Holman v. Williams

• Decision Date: 30 June 2006
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 02-1823 (PLF).
• Citation: 436 F.Supp.2d 68
• Parties: Charles HOLMAN, Plaintiff, v. Anthony WILLIAMS, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

Page 68

436 F.Supp.2d 68

Charles HOLMAN, Plaintiff, v. Anthony WILLIAMS, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 02-1823 (PLF).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

June 30, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Donald M. Temple, Temple Law Office, Gregory L. Lattimer, Law Offices of Gregory L. Lattimer, PLLC, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Daniel Albert Rezneck, Carol A. Connolly, Office of Corporation Counsel for the District of Columbia, Michael P. Bruckheim, Office of the Attorney General District of Columbia, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

OPINION

PAUL L. FRIEDMAN, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendant's motion to dismiss and plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment. Plaintiff served in the administration of the defendant, Anthony Williams, Mayor of the District of Columbia, as Director of the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights from February 2000 until his termination in June 2002. The complaint asserts five claims arising from plaintiff's termination: deprivation of a protected liberty interest without due process of law (Count I), false light invasion of privacy (Count II), defamation (Count III), wrongful termination (Count IV), and intentional infliction of emotional distress (Count V). Defendant is sued in both his individual and official capacities.

Defendant has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6). Upon consideration of the parties' arguments and the entire record of the case, the Court grants defendant's motion to dismiss Counts II, III and V of the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, but denies plaintiff's motion to dismiss Counts I and IV for failure to state a claim. The Court does dismiss these two claims against Mayor Williams in his individual capacity, however, because these claims are barred by absolute and qualified immunity. Finally, the Court denies plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

The facts alleged in the complaint are as follows: Plaintiff Charles Holman served in defendant Anthony Williams's administration as Director of the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights ("OHR") from February 2000 to June 2002. See Complaint ("Compl.") ¶ 5. In late June or early July 2001, the defendant's then-Chief of Staff, Joy Arnold, called a meeting attended by plaintiff and others. See id. ¶ 7. At that meeting Barbara Bullock, then the president of the Washington Teachers' Union, demanded that plaintiffs office, the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights, enter into a contract with Curtis Lewis & Associates ("CLA") for the review of complaints filed with OHR. See id. Plaintiff rejected this demand and, as a result, Ms. Arnold assigned one of her assistants the task of "steering" the contract to CLA. See id. ¶ 8. CLA was awarded the contract with OHR in the fall of 2001. See id.

After CLA began its work under the contract, OHR experienced problems with CLA requiring the repeated return of files for corrective action. See Compl. ¶ 9. Plaintiff advised the Mayor and Ms. Arnold of these problems in March and April 2002, by way of a confidential weekly report. See id. In April 2002, Ms. Arnold shared this confidential memorandum with CLA. See id. On May 4, 2002, The Washington Post reported that a staff assistant to Ms. Arnold, who had been assigned to "steer" the OHR contract to CLA, had been indicted for allegedly taking kickbacks from contractors. See id. ¶ 10.¹ Upon learning of this, plaintiff scheduled a meeting with Deputy Mayor Carolyn Graham to discuss plaintiff's "concerns" regarding the CLA contract and the fact that Ms. Arnold's staff assistant had steered the contract to CLA in the first place. See id. ¶ 11. He subsequently met with Ms. Arnold to discuss the matter as well. See id. ¶ 12. Plaintiff alleges that his concerns were "repeatedly ignored by the defendant" and members of his administration, and that he was "implored to let this issue rest." Id. ¶ 35.

On June 4, 2002, plaintiff was called into an emergency meeting with the Mayor's then Chief of Staff Kelvin Robinson, Deputy Mayor Graham, and D.C. Personnel Director Milou Carolan, in which Mr. Robinson advised plaintiff that the Mayor wanted plaintiff to step down for "political reasons." See Compl. ¶¶ 13-14. Robinson indicated to plaintiff that Mayor Williams wanted plaintiff out of the office before the Mayor officially announced his reelection bid, about two weeks hence. See id.

