Charette v. St. John Valley Soil & Water Conservation Dist.

• Decision Date: 20 June 2017
• Docket Number: Docket no. 1:17-cv-35-GZS
• Parties: DIANE M. CHARETTE, Plaintiff, v. ST. JOHN VALLEY SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

DIANE M. CHARETTE, Plaintiff, v. ST. JOHN VALLEY SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT, et al., Defendants.

Docket no. 1:17-cv-35-GZS

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MAINE

June 20, 2017

ORDER ON PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO AMEND COMPLAINT AND DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS TO DISMISS

Before the Court is the Motion to Dismiss filed by Defendant David Potter (ECF No. 11) and the Motion to Dismiss filed by Defendants St. John Valley Soil and Water Conservation District, the State of Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Duane Theriault, and Kurt Coulombe (ECF No. 12) (collectively, "Defendants' Motions to Dismiss"). The Court also has before it Plaintiff's Motion to Amend Complaint (ECF No. 19). After considering the parties' filings, and for the reasons explained below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff's Motion to Amend and GRANTS IN PART AND DENIES IN PART Defendants' Motions to Dismiss.

I. MOTION TO AMEND COMPLAINT

When a party has already amended its pleading once as a matter of course,¹ "a party may amend its pleading only with the opposing party's written consent or the court's leave." Fed. R.Civ. P. 15(a)(2). However, "[t]he court should freely give leave when justice so requires." Id. In general,

In the absence of any apparent or declared reason—such as undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party by virtue of allowance of the amendment, futility of amendment, etc.—the leave sought should, as the rules require, be 'freely given.' Of course, the grant or denial of an opportunity to amend is within the discretion of the District Court . . . .

United States ex. rel. Kelly v. Novartis Pharm. Corp., 827 F.3d 5, 10 (1st Cir. 2016) (quoting Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962)).

The Court discerns no reason to deny Plaintiff's current request to amend her complaint. See United States ex. rel. Kelly v. Novartis Pharm. Corp., 827 F.3d at 10. Defendants contend that further amendment of the complaint will be futile because even with the proposed amendments the complaint fails to state a claim. However, in its discretion, the Court determines that it is appropriate and in the best interest of judicial economy to accept the Second Amended Complaint as the operative pleading and to determine whether Plaintiff has failed to state a claim accordingly, especially considering that the analysis for futility of a proposed amendment is the same as the general analysis on a motion to dismiss. See Adorno v. Crowley Towing and Transp. Co., 443 F.3d 122, 126 (1st Cir. 2006) ("In assessing futility, the district court must apply the standard which applies to motions to dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6).") The Court notes that Defendants will not be unduly prejudiced by this approach as the amendments do not substantively change the nature of the claims and Defendants have addressed the legal significance of the amendments in their responsive briefs to Plaintiff's Motion to Amend. The Court therefore GRANTS Plaintiff's Motion to Amend and proceeds to consider the pending Motions to Dismiss with the Second Amended Complaint as the operative pleading.

II. MOTIONS TO DISMISS

A. Legal Standard

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require only that a complaint contain "a short and plain statement of the grounds for the court's jurisdiction . . . a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief; and a demand for the relief sought." Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(1)-(3). The Court assumes the truth of the complaint's well-pleaded facts and draws all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. Schatz v. Republican State Leadership Comm., 669 F.3d 50, 55 (1st Cir. 2012). Under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court "may consider only facts and documents that are part of or incorporated into the complaint." United Auto., Aerospace, Agric. Implement Workers of Am. Int'l Union v. Fortuño, 633 F.3d 37, 39 (1st Cir. 2011) (quotation marks omitted).

A viable complaint need not proffer "heightened fact pleading of specifics," but in order to survive a motion to dismiss it must contain "enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). At this point in the litigation, "the determination of whether an issue is trialworthy simply is not the same as the determination of whether a plaintiff states a claim upon which relief can be granted." Bodman v. Maine, Dep't of Health and Human Servs., 720 F. Supp. 2d 115, 121 (D. Me. 2010).

