Bigelow v. Town of Chapel Hill

• Decision Date: 07 May 2013
• Docket Number: No. COA12–1105.,COA12–1105.
• Citation: 745 S.E.2d 316
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals
• Parties: Kerry BIGELOW & Clyde Clark, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL & Roger Stancil, in his official capacity as Manager of the Town of Chapel Hill and in his personal capacity, insofar as he was operating outside of his job description, Defendants–Appellees.

745 S.E.2d 316

Kerry BIGELOW & Clyde Clark, Plaintiffs–Appellants,

v.TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL & Roger Stancil, in his official capacity as Manager of the Town of Chapel Hill and in his personal capacity, insofar as he was operating outside of his job description, Defendants–Appellees.

No. COA12–1105.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

May 7, 2013.

Appeal by Plaintiffs from order entered 29 May 2012 by Judge R. Allen Baddour, Jr., in Superior Court, Orange County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 12 March 2013.

Alan McSurely, Chapel Hill, for Plaintiffs–Appellants.

Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog LLP, Raleigh, by Dan M. Hartzog and Dan M. Hartzog, Jr., for Defendants–Appellees.

McGEE, Judge.

Kerry Bigelow (Bigelow) and Clyde Clark (Clark) (together, Plaintiffs) were fired from their employment as sanitation workers for the Town of Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill) on 29 October 2010. Roger Stancil (Stancil) was Chapel Hill's town manager at that time. During their employment with Chapel Hill, Plaintiffs rode on town garbage trucks and collected refuse from roll-out canisters, as well as yard waste. The firings were based upon findings that Plaintiffs had engaged in insubordination, threatening and intimidating behavior, and had been unsatisfactory in their job performances. Plaintiffs requested a hearing before Chapel Hill's Personnel Appeals Committee (the Committee) to review the decision to terminate Plaintiffs' employment. Hearings were conducted on 3 and 9 February 2011. By split votes, the Committee recommended that Stancil uphold the decision to fire Plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs filed this action on 4 December 2011. In their complaint, Plaintiffs alleged that Chapel Hill and Stancil, in both his official capacity and his personal capacity, (together, Defendants), wrongfully discharged Plaintiffs from their jobs and violatedcertain of Plaintiffs' rights protected under the North Carolina Constitution.

Defendants answered Plaintiffs' complaint on 5 December 2011. Defendants moved for judgment on the pleadings on 20 April 2012. Defendants' motion was heard on 14 May 2012 and, by order entered 29 May 2012, the trial court granted Defendants' motion on the pleadings. Plaintiffs appeal. Additional facts and allegations relevant to this opinion are included below.

I.

The sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in granting Defendants' Rule 12(c) motion for judgment on the pleadings. We affirm as to Stancil in his individual capacity, but vacate and remand the remainder of the trial court's 29 May 2012 order for further action.

II.

Plaintiffs present the following question on appeal: “Did the superior court err when it dismissed Plaintiffs' four claims based on the pleadings, pursuant to N.C. Rules of Civil Procedure 12(c)?”

“This Court reviews a trial court's grant of a motion for judgment on the pleadings de novo.” Carpenter v. Carpenter, 189 N.C.App. 755, 757, 659 S.E.2d 762, 764–65 (2008) (citation omitted). “A motion for judgment on the pleadings should not be granted unless the movant clearly establishes that no material issue of fact remains to be resolved and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Id. at 761, 659 S.E.2d at 767 (citation omitted).

[Rule 12(c)'s] function is to dispose of baseless claims or defenses when the formal pleadings reveal their lack of merit. .... Judgment on the pleadings is a summary procedure and the judgment is final. Therefore, each motion under Rule 12(c) must be carefully scrutinized lest the nonmoving party be precluded from a full and fair hearing on the merits. The movant is held to a strict standard and must show that no material issue of facts exists and that he is clearly entitled to judgment. The trial court is required to view the facts and permissible inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. All well pleaded factual allegations in the nonmoving party's pleadings are taken as true and all contravening assertions in the movant's pleadings are taken as false. All allegations in the nonmovant's pleadings, except conclusions of law, legally impossible facts, and matters not admissible in evidence at the trial, are deemed admitted by the movant for purposes of the motion.

Ragsdale v. Kennedy, 286 N.C. 130, 137, 209 S.E.2d 494, 499 (1974) (citations omitted). “ ‘Judgments on the pleadings are disfavored in law [.]’ ” Carpenter, 189 N.C.App. at 757, 659 S.E.2d at 764–65 (citations omitted).

