Fullman v. Potter

• Decision Date: 28 March 2007
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 05-1352.
• Citation: 480 F.Supp.2d 782
• Parties: Andrew FULLMAN, Plaintiff, v. John E. POTTER, Postmaster General, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

480 F.Supp.2d 782

Andrew FULLMAN, Plaintiff, v. John E. POTTER, Postmaster General, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 05-1352.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

March 28, 2007.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Andrew Fullman, Philadelphia, PA, pro se.

Annetta Foster Givhan, U.S. Attorney's Office, Philadelphia, PA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM

EDUARDO C. ROBRENO, District Judge.

Plaintiff Andrew Fullman, proceeding pro se,¹ alleges that the United States Postal Service discriminated against him based on his race, color and sex, and engaged in retaliatory discharge in violation of Title VII after it terminated him for failing to disclose, as required by the employment application, that he was previously employed by the Postal Service and terminated for dishonest conduct. The Court is now faced with the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment. As the Defendant has pointed to an absence of genuine issue of material fact with respect to each of Plaintiffs claims and Plaintiff has failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact, and under applicable law, summary judgment in favor of Defendant on all counts is appropriate. Conversely, summary judgment against Plaintiff is also appropriate on all counts.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff has a long and tumultuous history with the U.S. Postal Service.² See Fullman v. Henderson, (hereinafter Fullman I) 146 F.Supp.2d 688, 692-95 (E.D.Pa.2001) (Robreno, J.) (giving extensive overview of Plaintiffs employment history with the Postal Service as well as his many complaints against it), aff'd, 29 Fed.Appx. 100 (3d Cir.2002). As a full account of Mr. Fullman's history with the Postal Service, and indeed with this Court was amply set forth in Fullman I, the Court will provide only the current developments in the seemingly endless saga between Mr. Fullman and the Postal Service which led to the present action.

In April 2003, Plaintiff applied for a position with the Postal Service. The application specifically inquired if applicants have been previously employed by the Postal Service. Although Plaintiff had been terminated by the Postal Service in 1989 based on its finding that he had filed a false workers' compensation claim, he failed to disclose this fact on his application. On April 18, having yet to discover Plaintiff's past Postal Service employment, the Postal Service tentatively approved Plaintiff for hire, pending a suitability investigation. At that time, Plaintiff signed a Waiver of Suitability form, which stated that Plaintiff would be subjected to immediate termination if the suitability investigation returned results that would disqualify him from employment.

After the Postal Service obtained Plaintiff's official personnel file revealing his past Postal Service employment (and subsequent termination), it inquired as to why he did not disclose the information. Plaintiff responded that he had been told by his brother-in-law, a postal employee, that the Postal Service does not investigate beyond ten years from the date of the application. Finding this excuse inadequate, on May 29, 2003, the Postal Service informed Plaintiff that he was immediately removed from the rolls of the West Chester Post Office for failing to disclose his prior Postal Service employment and removal.

Subsequently, Plaintiff filed a formal complaint of discrimination and retaliation with the Postal. Service. EEO Administrative Judge Jose Perez ruled in favor of the Postal Service, stating that Plaintiff did not state a prima facie case of discrimination and retaliation and that the Postal Service had produced a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for removing Plaintiff.³ Plaintiff then appealed to the EEOC's Office of Federal Operations. His appeal was denied on December 21, 2004. On April 11, 2005, Plaintiff filed the present claim with this Court.

On July 22, 2005, Defendant filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, or in the alternative, for summary judgment (doc. no. 9). Upon Plaintiff's request, the case was placed in civil suspense from August 2005 until September 2006. Since that time, the parties have filed a flurry of motions.

Currently pending before the Court are the following motions: (1) Defendant's motion to dismiss, or alternatively, motion for summary judgment (doe. no. 9); (2) two "Motions in Opposition"⁴ by Plaintiff (doe. nos.26, 33); (3) Plaintiff's Motion for Appointment of Counsel (doc. no. 28); (4) Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment (doc. no. 34); (5) Plaintiffs Amended motion for Summary Judgment (doe. no. 35); (6) Plaintiffs sur-reply to Defendant's response (doc. no. 38)⁵; and (7) Plaintiff's request for a subpoena (doc. no. 45). This Memorandum will resolve all pending motions.