However, "[i]f the factual allegations in the complaint are too meager, vague, or conclusory to remove the possibility of relief from the realm of mere conjecture, the complaint is open to dismissal." Haley v. City of Boston, 657 F.3d 39, 46 (1st Cir. 2011) (quotation marks omitted); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (stating that a court need not accept "[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements"). In short,a plaintiff must plead facts indicating "more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully." Id.

B. Factual Background

Plaintiff Diane M. Charette was hired on August 26, 2014, to work as the District Coordinator for the St. John Valley Soil and Water Conservation District ("the District"), an agency of the State of Maine. At all material times, the District was governed by a board of five "supervisors" consisting of Defendant David Potter, Chairman; Defendant Duane Theriault, Co-Chairman; Defendant Kurt Coulombe, Treasurer; John "Gene" Desjardins; and Peter Smith. Thomas Schneck was an "associate supervisor." By statute, Defendant Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry ("the Department") exercises some oversight and coordination authority over the various state soil and water conservation districts, including the District. Three of the District supervisors are elected and two are appointed by the Department. Approximately two-thirds of the District budget is controlled by the Department. In addition, the Department operates the first election of the supervisors it does not appoint, has promulgated rules governing the elections, and issues oaths of office and certificates of election to the supervisors. David Rocque oversees the soil and water conservation districts on behalf of the Department. During her time as District Coordinator, Charette worked out of an office shared with the United States Natural Resources Conservation Service ("NRCS") in exchange for her performing services for them and the NRCS paid some portion of her wages.

In November of 2014, Potter told Charette that she "will not have [her] way with" him and that he would not let her have her way even if she "were to dance naked on the desk." (Second Amended Complaint ("Compl.") (ECF No. 19-1) ¶ 32.) Potter was very stern and angry when hemade this comment, and Charette found it to be highly offensive. Prior to a November 12, 2014, supervisors' board meeting, Potter asked Charette to find out how the District could purchase heavy equipment through a State of Maine program that sold reduced-price equipment to public entities. Private individuals and for-profit companies were ineligible to participate in the program. Potter asked Charette to find a list of equipment that was available for purchase and to determine how long the District would have to hold on to the equipment before it could be resold. At that time, the District did not have any projects planned or underway to use heavy equipment. Both Potter and Theriault owned private, for-profit businesses that used heavy equipment. Charette subsequently shared information about the purchase price for heavy equipment pursuant to the program with Potter. At the November 12th meeting, Potter stated that the District could make money by purchasing heavy equipment through the program, holding it for eighteen months, and then selling the equipment to the District supervisors. Theriault commented that he could use a dump truck. Desjardins said that the District needed a reason to purchase the equipment for its own use rather than buying it so that the supervisors could profit by purchasing it afterwards. He said that this practice had been conducted before and the people involved were told to cease the practice immediately. In response, Potter said, "then we'll do it until they tell us to stop." (Compl. ¶ 48.) Charette then stated that she would not do anything illegal. She was concerned that Potter was proposing to misuse government funds for personal gain. Potter became agitated and said to her, "I suppose now you're going to start telling me how to do my job." (Compl. ¶ 51.) In response, Charette stated, "No, I'm just going to say how I'm going to do my job." (Compl. ¶ 52.) Charette could sense lots of anger coming from Potter and she was frightened.

The day after the board meeting, Potter came to Charette's office, said he could not find the resignation letter from a previous District Coordinator, and angrily accused Charette of takingthe personnel files of previous District employees. When Charette told him that she had not taken the files, Potter had an outburst and reacted as if she were lying to him. Potter later found the resignation letter at home, but he never apologized for blaming Charette.

Later that week, Desjardins called Charette to ask how things were going with her job. Charette informed him about how Potter had acted towards her and that she was afraid of him. Smith and Schneck both also contacted Charette and she informed them of her concerns about Potter. Theriault also came into the office, at which time an NRCS employee who shared the office with Charette informed Theriault of how Potter had been acting towards her. Potter learned about Charette's complaints about him shortly after she made them. Generally, although Potter had been...