E.E.O.C. v. Express Corp.

• Decision Date: 17 June 2003
• Docket Number: No. 01-CV 4366 NGG.,01-CV 4366 NGG.
• Citation: 268 F.Supp.2d 192
• Parties: EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiffs, People of the State of New York, by Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, Plaintiffs-Intervenors, v. FEDERAL EXPRESS CORPORATION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

268 F.Supp.2d 192

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiffs People of the State of New York, by Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, Plaintiffs-Intervenors, v. FEDERAL EXPRESS CORPORATION, Defendant.

No. 01-CV 4366 NGG.

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

June 17, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Andree Peart, Michael B. Ranis, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, New York City, for Plaintiffs.

Brian J. Kreiswirth, NYS Attorneys Generals Office, Tynia Denise Richard, Attorney General of the State of New York, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs-Intervenors.

Traycee E. Klein, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., New York City, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

GARAUFIS, District Judge.

On September 16, 2002, the court issued a Memorandum and Order denying Defendant Federal Express Corporation's ("FedEx") motion to dismiss against the Attorney General of the State of New York ("OAG") and granting FedEx's motion to dismiss against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). FedEx and the EEOC now move the court to reconsider those decisions pursuant to Local Rule 6.3. For the reasons set out below, these motions are denied.

DISCUSSION

I. Local Rule 6.3

Local Rule 6.3 provides in pertinent part: "There shall be served with the notice of motion a memorandum setting forth concisely the matters or controlling decisions which counsel believes the court has overlooked." Thus, to be entitled to reargument and reconsideration, "the movant must demonstrate that the Court overlooked controlling decisions or factual matters that were put before it on the underlying motion." Wiesner v. 321 West 16th St. Assocs., 2000 WL 1585680, *2 (S.D.N.Y.2000) (citing Ameritrust Co. Nat'l Ass'n v. Dew, 151 F.R.D. 237, 238 (S.D.N.Y.1993)); East Coast Novelty Co. v. City of New York, 141 F.R.D. 245, 245 (S.D.N.Y.1992).

Local Rule 6.3 is to be narrowly construed and strictly applied so as to avoid repetitive arguments on issues that have been considered fully by the court. In deciding a reconsideration and reargument motion, the court must not allow a party to use the motion as a substitute for appealing from a final judgment. See Morser v. AT & T Info. Sys., 715 F.Supp. 516, 517 (S.D.N.Y.1989); Korwek v. Hunt, 649 F.Supp. 1547, 1548 (S.D.N.Y.1986), aff'd, 827 F.2d 874 (2d Cir.1987). Therefore, a party may not "advance new facts, issues or arguments not previously presented to the Court." Morse/Diesel, Inc. v. Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Md., 768 F.Supp. 115, 116 (S.D.N.Y.1991). The decision to grant or deny the motion is within the sound discretion of the district See Schaffer v. Soros, 1994 WL 592891, at *1 (S.D.N.Y.1994).

II. FedEx's Motion For Reconsideration

A. OAG's Authority To Prosecute Title VII Actions Under New York State Law

FedEx first argues that the court erred in finding that the OAG has authority to bring discrimination cases on behalf of the People of New York.¹ In support of this assertion, Defendant correctly notes that the OAG's authority to prosecute a legal action arises only by statute. FedEx then puts forward several spurious arguments that purportedly demonstrate that the OAG lacks authority to prosecute this case. First, Defendant asserts that the OAG's authority to prosecute legal actions is limited by New York Executive Law § 63(3), which provides:

The attorney-general shall ... [u]pon request of the governor, comptroller ... .or the head of any other department, authority, division or agency of the state, investigate the alleged commission of any indictable offense or offenses in violation of the law which the officer making the request is especially required to execute or in relation to any matters connected with such department, and to prosecute the person or persons believed to have committed the same and any crime or offense arising out of such investigation or prosecution or both, including but not limited to appearing before and presenting all such matters to a grand jury.

N.Y. Exec. L. § 63(3). Contrary to Defendant's assertions, this statute merely obligates the OAG to act as the legal arm of the state. Where departments of the state government request the OAG to investigate and prosecute violations of the law, § 63(3) commands the OAG to do so. Nothing in the statute appears to limit the authority of the OAG to prosecute discrimination cases under the OAG's primary enabling provision, § 63(1). That section confers broad authority upon the OAG to prosecute all types of legal cases by providing, in pertinent part, that the "attorney-general shall ... [p]rosecute and defend all actions and proceedings in which the state is interested." N.Y. Exec. L. § 63(1).

