Edelman v. Lynchburg College
| Decision Date | 19 August 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-2408.,99-2408. |
| Citation | 300 F.3d 400 |
| Parties | Leonard EDELMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LYNCHBURG COLLEGE, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
v.
LYNCHBURG COLLEGE, Defendant-Appellee.
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ARGUED: Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, Charlson Bredehoft, P.C., Reston, Virginia, for Appellant. Mary Virginia Barney, Alexander Bell, PLC, Lynchburg, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Kristine H. Smith, Edmunds & Williams, P.C., Lynchburg, Virginia, for Appellant. Alexander W. Bell, Alexander Bell, PLC, Lynchburg, Virginia, for Appellee.
Before WILKINS and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges, and ROBERT R. BEEZER, Senior Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting by designation.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge WILKINS wrote the majority opinion, in which Senior Judge BEEZER joined. Judge LUTTIG wrote a dissenting opinion.
WILKINS, Circuit Judge.
Leonard Edelman appeals an order of the district court dismissing his employment discrimination claims against Lynchburg College ("the College"). His appeal has been considered by the Supreme Court and returned to us for further proceedings. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
Edelman was hired by the College in August 1993. Although Edelman was recommended for tenure by the chairman of his department and two review committees, the Dean refused to recommend Edelman for tenure. On the advice of the Dean, the President recommended to the Board of Trustees that Edelman's tenure nomination be denied, and the Board of Trustees denied tenure on June 6, 1997.
Edelman became convinced that the Dean had based her negative recommendation on his religion, ethnicity, gender, and age.1 On November 14, 1997, Edelman sent a five-page, single-spaced letter ("the November 14 letter") to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") relating his allegations of discrimination and asserting that "I believe my case is one of gender-based employment discrimination, exacerbated by discrimination on the basis of my family's national origin and religion." J.A. 64. The letter concluded, "I hereby file a charge of employment discrimination against Lynchburg College ... and I call upon the EEOC to investigate this case...." Id. at 64-65. Although Edelman signed this letter, the letter was not verified, i.e., sworn and notarized. The EEOC received this letter on November 18, 1997.
On November 26, 1997, an attorney representing Edelman wrote a letter to the EEOC ("the November 26 letter") following up on a telephone conversation he had had with an EEOC intake supervisor. After explaining that he represented Edelman, who had "filed his complaint of discrimination against Lynchburg College on November 14, 1997," counsel indicated that Edelman preferred to have his personal interview with EEOC "prior to the final charging documents being served on the college." Id. at 66. The attorney then
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stated, "It is my understanding that delay occasioned by the interview will not compromise the filing date, which will remain as November 14, 1997. Please advise if my understanding in this regard is not correct." Id. Counsel never obtained any response indicating that his understanding was incorrect.
On December 3, 1997, the EEOC wrote to Edelman informing him that the information in the November 14 letter was "not sufficient for [the EEOC] to continue investigating [the] case," and requesting that he arrange an interview. Id. at 67. The letter warned, "IF WE HAVE NOT HEARD FROM YOU AT ALL WITHIN 30 DAYS OF THIS LETTER, WE WILL ASSUME THAT YOU DID NOT INTEND TO FILE A CHARGE OF DISCRIMINATION WITH US." Id. Edelman contacted the EEOC "[s]oon after" receiving its letter, but "[d]ue to the EEOC's delays," an interview was not conducted until March 3, 1998. Id. at 70. The EEOC investigator subsequently perfected a charge of sex discrimination,2 and on March 18, 1998, mailed an EEOC Form 5 to Edelman for his signature. The signed perfected charge was received from Edelman on April 15, 1998, which was 313 days after June 6, 1997, the last date of alleged discrimination by the College. The charge was assigned a charge number and recorded in the EEOC's charge register. The charge was then forwarded to the College on April 21, 1998, and a copy of the Form 5 was sent to the Virginia Council on Human Rights ("the VCHR") on that same date. The College responded on May 29, 1998, denying that it discriminated against Edelman.
The EEOC issued a right to sue letter to Edelman on March 26, 1999, and Edelman brought this action in Virginia state court on June 10, 1999 asserting various state law claims. The College removed the case to federal court after Edelman amended his complaint to allege violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e-2(a)(1) (West 1994). Thereafter, the College moved to dismiss, asserting inter alia that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the Title VII claims because Edelman had not timely filed a charge with the EEOC. The district court granted the motion to dismiss and remanded the state law claims to state court.
Edelman appealed, and we affirmed on the ground that Edelman's failure to file a verified charge with the EEOC within 300 days of the last date of the alleged discrimination barred his suit. We held that an EEOC regulation allowing verification of a charge after expiration of the time for filing has expired, 29 C.F.R. § 1601.12(b) (2001), was contrary to the plain language of the applicable statute. See Edelman v. Lynchburg College, 228 F.3d 503, 507-09 (4th Cir.2000). The Supreme Court granted certiorari and reversed, holding that the regulation was consistent with the plain language of the statute. See Edelman v. Lynchburg College, ___ U.S. ___, ___ - ___, 122 S.Ct. 1145, 1149-53, 152 L.Ed.2d 188 (2002). The Court therefore remanded to us for further proceedings. See id. at 1153.
We now must determine whether the district court erred in ruling that the November 14 letter was not a valid charge to which the verified Form 5 charge could relate. Although the district court accepted
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the College's characterization of the exhaustion issue as jurisdictional, it is in fact "a requirement that, like a statute of limitations, is subject to waiver, estoppel, and equitable tolling." Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 393, 102 S.Ct. 1127, 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982). For this reason, and because the district court considered materials outside of the pleadings, we treat the College's motion as a motion for summary...
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