“ ‘A motion for judgment on the pleadings is allowable only where the pleading of the opposite party is so fatally deficient in substance as to present no material issue of fact[.] A complaint is fatally deficient in substance, and subject to a motion by the defendant for judgment on the pleadings if it fails to state a good cause of action for plaintiff and against defendant[.]’ ”

George Shinn Sports, Inc. v. Bahakel Sports, Inc., 99 N.C.App. 481, 486, 393 S.E.2d 580, 583 (1990) (citations omitted).

Under the “notice theory” of pleading contemplated by Rule 8(a)(1), detailed fact-pleading is no longer required. A pleading complies with the rule if it gives sufficient notice of the events or transactions which produced the claim to enable the adverse party to understand the nature of it and the basis for it, to file a responsive pleading, and—by using the rules provided for obtaining pretrial discovery—to get any additional information he may need to prepare for trial.

Sutton v. Duke, 277 N.C. 94, 104, 176 S.E.2d 161, 167 (1970). A motion to dismiss is appropriately granted when a complaint states “a defective cause of action,” but not when a complaint states “a defective statement of a good cause of action.” Id. at 105–06, 176 S.E.2d at 168 (citations omitted). “[O]ther provisions of Rule 12, the rules governing discovery, and the motion for summary judgment provide procedures adequate to supply information not furnished by the complaint.” Id. “[A] document attached to the moving party's pleading may not be considered in connection with a Rule 12(c) motion unless the non-moving party has made admissions regarding the document.” Weaver v. Saint Joseph of the Pines, Inc., 187 N.C.App. 198, 205, 652 S.E.2d 701, 708 (2007).

III. Consideration of Alleged Facts for a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings

We wish to make clear that what follows is not a statement of facts, but a recitation of Plaintiffs' allegations as pleaded, and some additional information from the pleadings favorable to Plaintiffs. Defendants' alleged facts are not included below unless favorable to Plaintiffs. Kennedy, 286 N.C. at 137, 209 S.E.2d at 499. We are in no manner endorsing Plaintiffs' factual allegations. Plaintiffs' complaint, along with Defendants' answer and documents attached to the pleadings, when considered in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, and taking Plaintiffs allegations as true, show the following: Plaintiffs, both African Americans, worked together as employees of Chapel Hill, beginning in the summer of 2009. Plaintiffs rode on the rear of collection trucks and emptied garbage bins into the trucks. Clark was hired as a sanitation worker by Chapel Hill in 1998. Bigelow drove large garbage trucks for the City of Burlington for eighteen years before being hired as a sanitation worker by Chapel Hill in 2007, where his “municipal sanitation driving experience placed him at the highest salary range for sanitation workers.” Bigelow received a performance evaluation of “outstanding” in 2008, and also received an “exceeds expectations” evaluation in 2009.

According to Plaintiffs, Chapel Hill posted a job opening for a driving position in December 2009. Bigelow applied for the position. Darrell Town (Town), a white male hired shortly before Chapel Hill hired Bigelow, also applied. Town did not have experience driving garbage collection trucks. Prior to being hired by Chapel Hill, he had worked for less than four and a half years at a private recycling company. Town was hired at the low end of the salary range for sanitation workers.

Plaintiffs alleged that both Bigelow and Town were found qualified and both were interviewed. Bigelow's supervisor, an African American man, indicated that Bigelow would be a good choice for the job due to his prior heavy truck driving experience, his many years of working in sanitation, and because he was “a good person[.]” However, the Superintendent of Solid Waste, Harv Howard (Howard), a white male, selected Town, the less-qualified candidate, over the more experienced Bigelow. Bigelow filed a grievance through normal procedures on 12 February 2010. He alleged race discrimination in the hiring of Town, the less-experienced person, for the driving position. Racial discrimination in hiring is prohibited by [a Chapel Hill] town ordinance and written policies “promulgated by Defendant Stancil,” a white male.

Plaintiffs alleged Bigelow had received no response from Chapel Hill by early June 2010, even though he had filed multiple grievances in February, March, and April. Bigelow retained an attorney who, in June 2010, wrote a “courtesy letter” to Chapel Hill, indicating that Bigelow was going to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Defendants. Bigelow filed an EEOC charge against Defendants on 9 June 2010.

The following day, Valerie Meicher (Meicher) sent a memorandum on behalf of Chapel Hill thanking Bigelow “ ‘for participating in the recent selection interviews[,]’ ” and indicated that, “ ‘in response to a complaint[,]’ ” Chapel Hill had “determined there were inconsistencies in the administration of the interview process.” The “complaint” was in actuality the multiple grievances filed by Bigelow. Bigelow was invited to speak with a Chapel Hill official “about the date, time, and place of another interview.” Chapel Hill had three different versions of this memorandum circulating “within ... Stancil's management team” after Chapel Hill became aware of the EEOC charge. Chapel Hill also sent...