Coghlan v. HJ Heinz Co., Civ. A. No. 3:92-CV-2461-X.

• Decision Date: 21 April 1994
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 3:92-CV-2461-X.
• Citation: 851 F. Supp. 808
• Parties: Ivan P. COGHLAN, Plaintiff, v. H.J. HEINZ COMPANY and Ore-Ida Foods, Inc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Texas

851 F. Supp. 808

Ivan P. COGHLAN, Plaintiff, v. H.J. HEINZ COMPANY and Ore-Ida Foods, Inc., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 3:92-CV-2461-X.

United States District Court, N.D. Texas, Dallas Division.

April 21, 1994.

Hal Keith Gillespie, David Kohlman Watsky, Gillespie Rozen & Tanner, Dallas, TX, for plaintiff.

Kelly Akins, William Jerome Clay, Julia S. Mandala, Gardere & Wynne, Dallas, TX, Alan M. Koral, Neil A. Capobianco, Vedder Price Kaufman Kammholz & Day, New York City, for defendants.

Harlan A. Martin, pro se.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

KENDALL, District Judge.

NOW before the Court are Ore-Ida Foods, Inc.'s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Claim for Disability Discrimination or Alternatively for Summary Judgment, filed on October 29, 1993, the response to that motion and the reply to the response. After reviewing these materials, the Court concludes that the motion should be adjudicated as one for summary judgment rather than as one to dismiss. Having considered these filed materials, the summary judgment evidence and the applicable law, the Court concludes that Ore-Ida's motion should be, and hereby is, DENIED.

This is an employment discrimination case. Plaintiff, who was fifty-three when he filed this suit, worked for Defendant Heinz from the summer of 1966 until April 30, 1992. Before termination, he worked as regional manager of grocery specialty sales. Plaintiff was supposedly let go because of a consolidation of the company. However, he alleges that younger, less experienced and less qualified employees were favorably treated over him. Plaintiff is also a long-term, insulin dependent diabetic. He asserts that employees who were not similarly situated fared better than he did in the consolidation.

After his termination, Plaintiff interviewed with Defendant Ore-Ida on August 19, 1992 for the position of Texas regional grocery sales manager. Three days later, he received a rejection letter stating that another candidate whose qualifications more closely matched the position's requirements had been selected. However, Plaintiff alleges that a younger, less experienced candidate was selected for the position. Also, during the interview the fact of his being a diabetic surfaced, although the parties dispute how the issue came up.

Based on these facts, Plaintiff asserts causes of action under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634, (ADEA), the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213, (ADA), and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, TEX.REV.CIV.STAT.ANN. art. 5221k. The instant motion exclusively concerns Plaintiff's ADA claim against Ore-Ida. After recapitulating the standards under which a court should consider a summary judgment motion, the Court proceeds to an analysis of the law relating to this case's facts under the summary judgment standard.

The movant in a summary judgment context must show the absence of any genuine issue of material fact and entitlement to judgment as a matter of law. Slaughter v. Southern Talc Co., 949 F.2d 167, 170 (5th Cir.1991). The existence of a genuine issue of material fact is determined based on whether a fair-minded jury could return a verdict for the plaintiff on the evidence presented. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 2512, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In other words, "a dispute about a material fact is `genuine' if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Bienkowski v. American Airlines, Inc., 851 F.2d 1503, 1504 (5th Cir. 1988). At the summary judgment stage, a district court may not weigh the evidence or determine the truth of the matter but should only decide the existence of a genuine issue for trial. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. at 2510.

