Brown v. Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc.

• Decision Date: 25 January 2012
• Docket Number: No. 3:10–cv–01136.,3:10–cv–01136.
• Citation: 872 F.Supp.2d 637
• Parties: Jerry BROWN, Plaintiff, v. PRAIRIE FARMS DAIRY, INC., d/b/a Southern Belle Dairy, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee

872 F.Supp.2d 637

Jerry BROWN, Plaintiff,

v.PRAIRIE FARMS DAIRY, INC., d/b/a Southern Belle Dairy, Defendant.

No. 3:10–cv–01136.

United States District Court,

M.D. Tennessee,

Nashville Division.

Jan. 25, 2012.

Joseph A. Napiltonia, Law Office of Joe Napiltonia, Nashville, TN, for Plaintiff.

Marcus M. Crider, Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis, Nashville, TN, John F. Kuenstler, Barnes & Thornburg, LLP, Chicago, IL, for Defendant.

ORDER

JOHN T. NIXON, Senior District Judge.

Pending before the Court is Defendant Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc., d/b/a Southern Belle Dairy's Motion for Summary Judgment (“Motion”) (Doc. No. 26), filed along with a Memorandum in Support (Doc. No. 27), a Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (Doc. No. 28), and other supporting materials (Doc. Nos. 29–1 to 29–7). Plaintiff Jerry Brown has filed a Response in Opposition (Doc. No. 37), along with a Response to Defendant's Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (Doc. No. 40), his own Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (Doc. No. 38), and other supporting materials (Doc. No. 39). Defendant subsequently filed a Reply (Doc. No. 42), along with a Response to Plaintiff's Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (Doc. No. 43) and supporting materials (Doc. Nos. 44–1 to 44–8). For the reasons given herein, Defendant's Motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

I. BackgroundA. Factual History¹

Plaintiff is a former employee of Defendant, having begun work as a route sales driver at Defendant's Nashville Branch on June 27, 2007. Plaintiff's job required him to repeatedly lift, load, and pull forty-five-pound cases of milk, stack the cases up to six high, and reach, push, bend, twist, and work in extreme temperatures. Plaintiff earned $600 per week the entire time that he was employed by Defendant.

Throughout the time of his employment with Defendant, Plaintiff served as a member of the Army National Guard. While in the military, Plaintiff assisted with the driving and operation of a HEMTT truck that had a hydraulic crane on the back. Plaintiff has admitted that his job duties for the military were different from his job duties for Defendant. Plaintiff took military leaves of absence on numerous occasions while working for Defendant.² His final military leave began December 5, 2009, and was scheduled to last approximately one year. On January 7, 2010, Plaintiff was honorably released from active duty due to a wrist injury, which was later diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome. Plaintiff thus served on active duty for thirty-four days during his final military leave.

On January 18, 2010, Plaintiff contacted Kim Wesley, Defendant's Administrative Assistant to the Human Resources Department and the Manufacturing Department, to tell her that he had returned from active duty because of an injury to his wrist. Plaintiff told Ms. Wesley that he was planning to see a doctor to have his wrist examined and that he would let her know the extent of his injury. Defendant maintains a policy requiring employees to submit a doctor's statement if the employee is absent due to injury. Accordingly, Ms. Wesley told Plaintiff that he needed to provide documentation regarding his current medical condition, military paperwork showing when Plaintiff had been released from active duty, and military paperwork showing the length of time he was released from active duty. She also requested that Plaintiff inform Defendant when he was released to return to work. Subsequently, on January 25, 2010, Plaintiff provided Defendant with a DD–214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty form.

Director of Human Resources Rich Fields decided to terminate Plaintiff's employment on February 12, 2010, which Mr. Fields testified was due to Plaintiff's failure to provide a doctor's statement or any documentation showing his current medical condition. In late February of 2010, Alisha Queen, an Ombudsman with the Department of Defense, contacted Defendant regarding Plaintiff's termination. Defendant told Ms. Queen that it expected Plaintiff to provide a doctor's statement and an outlook for returning to work after surgery, which Plaintiff underwent on March 10, 2010.

