Delgado Graulau v. Pegasus Communications, No. CIV. 99-1836(JAF).
| Decision Date | 24 January 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV. 99-1836(JAF). |
| Citation | 130 F.Supp.2d 320 |
| Parties | Sonia DELGADO GRAULAU, Orlando Alvarez Rodriguez, and the Conjugal Partnership formed by them, Plaintiffs, v. PEGASUS COMMUNICATIONS OF PUERTO RICO, also known as Pegasus Cable Television Mayaguez, also known as MCT Cablevision Ltd Partnership; Pegasus Communications Corporation, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico |
Carlos E. Bayron-Velez, Mayaguez, PR, for Sonia L. Delgado-Graulau, Orlando Alvarez-Rodriguez, Conjugal Partnership Alvarez-Delgado, plaintiffs.
Santiago Mari-Roca, Biaggi, Busquets & Mari Roca, Lissette Marin-Aponte, Mayaguez, PR, for Pegasus Communications of Puerto Rico aka Pegasus Cable Television Mayaguez aka MCT Cablevision Ltd. Partnership, defendants.
Plaintiffs, Sonia Delgado Graulau ("Delgado"), her husband Orlando Alvarez Rodríguez ("Alvarez"), and their conjugal partnership (collectively "Plaintiffs"), bring a sexual discrimination suit against Defendants, Pegasus Communications of Puerto Rico and Pegasus Communications Corporation ("Pegasus Communications"), pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e (1988); 29 L.P.R.A. §§ 146-51, 185a-185k, 1321-41 (1995); and P.R. CONST. art. I, § 1. Plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages.
Plaintiffs move for reconsideration of our August 24, 2000 Opinion and Order, which dismissed all but one of their Title VII claims. Defendants oppose Plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration and counter with a motion for summary judgment arguing that Plaintiffs have failed to establish a prima facie case for sexual discrimination under applicable federal and state law.
Given the nature of the motions before us, we recite the pertinent factual and procedural background, elaborating when necessary.
In late 1989, Defendants hired Delgado and appointed her to be Customer Service Representative Supervisor. Delgado alleges that during her employment she excelled in her position and received repeated commendations. In August 1996, company officials purportedly notified Delgado that she was being considered for promotion to Office Manager. However, on September 26, 1996, two executives working for Defendants informed Delgado that another employee, Iván Caro, had been promoted to Office Manager and that she had been demoted to Batch Clerk.
That day and the next, Delgado protested her forgone promotion and unexpected demotion to Alan Burch, Defendants' Senior Vice-President for Cable Operations. She noted that she was more qualified than Caro because she had worked in cable operations for over ten years and had been Caro's supervisor. Burch allegedly responded that he had promoted Caro to Office Manager because Burch required an individual who could always be available and Delgado, as a married woman with children, had other responsibilities which could conflict with her professional duties. Burch also allegedly admitted to not having considered Delgado's purportedly stellar performance evaluations when making his decisions regarding promotion and demotion.
On October 1, 1996, Delgado reported to her new work station. Although her new duties required her to continue to handle significant amounts of cash, her new, as compared to her old, work space lacked a safety lock box. Delgado allegedly complained to her superiors about the office's faulty cash management procedures, as well as her working conditions, which allegedly caused her significant anxiety and stress that aggravated her pre-existing ulcers.
On April 18, 1997, Defendants discharged Delgado from her position, citing her alleged poor job performance.
On January 8, 1998, Delgado filed a sexual discrimination charge against Defendants with the Anti-Discrimination Unit of Puerto Rico's Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). Plaintiffs subsequently received Right-to-Sue Notices from both agencies and, thus, filed this complaint on July 27, 1999, alleging Title VII violations by Defendants.
On November 22, 1999, Defendants moved for summary judgment arguing that Plaintiffs' complaint is time-barred. They maintained that since Delgado's alleged demotion occurred on September 26, 1996, and her dismissal on April 18, 1997, she filed her January 8, 1998 sexual discrimination charge after the 180-day statutory deadline.