II. DISCUSSION

In Defendant's motion for summary judgment, it argues that summary judgment in its favor is appropriate for four reasons. One, collateral estoppel and res judicata operate to bar Plaintiffs previously litigated issues and claims. Two, to the extent that Plaintiff asserts new claims of discrimination and retaliation surrounding his 2003 termination, Plaintiff has failed to make a prima facie case of discrimination and retaliation as required by Title VII. Three, even assuming Plaintiff has satisfied a prima facie case, he is unable to survive Defendant's motion for summary judgment because the Defendant has offered a legitimate reason for its termination of Plaintiff — namely, that he provided false information on his employment application — and Plaintiff has failed to show that this reason was merely a pretext. Four, Plaintiffs constitutional claims are barred because Title VII provides the exclusive remedy for claims of discrimination in federal employment.

Plaintiff essentially argues that (1) he did not file a false workers' compensation claim in 1989 and therefore (2) "there can be no reason except a discriminatory reason for his termination from the Postal Service." Compl. ¶ 8. After carefully reviewing all of the briefs submitted to the Court by the parties, it is clear that summary judgment in favor of Defendant is appropriate on all claims.

A. Legal Standard for Summary Judgment

The Court will analyze the parties' briefings in this case as cross-motions for summary judgment.⁶ When confronted with cross-motions for summary judgment "the court must rule on each party's motion on an individual and separate basis, determining, for each side, whether a judgment may be entered in accordance with the Rule 56 standard." 10A Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2720 (1998). Thus, with respect to each party, summary judgment is proper when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c).

The Court will analyze the parties' cross-motions in the order of their filing. Therefore, the Court will first look to Defendant's motion for summary judgment, filed earlier in time, then analyze Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment.

B. Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment

1. Plaintiffs complaint is barred by collateral estoppel and res judicata.

Defendant argues that it is entitled to summary judgment because Plaintiff "essentially seeks to relitigate against the Postal Service the propriety of his 1989 termination for filing a false worker's compensation claim," and such a claim, previously litigated by Plaintiff in Fullman I, is barred by the doctrines of res judicata and claim preclusion. Def's Mot. Sum. Judgmt., doc. no. 9 at 12. Defendant's argument has merit.

"A losing litigant deserves no rematch after a defeat fairly suffered, in adversarial proceedings, on an issue identical in substance to the one he subsequently seeks to raise." Astoria Fed. Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Solimino, 501 U.S. 104, 111 S.Ct. 2166, 115 L.Ed.2d 96 (1991). For this reason, the doctrine of collateral estoppel or issue preclusion, will bar a claimant from relitigating an issue previously adjudicated "when an issue of fact or law is actually litigated and determined by a valid and final judgment, and the determination is essential to the judgment, the determination is conclusive in a subsequent action between the parties, whether on the same or a different claim." Jean Alexander Cosmetics, Inc. v. L'Oreal USA, Inc., 458 F.3d 244, 249 (3d Cir.2006) (citing Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 27 (1982)).

Collateral estoppel applies when (1) the issue decided in the prior adjudication was identical to the one presented in the later action; (2) there was a final judgment on the merits; (3) the party against whom collateral estoppel is being asserted was a party or in privity with a party to the prior adjudication; and (4) the party against whom collateral estoppel is being asserted had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in question in the prior action. Id. (citing Henglein v. Colt Indus. Operating Corp., 260 F.3d 201, 209 (3d Cir.2001)).

Res judicata, or claim preclusion, "is broader in effect and prohibits reexamination not only of matters actually decided in the prior case, but also those that the parties might have, but did not, assert in that action." Edmundson v. Borough of Kennett Square, 4 F.3d 186, 189 (3d Cir. 1993). Res judicata applies when there is a "final judgment on the merits in a prior suit involving the same parties or their privies, and a subsequent suit based on the same cause of action." Gen. Elec. Co. v. Deutz AG, 270 F.3d 144, 158 (3d Cir.2001) (citing Churchill v. Star Enters., 183 F.3d 184, 194 (3d Cir.1999)). Issues of claim preclusion in the federal courts are governed by federal law. See Berwind Corp. v. Apfel, 94 F.Supp.2d 597, 608 (E.D.Pa. 2000) (citing Burlington No. R.R. Co. v. Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., Ltd., 63 F.3d 1227, 1231 (3d Cir.1995) (applying federal law...