Ferrari v. E-Rate Consulting Services

• Decision Date: 17 September 2009
• Docket Number: Case No. 2:09-cv-49-MEF.
• Parties: Shannon FERRARI, Plaintiff, v. E-RATE CONSULTING SERVICES and Jonathan Slaughter, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

655 F.Supp.2d 1194

Shannon FERRARI, Plaintiff, v. E-RATE CONSULTING SERVICES and Jonathan Slaughter, Defendants.

Case No. 2:09-cv-49-MEF.

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Northern Division.

September 17, 2009.

Elizabeth Peyton Faulk, Joseph Brady Lewis, Lewis, Bush & Faulk, LLC, Montgomery, AL, for Plaintiff.

Michael David Boyle, Law Offices of Michael D. Boyle LLC, Millbrook, AL, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MARK E. FULLER, Chief Judge.

INTRODUCTION

This case is presently before the Court on a Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), which defendant Jonathan Slaughter filed on February 16, 2009 (Doc. # 7), and a second, materially identical Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), which defendant E-Rate Consulting Services filed the same day (Doc. # 8). After careful consideration of the arguments of the parties and the applicable authorities, the Court finds that the Motions are due to be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

LEGAL STANDARD

A Rule 12(b)(6) motion tests the legal sufficiency of the complaint. Therefore, for the purposes of adjudging a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, the court will accept as true all well-pleaded factual allegations and view them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Am. United Life Ins. Co. v. Martinez, 480 F.3d 1043, 1057 (11th Cir.2007); Pielage v. McConnell, 516 F.3d 1282, 1284 (11th Cir.2008). While Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only that a complaint contain "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief," as a general matter, to survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the plaintiff must allege "enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Plaintiff's "[f]actual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above a speculative level on the assumption that the allegations in the complaint are true." Id. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. It is not sufficient that the pleadings merely "[l]eave open the possibility that the plaintiff might later establish some set of undisclosed facts to support recovery." Id. at 561, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (internal quotation and alteration omitted).

One additional proviso is worth mentioning here: "[t]he Eleventh Circuit has held that, when considering a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a court may take judicial notice of the public record, without converting the motion to one for summary judgment [as Rule 12(d) allows when a movant presents arguments or materials that go beyond the four corners of the complaint], because such documents are capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned." Davis v. Williams Commc'ns, Inc., 258 F.Supp.2d 1348, 1352 (N.D.Ga.2003) (citing Bryant v. Avado Brands Inc., 187 F.3d 1271, 1279-80 (11th Cir.1999)).

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The following facts are taken from the Complaint in this case (the "Federal Complaint") and the Complaint in a related state court case (the "State Complaint"), as they must be for purposes of these Motions. See Martinez, 480 F.3d at 1057; Davis, 258 F.Supp.2d at 1352.

Defendant Jonathan Slaughter ("Slaughter") is a resident of Elmore County, Alabama and the sole owner of Defendant E-Rate Consulting Services ("E-Rate"), an Alabama Limited Liability Company. Plaintiff Shannon Ferrari ("Ferrari") worked for E-Rate for three weeks in the summer of 2007. That brief employment resulted in a lawsuit in state court by E-Rate and Slaughter against Ferrari and the instant case by Ferrari against E-Rate and Slaughter. The details of the two cases follow.

Slaughter and E-Rate commenced an action against Ferrari in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Alabama on January 12, 2008. (Doc. # 15-2.) The State Complaint alleges that Ferrari was a problem employee who demanded more money than the salary at which she was hired and regularly complained about her compensation. The State Complaint also alleges that she continued to complain about her compensation upon her termination and demanded that Slaughter and E-Rate pay her a large severance and a continuing monthly income, provide her with health insurance, and provide her a new wardrobe. The State Complaint states that Ferrari threatened that if Slaughter and E-Rate did not pay her she would "make their life difficult" and they "would regret not paying her" as she demanded. (Doc. # 15-2 ¶ 5.) The State Complaint alleges that when Slaughter and E-Rate did not meet Ferrari's requests she threatened to make claims and institute suits against them, for, among other things, sexual harassment.

