Alston v. North Carolina a & T State University

• Decision Date: 06 February 2004
• Docket Number: No. CIV. 103CV00819.,CIV. 103CV00819.
• Citation: 304 F.Supp.2d 774
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of North Carolina
• Parties: Valerie S. ALSTON, Plaintiff, v. NORTH CAROLINA A & T STATE UNIVERSITY; Bernard Cotten, In his official and individual capacities; Donald Lindsay, In his official and individual capacities; and Richetta Slade, In her official and individual capacities, Defendants.

304 F.Supp.2d 774

Valerie S. ALSTON, Plaintiff, v. NORTH CAROLINA A & T STATE UNIVERSITY; Bernard Cotten, In his official and individual capacities; Donald Lindsay, In his official and individual capacities; and Richetta Slade, In her official and individual capacities, Defendants.

No. CIV. 103CV00819.

United States District Court, M.D. North Carolina.

February 6, 2004.

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David B. Puryear, Jr., Puryear and Lingle, P.L.L.C., Greensboro, NC, Robert S. Boyan, High Point, NC, for Plaintiff.

Joyce S. Rutledge, Raleigh, NC; and Celia Grasty Lata, N.C. Department of Justice, Raleigh, NC, Nancy Pulliam Quinn, The Quinn Law Firm, Greensboro, NC, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BULLOCK, District Judge.

Plaintiff Valerie Alston ("Alston") brings this sexual harassment suit against North Carolina A & T State University ("NC A & T") and three university employees, alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and Title IX of the Education Act Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. Alston also brings a claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Defendants Lindsay and Slade and pendent state law claims against NC A & T and Defendant Cotten. Defendants NC A & T, Lindsay, and Slade¹ moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), 12(b)(2) and 12(b)(6). For the following reasons, the motion to dismiss will be granted in part and denied in part.

FACTS

From October 1998 to June 2002, Alston was employed as a campus police officer for NC A & T. Defendants Cotten, Lindsay, and Slade were supervisory officers within the NC A & T Campus Police Department. Alston alleges that during her tenure with NC A & T, Cotten repeatedly engaged in sexually harassing conduct toward her. Specifically, Alston asserts that Cotten solicited her to engage in sexual intercourse with him, intentionally exposed himself to her, and touched her inappropriately without consent on multiple occasions. Alston also contends that Cotten made lewd and sexually discriminatory remarks to her or in her presence and implied that she must subject herself to his sexual advances to retain her job status. To support her contentions, Alston details one incident of harassment occurring on October 1, 2001, in which Cotten allegedly accosted Alston in the parking lot. According to the complaint, Cotten held Alston against her will, pulled the front of her shirt open to look inside, and remarked, "what do you have under there." (Compl.¶ 16.) Then, as Alston entered the police building and proceeded into the women's bathroom to change her clothes, Cotten allegedly followed her inside, placed his hand on the butt of the pistol he was wearing, and said, "Im going to watch you get dressed." (Compl.¶ 16.) Alston states that at this time, Cotten told Alston that she had been the subject of discussion at management meetings and that she needed to be more motivated about her job. As Cotten left the bathroom, he stated that he needed to leave before he was accused of attacking Alston. Alston avers that this incident caused her to fear for her physical safety.

Alston contends that in response to Cotten's harassing behavior, she has requested Cotten to stop, refused to acknowledge his remarks, avoided him when possible, and complained numerous times to her supervisors, including Lindsay and Slade. Alston states that Lindsay and Slade reacted to her complaints by interrogating her with questions such as "what did you do to make him think that you were interested in him" and "who are you dating in the department." (Compl.¶ 11.) Alston further asserts that despite her complaints, NC A & T did not take any disciplinary action against Cotten. Instead, Cotten "in all respects was permitted to continue to make sexual advances and otherwise create a sexually hostile working environment toward Plaintiff without consequence." (Compl.¶ 15.) Alston believes that other female police officers also have complained about Cotten's sexually harassing behavior. Finally, Alston avers that as a result of Cotten's unchecked harassment, she has experienced mental distress, humiliation, and depression. These conditions have resulted in Alston's hospitalization, ongoing psychiatric treatment, and separation from employment with NC A & T.

