Hollcroft v. Department of Treasury, IRS
| Decision Date | 09 June 1988 |
| Docket Number | S-87-838 MLS.,Civ. No. S-85-1734 MLS |
| Citation | 687 F. Supp. 510 |
| Parties | Dorothy HOLLCROFT, Plaintiff, v. DEPARTMENT OF the TREASURY, INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, Defendant. Carrie B. LOVE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF the ARMY, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California |
Dorothy Hollcroft, Elverta, Cal., in pro. per.
Rose Marie McDuff, Sacramento, Cal., in pro. per.
Carrie Love, Sacramento, Cal., in pro. per.
David F. Levi, U.S. Atty., Joseph E. Maloney, Asst. U.S. Atty., Sacramento, Cal., for Dept. of Treasury, I.R.S.
David F. Levi, U.S. Atty., Andrea M. Miller, Asst. U.S. Atty., Sacramento, Cal., for U.S. Dept. of Army.
In each of the above-entitled actions the government filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the complaints named the wrong defendant; each complaint names the department which employed the plaintiff(s) instead of the secretary of that department. The court vacated the February 5, 1988 hearing on the motions pursuant to Local Rule 230(h) and ordered them submitted on the briefs and supporting documents. Because the two actions involve a common question of law, the court orders them consolidated for the purpose of these motions only, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42(a). After reviewing the records and briefs on file and considering the pertinent legal principles involved, the court now renders its decision.
On December 12, 1985, plaintiff, acting in propria persona, filed a form civil complaint under Title VII naming as defendant the "Department of the Treasury/Internal Revenue Service." According to the complaint, plaintiff was denied promotions and was reassigned "to a position with no upward mobility" due to discrimination on the basis of her sex, race and national origin (Hispanic), and age. Attached to the complaint are numerous documents, including a right-to-sue letter signed by the Director, Office of Equal Opportunity Program, Department of the Treasury; a final decision of the Department of the Treasury that plaintiff was not discriminated against; and affidavits, evaluations, and other materials connected with plaintiff's administrative charges.
On September 15, 1986, the government moved to dismiss the complaint without leave to amend on the ground that the Secretary of the Treasury is not named as a defendant. By written order filed April 9, 1987, the court denied the government's motion.1 Nevertheless, on October 2, the government filed a second motion to dismiss the complaint on identical grounds.2 On October 30, 1987, plaintiff filed an "Answer to Dismiss," which the court will construe as an opposition to the government's motion.
On June 5, 1987, Carrie Love and Rose Marie McDuff, each acting in propria persona, filed a class action Title VII complaint naming as defendant the "United States Department of the Army." According to the complaint, plaintiffs were denied opportunities for job advancement and equal access to job training and were ultimately terminated from employment as a result of discrimination on the basis of race (black), sex and age, and with respect to plaintiff McDuff, in retaliation for filing prior grievances. Plaintiffs allege they received a right-to-sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") on May 7, 1987, a copy of which is attached to the complaint. On August 25, the government moved to dismiss the complaint without leave to amend on the ground that the Secretary of the Army is not named as a defendant. On January 21, 1988, plaintiffs filed their opposition to the government's motion.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 1971 et seq. ("Act"), was designed to prohibit and provide the means of terminating the most serious types of discrimination in voting, public accommodations and education, and employment. H.R.Rep. No. 914, 88th Cong., 2d Sess. 2, reprinted in 1964 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2355, 2393. Title VII of the Act addressed discrimination in employment and its purpose was "to eliminate, through the utilization of formal and informal remedial procedures, discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, or national origin." Id. at 2401. Several Congressmen who supported the Act emphasized the relationship between the various rights covered by the Act and the importance of equal treatment in employment:
The right to vote, however, does not have much meaning on an empty stomach. The impetus to achieve excellence in education is lacking if gainful employment is closed to the graduate. The opportunity to enter a restaurant or hotel is a shallow victory where one's pockets are empty. The principle of equal treatment under law can have little meaning if in practice its benefits are denied the citizen.
