Board of Ed v. Norville

• Decision Date: 12 December 2005
• Docket Number: No. 6, September Term, 2005.,6, September Term, 2005.
• Citation: 390 Md. 93,887 A.2d 1029
• Parties: ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION v. David NORVILLE.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 1029

887 A.2d 1029

390 Md. 93

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION v. David NORVILLE.

No. 6, September Term, 2005.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

December 12, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Andrew J. Murray, Sr. Asst. Cty. Atty. (Linda M. Schuett, Cty. Atty., Annapolis, on brief), for petitioner/cross-respondent.

David C. Slade (Law Offices of David C. Slade & Associates, Bowie, on brief), for respondent/cross-petitioner.

B. Darren Burns, Reese and Carney, LLP, Annapolis, Beth Mellen Harrison, Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., Appellate Advocacy Fellow, Public Justice Center, Deborah A. Jeon, ACLU Foundation of Maryland, Baltimore, amicus curiae.

Argued before BELL, C.J., RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA and GREENE, JJ.

RAKER, J.

The case is a suit alleging age discrimination based upon the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634 (Supp. III 1994),¹ Md.Code (1957, 2003 Repl.Vol., 2005 Cum.Supp.) Art. 49B, § 16(a),² common law wrongful discharge and intentional infliction of emotional distress filed by David Norville, a media specialist employed by the Anne Arundel County Board of Education (the Board) against the Board. Because the ADEA claim was adjudicated on the merits in a suit filed by Norville in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Norville v. Anne Arundel County Bd. of Educ., No. Civ.A. MJG-99-764, 1999 WL 1267696 (D.Md. Nov. 23, 1999), we shall hold that this action is barred by the principles of res judicata.

I.

David Norville was employed by the Board as a Media Production Specialist from 1979 until 1998. Norville received a memorandum from his supervisor, Don Cramer, accusing him of insubordination on or about June 24, 1998. The Board sent Norville a letter in July 1998 explaining that it was reducing the number of positions in Norville's department for budgetary reasons. The Board discharged Norville from his employment as a Media Production Specialist on September 30, 1998.

Norville filed an age discrimination complaint, grounded in ADEA, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the Board. Following an investigation, the EEOC closed its file, and advised Norville that it was "unable to conclude that the information obtained establishes violations of statutes." The EEOC added, however, that its action did not certify that the Board was in compliance with statutory requirements and informed Norville of his "right to sue" under federal law, either in state or federal court, within 90 days of the notice.

Norville filed a complaint on March 18, 1999, which he amended on June 2, 1999, against the Board in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, alleging six counts: violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA),³ violation of Art. 49B,⁴ unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, wrongful discharge, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.⁵ The Board argued that it is an agency of the State of Maryland, and thus enjoys immunity from suit under the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.⁶ Norville contended that Eleventh Amendment immunity was unavailable under ADEA because the Board was not an arm of the State⁷ and hence was not entitled to immunity as a matter of law.

The District Court, in a Memorandum Opinion and Order, noted that on October 13, 1999, the Supreme Court had heard oral argument in Kimel v. Bd. of Regents, 139 F.3d 1426 (11th Cir.1998), cert. granted, 525 U.S. 1121, 119 S.Ct. 901, 142 L.Ed.2d 901 (1999), aff'd, 528 U.S. 62, 120 S.Ct. 631, 145 L.Ed.2d 522 (2000), presenting two issues bearing on the resolution of the issue before the District Court. The issues before the Supreme Court were whether the ADEA contained a clear abrogation of the States' Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit by individuals and whether the extension of the ADEA to the States was a proper exercise of Congress's power under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, thereby constituting a valid exercise of congressional power to abrogate the States' Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit by individuals. The District Court stayed the action against the Board pending the Kimel decision.

Following the Supreme Court's holding in Kimel that the ADEA did not constitute a proper abrogation of Eleventh Amendment immunity pursuant to § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, 528 U.S. 62, 82-83, 120 S.Ct. 631, 645, 145 L.Ed.2d 522,⁸ the District Court lifted the stay and, pursuant to Fed R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), dismissed all Norville's remaining federal claims with prejudice, and the state law claims without prejudice. The District Court ruled as follows:

"By separate Order issued this date, the Court has dismissed all remaining claims.

