Claps v. Moliterno Stone Sales, Inc.

• Decision Date: 29 March 1993
• Docket Number: Case No. N-90-CV-519 (JAC).
• Citation: 819 F. Supp. 141
• Parties: Mary Lou CLAPS v. MOLITERNO STONE SALES, INC., Kenneth Castellucci, Joseph DeGirolamo, George Craemer, Local 6, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen, and James Nolan.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut

819 F. Supp. 141

Mary Lou CLAPS v. MOLITERNO STONE SALES, INC., Kenneth Castellucci, Joseph DeGirolamo, George Craemer, Local 6, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen, and James Nolan.

Case No. N-90-CV-519 (JAC).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

March 29, 1993.

Karen Lee Torre, Law Offices of Karen Lee Torre, New Haven, CT, for plaintiff.

Paul V. Curcio, Adler, Pollock & Sheehan, Providence, RI, Margaret P. Mason, Tyler, Cooper & Alcorn, New Haven, CT, for defendants.^*

RULING ON DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

JOSE A. CABRANES, Chief Judge:

This is an action for damages and injunctive relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and under Connecticut state law. The plaintiff is a stonemason who was employed by defendant Moliterno Stone Sales, Inc. ("Moliterno Stone"), during the construction of the Connecticut Financial Center in New Haven, Connecticut. She alleges that the defendants discriminated against her on the basis of her gender by creating a hostile work environment.

Pending before the court are two motions for summary judgment filed by defendants Moliterno Stone, Kenneth Castellucci, Joseph DeGirolamo, and George Craemer. The first is the defendants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (filed June 12, 1992), which seeks summary judgment on all of the plaintiff's state law claims and on the plaintiff's federal claims to the extent they seek compensatory and punitive damages and damages for pain and suffering. The second is the defendants' Supplemental Motion for Summary Judgment (filed September 8, 1992), which seeks summary judgment on the remaining portions of the plaintiff's federal claims. The plaintiff filed a response to both motions on February 16, 1993, and the court held a hearing in this matter on March 15, 1993.

FACTS

The plaintiff in this action, Mary Lou Claps, was employed as a stonemason by the defendant Moliterno Stone from November 21, 1988 to June 12, 1989 during the construction of the Connecticut Financial Center in New Haven, Connecticut. While employed by Moliterno Stone, Claps was a member of the defendant Local 6, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen ("the Bricklayers Union") and was therefore covered by a collective-bargaining agreement between the Bricklayers Union and Moliterno Stone. Defendant George Craemer was an employee of Moliterno Stone and served as the immediate supervisor of Claps; defendant Joseph DeGirolamo was also an employee of Moliterno Stone and served as the superintendent for Moliterno Stone at the job site; defendant Kenneth Castellucci was the chief executive officer of Moliterno Stone; and defendant James Nolan was a steward for the Bricklayers Union and was employed on the job site during the construction of the Connecticut Financial Center.