Plaintiffs disagreed. They argued that Defendants' personnel actions against Delgado constitute a serial violation. As such, Plaintiffs contended that the statute of limitations began running from the date of the last violation, which they propose is the April 18, 1997 dismissal. Additionally, Plaintiffs maintained that 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)(1) permits the filing of an EEOC complaint three-hundred days after the last alleged infraction, as long as a plaintiff has previously filed a discrimination charge with a state or local agency which is capable of providing relief. Plaintiffs concluded that they had until February 12, 1998 to file with the EEOC, and their January 8, 1998 complaint was, therefore, timely. Plaintiffs also asserted that even if Defendants were to prevail on their motion for summary judgment on the Title VII claims, the state law causes of action would still remain, preventing dismissal of the entire complaint.
On August 24, 2000, we granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment with regard to all but one of Plaintiffs' Title VII claims, i.e., the April 18, 1997 dismissal. To reach our holding, we found that several of Plaintiffs' assertions evinced a contemporaneous-to-the-acts belief by them that Defendants had discriminated against Delgado. We also found that Plaintiffs had not proffered sufficient evidence to link by similarity, repetition or continuity her demotion to her discharge so as to characterize the events as parts of a serial violation of Title VII. Finally, we did not address the standing of Plaintiffs' state law claims, since the parties had not briefed the issue.
On reconsideration, Plaintiffs dispute our finding that Delgado's September 26, 1996 demotion to Batch Clerk and her April 18, 1997 dismissal were not part of a serial violation of Title VII. Proffering new evidence which they maintain was not available to them at the time of Defendants' November 19, 1999 summary judgment motion, Plaintiffs contend that the Anti-Discrimination Unit of Puerto Rico's Department of Labor fully considered the arguments presented by Defendants in their November 19, 1999 summary judgment motion and held that Plaintiffs' Title VII claims are not time-barred. Consequently, Plaintiffs maintain that we should defer to the rulings of this agency.
Defendants oppose Plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration. First, Defendants proffer Delgado's testimony which indicates, according to Defendants, her recognition at the time of the demotion that discriminatory animus may have motivated adverse personnel actions by her work supervisors. Defendants also aver that Plaintiffs' state law claims with regard to the 1996 demotion are time-barred pursuant to Suárez Ruiz v. Figuera Colón, 145 D.P.R. 9 (1998).
Additionally, Defendants move for summary judgment of Plaintiffs' claim regarding Delgado's April 18, 1997 discharge from employment. Defendants contend that Plaintiffs have failed to establish a prima facie case of sexual discrimination under Title VII or applicable state law. Alternatively, Defendants maintain that legitimate business reasons motivated their termination of Delgado from her employment.
Plaintiffs oppose Defendants' second motion for summary judgment, refuting each of Defendants' purported grounds for Delgado's termination from employment.
The standard for summary judgment is straightforward and well-established. A district court should grant a motion for summary judgment "if the pleadings, depositions, and answers to the interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c); see Lipsett v. Univ. of P.R., 864 F.2d 881, 894 (1st Cir.1988). A factual dispute is "material" if it "might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law," and "genuine" if the evidence is such that "a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).
The burden of establishing the nonexistence of a genuine issue as to a material fact is on the moving party. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 331, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). This burden has two components: (1) an initial burden of production, which shifts to the nonmoving party if satisfied by the moving party; and (2) an ultimate burden of persuasion, which always remains on the moving party. See id. In other words, "[t]he party moving for summary judgment, bears the initial burden of demonstrating that there are no genuine issues of material fact for trial." Hinchey v. NYNEX Corp., 144 F.3d 134, 140 (1st Cir.1998). This burden "may be discharged by showing that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case." Celotex, 477 U.S. at 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548. After such a showing, the "burden shifts to the nonmoving party, with respect to each issue on which he has the burden of proof, to demonstrate that a trier of fact reasonably could find in his favor." DeNovellis v. Shalala, 124 F.3d 298, 306 (1st Cir.1997) (citing Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322-25, 106 S.Ct. 2548).
Although the ultimate burden of persuasion remains on the moving party and the court should draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, the nonmoving party will not defeat a properly supported motion for summary judgment by merely...
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