition testimony. Thus, Defendant contends that the court should strike 31 of Plaintiff's objections to Defendant's proposed facts which are supported by his declaration statements. Id. at 6. Defendant, however, fails to identify the specific statements in Plaintiff's declaration that it claims are inconsistent with the record evidence. Furthermore, Defendant did not produce Plaintiff's corresponding deposition testimony for each "inconsistent" declaration statement in order for the court to evaluate its claims. Accordingly, Plaintiff's unsworn declaration will be considered in evaluating Defendant's motion for summary judgment. Defendant's reply statement of uncontested facts will also be considered. ECF No. 68. The courtreminds the parties, however, that it "is not obliged to accept as true or to deem as a disputed material fact, each and every unsupported, subjective, conclusory, or imaginative statement made to the court by a party." Torrech-Hernández v. General Elec. Co., 519 F.3d 41, 47 (1st Cir. 2008).
Plaintiff was born in 1955 and as of the filing of the motion for summary judgment was 64 years old. ECF No. 47, at 2, ¶ 4; ECF No. 61, at 1, ¶ 4. Defendant, AT&T Mobility, is engaged in the sale of telecommunication services and equipment throughout Puerto Rico. ECF No. 47, at 1, ¶ 1; ECF No. 61, at 1, ¶ 1. DIRECTV is the leading satellite television provider in Puerto Rico. ECF No. 47, at 1, ¶ 2; ECF No. 61, at 1, ¶ 2. Plaintiff started working for DIRECTV on March 4, 2013. ECF No. 47, at 2, ¶ 6; ECF No. 61, at 1, ¶ 6. In May 2014, DIRECTV entered into a merger agreement with AT&T, Inc. in which DIRECTV became a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, Inc. ECF No. 47, at 1, ¶ 3; ECF No. 61, at 1, ¶ 3. After the merger agreement between DIRECTV and AT&T Inc., Defendant became an employee of AT&T Mobility.2 ECF No. 1, at 3, ¶ 5; ECF No. 12, at 2, ¶ 5.
As an AT&T Mobility employee, Plaintiff was required to comply with the ethical standards and core values set forth in "AT&T's"3 Code of Business Conduct (the "COBC"). ECF No. 47, at 3, ¶ 16; ECF No. 61, at 2, ¶ 16. The COBC contains the ethical standards that AT&TMobility expects from all of its employees in the performance of their duties. One purpose of the COBC is to prevent employee conduct that could expose AT&T Mobility and its employees to liability. These liabilities include, but are not limited to, violations of federal and state laws, conflicts of interest, violations of "AT&T's" rules pertaining to ethical behavior, including unlawful discrimination and harassment, safety in the workplace, matters related to confidentiality of information, or any other conduct that may expose AT&T Mobility and its employees to legal liability from the government, other employees or customers. ECF No. 47, at 4, ¶ 17; ECF No. 61, at 2, ¶ 17.
In order to achieve this purpose, the COBC lists conduct that will not be tolerated, encourages employees to seek assistance when they have doubts about "AT&T's" policies and procedures, and requests that employees report any unethical or seemingly unethical behavior or policy violations involving any "AT&T" employee (including management). ECF...
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