1. Judgment shall be, and hereby is, entered in favor of Defendants Board of Education, Anne Arundel County, Maryland and Don Cramer against Plaintiff David Norville dismissing all federal claims with prejudice and all state law claims without prejudice."

The District Court made clear that this Order constituted a final judgment.

Norville did not appeal the judgment of the District Court. Instead, Norville filed suit against the Board and Cramer in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, alleging age discrimination in violation of Art. 49B, unjust enrichment, quantum meruit, common law wrongful discharge, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Circuit Court dismissed the unjust enrichment and quantum meruit claims with prejudice and the remaining claims, without prejudice.

Norville then filed an Amended Complaint in which he alleged violations of Article 49B, wrongful discharge, and intentional infliction of emotional distress as well as claims alleging violation of ADEA. The ADEA claims against the Board and Cramer were the same claims that the District Court had dismissed with prejudice. In his Amended Complaint, Norville alleged, inter alia, as follows:

"13. Defendant [the Board] willfully discriminated against the Plaintiff on account of his age in violation of Section 4(a)(1) of the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. 623(a)(1) with respect to its decision to discharge the Plaintiff from employment.

34. Defendant [Cramer] willfully discriminated against the Plaintiff on account of his age in violation of Section 4(a)(1) of the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. 623(a)(1) with respect to its decision to discharge the Plaintiff from employment."

In response, pursuant to Md. Rule 2-323(g), the Board and Cramer raised several affirmative defenses, including "res judicata, as a result of the dismissal of the prior federal court suit" and "sovereign and/or governmental immunity, as well as the failure to give proper notice under the Maryland Torts Claim Act."

The Circuit Court granted the Board's Motion to Dismiss the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim, all other state law claims against the Board and Cramer, and the ADEA claim against Cramer. Norville's ADEA claim against the Board was the only claim to survive this Motion to Dismiss.

Prior to trial, the Board requested that the Circuit Court rule on the sovereign immunity issue. The Board argued that it was a State agency for the purpose of sovereign immunity. The Circuit Court dismissed Norville's ADEA claim, holding that the Board is a State agency, and as such, the Eleventh Amendment bars the suit against the Board. In regard to the federal cause of action, the court noted as follows:

"In the instant case, Plaintiff's ADEA claim was dismissed in federal court on the basis of the Board's Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit.... The United States District Court for the District of Maryland has already held that the Board enjoys governmental immunity from ADEA claims that Plaintiff brought in federal court."

The Circuit Court concluded as follows:

"The Eleventh Amendment protects the States from suit unless they have explicitly waived their immunity. Maryland has clearly not waived its immunity from suits brought under the ADEA, and this immunity applies to private actions brought against its agencies in both federal and state courts. Accordingly, the Anne Arundel County Board of Education has a constitutional immunity to suits brought in State courts under the ADEA."

Norville noted a timely appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. That court affirmed the judgment of the Circuit Court, holding that the Circuit Court did not err in dismissing the Art. 49B claim and the common law wrongful discharge claim.⁹ Norville v. Anne Arundel County Bd. of Educ., 160 Md.App. 12, 862 A.2d 477 (2004). With respect to the ADEA claim, the Court of Special Appeals held that the Board was an arm of the State under the Eleventh Amendment, and that Md.Code (1973, 2002 Repl.Vol., 2004 Cum.Supp.) Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, § 5-518(c)¹⁰ waived the Board's sovereign immunity defense to "any claim" of $100,000 or less, including claims brought by individuals under the ADEA.¹¹ Id.

We granted the Board's petition for writ of certiorari to decide the following questions:

1. "Did the Court of Special Appeals err in construing [Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article] § 5-518, which waives the sovereign immunity of local boards of education for `any claim' up to $100,000, as a waiver of the Board's immunity from suit under the Eleventh Amendment against an ADEA action filed in state court?

2. Did the Court of Special Appeals err by failing to apply to a federal cause of action filed in state court the rules of strict construction that are applicable to determining whether a state has waived its immunity under the Eleventh Amendment to a suit filed in federal court?"

We granted Norville's cross-petition for certiorari to decide the following question:

"Whether the Court of Special Appeals erred in holding that the Anne Arundel County Board of Education is entitled to sovereign immunity under the U.S. Constitution because the Board is an `arm of the State'?"

II.

We shall not reach these questions in...