The State Complaint details an incident on January 2, 2008, in which Slaughter approached Ferrari in a local bar to discuss the problems arising from her termination. According to the State Complaint, Ferrari filed a baseless criminal complaint for harassment against Slaughter the day after the incident in the local bar. The State Complaint alleges that the criminal harassment complaint contained false, libelous, and defamatory statements. The State Complaint also details an attempt on January 4, 2008, by Ferrari to interrupt E-Rate's business by calling the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, with whom E-Rate works under contract, and sharing with the Commissioner false and defamatory statements.

The State Complaint presents claims arising from these occurrences in three counts: one each for libel and slander, false light, and intentional interference with contractual and/or business relations. Ferrari answered the State Complaint on February 14, 2008.

Ferrari, defendant in the state court action, filed a Complaint in this Court on January 21, 2009. (Doc. # 1.) The Federal Complaint named Slaughter and E-Rate, plaintiffs in the state court action, as defendants. The Federal Complaint alleges that Slaughter began sexually harassing Ferrari daily shortly after hiring her. The harassment began, according to the Federal Complaint, when Slaughter offered to put Ferrari on a "full scholarship," which meant an increased salary if she would stay home with her children and move into a house he claimed he owned, and would include a BMW automobile if she would travel with him and be his girlfriend. The Federal Complaint lists other instances of sexual harassment, including overt sexual propositioning of Ferrari by Slaughter, groping, attempts to massage, and regular references to Ferrari's private parts by a nickname Slaughter contrived. Finally, the Federal Complaint alleges that Slaughter took Ferrari on a trip with other males and insisted that she do drugs with them. Ferrari quit her job on July 27, 2007, after this final incident.

According to the Federal Complaint, Ferrari asked Slaughter about certain money that he owed her after her resignation, and Slaughter agreed to pay her a bonus he had promised her and three months severance pay. The Federal Complaint also alleges that Slaughter has continued to attempt to harm Ferrari by telling people he had been having a sexual affair with her. The Federal Complaint also details the altercation at the nightclub detailed in the State Complaint, though this time the allegation is that Slaughter followed Ferrari to the club, grabbed her, pulled her off a bar stool, and told her to leave with him. The Federal Complaint also details the subsequent harassment charge, though it claims the allegations were justified.

Finally, the Federal Complaint alleges that as a result of these happenings, on or about January 10, 2008, Ferrari filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). The Federal Complaint states that Ferrari received a notice of right to sue on or about November 16, 2008.

The Federal Complaint contains five counts, one each for sexual harassment in violation of Title VII, constructive termination, assault and battery under state law, retaliation, and outrage.

DISCUSSION

Defendants argue in their Motions that the compulsory counterclaim rule bars the instant action. They claim that "the very allegations contained in the Plaintiff's complaint at bar are addressed in the State Complaint filed by the E-Rate Consulting and Jonathan Slaughter in the action against the Plaintiff Shannon Ferrari." (Doc. #8 ¶ 9.) Hence, Defendants argue, Ferrari's claims are compulsory counterclaims that Ferrari failed to assert in the prior-in-time state case. The federal case must therefore be dismissed, or so the argument goes.

Ferrari disputes Defendants' assertions. First, she claims she was not able to bring her claims as compulsory counterclaims in the state case because her Title VII claims did not mature until she received the right-to-sue letter on or about November 16, 2008, "well into the process of the state court case." (Doc. # 11 ¶ 4.) Ferrari also claims that she was free to not bring the instant claims in the state court proceeding because they do not arise from the same transaction or occurrence as the state court claims brought by E-rate Consulting Services in state court. Ferrari argues that the Title VII sexual harassment claims are both factually and legally distinct from the libel, slander, false light, and intentional interference with contractual and/or business relations claims against her in state court.

Ferrari's claims are barred if they were compulsory counterclaims that should have been alleged in the state case that names her as a defendant. Alabama law governs the question of whether Ferrari's claims were compulsory counterclaims in the earlier action. See Montgomery Ward Dev. Corp. v. Juster, 932 F.2d 1378, 1380 (11th Cir.1991) ("Whether failure to bring a compulsory counterclaim in a prior state court proceeding bars a diversity action on that claim in a federal district court ... depends upon state law."); Amey, Inc. v. Gulf Abstract &...