Delk v. Arvinmeritor, Inc.

• Decision Date: 02 January 2002
• Docket Number: No. CIV. 1:00CV242.,CIV. 1:00CV242.
• Citation: 179 F.Supp.2d 615
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of North Carolina
• Parties: Ellen Lucinda DELK, Plaintiff, v. ARVINMERITOR, INC.; John Hock; Fred Harbinson; John Parr; Doris Williams; and James Mackey, Defendants.

179 F.Supp.2d 615

Ellen Lucinda DELK, Plaintiff, v. ARVINMERITOR, INC.; John Hock; Fred Harbinson; John Parr; Doris Williams; and James Mackey, Defendants.

No. CIV. 1:00CV242.

United States District Court, W.D. North Carolina, Asheville Division.

January 2, 2002.

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Wade Hall, Asheville, NC, for plaintiff.

Margaret H. Campbell, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, Atlanta, GA, A. Bruce Clarke, C. Matthew Keen, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart, Raleigh, NC, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

THORNBURG, District Judge.

THIS MATTER is before the Court on a joint motion by Defendants' Meritor Automotive, Inc., Hock, Harbinson, and Williams for summary judgment and on motion of Defendant Parr for summary judgment. Default has been entered against the Defendant Mackey as he has made no appearance in this action.

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Summary judgment is appropriate if there is no genuine issue of material fact and judgment for the moving party is warranted as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). A genuine issue of material fact exists if a reasonable jury considering the evidence could return a verdict for the nonmoving party. Shaw v. Stroud, 13 F.3d 791, 798 (4th Cir.1994) (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)).

Defendants, as the moving parties, have an initial burden to show a lack of evidence to support Plaintiff's case. See Shaw, supra. If this showing is made, the burden then shifts to the Plaintiff who must convince the Court that a triable issue does in fact exist. Id.

The Court looks to the record to determine the facts of the case; in considering the Defendants' motions, the Court must view the pleadings and materials presented in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Matsushita Electric Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). Therefore, this Court will examine the full record in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, the Plaintiff, to determine the existence of any issue of material fact and whether judgment for the Defendants is warranted as a matter of law.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Plaintiff was employed in the gearing department at the manufacturing facility in Fletcher, North Carolina, operated by Defendant ArvinMeritor, Inc. (Meritor)¹. Plaintiff began working there in 1988 in an assembly position when the facility was operated by the predecessor to Meritor, Rockwell International. Sometime around 1993 or 1994, Plaintiff was promoted to a machinist position. Throughout her employment, Plaintiff worked the third shift at the plant.

The difficulties at Meritor which led to this lawsuit are thoroughly entangled in a controversy between Defendant John Parr (Parr), who worked as maintenance manager for Meritor, and Joyce Reese, another employee at the Fletcher facility. Parr was accused of making unwanted sexual advances towards Reese. The details of that dispute are summarized in a prior decision of this Court. See Reese v. Meritor Automotive, Inc., 113 F.Supp.2d 822 (W.D.N.C.2000), aff'd, 5 Fed.Appx. 239, 2001 WL 227329 (4th Cir.2001).

Plaintiff also alleges that Parr made unwanted sexual advances towards her, beginning soon after she started work at Meritor. Parr told Plaintiff that he "liked women from Transylvania County and that he liked dark-haired women." Exhibit 1, Deposition of Ellen Lucinda Delk, attached to Defendant Parr's Memorandum in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment, filed December 6, 2001, at 128. Sometime in the early 1990's, Parr visited Plaintiff's house ostensibly to look at a vehicle that Plaintiff had for sale. Parr repeated his comments about women from Transylvania County and Plaintiff got the impression that Parr thought "he was going to look at more than the car." Id., at 142. Parr also consistently asked Plaintiff to accompany him on fishing trips. Plaintiff estimates Parr asked her about fishing or to go fishing near her home around 25 times over the course of approximately 10 years when they both worked at Meritor. Id., at 136-38. At some point when Plaintiff received tulips at work, Parr told her a joke which she found offensive. Id., at 123-25.

According to Plaintiff, Parr continued his inappropriate behavior towards her in May 1998. This was after his involvement with Reese had begun to come to light at the plant. Parr approached Plaintiff at the plant looking for Mark Turner, a facilitator at the plant. Turner had just taken action to prevent Parr from seeing Reese on her breaks at the plant. Parr told Plaintiff that he would "fuck up anybody that stood between [Reese] and him." Id., at 40. Parr also stated that "nobody messed with him" and that "people would be sorry." Id. Also during this conversation, Parr repeated his request to Plaintiff that she take him fishing with her. Id. He asked her if she would give him "an Indian tour." Id. This conversation was the last confirmed contact between Parr and Plaintiff.