The rules allocating the burden of proof guide a court in a summary judgment analysis, Fields v. City of S. Houston, 922 F.2d 1183, 1187 (5th Cir.1991), and that allocation depends on the burden of proof that would apply at trial. See Duplantis v. Shell Offshore, Inc., 948 F.2d 187, 150 (5th Cir. 1991). The nonmovant is not required to respond to the motion until the movant properly supports his motion with competent evidence. Russ v. International Paper Co., 943 F.2d 589, 591 (5th Cir.1991), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 1675, 118 L.Ed.2d 393 (1992). However, once the movant has carried his burden of proof, the nonmovant may not sit idly by and wait for trial. Page v. DeLaune, 837 F.2d 233, 239 (5th Cir.1988). When a movant carries his initial burden, the burden then shifts to the nonmovant to show that the entry of summary judgment is inappropriate. Duckett v. City of Cedar Park, 950 F.2d 272, 276 (5th Cir.1992). Although the nonmovant may satisfy this burden by tendering depositions, affidavits and other competent evidence,¹ "mere conclusory allegations are not competent summary judgment evidence, and they are therefore insufficient to defeat or support a motion for summary judgment." Topalian v. Ehrman, 954 F.2d 1125, 1131 (5th Cir.1992), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 113 S.Ct. 82, 121 L.Ed.2d 46 (1992).

Although a court must "review the facts drawing all inferences most favorable to the party opposing the motion," Rosado v. Deters, 5 F.3d 119, 122 (5th Cir.1993) (quoting Reid v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 784 F.2d 577, 578 (5th Cir.1986)), the nonmovant may not rest on mere allegations or denials in its pleadings; in short, "the adverse party's response ... must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." FED.R.CIV.P. 56(e). However, merely colorable evidence or evidence not significantly probative will not defeat a properly supported summary judgment. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. at 2510-11. The existence of a mere scintilla of evidence will not suffice. Id. at 252, 106 S.Ct. at 2512. When the nonmoving party fails to make the requisite showing and the moving party has met his summary judgment burden, the movant is entitled to summary judgment. FED.R.CIV.P. 56(c); Campbell v. Sonat Offshore Drilling, 979 F.2d 1115, 1119 (5th Cir.1992).

Defendant initially attacks Plaintiff's ADA claim by alleging that he does not have a disability as the Act contemplates. "The ADA provides multiple protections to people with disabilities and ... one of the law's express goals is that it `provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities.'"² This comprehensive legislation is broadly divided into five titles, which deal with different aspects of the more general notion of eliminating disability discrimination: Title I concerns employment discrimination, while Title II addresses the services and practices of state and local governments. Title III affects public accommodations, and Title IV concerns telecommunications issues.³ The fifth title deals with miscellaneous provisions, including, for example, the relationship between the ADA and insurance and the application of the Act to Congress. The issue pertinent to this case falls under Title I's purview. There, the Act prohibits covered entities from discriminating against "a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability ... in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment." 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). Concerning the initial issue that Defendant raises, the Act provides that

the term "disability" means, with respect to an individual —

(A) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual;

(B) a record of such an impairment; or

(C) being regarded as having such an impairment.

42 U.S.C. § 12102(2). Safely plying this sub-section's apparently placid language becomes more troublesome than an initial glance at the surface might suggest, for Congress has given several agencies purview of imbuing the Act's terms with more explicit meaning. Indeed, one commentator, after recognizing that Congress gave power to promulgate rules and regulations under the ADA, noted that "some of the ADA's terms have different meanings depending upon which title of the law is in issue, and therefore which agency's rules apply."⁴

That same commentator, though, then immediately stated that such was not the case with the term "disability."⁵ Although it may not be true that the various agencies charged with explication of ADA terms could blur by overlapping rules what constitutes a disability, the parties go some distance themselves to muddy the waters. In their war over the meaning of "disability," the parties seem to have besieged particularly the phrase "substantially limits," yet one governmental agency sees the answer to this question clearly. Congress charged the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) with issuing regulations to implement the ADA's Title I. 42 U.S.C. § 12116. Under this charge, the EEOC has not only promulgated regulations, it has also set forth an interpretative guide concerning that title. A part of this suggested interpretation states that "a diabetic who without insulin would lapse into a coma would be substantially limited because the individual cannot perform major life activities without the aid of medication." 29 C.F.R. Part 1630, Appendix to Part 1630 — Interpretive Guidance on Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, § 1630.2(j). Although this interpretative gloss concerns what it means to "substantially limit," it appears that it also assumes that an insulin-dependent diabetic satisfies the other requisites in 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2)(A) of having a physical impairment and having the limitation affect a major life activity.

Understandably, Ore-Ida invites the Court to disregard the EEOC's interpretation, arguing that the interpretative guidance is not binding and...