Alonzo v. Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A.

• Decision Date: 01 December 1998
• Docket Number: No. 98 Civ. 2749(RWS).,98 Civ. 2749(RWS).
• Citation: 25 F.Supp.2d 455
• Parties: Luis R. ALONZO, Plaintiff, v. CHASE MANHATTAN BANK, N.A., Fritz Groesser, Martin Hoffman, Roy B. Groves, Rudy Lalak and John Bush, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

25 F.Supp.2d 455

Luis R. ALONZO, Plaintiff, v. CHASE MANHATTAN BANK, N.A., Fritz Groesser, Martin Hoffman, Roy B. Groves, Rudy Lalak and John Bush, Defendants.

No. 98 Civ. 2749(RWS).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

December 1, 1998.

Anthony Ofodile, Brooklyn, NY, for Plaintiff.

Chase Manhattan Bank Legal Department, New York City (Belinda L. Palmer, of counsel), for Defendants.

OPINION

SWEET, District Judge.

In this employment discrimination action brought by plaintiff Luis R. Alonzo ("Alonzo"), defendants The Chase Manhattan Bank ("Chase"), formerly known as Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A., Fritz Groesser ("Groesser"), Martin Hoffman ("Hoffman"), Rudy Lalak ("Lalak"), and John Bush ("Bush") (collectively, "Defendants") (together with Groesser, Hoffman, Lalak, and Roy B. Groves ("Groves"), the "Individual Defendants") have moved for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on the claims of discrimination based on race and color on the ground that Alonzo has not exhausted his administrative remedies and on the claims against the Individual Defendants on the ground that there is no personal liability under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 253, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. ("Title VII"). For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' motion is denied in part and granted in part.

Prior Proceedings and Pleadings

According to Alonzo's complaint, he had been employed with Chase since April 4, 1974. Since 1978, Alonzo worked with the financial management group in different capacities. In 1986, while with the overseas tax unit, he was promoted to accounting officer. His responsibilities included monitoring certain activities of the International Banking Facility, developing an allocation of the head office expense system for the overseas units, and providing certain information, as needed. In 1988 he was transferred to the corporate tax department, tax accounting reporting area, where his responsibilities remained the same. He was to report to Groesser upon the transfer.

Alonzo contends that he was repeatedly subjected to name calling and racial slurs by Groesser. Alonzo is Hispanic. On April 8, 1993, he filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the "EEOC") against Chemical Bank,¹ alleging discrimination based on his national origin. The charge stated, inter alia, that "I am the only individual treated in this manner and I am the only Hispanic in the unit."

On April 20, 1993, Groesser informed Alonzo that he was being terminated on April 27 as a result of a corporate downsizing. On April 27, 1993, Alonzo filed a second charge with the EEOC, alleging retaliation for having filed the earlier charge. Both charges were also filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights (the "SDHR").

In late 1997, the SDHR issued a determination and order of "no probable cause." On January 6, 1998, the EEOC issued a notice of right to sue.

Alonzo filed his complaint ("Complaint") pro se in this action on April 17, 1998, alleging discrimination, retaliation, and termination of his employment based on race, color, and national origin. On the same date, Alonzo was granted his application to proceed in forma pauperis. Defendants filed the instant motion on July 10, 1998. On July 24, 1998, a notice of attorney appearance for Alonzo was filed. Oral arguments were heard on September 23, 1998, at which time the motion was deemed fully submitted.

Discussion

I. Rule 12(c) Standard for Judgment on the Pleadings

On a motion for judgment on the pleadings, "the same standards that are employed for dismissing a complaint for failure to state a claim under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) are applicable." Ad-Hoc Comm. v. Bernard M. Baruch College, 835 F.2d 980, 982 (2d Cir.1987) (citations omitted). In considering the motion, all of plaintiff's "well pleaded factual allegations ... are assumed to be true and all contravening assertions in the movant's pleadings are taken to be false." 5A Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 1368, at 520 (2d ed.1990); see e.g., Fine v. City of New York, 529 F.2d 70, 75 (2d Cir.1975). A court may not dismiss a complaint on the pleadings unless the movant demonstrates "beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." H.J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Tel. Co., 492 U.S. 229, 249-50, 109 S.Ct. 2893, 106 L.Ed.2d 195 (1989); Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984); Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). In determining the sufficiency of the complaint, consideration is limited to the factual allegations it contains. See Valmonte v. Bane, 18 F.3d 992, 998 (2d Cir.1994).