Defendant provided Plaintiff with the opportunity to return to work if he submitted the medical documentation, and thus sent a letter to Plaintiff on March 11, 2010 stating that it would need the following documents: (1) a doctor's statement from January 7, 2010 to the present, (2) a doctor's statement of the outlook for Plaintiff's return following his surgery, and (3) a doctor's statement/release prior to Plaintiff's return. The letter was returned to Defendant due to the fact that Plaintiff had moved. Defendant re-sent the letter to Plaintiff in April. Plaintiff received the letter after this second mailing.

On April 27, 2010, Plaintiff faxed the following documents to Defendant: (1) an Upper–Extremity HAND Questionnaire, which Plaintiff asked his doctor to prepare, and which indicated that Plaintiff could “interlace his fingers behind his head” and that he could “do push-ups on a regular basis,” and (2) six pages of radiology and progress reports showing Plaintiff's medical condition as of January 22, 2010. These documents are the only documents Plaintiff sent to Defendant regarding his medical condition after returning from active duty in January of 2010. Plaintiff never asked his doctor for any additional documents, nor did he ask his doctor to prepare any documents in response to Defendant's letter. Plaintiff never called Defendant to confirm receipt of these documents or to ask if Defendant needed any additional documents from him.

Mr. Fields reviewed these documents and determined that they were “insufficient.” Mr. Fields testified that Defendant did not have Plaintiff return to work because Plaintiff never submitted a release or any other documentation showing he was able to return to work following his wrist injury. Mr. Fields and Director of Distribution Rodney Adams testified that if Plaintiff had submitted medical documentation releasing him to perform the duties of a route sales driver position, Defendant would have had Plaintiff return to work.

In December of 2010, Defendant underwent a reduction in force from 213 to 181 employees due to the loss of its largest customer, Food Lion, and other business concerns. In particular, Defendant eliminated route sales driver positions at many of its locations, including at the Nashville Branch.

B. Procedural History

Plaintiff initiated this suit for violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), 38 U.S.C. § 4301 et seq., on December 2, 2010. (Doc. No. 1.) Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant violated 38 U.S.C. §§ 4311, 4312, and 4313. ( Id. ¶¶ 31–32.) It is undisputed that Plaintiff's claims are solely based on Defendant's failure to reemploy Plaintiff after his early return from his December 5, 2009 military leave and are unrelated to any acts that occurred prior to such leave. (Doc. No. 40 at 27.)

Defendant filed the pending Motion on November 18, 2011 (Doc. No. 26), along with a Memorandum in Support (Doc. No. 27), a Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (Doc. No. 28), and other supporting materials (Doc. Nos. 29–1 to 29–7). On December 22, 2011, Plaintiff filed a Response in Opposition (Doc. No. 37), along with a Response to Defendant's Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (Doc. No. 40), his own Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (Doc. No. 38), and other supporting materials (Doc. No. 39). On January 20, 2012, Defendant filed a Reply in support of its Motion (Doc. No. 42), along with a Response to Plaintiff's Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (Doc. No. 43) and supporting materials (Doc. Nos. 44–1 to 44–8).

II. Legal Standard

Summary judgment is rendered when “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). The moving party must demonstrate that the non-moving party has failed to establish a necessary element of that party's claim. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Summary judgment will be granted if “the evidence is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Lexington–South Elkhorn Water Dist. v. City of Wilmore, 93 F.3d 230, 233 (6th Cir.1996). The movant has the initial burden of informing the district court of the basis of the summary judgment motion and identifying portions of the record which lack a genuine issue of material fact to support the non-movant's case. See Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

The non-moving party may not rest solely on the allegations in the complaint, but must delineate specific evidence that shows there is a genuine issue for trial. See id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. A “mere possibility” of a factual dispute is not sufficient to withstand a properly supported motion for summary judgment. Baird v. NHP Mill Creek Apartments, 94 Fed.Appx. 328, 330–31 (6th Cir.2004) (quoting Gregg v. Allen–Bradley Co., 801 F.2d 859, 863 (6th Cir.1986)). A dispute about a material fact is genuine if a reasonable factfinder could find for the non-moving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A party asserting or denying that a fact is genuinely disputed may support its position by (1) citing to particular parts of materials in the record, (2) showing that the materials cited by the opposing party do not establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute, or (3) showing that an adverse party cannot produce admissible evidence to support a fact. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)(1).

All reasonable inferences are to be drawn in favor of the non-moving party and the evidence of the non-movant is to be believed. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505. “Credibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions,...