Id. at 2513 (comments by Representatives McCulloch, Lindsay, Cahill, Shriver, MacGregor, Mathias and Bromwell).
Section 717 of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16, prohibits discrimination in federal employment based on specified classifications. Subsection (c) sets forth the procedure by which an aggrieved employee may bring a civil action. Within 30 days of receipt of the right-to-sue letter, an aggrieved employee may file a civil action in which "the head of the department, agency, or unit, as appropriate, shall be the defendant." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(c).
The government's position is that the complaints must be dismissed because the plaintiffs have named the department and not the head of the department as defendant. The court rejects this position for three reasons. First, the exacting standard the government urges the court to apply is wholly at odds with both the modern standards of notice pleading and the liberal standard to be afforded the pleadings of pro se litigants. Second, the government has failed to demonstrate it has been prejudiced by plaintiffs' failure to name the proper defendant. Third, and most importantly, the Ninth Circuit case of Rice v. Hamilton Air Force Base Commissary, 720 F.2d 1082 (1983), is directly on point and supports plaintiffs' position.
Rule 8(f) provides that "all pleadings shall be so construed as to do substantial justice." Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(f). Professor Moore explains that:
This mandate is the heart of the rules on pleadings. Its meaning is well stated in a Supreme Court decision handed down just after the Federal Rules had been submitted to Congress. Justice Black spoke for a unanimous Court:
2A J. Moore & J. Lucas, Moore's Federal Practice ¶ 8.34, at 8-231 (2d ed. 1987) (footnote omitted) (quoting Maty v. Grasselli Chemical Co., 303 U.S. 197, 200, 58 S.Ct. 507, 509, 82 L.Ed. 745 (1938)). Modern notice pleading eschews the sterile formalism of code pleading; its goal is to "give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiff's claim is and the grounds upon which it rests," Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 103, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957), and not to require the incantation of technical language which magically unlocks the courtroom door. "The Federal Rules reject the approach that pleading is a game of skill in which one misstep by counsel may be decisive to the outcome and accept the principle that the purpose of pleading is to facilitate a proper decision on the merits." Id. at 48, 78 S.Ct. at 103. Missteps by pro se litigants are certainly deserving of no less leniency.
Cases are legion which require the court to hold a pro se complaint, "however inartfully pleaded," to "less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers." Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 596, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972) (per curiam); see also Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. 5, 9, 101 S.Ct. 173, 175-76, 66 L.Ed.2d 163 (1980) (per curiam); Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 292, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976); Karim-Panahi v. Los Angeles Police Department, 839 F.2d 621 (9th Cir. 1988); Eldridge v. Block, 832 F.2d 1132 (9th Cir.1987); Noll v. Carlson, 809 F.2d 1446, 1448 (9th Cir.1987); Ashelman v. Pope, 793 F.2d 1072 (9th Cir.1986); Borzeka v. Heckler, 739 F.2d 444, 447 n. 2 (9th Cir.1984) (); Sherman v. Yakahi, 549 F.2d 1287, 1290 (9th Cir.1977). This rule applies with particular force to civil rights cases, see King v. Atiyeh, 814 F.2d 565, 567 (9th Cir.1987); Bretz v. Kelman, 773 F.2d 1026, 1027 n. 1 (9th Cir. 1985) (en banc), and its application is especially apt in Title VII cases which are frequently initiated by lay persons. The reasons supporting this rule are well stated in Rice:
In determining whether Rice complied with the procedural portions of section 717, we are guided by the principle that "the Equal Employment Opportunity Act is a remedial statute to be liberally construed in favor of the victims of discrimination." Citation omitted. This liberal construction of the technical aspects of section 717 is particularly appropriate where the complainant, as here, is a layman proceeding pro se. The pleadings show that Rice is weak in both legal knowledge and basic language skills. In such a case, Title VII should not be unnecessarily interpreted in an overly technical fashion that will prevent an adjudication on the merits. Citations omitted. This liberal reading of the statute is in harmony with the Supreme Court's admonition that "a technical reading of Title VII would be `particularly inappropriate in a statutory scheme in which laymen, unassisted by trained lawyers,...
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