On June 8, 2002, a termination letter was hand-delivered to plaintiff at his residence. See Compl. ¶ 14. On June 12, Assistant Corporation Counsel Mark Back contacted plaintiff through counsel and informed plaintiff that if he resigned, the District would give him six weeks' severance pay. See id. ¶ 15. Plaintiff was told that if he did not accept this offer by 10:00 a.m. on June 13, he would be terminated and the press would be told that the termination had been for cause. See id. Plaintiff alleges that at approximately 10:00 a.m. on June 13, 2002, the Mayor had his office inform The Washington Post that plaintiff had been fired for cause. See id. ¶ 15. On June 14, 2002, The Washington Post reported plaintiff's termination as follows:

a top administration official said Holman was fired because of the discrimination complaints and "his inability to get along with staff." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "The contention was escalating to the point that the only way to solve the problem was to remove him . . . . The office was up in arms. It was total chaos."

Id. Plaintiff alleges that he was actually fired because he refused to remain silent about illegal contract-related activity within the Mayor's administration. See Compl. ¶¶ 35-36.

Plaintiff filed a complaint in this Court on September 13, 2002. Defendant then filed a motion to dismiss, which was fully briefed. Plaintiff subsequently announced his intention to file an amended complaint incorporating claims of race discrimination and retaliation that had been asserted in another complaint filed in this Court, which complaint the Court had dismissed sua sponte. See Holman v. District of Columbia, Civil Action No. 03-2026 (D.D.C. filed Sep. 30, 2003). The Court directed plaintiff to file his amended complaint by a date certain and denied the government's motion to dismiss without prejudice. No amended complaint was forthcoming, however, and the defendant filed a new motion to dismiss incorporating the arguments raised in the previous motion. On August 9, 2005, plaintiff filed a motion for partial summary judgment on his wrongful termination claim. At the Court's invitation, in August and September 2005 the parties filed brief supplemental memoranda on the pending motions.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure should not be granted unless a plaintiff can demonstrate no set of facts that supports his claim entitling him to relief. See Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Sparrow v. United Air Lines, Inc., 216 F.3d 1111, 1117 (D.C.Cir. 2000). In evaluating the motion to dismiss, the Court must accept the factual allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. See Harris v. Ladner, 127 F.3d 1121, 1123 (D.C.Cir.1997). While the complaint is to be construed liberally, the Court need not accept factual inferences drawn by plaintiff if those inferences are not supported by facts alleged in the complaint, nor must the Court accept the plaintiff's legal conclusions. See National Treasury Employees Union v. United States, 101 F.3d 1423, 1430 (D.C.Cir.1996); Kowal v. MCI Communications Corp., 16 F.3d 1271, 1276 (D.C.Cir.1994).

When deciding a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court may dispose of the motion on the basis of the complaint alone or may consider materials beyond the pleadings. "[W]here necessary, the court may consider the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts evidenced in the record, or the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts plus the court's resolution of disputed facts." Herbert v. National Academy of Sciences, 974 F.2d 192, 197 (D.C.Cir.1992). This Court has interpreted Herbert to allow a court to "consider such materials outside the pleadings as it deems appropriate to resolve the question whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case." Scolaro v. D.C. Bd. of Elections and Ethics, 104 F.Supp.2d 18, 22 (D.D.C. 2000) (citing Herbert v. National Academy of Sciences, 974 F.2d at 197), aff'd Scolaro v. D.C. Bd. of Elections and Ethics, No. 00-7176, 2001 WL 135857, *1, 2001 U.S.App. LEXIS 2747, at *1 (D.C.Cir. Jan. 18, 2001); see also Erby v. United States, 424 F.Supp.2d 180, 182-83 (D.D.C.2006).

A motion for summary judgment under Rule 56 may be granted only if "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 a judgment as a matter of law." FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c); see also Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Holcomb v. Powell, 433 F.3d 889, 895 (D.C.Cir.2006). When a motion for summary judgment is under consideration, "the evidence of the non-movant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505; see also Washington Post Co. v. United States Dept. of Health and Hum. Servs., 865 F.2d 320, 325 (D.C.Cir.1989).

Plaintiff raises five claims in his complaint: (1) false light invasion of...