Where subject matter jurisdiction is challenged, however, the court may consider extrinsic materials, such as affidavits. See United States v. Vazquez, 145 F.3d 74, 80 (1998); Antares Aircraft, L.P. v. Federal Republic of Nigeria, 948 F.2d 90, 96 (2d Cir. 1991), vacated on other grounds, 505 U.S. 1215, 112 S.Ct. 3020, 120 L.Ed.2d 892 (1992); Kamen v. American Tel. & Tel. Co., 791 F.2d 1006, 1011 (2d Cir.1986). Although subject matter jurisdiction is normally challenged under 12(b)(1), it may also be raised on a motion pursuant to Rule 12(c). See Formula One Motors, Ltd. v. United States, 777 F.2d 822 (2d Cir.1985) (affirming dismissal of action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on a Rule 12(c) motion).

II. Subject Matter Jurisdiction Exists Over Alonzo's Claims of Discrimination and Retaliation Based on Race

Defendants assert that this Court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter of Alonzo's allegations regarding discrimination based on race in violation of Title VII because they were not included in the charges Alonzo filed with the EEOC. According to Defendants, the EEOC charge solely contained claims of national origin discrimination, and therefore the claims alleged in the Complaint that are predicated upon race discrimination must be dismissed.

Filing a charge with the EEOC is a jurisdictional prerequisite to a private civil action under Title VII. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e); McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 798, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). A district court only has jurisdiction to hear claims which are either raised in the EEOC charge or are "reasonably related" to the EEOC charges. See Butts v. City of New York Dep't of Hous., 990 F.2d 1397, 1402 (2d Cir.1993). The Second Circuit has recognized three different situations where claims not alleged in an EEOC charge are sufficiently related to provide jurisdiction: (1) where the claim brought in the civil action concerns conduct which would fall within the reasonable scope of the EEOC investigation; (2) where the claim alleges retaliation for filing the EEOC charge; and (3) where the plaintiff alleges further incidents of discrimination carried out in precisely the same manner alleged in the EEOC charge. See Butts, 990 F.2d at 1402-03.

With regard to Alonzo's race claim, only the first theory has relevance. The Second Circuit explained in Butts that:

[t]he first type of "reasonably related" claim we have recognized is essentially an allowance of loose pleading. Recognizing that EEOC charges frequently are filled out by employees without the benefit of counsel and that their primary purpose is to alert the EEOC to the discrimination that a plaintiff claims she is suffering, we have allowed claims not raised in the charge to be brought in a civil action where the conduct complained of would fall within the "scope of the EEOC investigation which can reasonably be expected to grow out of the charge of discrimination."

Id. at 1402 (quoting Smith v. American President Lines, Ltd., 571 F.2d 102, 107 n. 10 (2d Cir.1978)).

Generally, claims based on "a wholly different type of discrimination" than initially asserted in the EEOC charge will not be permitted to be brought in federal court. Peterson v. Insurance Co. of N.A., 884 F.Supp. 107, 109-10 (S.D.N.Y.1995). Where the facts in the original EEOC charge do not sufficiently apprise the EEOC that another type of discrimination claim lurks in the background, courts have held that the second claim is not reasonably related to the first. See, e.g., Walsh v. National Westminster Bancorp., Inc., 921 F.Supp. 168, 171 (S.D.N.Y.1995) (finding that a claim of sexual discrimination is not reasonably related to an allegation of retaliation); Dennis v. Pan American World Airways, 746 F.Supp. 288, 291 (E.D.N.Y.1990) (noting that age discrimination claim is not reasonably related to race discrimination claim).

It has been said that "[a]n assertion of racial bias is conceptually distinct from a claim of discrimination based on national origin." Dixit v. City of New York Dep't of Gen. Servs., 972 F.Supp. 730, 734 (S.D.N.Y. 1997). In support for their proposition that Alonzo's claims of discrimination based on race and national origin are not reasonably related, Defendants cite to Mathura v. Council For Human Services Home Care Services, Inc., No. 95 Civ. 4191, 1996 WL 157496 (S.D.N.Y. Apr.2, 1996), aff'd, 107 F.3d 3 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ____, 118 S.Ct. 93, 139 L.Ed.2d 49 (1997), and Narvarte v. Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A., 969 F.Supp. 10 (S.D.N.Y.1997). In Mathura, the plaintiff noted race and color as the basis for discrimination in his EEOC complaint. The defendants represented that his claims of national origin, gender, and disability discrimination must be dismissed as they were not reasonably related to race and color. The court correctly found that stating that one is black does not invoke a claim of discrimination predicated upon national origin. See Mathura, 1996 WL 157496, at *1-*2. In Narvarte, the plaintiff alleged discrimination on the basis of her race, "Asian." On her EEOC charge, she checked the boxes...