Plaintiff asserts that she received a threatening letter in the mail in April 1999. Id., at 47. She believes that Parr sent this letter in an attempt to prevent her from giving her deposition in the Reese case. While Plaintiff has no personal knowledge of the origins of the letter, she does offer a handwriting expert whose opinion is that Parr wrote the letter. Defendants challenge both the qualifications and conclusions of Plaintiff's expert. The authorship of the letter remains in dispute.

Plaintiff's involvement in the Reese matter was more significant than merely providing her testimony, however. She complained to Bill Smith, another manager at Meritor, about the relationship between Reese and Parr in of 1997. Id., at 327-28. She provided management with copies of "love letters" sent from Parr to Reese which Reese had given her. Id. Plaintiff was invited to participate in a meeting on May 15, 1998, between Reese and Defendants John Hock (Hock) and Fred Harbinson (Harbinson), management level employees of Meritor. Id.

What has become the most contentious component of this litigation began in December 1997 when Defendant James Mackey (Mackey), a security guard at the plant, acting on his own initiative, searched the locker of Plaintiff's co-worker Keith Duncan, looking for illegal drugs. Exhibit 5, Deposition of James Mackey, attached to Defendant Parr's Memorandum, at 15-17. He claims to have found certain graphic photographs in the locker which Duncan took of Plaintiff at her home. Id.; Delk Deposition, at 171. There is a dispute concerning whether Mackey found the pictures in Duncan's locker as he says or they were in Plaintiff's locker inside her purse, as she says. Id., at 434; Affidavit of Joyce Reese, attached to Plaintiff's Reply to Defendant Parr's Motion for Summary Judgment, filed December 20, 2001, at 2-3. Regardless, Mackey came into possession of the photographs and a video cassette tape which contained a brief image of Duncan and Plaintiff. Exhibit 2, Deposition of John Parr taken October 5, 2001 [Parr Deposition II], attached to Defendant Parr's Memorandum, at 26.

Mackey turned these photographs over to Parr, who was the only management level employee on duty at the time. Id., at 96-102; Mackey Deposition, at 26-27. Parr had the photographs in his possession from December 1997 until shortly after the Reese matter began to evolve in May 1998. Reese avers that Parr showed her the photographs sometime in early January 1998 and told her that he intended to use them to dissuade Plaintiff from involvement in the Reese matter. Reese Affidavit, at 2-3. Parr denies that he took any action relating to the photographs until he returned them to Meritor after he was placed on leave in relation to the Reese matter. Parr Deposition II, at 101-02.

Parr returned the photographs to the plant during the week of May 18, 1998. Plaintiff's Exhibit 112, attached to Plaintiff's Response to Parr's Motion in Limine, filed December 27, 2001; Parr Deposition II, at 102. The exact chain of custody of the photographs is unclear but they may have been given back to Mackey, to Jay Walker, and to Stan Walker, all Meritor employees. The photos came into the possession of Bill Smith, Site Manager of the Meritor facility, who viewed the photographs in the company of Hock. Deposition of John T. Hock, taken October 8, 2001 [Hock Deposition I], attached to Plaintiff's Reply to Parr's Motion for Summary Judgment, filed December 20, 2001, at 23. When Hock and Smith received and opened the envelope, it had written on it, "Don't like rumors. Don't know what involved this one has, but this one is not lily-white. I just don't like what I hear. This one I know for a fact is a liar." Plaintiff's Exhibit 113, attached to Plaintiff's Reply to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, filed December 26, 2001; Deposition of John T. Hock, taken October 15, 2001 [Hock Deposition II], attached to Plaintiff's Reply to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, at 65. After viewing the photographs, Hock resealed them in an envelope and placed them in his desk drawer. Hock Deposition I, at 24. Sometime within two weeks of May 18, 1998, Hock took the photographs from his desk and removed them from the work site to his home. Id. Hock states that he did nothing further with the photographs and that no mention was made of them until the Reese matter in September 1999. He claims he then delivered the photographs to Meritor's counsel in case they became an issue in Reese case. Hock Deposition I, at 25, 32. Reese avers that she told Plaintiff of the photographs and of Parr's statements to Reese in July 1998. Reese Affidavit, at 5. However in her own deposition, Plaintiff testified that she did not have any knowledge of the whereabouts of photographs prior to the Reese case and that no one had ever communicated any threats concerning the photographs to her. Delk Deposition, at 185-87, 367-69.

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