Alston filed her complaint in state court on July 31, 2003. Defendants NC A & T, Lindsay, and Slade timely removed the action to this court on August 29, 2003. Defendants now move to dismiss the complaint.

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review

Defendants have moved to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6).² A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted made pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) should not be granted "unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). In considering a motion to dismiss, the court accepts as true all well-pleaded allegations and views the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Mylan Labs., Inc. v. Matkari, 7 F.3d 1130, 1134 (4th Cir.1993). The function of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is to test the legal sufficiency of the complaint and not the facts that support it. Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 326-27, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989). "The issue is not whether a plaintiff will ultimately prevail but whether the claimant is entitled to offer evidence to support the claims." Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974), overruled on other grounds by Davis v. Scherer, 468 U.S. 183, 104 S.Ct. 3012, 82 L.Ed.2d 139 (1984). Similarly, when evaluating a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) on the grounds that the complaint fails to state facts upon which jurisdiction can be founded, "all the facts alleged in the complaint are assumed to be true and the plaintiff, in effect, is afforded the same procedural protection as he would receive under a Rule 12(b)(6) consideration." Adams v. Bain, 697 F.2d 1213, 1219 (4th Cir.1982).

II. Title VII Claim

Alston asserts a hostile work environment claim against NC A & T and Lindsay and Slade in their official capacities.³ Sexual harassment that creates a hostile work environment gives rise to a cause of action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. ("Title VII"). See Meritor Sav. Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 66, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 91 L.Ed.2d 49 (1986). To state a claim for hostile work environment, a plaintiff must show: (1) that she was harassed "because of" her sex; (2) that the harassment was unwelcome; (3) that the harassment was sufficiently pervasive or severe as to create an abusive work environment; (4) that some basis exists for imputing liability to the employer. Smith v. First Union Nat'l Bank, 202 F.3d 234, 241 (4th Cir.2000).

Defendants challenge Alston's claims on two grounds. First, they contend that the conduct Alston alleges is not severe or pervasive enough to constitute a hostile work environment. To determine whether a hostile work environment claim meets the "severe and pervasive" requirement, the court considers the frequency of the harassing conduct, its severity, whether it is physically threatening or humiliating or merely offensive speech, and whether it unreasonably interferes with the employee's work performance. See id. at 242 (citing Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 23, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993)). Defendants claim that Alston's complaint cannot meet these factors, citing multiple cases to support their assertions.⁴ Defendants correctly note that the plaintiffs in the cases they cite could not satisfy the "severe and pervasive" element of their hostile work environment claims. However, nearly all of the cases Defendants cite were disposed of on grounds other than a motion to dismiss. To survive a motion to dismiss, the plaintiff need not provide all the facts surrounding her claims. See Conley, 355 U.S. at 47, 78 S.Ct. 99. Instead, she simply must allege a short and plain statement of the claim that contains enough facts for the court to infer each element of her cause of action. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2); Wolman v. Tose, 467 F.2d 29, 33 n. 5 (4th Cir.1972).

When viewed in light of these principles, Alston's allegations satisfy the "severe and pervasive" element of her hostile work environment claim. Alston contends that she was "subjected to and victimized by a long-standing and continuing course of sexually hostile and harassing, abusive and humiliating conduct by Defendant Cotten." (Compl.¶ 9.) This conduct included solicitation for sexual intercourse, inappropriate touching, the intentional exposure of Defendant Cotten's genitals, and the incident of harassment occurring on October 1, 2001. Alston further alleges that as a consequence of the harassment, she feared for her physical safety and suffered extreme emotional distress that ultimately resulted in her inability to work. Considered in the light most favorable to Alston, these statements support an inference of severe and pervasive harassment sufficient to constitute a hostile work environment. See generally Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A., 534 U.S. 506, 122 S.Ct. 992, 152 L.Ed.2d 1 (2002) (discussing liberal pleading standard applied to Title VII claims); see also Riley v. Buckner, 1 Fed.Appx. 130, 134, 2001 WL 15193, at *3 (4th Cir.2001) (affirming denial of motion to dismiss plaintiff's sexually hostile work environment claim because "[w]e are satisfied that [general] allegations, coupled with a specific example ... are sufficient, though barely, to ... survive[ ] a motion to dismiss"); Mandsager v. Univ. of North Carolina, 269 F.Supp.2d 662, 673 (M.D.N.C.2003) (fin...