The plaintiff has alleged that the defendants discriminated against her on the basis of her gender by causing or permitting acts of verbal and physical harassment that created a hostile work environment. She has alleged that defendant Craemer sought to demean and humiliate her by his words and actions; that defendant DeGirolamo knew of defendant Craemer's actions but did nothing to prevent them and, in addition, publicly used terms derogatory to women to describe the plaintiff; that defendant Castellucci received a letter from the plaintiff dated May 18, 1989, in which the plaintiff described the alleged harassment and that defendant Castellucci took no action in response to the letter; that no official of Moliterno Stone took any action to prevent the recurrence of the alleged harassment despite the fact that the plaintiff brought the problem to the attention of defendants Craemer, DeGirolamo, and Castellucci; and that the Bricklayers Union and defendant Nolan failed to intervene on her behalf to end the discrimination and harassment. Finally, the plaintiff has alleged that, after receiving no response from the officers of Moliterno Stone, she felt compelled to leave the employment of that firm and did so on June 12, 1989. After leaving Moliterno Stone, the plaintiff filed an administrative complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CCHRO) and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The plaintiff commenced this action on September 24, 1990 and filed an amended complaint ("Amended Complaint") on July 31, 1992. The Amended Complaint is not divided into separate counts, but it asserts three types of claims against the four defendants who have filed the pending summary judgment motions. First, the plaintiff alleges that the four moving defendants violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against the plaintiff on the basis of gender and by retaliating against the plaintiff for seeking relief from the alleged discrimination. Second, the plaintiff alleges the following state law claims: (1) wrongful discharge by all four defendants; (2) retaliatory discharge in violation of Conn.Gen.Stat. § 31-51q by all four defendants; (3) breach of employment contract by defendants Moliterno Stone and DeGirolamo; (4) breach of promise to provide safe working environment by all four defendants; (5) intentional infliction of emotional distress by DeGirolamo and Craemer; (6) assault and battery by defendants DeGirolamo and Craemer; (7) liability of defendants Moliterno Stone and Castellucci for intentional torts committed by DeGirolamo and Craemer; (8) negligence by defendants Moliterno Stone and Castellucci in hiring and employing defendants DeGirolamo and Craemer; (8) negligent misrepresentation by all four defendants; and (9) abuse of process by defendants Moliterno Stone and Castellucci for bringing a counterclaim against the plaintiff. Finally, the plaintiff alleges that the four moving defendants conspired with the two non-moving defendants to deprive the plaintiff of her civil rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985.

DISCUSSION

The defendants are entitled to summary judgment "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits ... show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). "The mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509-10, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (emphasis in original). While the court must view the inferences to be drawn from the facts in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986), a party may not "rely on mere speculation or conjecture as to the true nature of the facts to overcome a motion for summary judgment." Knight v. U.S. Fire Ins. Co., 804 F.2d 9, 12 (2d Cir.1986) (Feinberg, C.J.), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 932, 107 S.Ct. 1570, 94 L.Ed.2d 762 (1987). The non-moving party may defeat the summary judgment motion by producing sufficient specific facts to establish that there is a genuine issue of material fact for trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Finally, "`mere conclusory allegations or denials'" in legal memoranda or oral argument are not evidence and cannot by themselves create a genuine issue of material fact where none would otherwise exist. Quinn v. Syracuse Model Neighborhood Corp., 613 F.2d 438, 445 (2d Cir.1980) (quoting SEC v. Research Automation Corp., 585 F.2d 31, 33 (2d Cir.1978)).

I

The defendants seek summary judgment on the plaintiff's Title VII claims in their entirety based on the plaintiff's failure to exhaust grievance procedures available under a collective-bargaining agreement. In the alternative, the defendants seek summary judgment on the Title VII claims to the extent that the plaintiff demands compensatory or punitive damages or damages for pain and suffering.

A. Title VII Claims: Exhaustion of Grievance Procedures.

The Amended Complaint alleges that the four moving defendants discriminated against the plaintiff on the basis of her gender¹ and that the defendants retaliated against the plaintiff in response to her efforts to obtain relief from the alleged harassment.² The defendants argue that these claims ("the Title VII claims") should be barred because the plaintiff failed to exhaust grievance procedures available under a collective-bargaining agreement.³ In response, the plaintiff contends that the collective-bargaining agreement only required employees to arbitrate contractual disputes, not statutory claims.⁴ The court now concludes that the plaintiff is not barred from bringing her Title VII claims because the collective-bargaining agreement does not require employees to submit individual statutory claims to arbitration.

The defendants' challenge to the plaintiff's Title VII claims rests on the holding of the Supreme Court in Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., ___ U.S. ___, 111 S.Ct. 1647, 114 L.Ed.2d 26 (1991). The plaintiff in that case had agreed, in his application to register as a securities representative, "to arbitrate any dispute, claim, or controversy" arising between him and his employer. Id. at ___, 111 S.Ct. at 1650. After he was dismissed, the plaintiff brought a claim against his employer in federal court under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., arguing that the arbitration agreement which he had signed required the arbitration only of contractual disputes. The Supreme Court concluded that the agreement also required the arbitration of statutory claims and therefore held that the agreement barred the plaintiff's ADEA action. The Court explained that "`having made the...