In a related argument, Defendant argues that under People v. Gilmour, 98 N.Y.2d 126, 746 N.Y.S.2d 114, 773 N.E.2d 479 (2002), the OAG may only prosecute legal actions where asked to do so by the heads of state departments and agencies. This argument completely misinterprets the holding of Gilmour. There, the Court of Appeals of New York considered the narrow issue of whether the OAG could prosecute a criminal action under § 63(3) where it did not receive a "request to prosecute" from the "head of any ... department [or] agency." The court held that under § 63(3) such a request could only be made by a department or agency head, and that a request made by the chief counsel of the state police was not adequate for purposes of § 63(3). See Gilmour, 98 N.Y.2d at 133, 746 N.Y.S.2d 114, 773 N.E.2d 479. The issue of the OAG's authority to prosecute cases under § 63(1) was not raised in front of the Gilmour court. As a result, the court, exercising its narrowly tailored appellate jurisdiction, did not consider the OAG's authority under that section of the Executive Law.

Many other New York courts have considered the OAG's authority under § 63(1), and all have acknowledged that § 63(1) confers broad authority upon the OAG to prosecute legal actions in which the state has an interest. See Cliff v. Vacco, 267 A.D.2d 731, 732, 699 N.Y.S.2d 791 (3d Dep't 1999); Abrams v. Brady, 143 Misc.2d 233, 540 N.Y.S.2d 145, 147 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.1989); People v. Schwartz, 1986 WL 55321, *8 (N.Y.Sup.Ct.1986). Here, the OAG has brought an action for religious discrimination against FedEx. As religious discrimination is clearly an issue "in which the state is interested," I find that the OAG dees have authority to bring discrimination suits under § 63(1).²

C. Parens Patriae Standing Under Title VII

FedEx next asserts that the court erred in finding that the OAG has parens patriae standing to intervene in this action. In making this motion, FedEx does not challenge the specific findings the court made in its Memorandum and Order of September 16, 2002.³ Rather, FedEx avers that the court failed to consider the Second Circuit's recent decision in Connecticut v. Physicians Health Services of Connecticut, Inc., 287 F.3d 110 (2d Cir.2002), which purportedly precludes parens patriae standing in this suit.

In Physicians Health, the Second Circuit considered whether state governments can invoke parens patriae standing to sue under § 1132(a)(3) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"). Endorsing a well-recognized rule of prudential standing, the court stated: "When determining whether a state has parens patriae standing under a federal statute, we ask if Congress intended to allow for such standing." Id. at 120. The court then found that Congress had not intended to allow parens patriae actions under ERISA because § 1132(a)(3) carefully listed the types of plaintiffs who could bring suit under the statute and did not name states suing in their parens patriae capacity. Id. at 121.

However, the court was careful to narrow its holding with the following qualification:

By holding that the State lacks parens patriae standing because § 1132(a)(3) does not expressly provide for such standing, we do not of course intend to imply that states may only sue in their parens patriae capacity when a statute specifically provides for suits by states. States have frequently been allowed to sue in parens patriae to ... enforce federal statutes that ... do not specifically provide standing for state attorney generals.

Id. at 121 (quotations and internal brackets omitted). To underscore the importance of this qualification, the court noted that unlike the carefully circumscribed standing provisions of ERISA, standing provisions in many other statutes implicitly authorized parens patriae standing by using language that permits any "person" who is "aggrieved" or "injured" to bring suit. See id. at 121 (citing Connecticut v. Physicians Health Services of Connecticut, Inc., 103 F.Supp.2d 495, 509-10 (D.Conn.2000) (citing federal statutes with broad enforcement provisions)).

At issue here is whether Title VII's standing provision evinces an intention on the part of Congress to allow states to sue in their parens patriae capacity. The standing provision, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5, authorizes civil suits by a "person claiming to be aggrieved." A related provision defines the word "person" to include "governments," "government agencies," and "political subdivisions." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(a). When read together, these provisions clearly authorize the State of New York, as a "government," to bring suit under Title VII.

What these two provisions do not do, however, is clearly define how states can invoke standing to bring Title VII suits. Nonetheless, a review of the standing capacities traditionally available to plaintiff states confirms that Congress intended to permit parens patriae actions when it authorized state governments to bring suit under Title VII. In Connecticut ex rel. Blumenthal v. Cahill, 217 F.3d 93, 97 (2d Cir.2000), the Second Circuit held that "Plaintiff-States generally bring suit in the federal courts in one of three standing capacities: (1) proprietary suits in which the State sues much like a private party...